Paden, of Downey, Calif., won Saturday night's 30-lap feature race in his Anglemyer Crane Rental/Centex Rentals Esslinger, taking the lead on the final lap when Jay Drake's magneto failed. Drake had built a sizeable lead in his quest for what would have been his 18th USAC triumph of the 2000 season. He had posted the fastest qualifying time of 39 qualifiers on Friday and limped across the finish line in fourth place in Saturday's race.
Wally Pankratz of Orange, Calif. is back atop the Western series standings in quest of his first USAC driving championship after finishing seventh in Saturday's race. Title challengers Bobby Boone and Danny Ebberts finished 20th and 23rd respectively and now trail Pankratz by 11 and 49 points respectively entering the final two races at Bakersfield and Irwindale, Calif. November 18 and 23. Ebberts flipped during the Perris feature but escaped injury.
Alex Harris led the first six laps of Saturday night's race before Drake took over and appeared headed for victory. Trailing Paden at the checkered flag were Cory Kruseman, Bryan Stanfill, Drake and Harris.
A.J. Johnson won Friday's "non-qualifiers race" and Matt Streeter, Marc DeBeaumont and Harris won heats. Saturday's "last chance" semi was won by Bob Ellis.
(July 15th)Meridian Speedway-Boise,Idaho
By Dick Jordan
Tony Hunt of Fair Oaks, Calif. captured Saturday night's 40-lap USAC Western Sprint Car race at Meridian Speedway in Boise, Ida. and trails new series point leader Todd Ellison by only 18 points going into this Saturday night's events at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hunt won last year's 40-lap debut event at the 3/8-mile paved Salt Lake City oval.
Hunt passed Mike Boat on the 14th lap and led the rest of the way in his Wynn's/Bos Sheet Metal Special. Burney Lamar took second ahead of Boat, Kevin Kierce and Rick Williams.
Davey Hamilton, who led the standings before Saturday night, did not compete at Boise and slipped to third in the new standings as a logjam has developed atop the leader board. Six drivers are now separated by only 74 points, with 72 available in this Saturday night's Salt Lake City events.
Jeff Gardner was the fastest qualifier at Boise, while Brian Evans, Jimmy Hamilton and Darren Spires won heats. Gardner came back to win the semi.
The MCI WorldCom USAC Western Midget Car and TQ Midget Car Series combine for a "doubleheader" racing program this Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway(Calif.). A 20-lap TQ and 30-lap Midget Car feature are planned on the 1/2-mile dirt oval.
USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 15, 2000 – Boise, Idaho - Meridian Motor Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jeff Gardner, 51, Gardner-12.761; 2. Kevin Kierce, 2, Swann-12.861; 3. Burney Lamar, 3x, Lamar-12.946; 4. Jimmy Sills, 4,Consani-12.951; 5. Tony Hunt, 14, Pierson-12.979; 6. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-13.041; 7. Mike Boat, 74, Boat-13.041; 8. Kelly Newman, 9N, Newman-13.069; 9. Rick Williams, 3, Finkenbinder-13.166; 10. Amy Barnes, 12, Barnes-13.177; 11. Kenny Hamilton, 98x, Tyler-13.185; 12. Todd Ellison, 20, Powell-13.198; 13. Craig Panike, 81, Bar-D-13.201; 14. Bryan Stanfill, 88, Bumgarner-13.225; 15. Danny Lyons, 94, Hamilton-13.296; 16. Mike McCreary, 71, McCreary-13.331; 17. Jay Clark, 23x, Clark-13.344; 18. Darren Spires, 32, Spires-13.409; 19. Brian Evans, 87, Evans-13.464; 20. Jimmy Hamilton, 93, Elliott-13.562; 21. Chuck Maddox, 99, Maddox-14.071; 22. David Klamm, #99x, Klamm-14.253; 23. Bob Scott, 77, Scott-NT; 24. Kenny Hamilton, 98, Tyler-NT; 25. #04 Consani-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Evans, 2. Panike, 3. Boat, 4. Barnes, 5. Gardner, 6. Sills, 7. McCreary, 8. Klamm. 1:47.33
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. J.Hamilton, 2. Newman, 3. Kierce, 4. Stanfill, 5. K.Hamilton, 6. Hunt, 7. Clark. 1:48.59
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Spires, 2. Williams, 3. Lyons, 4. Lamar, 5. Ellison, 6. Maddox, 7. Hogg. 1:48.16
SEMI: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Sills, 3. Hunt, 4. K.Hamilton, 5. Ellison, 6. Hogg, 7. McCreary, 8. Maddox, 9. Clark, 10. Klamm. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Tony Hunt, 2. Burney Lamar, 3. Mike Boat, 4. Kevin Kierce, 5. Rick Williams, 6. Shauna Hogg, 7. Todd Ellison, 8. Bryan Stanfill, 9. Kenny Hamilton, 10. Jimmy Hamilton, 11. Brian Evans, 12. Craig Panike, 13. Mike McCreary, 14. Chuck Maddox, 15. Darren Spires, 16. Danny Lyons, 17. Jimmy Sills, 18. Jeff Gardner, 19. Amy Barnes, 20. Kelly Newman. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Boat, Laps 14-40 Hunt.
NEW WESTERN SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Ellison-596; 2-Hunt-578; 1-Davey
Hamilton-567; 4-Lamar-554; 5- Boat-534; 6-Gardner-522; 7-Kierce-470;
8-Barnes-335; 9-Williams-331; 10-Sills-330.
NEXT WESTERN SPRINT CAR RACE: July 22 - Salt Lake City, UT - Rocky Mountain Raceways
USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES STANDINGS
1. Todd Ellison 596
2. Tony Hunt 578
3. Davey Hamilton 567
4. Burney Lamar 554
5. Mike Boat 534
6. Jeff Gardner 522
7. Kevin Kierce 470
8. Amy Barnes 335
9. Rick Williams 331
10. Jimmy Sills 330
USAC MCI WORLDCOM WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS
1. Bobby Boone 566
2. Danny Ebberts 537
3. Wally Pankratz 512
4. Rick Hendrix 486
5. Thomas Meseraull 480
6. Shane Scully 455
7. Josh Wise 428
8. Steve Paden 381
9. Bryan Stanfill 343
10. Kasey Kahne 341
USAC MCI WORLDCOM TQ MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS
1. J.J. Ercse 398
2. Walt Johnson 376
3. Todd Hunsaker 356
4. Greg Edenholm 351
5. West Evans 322
6. Ron Wade 312
7. Gene Godepski 238
8. Steve Parke 233
9. Steve Lambert 225
10. Steve Davis 221