New
Champion Crowned at the 16th Annual Coors Light Montana 200.
Jefferson leads all 200 laps....as Record Crowd Cheers on!!!!
Jeff Jefferson, Shelby Thompson & Alex Lessor go 1-2-3 in the
Montana 200.....
The Rumble was heard in Montana when the 16th Annual Coors Light
Montana 200 was in full action this past weekend. The big boys
of the Northwest rolled in to town to show the fans of the
Flathead what short track racing is all about. The great fans
rolled into the stands making it a record crowd for Montana
Raceway Park. Everything kicked off on Thursday the 13th of July
with the open practice for all the race teams to get their car
set up for the High Banked oval in the Flathead Valley, then it
was to the biggest party of the Summer as the Rainbow Bar
presented the race and the kick off party as drivers all signed
autographs for the fans of the Flathead. That was the the easy
day as the drivers were back at the track in the early AM with a
new attitude and lots of focus to be in the top 12. The top 12
qualifiers are locked into the Montana 200 on Sat. night and
gives a sigh of relief for the drivers and crews of those in the
top 12 spots. The top 12 then raced a 30 lap positioning race
that would be 30% of their starting position in the Montana 200.
It was a night of short track racing and always full of
surprises at this show. The #44 driven and owned by Mark Owens
out of Kalispell, MT and the 1995 Montana 200 champion was the
overall fast time winner, qualifying in at 12:911. It had been
many years since a hometown boy had earned the fast time, a
happy Ownes racing team celebrated in the pits on Friday Night.
The top 12 qualifiers were #44 Owens, #46 Troy Conrad, #42 Jeff
Jefferson, #84 Christian Roeder, #11 Tom Sweatman, #25 Ken
Kaltschmidt, #14 Kevin Richards, #51 Eric Hardgraves, #93 Dave
Garber, #95 Dan Garber, #71 Don Vickery and #9 Josh Roberts.
In the fast 12 positioning race it was #14 Kevin Richards out of
Spokane, Wa taking the win over Jeff Jefferson #42 and #11 Tom
Sweatman in the third place spot. With Jefferson's 3rd place in
qualifying and 2nd place in the positioning race earned his spot
on the pole for the Montana 200.
The Super Fast Super Late Models competed in two trophy dashes
for the fans, The slow dash winner was #8 Kevin Goe out of
Columbia Falls, MT over fellow race from Columbia Falls #74
Rocky Erickson. For the Fast dash the #84 Christian Roeder out
of Ephrata, WA and the 2004 Montana 200 champion took the win in
the fast dash over #42 Jeff Jefferson. Also on Friday the next
Super Late Model race was the next qualifier for the Montana
200. A 40 lap event with the top 6 making their way into the
main event. Shelby Thompson who missed the top 12 by only 2
spots had a goal in mind and nothing was going to get in his
way, he would take the win of the 40 lap qualifier with no
problems. Comming in second was the #91 Make a Wish car driven
by Jason Hendrick, Hendrick was the 13th qualifier. Rookie
driver Alex Lessor driving the #53 car for TSP Motorsports came
in third. This was Lessor's first Montana 200 and only his 5th
Late Model race of his career. The 4th spot went to #77 driven
by Bodie Morton out of Kalispell, 5th spot went to the 1998
Montana 200 champion Tim Elliott out of Creston, BC and the 6th
place spot went to the 1994 Montana 200 champion #88 Cory Wolfe
out of Ronan, MT. The rest of the field would race on Sat night
in the Last Chance Qualifier- 40 laps with the top 5 moving into
the big race.
Also on tap for the Montana 200 was the Coors Light Flathead
Legends, the Legends raced both nights of the Montana 200 giving
the fans a bumper to bumper race.
