Diamond Cup Meridian, Idaho Friday 2008

ASA Northwest Sprint Car Series at Meridian Speedway, Meridian Idaho May 30th and 31st, 2008

The fourth and fifth scheduled race of the season was held at the Meridian Speedway.  A major event, the Diamond Cup is a two day event.  For the first time ever the Diamond Cup featured winged sprint cars competing for the custom crafted diamond ring made especially for this event by Direct Diamond Imports. Twenty-six teams from Washington, Idaho, and Oregon unloaded their sprint cars at the track and set about preparing the cars for the weekend event.

Friday’s race was perfect !  The yellow flag was never removed from it’s holder for the entire night !  Saturday’s race was unfortunately just the opposite.  The yellow prevailed throughout the day and night with the red flown twice.

First, Friday’s action.  Fast time for the night was set by Brandon Johnson in the 14j car at just 11.435 seconds around the quarter-mile low banked track.  From quickest to slowest just 1.576 seconds separated the field of twenty-six cars.  The local drivers outnumbered the ASA/NSRA tour drivers sixteen to ten.  Second quick in qualifying were the ASA.NSRA drivers Andy Alberding piloting the #76 car to an 11.658 second lap followed by Matt Hein wheeling the #98h car around the circuit with an 11.665 second lap.  Other tour drivers R. J. Fronsman #25z qualified fifth at 11.838; Adam Roduner #82  sixth at 11.840, Cory Lockwood #99r seventh at 11.866, Todd Coleman #44c ninth at 11.903, Jake Mann #51 eleventh at 11.970, Greg Middendorf 4 twelfth at 12.008, Justin Mack #17 fifteenth at 12.088, and Sierra Jackson #25j nineteenth at 12.267. 

During qualifying the #82 car of Adam Roduner popped out of gear just prior to his taking the green flag.  His engine over revved and he immediately pulled to the outside of the track and shut down the engine.  It was found that the handle to engage the drive train was loose allowing the car to come out of gear.  His car was refired on the track for him to come around and take the green flag for qualifying.  Once back in his pit area the problem was corrected for the balance of the weekend.

After qualifying, the #16r car of Tyler Monroe found a frozen roller lifter in their engine.  Disassembly of the top end of the motor revealed the failed part and thinking was to replace the offending part and the camshaft.  Further inspection later in the night at a local shop found a spun cam bearing as well as two damaged cam lobes negating repairs to make the car ready for the next day’s racing.  Another car was brought out for Tyler for Saturday’s race.

The first competition of the day, the B Trophy Dash brought out the #05 car piloted by Jim Todd on the pole, the #17 car of Justin Mack on the outside pole, the #44q of Austin Hager on the second row inside, and the #4 car of Greg Middendorf on the outside of the second row.  At the green flag the #17 made his move on the #05 car in turns one and two and came away with the lead on the backstretch.  Throughout the quick four laps the #17 stretched out his lead over the #05 car.  The #44q tried repeatedly to get around the #05 car but could not make the pass before the checkered flag flew.  The finishing order for the B Trophy Dash was the #17 Justin Mack, #05 Jim Todd second, #44q Austin Hager third, and #4 Greg Middendorf fourth.

The A Trophy Dash started the #25z car of R. J. Fronsman on the pole, #01 Ken Hamilton, outside pole, #98h Matt Hein inside second row, and #76 Andy Alberding, outside second row.  From the green to the checkered the positions didn’t change resulting in a finishing order the same as the starting grid.

The heat races would transfer the top three finishers of each race to the A Main.  Those finishing fourth on back would have to battle in the B Main to move up to the A Main for the night.  The competitors had just eight laps in their heats to either stay in the top three or work their way into the top three.

