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Lots of action and fast laps is the theme of the night!!

By DJ Everett

It was the first visit of the year for the invading Speed Tour Sprint Cars and Modifieds at Magic Valley Speedway on Brennan’s Carpet & Design night!  Along with them were the Cactus Petes Streets, McClimans Racing Engines Minis, Quale’s Electronics Jr Stingers and the Magic Valley Pipe Hornets!  The crowd settled in for one of the most exciting nights of the year and the action didn’t disappoint on this night!

The first main event of the night was the Quale’s Electronics Jr Stingers and as they took the green it was Kristopher McKean with the early lead.  Kaili McKean put heavy pressure on her younger brother for the top spot with Roxy Nolan looking on in third.  Kristopher eventually was able to put some distance on Kaili and cruise to his first main event win of the year.

The McClimans Racing Engines Minis were next for their main event.  At the start of the race it was Andrew Prince sporting his new mini this week taking the lead.  Roy Boots Jr, Cecil Miles, and Eddy Cole from the back started to work their way forward.  After numerous laps of jockeying for position throughout the pack, Cole and Boots Jr caught Prince to make it a three-car race for the lead.  The white flag came out and Cole made a last ditch effort going into turn 3 on the inside of Prince and as they exited turn 4 side by side the two touched sending Cole for a spin to the grass and Prince being the first under the checkered flag scoring his first win of the year.  

During intermission the R&A Trucking Big Wheelz race took place and as the youngsters gave it their all it was Kimber that was first at the checkered flag.  

The Quale’s Electronics Jr Stingers and the Magic Valley Pipe Hornets rolled out for their main events in which we had two races in one.  Jr Flagger Peyton Hughes threw the green flag to get it started and the two groups of cars charged into turn 1.  Zach Rydalch led it early in the hornet race with Roxy Nolan leading the stinger race.  Rydalch drove away from the pack of hornets with Brayden Sweatfield in second giving chase.  Nolan did the same and drove away from the stinger pack and was out to a sizeable lead.  Sweatfield found the tires in the infield portion of the track and that gave Peggy Dean the runner-up spot at that point of the race.  Kaili and Kristopher McKean battled hard for second with Nolan still holding the advantage at the front of the stinger field.  Checkered flag flew and both Rydalch and Nolan made this one look easy taking the wins.  It was Roxy Nolan’s first career main event win at MVS.  Trophy Presenter Ethan Villars presented the hardware to the happy winners.

The Cactus Petes Streets were next on the track with a good field on hand.  At the drop of the green the shuffling happened right away throughout the pack.  Shawn Lester was the leader at the line at the end of lap 1 but he had some heavy company on his bumper in the name of Willie Dalton, Steve Edens Sr, and Roy Boots Jr.  Lester did a great job holding off the competition behind him in the first half of the race but it was go time for Dalton.  Dalton dove underneath Lester and moved into the lead with a hard charging Boots Jr joining the two.  Boots Jr was able to get by Lester for second and immediately challenged Dalton for the lead.  Great racing as Dalton and Boots Jr ran side by side for multiple laps trying to grab the lead from each other.   Boots Jr trying desperately to stop Dalton’s win streak, got loose exiting turn 4 and spun it to the grass on the infield bringing out the caution flag.  On the restart, it was all Dalton as he streaked away from everyone and held it all the way to the checkered flag scoring another win this year.  

The McClimans Racing Engines Minis came back out for their second main event of the night.  Robbie Hyde took control of the race early on as the leader with Chad Everett closing in fast.  Andrew Prince made his way to third with Zaine Newberry, Cecil Miles, and Roy Boots Jr all doing battle in the middle of the pack.  Everett caught Hyde and made an outside move to grab the lead bringing Prince up into second.  Eddy Cole joined in on the fun with 8 cars battling hard at the front of the field.  Cole started to challenge Everett for the lead with Miles battling hard with Prince for third.  During the middle portion of the race the traffic was heavy with drivers side by side 3 rows deep at the front.  As the field took the white flag, Cole and Everett were still side by side for the lead and as they rounded turn 4 heading for the checkered flag, both Cole and Everett ran faster than the mandatory breakout time giving the win to Prince who was the third car across the line.  Prince became a double main event winner on this night. 

