Favorites Shine on Hard Fought Night at Meridian Speedway

Six speedy divisions took to Meridian Speedway Saturday, July 23 for the Outhouse Grand Prix presented by Idaho Central Credit Union. The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modifieds, Pepsi Crate Cars, Project Filter Pro-4s, Kendall Ford of Meridian Mini Stocks, Teleperformance Claimer Stocks, and rookies from the TATES Rents Hornet division all battled wheel-to-wheel around the quarter-mile asphalt oval.

The Teleperformance Claimer Stocks brought seven hungry competitors to their 25 lap feature. On the break Boise, Idaho’s Josh Hale overpowered Scott Kelly for the early lead while Brian Hyde and Micky Lawson battled door-to-door for the fourth spot. This battle raged for ten laps before Hyde wheeled his Affordable Rain Gutters, NW Fire Equipment machine around Lawson’s GR Farms, Roberts Draft Horses entry for third.

Now Hyde turned up the wick and disposed of Kelly’s This N’ That Auto Sales, Scotts Lawn Care machine with a dozen circuits remaining. Two laps later Hyde was on Hale’s rear bumper, and with six laps left Hyde scooted around the inside and took the lead. Hale wasn’t able to mount a comeback charge and Boise, Idaho’s Hyde took his fourth main event win of the season.

Ten competitive Project Filter Pro-4s took the green flag of their 25 lap main event. Wes Summers and Travis Pavlacky dueled for the lead on lap one, and it was Pavlacky who laid claim to the top spot early in his Riparetti Cylinder Head entry. On the move early was Joe Barton, who navigated his Tyco Structural Enterprises machine up to third by lap two and sped with Pavlacky and second place Ryan Bailey away from the pack.

The bumping and banging started early as Brendon Fries and Kenny Chandler got together at the flag stand on lap four. Chandler went for a wild slide through the infield, but got his Project Filter, Fairly Reliable Bob’s racer back on the asphalt. With nearly a full track between himself and the leader, Chandler hoped for a caution flag to bunch the field. That caution flag came on lap ten when Fries’ Chick-Fil-A, Urban Rifle Supply machine lost power in turn two.

With Kuna, Idaho’s Chandler back in the mix Barton decided to go for the lead on the restart. After a ferocious four lap battle with Pavlacky, Barton steamed around the outside of the Payette, Idaho racer for the lead. This dropped Pavlacky into the clutches of Chandler, who wasted no time in making his presence known. With seven circuits remaining Chandler pulled to Pavlacky’s outside and took the runner up spot.

A late caution for a dust up between Pavlacky and Donovan Parker reset the field with Barton and Chandler on the front row. On the green Chandler shot into the lead, but Barton fought back hard on the outside. With four laps to go Chandler and Barton made contact on the back straightaway, and that was the closest Barton would get to the lead as Chandler took the checkers.

“I’ve got to apologize, I got into Joe a little back there,” Chandler admitted post race.

The open-wheeled Pepsi Crate Cars rumbled onto the speedway for a fast 25 lap feature. On the green Aaron McPeak put his Hugo’s Deli machine in the lead while Riley Rogers blasted his way into the runner up spot. Not content with second Rogers worked to pass McPeak, but lapped traffic slowed his advance and dropped him into the clutches of Caldwell, Idaho’s Justin Segura.

Segura made the most of his opportunity and snuck his Garage Graffix, Mac Tools machine past both Rogers and McPeak on lap five to claim the lead. Rogers followed Segura to put his Extreme Towing and Recovery, Wildside Wraps racer in second while McPeak settled in third ahead of Brandal Glenn’s Boise Metal Works, Big Nasty Hillclimb machine. Rogers mounted a charge on Segura on lap ten, pulling to the leader’s tail tank in turns one and two. Segura weathered the storm and, once clear of lapped traffic, bolted to the checkered flag and the Caleb’s Chop Shop Winner’s Circle.

The Kendall Ford of Meridian Mini Stocks packed the quarter-mile for their 25 lap showdown. Terrell Daffron put his machine in the lead on lap one while pole sitter Luke Wolverton and Robbie Hyde scrapped for position behind him. Hyde would take second and settle in while quick-qualifiers Garry Hussey and Jason Sanders joined forces in the high groove to make their way forward.

On lap eight Hussey caught Hyde and made the pass for second, followed closely by Sanders’ machine. A mid-race restart allowed Hussey to pull alongside Daffron, and make the pass for the lead in turn three. This dropped Daffron into a two lap battle with Sanders. Now in the runner up spot Sanders looked to reel in Hussey. Over the race’s final ten laps Sanders drew close, but not close enough as Hussey sped to his third victory of the season.

A strong field of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modifieds roared through their forty lap feature. Young CJ Stirm was quick out of the gates and put her machine in the early lead. Behind Stirm the field stacked up two-by-two behind Jerry Green and Hunter Gates who battled for second. Gates won that battle and brought Larry Hull III and Rus Ward with him in the high groove.

Hull III spent little time in third as he roared past Gates’ entry and put his racer in the runner up spot. A caution on lap seven allowed Hull III to pull even with Stirm, and on the green both Hull III and Rus Ward passed the early race leader to put themselves first and second on the Pepsi-Cola scoreboard. While Hull III and Ward settled in at the point Sting Ray Robb and Colton Nelson teamed up and sliced through the field from their back of the pack starting spots.

On lap eleven Nelson worked his way beneath Robb to take third, then sped into the lead battle. Nelson made the outside line work to pass Ward, then ducked low to race his way past Hull III for the lead on lap fifteen. Now it was Robb’s turn to work through Ward and Hull III. Robb put his racer in the high groove to dispatch Ward at the race’s halfway point, then dove inside Hull III to take second with fourteen laps left.

As the laps wound down the fight for third was on between Hull III and Ward. Hull III muscled his machine around the high line while Ward worked low. With five laps to go Hull III went for a lurid slide in turn two and Ward pounced to pull even. Side-by-side the pair raced until the last lap, when Hull III again got loose and allowed Ward to drive past to take third behind Robb and Nelson, who rolled into the Caleb’s Chop Shop Winner’s Circle.

JW Martin made quick work of the TATES Rents Hornet rookie field and outran a late charge by Jason Morris to claim the evening’s final main event win.

The Jeff Russell Road to Recovery event rolls into Meridian Speedway this Saturday, July 30. The NAPA Auto Parts Big 5 Latemodels, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modifieds, CT400 Winged Sprintcars, College of Western Idaho Super Street Stocks, and College of Western Idaho High School Tuners clash in support of local racer Jeff Russell as he recovers from injuries suffered in a Super Modified crash at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tickets for Saturday’s full night of short track action are just $10.50 for adults and $6.50 for kids 7-11. Skip the line at the gate and purchase advance tickets online at meridianspeedway.com and be sure to text ‘meridianspeed’ to 84483 to receive exclusive updates from your NASCAR Home Track. We’ll see you Saturday night under the big yellow water tower at Meridian Speedway.

Meridian Speedway PR