Hometown Hero #48 Jake Grosswiler took the fast time for the
evening with a 14:890 over the out of town rivals the Carey
Brothers. Rookie driver Mark Gallager driving the #53 car took
his first win of the season in the B dash on Friday Night over
#19 Rick Semeniuck of Calgary Canada. In the A dash it was
Grosswiler taking the win over #42 Rowan Carey. In the B heat
race for the Legends it was Canadian BJ Mario taking the win in
the B-Heat race over #53 Gallager and fellow rookie driver in
his 3rd race ever #67 Jason Young. In the A heat race it was #22
Scott Dalla taking the checkered flag for the first time this
season over #48 Grosswiler and rookie #36 Wrango West, West has
made a huge move from 1 year in the Bandoleros to the Legend
Division at only 15 years old. The Legends were out at the high
banked oval to put on a show and show they did. In the B main it
was BJ Mario again taking the win over #12 Tim Corbett and #4
Brad Sentell. The top 7 finishers moved up to the A main on
Friday Night. In the A main it was door to door action with the
Carey Brothers, Grosswiler and Dalla. These four drivers were
racing hard and every lap the crowd didnt know who who take the
lead. The #42 driven by Rowan Carey was the one to take the win
over #48 Jake Grosswiler in Firday's main. Nick Carey #33 and
#22 Scott Dalla came in third and fourth. The finishing order of
Friday's mains would determine the lineup for the Legends Main
race on Sat Night.
We were back the next am, everyone showing a bit of fatigue from
a lot of hard work and racing, but shift into gear and get
ready, racing is not a time for wimps, you have to suck it up
buttercup and be ready to roll. Many drivers showed a bit of
nervousness and a bit of stress for the ones in the LCQ, only
five were going to the big show. Who was to make it?????
What can you say about the LCQ race except it is all about the
Last Man Standing. The racers were taking no prisoners. After a
very long 40 laps, 5 cautions and 2 red flags, the top 5 that
were going to run the 50 miles were #1 Agni Howell, #22 Brian
McCoy, #54 Mike Obrist, #74 Rocky Erickson and #57 Bob
Schweigert.
The Super Late Models that were in would have a short time to
regroup to get ready for the Montana 200. After full driver
introductions the drivers were strapped in and the engines were
started by the official started the Flathead County Sheriff Mike
Meehan. Meehan would also give the green flag after the fans
were on their feet with the roar of the crowd and rumble of the
engines that was sure to be heard all over the Valley. Jefferson
who was on the pole took the lead and for the first time in the
history of the Montana 200, lead all 200 laps. 23 Late Models
would take the stage to go for the $10,000.00 first place money.
After only 29 laps past Montana 200 champion #84 Christian
Roeder was off with a bad engine, 3 laps later Bob Schweiger #57
was off the track with engine problems, 9 more laps and another
engine of the #9 Josh Roberts. With about 40 laps gone a wreck
in turn 4 took out 2 past Montana 200 champions and tow of the
fastest cars on the track #46 Troy Conrad and #11 Tom Sweatrman.
The #1 Agni Howell was also taken off the track a that time and
then there was 17, 1 lap late Montana 200 hopeful #14 Kevin
Richards off with Engine problems and then there was 16. 16 cars
made it to the 100 lap break with the teams given 15 minutes to
work on their cars and change tires and then it was back to
racing. In the next 60 laps 3 more cars would be off the track
#74 Rocky Erickson made it 123 laps until the unfortunate event
of an engine break, the #93 of Dave Garber got into a mishap
taking him to the turn 3 wall. Then Eric Hargraves would be the
next to suffer from engine problems. As the cars were leaving
the track Jefferson was staying clear of any carnage and stayed
smooth lap after lap. The #3 of Shelby Thompson and the #44 Mark
Owens got into a little mishap causing them to go to the back of
the pack. Thompson was not in the mood to stay there, lap after
lap he moved up positions, he was on a mission picking off one
car at a time. As the laps were ticking off the new champion was
getting closer and closer to the title. Alex Lessor was was
behind Jefferson for many laps finally lost his position to
Thompson on a restart and in the end of the Coors Light Montana
200 it was Jeff Jefferson in the spot light, this was
Jefferson's first time at the Montana 200 the accomplished
driver showed his patience and skill on Saturday night. #3 and
team mate Shelby Thompson in 2nd, racing's bad boy, nice wheely
on the track Thompson. Rookie driver #53 Alex Lessor in third,
this was the first time a rookie driver in the Super Late Models
ever finished in the top three. The fans went wild as the
drivers were presented their awards
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