10/4/2024
Magic Valley Speedway
MVS Season Concludes with Physical Championship Night
Magic Valley Speedway closed its 2024 season on Saturday, September 28, on Championship Night. The Western Mountain Inc. NASCAR Latemodels, Speed Tour Modifieds powered by Pit Stop USA, McDonald’s Street Stocks, Project Filter Mini Modifieds, Magic Valley Speedway Hornets, and Budweiser Bombers settled their seasons with a full night of short track thrills and spills as they pursued the night’s Snake River Legends trophies.
Action in the Western Mountain Inc. NASCAR Latemodel ranks got physical early as contact before the green flag shot outside polesitter Stacy Borgeman into the turn four barriers. No significant damage was done in this scuffle, but a handful of laps into the feature contact in turn two sent Doyal Moen and Mike Hadnham spinning down the back chute. Hadnham piled into the concrete barriers while Moen slid is Fast Lane Automotive, Oxygen Health Spa of Twin Falls machine through the grass and back onto the track in turn three.
Up front, Dan Root, Jr and point leader Shawn Lester dueled for the lead. Root, Jr worked the outside of the track while Lester wheeled his Jackson’s Spuds, Turn Key Realty racer around the inside line. Hard racing led to contact in turn two, which send Root, Jr up the racetrack and allowed Lester to take the top spot.
But Lester wasn’t safe out front as he came under fire from Andrew Palmer. Palmer’s Freedom Payments, Bobby’s Transmission car was strong on the outside, and he motored past Lester to take the top spot. While Palmer cruised to the victory Lester held off a hard-charging Daniel Johnson to finish in the runner up spot.
The division’s second feature got off to another explosive start as early contact sent Lester headlong into the back stretch wall and Palmer bounding through the infield grass. Damage to Palmer’s car was light, but the same could not be said for Lester, who limped to the pit area minus the bulk of his right front suspension.
On the restart Scott Gilligan got the drop on Root, Jr and roared to the lead. Gilligan’s lead was short lived as he spun in treacherous turn two and handed the lead to Morgan Rassmussen, with Johnson second and a resurgent Palmer third.
With ten laps left Johnson made his move, but his machine was too loose, and he was picked off in lapped traffic and fell to third. This left Palmer on Rasmussen’s rear bumper.
Steam poured from Palmer’s machine as he opened a comfortable advantage over Rasmussen, who found himself in another tussle with Johnson as the laps wound down. But Palmer was able to keep his machine together and cross the finish line first ahead of Rassmussen, Moen, Johnson, and Gilligan.
As Palmer wrapped up his victory lane interview Lester’s battered racer was hauled out of the pit area and staged on the front straightaway.
The McDonald’s Street Stocks saw a pair of early melees in their final feature of the year. First, contact sent early leader Alaura McWilliams around in front of the field. McWilliams slid her machine into the infield before anyone else was collected.
Jamie Hyde was not as lucky five laps later as contact with Jeff Peck sent his machine directly into the back stretch wall. Hyde’s Guppies Hot Rod Grille entry hopped on top of the concrete barriers and spun around backwards before making landfall. Zaine Newberry was able to miss Hyde’s machine but was squeezed into the wall by Peck as he fought to regain control of his racer.
When the smoke cleared Hyde climbed from his battered racer okay. Despite their damage Peck and Newberry were able to continue.
Once the green flag waved again McClimans piloted his Advantage Archery, Valley View Veterinary Clinic car to a sizeable lead while Andrew Palmer and Mitch Pehrson battled for second and third behind him. Palmer got around Pehrson’s Donate Life, Praxair racer and closed on McClimans. As the laps wound down Palmer worked the low line while McClimans kept his momentum up on the outside. With the white flag out the lead duo came upon lapped traffic at the exit of turn two. McClimans got by clean, but Palmer had to take evasive action and could only watch as McClimans punctuated his season championship with a victory.
The Speed Tour Modifieds powered by Pit Stop USA wrapped up their season with a forty lap feature. Jonathon Gomez stormed to the top spot in his Western Mountain Inc., Desert Dog Renewables racer while Donovan Barr and Zach Webster fought for the runner up spot. Point leader Barr got the best of this battle in his STR, Sound Hound Stereo machine and turned his sights on Gomez while Webster fell into the clutches of Eric Rhead.
Barr could keep pace with Gomez but never closed enough to pose a significant threat for the lead. Behind the lead pair Rhead jabbed low on Webster lap after lap in his bid for third place. Webster kept his Advanced Maintenance, Idaho Powder Coating and Sandblasting entry wound up on the outside for as long as he could, but with fifteen laps left he was forced to concede the spot to Rhead.
A late caution flag gave Barr one last shot at the win, but Gomez was too strong, and he roared to victory ahead of Barr, Rhead, and Webster.
Project Filter Mini Modified point leader Amanda Burlingame got a front row seat to a lap two incident that sent Cecil Miles hard into the barriers between turns three and four. Miles ground his way across the barriers in a shower of sparks before he came to rest back on the asphalt.
Once Miles’ machine was cleared the green flag waved over Ronn McClimans and Jordan Carpenter. Carpenter got the better of this battle and brought Chad Everett with him past McClimans. As Everett fought to dispatch Carpenter he lost the handle on his A2J Towing and Recovery, A1 Towing and Repair machine and spun to the infield. This spin only made Everett faster, and he ripped through the field on the restart and back into the second spot in just a handful of laps. With just Carpenter between himself and the win Everett committed to the high side, and steamed around Carpenter to take the lead and the eventual feature win.
Magic Valley Speedway Hornets competitor Tiffany Moen entered Saturday night’s action with an outside shot at taking the title from Justin Ford. Moen dominated the division’s final feature of the year, but Ford worked his way through traffic to finish third and claim the championship. Alex Fitterman finished second with Cris Endicott fourth and Peyton Hardenbrook fifth.
The Budweiser Bombers completed their 2024 campaign with a wild dash to the checkers. When the smoke cleared Jonathon Gomez stood victorious beside his James Bond-themed machine.
Although mechanical gremlins sidelined his machine for the night, Brandon Adams had enough points in reserve to claim the season title.
On behalf of all of us at Magic Valley Speedway, thank you for joining us this season. We appreciate your patronage and are working hard to continue bringing the best short track auto racing in the Northwest to the greatest race fans in the country. We’ll see you again in 2025 for the fortieth season of racing at Idaho’s fastest NASCAR Home Track, Magic Valley Speedway.
Submitted By: Tyler Schild