The first of four Heat races featured the #5 car of Steve Freeman on the pole, the #13 car of Dave Quick on the outside pole, #05 of Jim Todd inside second row, #97 of James Hamilton Jr. outside second row, #7v of Cody Veenstra inside third row, #01 of Ken Hamilton outside third row.  At the green flag the #5 car took the early lead. In the first lap Cody Veenstra worked his way forward getting around the #97 and the #05 cars.  On the second lap the #01 and #05 touched wheels in turns one and two but continued on with out damage.  By lap three the #13 and #7v and worked their way around the #5 car taking over first and second place.  By lap four the #05 and #01 cars had moved around the #5 car taking over third and fourth.  The #01 passed the #05 car on lap five to claim third place.  Also on lap five the #97 passed the #5 car for fifth place.  Over the last two laps the #01 car challenged the #7v car on the outside but couldn’t get the position.  One last try coming off turn four for the checkered came away without a change of position for the 37v and #01 cars.  The finishing order for Heat one was the #13, #7v, #01, #05, #97, and the #5.

The second Heat race started the #77 car of Matt Elliot on the pole, #25j of Sierra Jackson outside pole, #17 of Justin Mack inside second row, #51 of Jake Mann outside second row, #99r of Cory Lockwood inside third row, and the #98h of Matt Hein outside third row.  At the green flag #77 led into turns one and two with the #25j car challenging on the outside.  Out of turn four #25j took the lead as lap one was completed.  By lap three the #51 was in second place with the #98h moving into third place.  #77 had slipped back to fourth place.  #17 challenged the #77 for fourth over the remaining laps but was unsuccessful in his attempt.  The last five laps the field remained unchanged with the finishing order for Heat two #25j, #51, #98h, #77, #17, and #99r.

Heat three featured the #7e of Bob Witte on the pole, #26 of Dave Perry outside pole, #44q of Austin Hager inside second row, #37 of Mike Cullum outside second row, #82 of Adam Roduner inside third row, #76 of Andy Alberding outside third row, and #3 of Robert Beck inside fourth row.  Robert Beck’s car and crew were at the race track, unfortunately Robert didn’t arrive to the track in time to qualify his car.  Having received ten laps for safety/checkout of his car earlier he was ready to run his first race of the night. During the first lap #26 and #37 bumped on the backstretch with the #76 trying to take advantage to get around but couldn’t make the pass.  During the first lap the #3 had moved from last into fourth place.  By lap three the #3 car had moved into second position with the #76 taking the third position away from the #44q car.  The top four stayed the same for the remaining five laps.  Finishing order for Heat three was #37, #3, #76, #44q, #26, #7e, and #82.

Heat four was to start the #16r of Tyler Monroe on the pole.  The roller lifter and resulting damage kept the car in the pits leaving the #9 of James Hamilton on the pole, #4 of Greg Middendorf outside pole, #44c of Todd Coleman inside second row, #25z of R. J. Fronsman outside second row, #14j Brandon Johnson inside third row, and #93 Greg Nelson outside third row.  In the first lap the #14j had moved into fourth position on the track.  Lap three had the #9 in first, #44c in second and #14j in third, the #16 and #4 car falling back.  The 25z car had moved forward to fourth position getting around both the #16 and #4 cars.  The #14j car continually challenged the #44c car for second over the remaining laps but could not get around the #44c.  The #14j made one last attempt coming out of turn four on the final lap and got the car sideways on the front straight but recovered and finished third.  Finishing order for Heat four was #9, #44c, #14j, #25z, #4, and #93.

