
For Immediate Release:
Montana
Raceway Park Media Relations
MORTON CLAIMS BATTLE OF THE BORDER WIN AT
MONTANA RACEWAY PARK
KALISPELL, Mont. (May 9, 2009)-Bodie Morton
swept by the spinning cars of leader Dave Garber and second
place Alex Lessor with less than 13 laps to go then held off a
determined Billy Salmonsen to claim the 2nd Annual
Kokanee Glacier Beer Battle of the Border 100.
Salmonsen held off the hard charging Wrango West who rounded out
the top-3 with Jeff Fenton and
Garber grabbing fourth and fifth place respectively.
The
Battle of the Border pitted drivers of the Inland Northwest
Super Stock Association against Montana Raceway Park’s late
model drivers and the fans were the clear winners as action was
fast and furious throughout the night.
Mark
Owens got things started with a fast time lap of 13.029-sec.
followed by Garber’s 13.140. Lessor was close behind in the
qualifying order with a 13.226-second lap.
Allard
led the field to the green flag based on an eight-car invert.
The Sagle, Idaho driver held the
point for the race’s first 30 laps before Garber moved by and
brought Morton with to shuffle Allard to third. Action picked up
as the top-3 worked lapped traffic to perfection and never let
each other out of their sights while running nose to tail.
By lap
53 Lessor had move by Morton and Allard and gave Garber all he
could handle from the outside line then sweeping underneath to
attempt a pass. At each challenge Garber slammed the door on the
Raceway Park driver and continued to hold the top spot in the
running order. Morton and Allard gave chase but ran one second
off the pace of the leaders in the middle portions of the
100-lap affair.
At lap
65 Lessor cleared Garber exiting turn No. 2 and moved out to a
three car length lead with the INSSA champion in hot pursuit.
Garber closed the gap on lap by lap 85 and ran past Lessor to
the outside on lap 87. Lessor applied pressure to Garber in turn
No. 3 and made contact with the rear bumper of Garber’s Pontiac
sending both cars around. Under Raceway Park rules because each
car was involved in the yellow flag both were sent to the tail
end of the 17-car field.
Morton
assumed the top spot on the restart and with the lapped cars of
Agni Howell and Jeff Little
between him and second place Allard the Raceway Park star never
looked back in winning his first late model event at his
hometrack. Allard lost ground in the closing laps to fall back
to seventh. Garber and Lessor worked together to closed back
into the top-6 with Garber fifth and Lessor sixth.
In the
Compact main event, Wild Bill Mitchell swept the evening’s
racing with wins in the trophy dash, heat race and main event.
Tim Davis was second followed by Jeff Kikendahl.
Fran
Rehn and Nancy Davis rounded out the top-5.
In the
Thunder Roadster main event Scott Dalla held off the hard
charging pair of Larry Gerek and Scott Lee to claim the 20-lap
main event.
Montana
Bandoleros state champion, Giles Thornton, recovered from
contact with Dalton Halden to drive home for his first main
event victory of 2009. Halden grabbed second place with Devin
Clayton bringing home a third place finish.
Montana
Raceway Park returns to action on May
16 with First Interstate Bank Night featuring the Limited
Sportsman, Bombers, Compacts and Legends. For more information
log onto
www.montanaracewaypark.com
or call
(406) 257-7223.
Montana
Raceway Park
.250-mile
paved oval
May 9,
2009 Race Results
Super Late
Model
Kokanee
Battle of the Border
100-laps
1)
Bodie
Morton 100
2)
Billy Salmonsen
3)
Wrango West
4)
Jeff Fenton
5)
Dave Garber
6)
Alex Lessor
7)
Corey Allard
8)
Troy Schweigert
9)
Jeff Little -1 lap
10)
Clint Habert -8
11)
Bill Royce -8
12)
Forest Bauer -9
13)
Agni Howell -10
14)
Mike Slough -12
15)
Mark Owens -77
16)
Greg McKinley -78
17)
Clayton Richert -92
Compacts
1)
Bill Mitchell
2)
Tim Davis
3)
Jeff Kinkendahl
4)
Fran Rehn
5)
Nancy Davis
6)
Nella
Thunder Roadsters
1)
Scott Dalla
2)
Larry Gerek
3)
Scott Lee
4)
Zach Havens
Bandoleros
1)
Giles Thornton
2)
Dalton Halden
3)
3)
Devin
Clayton
4)
4)
Tristan
Corpron