Mission Valley Speedway 2000-05-28

Mission Valley Speedway
Sunday, May 28th, 2000
By: Stefanie Nordberg

Pablo, MT - Saturday night racing at the Mission Valley Speedway here showed with a worrisome black sky, which threatened rain. Time trials were just getting underway when a major downpour caused the cancellation of the evenings events (the first since 1998!) Rain checks were given to return for racing on Sunday, the 28th at 1:00 PM.

Sunday came and brought with it a better looking sky, warm temperatures and a few extra racers that were unable to make it the night before! Trophy sponsor for the weekend was Uni-Chem, Inc. out of Missoula. Amy Franklin, a Ronan High School student, and daughter of Mike and Laurie Franklin, gave trophy presentations. Billy Flesch drove Ms. Franklin in a customized 1982 Chevrolet Blazer, owned by Ryan Reum.

Two out of the four scheduled classes for the weekend had driver's complete rare sweeps. Chris DeReu, a super stock driver out of Columbia Falls posted the fast time of the night for his class, a 15.97. DeReu's time also took over the fast time of the year for the 2000 season that was previously held by Tracy Burland of Ronan.

DeReu lead all but two laps during the super stocks three races! In the Super stock main event, Corey Wolfe and Rocky Walters were both penalized four place finishes due to being underweight at the scales after the Main. This left the line up as follows, Chris DeReu in first, Tracy Burland in second and Mike Lyons in third.

The Compact class made an excellent showing with nine cars, two of which were out for their first time this year, with a total of six compact drivers being rookies in the class! Last seasons Compact champion was the other driver to complete a rare sweep. Arnie Coleman, Ronan, posted fast time of the night then took first in the Trophy Dash, Heat and Main Event races for the Compacts!

The Bomber class always seems to be one of the favorites of the crowd. Be it for the sheer number of cars competing or possibly the bit of contact that always seems to happen. Sunday proved to be just that with several spinouts, two black flag warnings for contact between drivers and one driver who hit the wall on turn four! The Bomber drivers shared the winnings with different drivers taking each of the events.

One track record was set during the night. Frank Miller, out of Lolo, driving Formula Indy #0 posted a 14.87 second lap during time trials. Miller accepted the record and had his car tech'd and confirmed to be legal. Miller also took home first place finishes in the Heat and Main event races, but ran out of laps trying to pass Chris McCallum, Indy driver #13 Missoula, during the Trophy Dash.

Don't forget to buy your tickets for Mission Valley Speedway's Premiere 2000 event, The Northwest Sprints Car Racing Association; Winged Sprints will be here on Saturday, July 8th! These cars will average in the low 100's to as much as 125 MPH on the backstretch of the track! They guarantee they will be the fastest cars ever to race at the Speedway!

Advanced tickets can be bought prior to the event at the Speedway ticket booth any Saturday, or at Bob's Auto Mart in Pablo, Buffalo Auto Parts in Polson, Parts Plus in Ronan, and Cams Race-N-Place in Kalispell.

June 10th will see the return of the Inland Empires Northwest Late Model Fours, the Budweiser Compacts, the Alamon Telco Formula Indys and a Pitman/Sponsors race. Check us out on the web at www.pitstop.com/mvs/index.htm

RACE RESULTS
Sunday, 5/28/00
SUPER STOCKS
Fast Time of the Night: Chris DeReu 15.97

Trophy Dash: 1) Chris DeReu, 2) Corey Wolfe, 3) Mike Lyons, 4) Tracy Burland

Heat: 1) Chris DeReu, 2) Corey Wolfe, 3) Rocky Walters

Main: 1) Chris DeReu, 2) Tracy Burland, 3) Mike Lyons, 4) Josh Burland, 5) Corey Wolfe, 6) Rocky Walters

BUDWEISER COMPACTS
Fast Time of the Night: Arnie Coleman 17.89

Trophy Dash A: 1) Arnie Coleman, 2) Vic Robinson, 3) Josh Burland (driving for Lynn Olsen, 4) Alvin Brester

Trophy Dash B: 1) Brian Robinson, 2) Mike McVey, 3) Steve Fouty, 4) Scott Cheff

Heat: 1) Arnie Coleman, 2) Josh Burland (driving for Olsen), 3) Brian Robinson

Main: 1) Arnie Coleman, 2) Josh Burland (driving for Olsen), 3) Alvin Brester, 4) Brian Robinson, 5) Vic Robinson, 6) Tony Adams, 7) Steve Fouty, 8)Mike McVey, 9) Scott Cheff

BOMBERS
Fast Time of the Night: Bob Watt 19.02

Trophy Dash: 1) James Kammerer, 2) Chuck Morigeau, 3) Mike Drake, 4) Bob Watt

Heat: 1) Chuck Morigeau, 2) Bob Watt, 3) James Kammerer

Main: 1) James Kammerer, 2) Bob Watt, 3) Chuck Morigeau, 4) Mike Drake, 5) RJ Watt, 6) Raymond Matt, 7) Duane Olsen

ALAMON TELCO FORMULA INDYS
Fast Time of the Night: Frank Miller 14.87

Trophy Dash: 1) Chris McCallum, 2) Frank Miller, 3) Don Staggs

Heat: 1) Frank Miller, 2) Don Staggs, 3) Chris McCallum

Main: 1) Frank Miller, 2) Chris McCallum, 3) Don Staggs, 4) Brian Flory, 5) Chuck Wiech, 6) Crockett/Hawkins