The teams had a short turnaround to the B Main and with only the top eight transferring to the A Main there wasn’t much time for adjustments to the cars and relief for the drivers.  The B Main started thirteen cars with the #25z of R. J. Fronsman on the pole, #82 of Adam Roduner outside pole, #99r Cory Lockwood inside second row, #97 James Hamilton Jr. outside second row, #4 Greg Middendorf inside third row, #44q Austin Hager outside third row, #17 Justin Mack inside fourth row, #05 Jim Todd outside fourth row, #26 Dave Perry inside fifth row, #7e Bob Witte outside fifth row, #77 Matt Elliot inside sixth row, #5 Steve Freeman outside sixth row, and #93 Greg Nelson inside seventh row.  At the green the #25z jumped into the lead followed by the #82 and #99r.  During lap three the #44q moved around the #97 and the #4 car.  On lap five the #26 car pulled off the track into the pits a victim of a sheared driveshaft at the rearend.  Shortly after the #26 the #44q car pulled out of the race to the pits as well.  On lap eight the #93 car left the racing surface for the pits leaving a finishing order of #25z, #82, #99r, #97, #4, #17, #77, #7e transferring to the A Main and the #05 and #5 finished racing for the night.  The #44q, #93, and #26 did not finish.

The final race for the night the A Main started twenty cars with the top eight inverted putting the #51 of Jake Mann on the pole, #37 of Mike Cullum outside pole, #44c of Todd Coleman inside second row, #7v of Cody Veenstra outside second row, #01 of Ken Hamilton inside third row, #98h of Matt Hein outside third row, #76 of Andy Alberding inside fourth row, 14j of Brandon Johnson outside fourth row, #9 of James Hamilton inside fifth row, #25j of Sierra Jackson outside fifth row, #13 of Dave Quick inside sixth row, #3 Robert Beck outside sixth row, #25z R. J. Fronsman inside seventh row, #82 Adam Roduner outside seventh row, #99r Cody Lockwood inside eighth row, #97 James Hamilton Jr. outside eighth row, #4 Greg Middendorf inside ninth row, # 17 Justin Mack outside ninth row, #77 Matt Elliot inside tenth row, and #7e outside tenth row.  During the warm up laps the #77 and #97 went back into the pits.  Only the #97 returned before the start of the race.  The #77 had a leaking valve cover gasket allowing oil onto the header.  By the time the cause was found it was too late for the #77 to make the start of the A Main.  After the warm-up laps before the start of the race the #9 stopped on the track and required a push truck to assist in getting the car to the pits.  The #9 fell victim to a shattered brake rotor.  With now eighteen cars lined up for the green the flag fell over the field with the #51 holding the lead while #37 challenged on the outside through turns one and two.  Unsuccessful in his bid the #51 led the first lap.  The #14j car started his move to the front.  By lap three #14j was challenging #98h for sixth place.  By lap four the #51 retained his lead but the third through the sixth positions had changed.  Third was now #7v followed by #14j into fourth, fifth was #98h with #44c sliding back to sixth.  By lap eleven the #51 car was close to lapping the last place car.  Just a few laps later the #51 put the #25z a lap down.  With the leader in lapped traffic the #37 car was challenging the leader.  As the #51 put the #97 a lap down the #37 tried a pass on the leader on the outside.  The bid was unsuccessful however the #37 kept pressure on the #51 through lap 20.  By lap twenty-one the #14j had moved into third place.  On lap twenty-three #98h challenged for fourth place now held by 7v but was unsuccessful.  On the next lap #98h challenged again and this time got around the #7v.  On lap twenty-five #14j was putting heavy pressure on the #37 and this battle for second  was allowing the #51 to put a little distance on second place #37.  On lap thirty-two #14j moved around #37 to take over the second spot.  On lap thirty-four the #14j car took over the lead from the #51.  By lap thirty-seven the #37 had again caught the now second place #51 and was challenging for the position.  On the last lap the #37 tried hard to get under the #51 going into turn three but was unsuccessful.  The #37 tried again coming off turn four while the #76 was getting around the #98h car for fourth.  The #37 spun going across the finish line trying to get by the #51 car.  The finish order was #14j, #51, #37, #98h, #76, #01, #7, #25j, #3, #25z, #44c, #17, #4, #82, #99r, #97, #7e, and #13.  Fourteen cars finished on the lead lap, with the last four cars one lap down.

The unique and special feature of all the racing this night was that not once was the caution flag waved during any of the races run !