The lightning quick Speed Tour Sprint Cars pushed off for their 35 lap main event.  The field charged into turn 1 on the opening lap and it was Matt Elliott in the Jimmy Waters #24 out in front and started to stretch out his lead.  Two-time main event winner so far this year, Cory Lockwood started to make his way through the field and started to challenge Aaron McPeak for second when his car slowed on the frontstretch ending his night.  Elliott up front continued to run away from the field when Monty Bergener brought out the first caution sliding through the grass on the inside of turn 2.  Back under way and Elliott again got out to a good lead on the field.  Kyle Bergener moved into second bringing quick qualifier Casey Tillman into third.  Bergener started to close in on leader Elliott when Elliott’s car slowed on the backstretch and limped it off into the pit area ending his great run.  Kyle Bergener inherited the lead with Tillman on his rear tail tank.  Tillman didn’t waste time as he was able to get by Bergener for the lead and now Tillman started to run and hide from the field.  Colton Nelson entered the pictured and was challenging Bergener for second in which after a few laps, Nelson was able to get the spot when the caution flew again for McPeak slowing and pulling off into the infield.  Fireworks happened in this race on the restart as Nelson put a wheel down low on leader Tillman heading into turn 1 when the two cars came together and both started to spin, third place Kyle Bergener caught of piece of Nelson’s spinning car and all three cars had to retire from the race.  That handed the lead over to Rob Grice who was running fourth at the time of the incident.  It started to become a race of attrition as the field was shortened considerably at the time of the final restart.  When the green came back out, Grice started to pull away.  Monty Bergener started to make some moves late in the race getting by Jarett Burdette for second.  A couple of laps later coming off turn 2, Bergener’s left rear wheel came off sending his car into a spin and into the backstretch wall while his tire skipped down the backstretch launching high in the air and clearing the turn 3 wall. This incident brought out the checkered flag giving Rob Grice his first career Speed Tour Sprint Car main event win.

The final race of the night was the Speed Tour Modified 65 lap main event.  Outside front row starter Natalie Waters led the field on lap 1 but the Hammer Lynn Hardy grabbed the lead and it looked like he was going to run away with it.  Waters did a great job holding her own in second until she got loose in turns 3 and 4 and Andrew Richardson, Zach Webster, and Shelby Stroebel took advantage of the situation.  Hardy had a half of a straightaway advantage but multi time modified champion Stroebel started to make his move.  Stroebel was able to get by Webster and Richardson to move into the second spot and started to track down leader Hardy.  Some other heavy hitters in the middle of the pack, Dylan Caldwell and Eric Rhead started to make their moves up through the field as well.  Stroebel finally caught Hardy and put an inside move to take the lead making it look easy.  Caution flag flew for Matt Egley spinning coming off turn 2 and this bunched the field for the restart.  Green flag flew and Stroebel launched his machine back in front with Richardson getting the best of Hardy to move into second.  It only took a few laps for Rhead to move into third when the caution flew again for Waters spinning just exiting turn 2.  Two-time main event winner so far in 2021 with the Speed Tour modifieds, Wyatt King was caught in the middle of the pack during the first half of this race but was lining himself up for a good finish.  Restart again and Stroebel shot in front with Rhead now challenging Richardson for second and at the same time Caldwell was putting the pressure on Hardy for fourth.  Rhead did it the hard way putting it up on the outside of Richardson and taking the spot away.  The two fastest cars all day were now running first and second.  Caution one more time for Tim Fahrner spinning into the grass off turn 4.  Stroebel and Rhead was now lined up side by side on the front row for the restart but that didn’t faze Stroebel as he was able to grab the lead again when the green flew.  King started to move his way up getting by Caldwell for fifth and was ready to pounce on Hardy for fourth.  After running side by side for multiple laps, King was able to wrestle the spot away from Hardy.  Up front, Stroebel was running laps slightly quicker than Rhead and started to inch away.  Stroebel remained calm and cool running very fast laps and drove it all the way to the checkers giving himself his second Speed Tour modified win of the year.  Rhead brought it home in second and a very good race for Richardson making the top 3.  King and Caldwell with both having don’t give up attitudes rounded out the top 5.

We would like to congratulate our selfie winners Harley Shockey, Robinson Barry, Brittney Smith, and James Springer each winning an admission ticket to the next event which is Marky’s Super Tow Night featuring the ICCU Modifieds, Cactus Petes Streets, McClimans Racing Engines Minis, Project Filter Bombers, and the double deckers.  Remember, we take the weekend off on Memorial Day weekend but we are back in action on 6/5.  Happy Memorial Day everyone and we will see you in two weeks at the party place in the valley…………………Magic Valley Speedway!!!

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