Abbott, Laughy, Bissett Thunder To Wins At Montana Raceway Park
Valleyford, Wash. high school freshman Jake Bissett set fast time and started on the pole in his 50-lap Semi-Pro main event. Raceway Park’s Adam Bishop would pressure Bissett for the lead in the early going and finally move to the top spot on lap seven. Bissett settled in behind Bishop and the pair worked lap traffic with Bissett able to clear Bishop at lap 20.
For Immediate Release: Montana Raceway Park
KALISPELL, Mont. (June 28, 2009)-Kory Abbott, Ira Laughy and Jake Bissett all traveled great distances to race in the 8th Annual Coors Light Legends Thunder at Montana Raceway Park and when the evening was over the Florida native Abbott, made it back-to-back wins in the Pro class while Canada’s Laughy (Masters) and Washington state native Bissett (Semi-Pro) also turned in dominating performances.
Valleyford, Wash. High school freshman Bissett set fast time and started on the pole in his 50-lap Semi-Pro main event. Raceway Park’s Adam Bishop would pressure Bissett for the lead in the early going and finally move to the top spot on lap seven. Bissett settled in behind Bishop and the pair worked lap traffic with Bissett able to clear Bishop at lap 20.
Bissett held onto the lead for the final 30 laps en route to becoming the first Spokane-area driver to ever win a Legends Thunder main event. Bishop brought home the runner-up spot with 12-year old Whitefish, Mont. Native Giles Thornton in third.
Brianna Holley and Tyfini West rounded out the top-5.
South Carolina’s Tommy Jordan led the Master’s field to the green flag but Laughy was able to move by for the lead at the completion of lap two and never looked back in a nearly wire-to-wire victory as the Master class and no yellow flag laps in their 50-lap main event.
Montana’s Tim Corbett brought home second place with former Legends Masters National Champion, Bob Kronenberg rounding out the top-3. Missoula’s Spike Schultze was fourth with Leroy Brush in fifth.
Kalispell’s Wrango West broke the track’s Pro division qualifying record that had stood for seven years with a time of 14.36-seconds and started on the pole of the 50-lap shootout.
Florida native and defending division champion, Kory Abbott, moved by West on lap 3 then held off a determined Matt Henderson through the majority of the race. Henderson and Abbott made contact with three laps to go sending Henderson to the back of the field and moving West up to second place. West made one last run on Abbott but was unable to clear and settled for the runner-up finishing position. Tyler Corpron finished third with Josh Gross and Aaron Freind rounding out the top-5.
Scott Dalla defending his Thunder Roadster Legends Thunder title with a dominating performance in their 35-lap main event. Dalla started at the rear of the field and tore away from a great battle for second place between Tyler Corpron and Zach Havens.
Corpron held off the hard charging Havens for second place with Josh Gross and Larry Gerek closing out the top five running order.
In the Bandoleros Young Guns division Montana Raceway Park’s Mike Hilliker bested rivals Devin Clayton and Dalton Halden for the 20-lap main event victory.
Addie Thornton held off Tyler Rohrman for the victory in the Bandoleros Bandit division main event with Nino Robinette rounding out the top-3.
Montana Raceway Park hosts the ARCA West Macs Series on Saturday, July 4 with a spectacular fireworks display to follow the 125-lap main event sponsored in part by Kalispell Toyota and Super Seal. For more information log onto www.montanaracewaypark.com or call (406) 257-RACE (7223).
8th Annual Legends Thunder Finishing Orders
Semi-Pro
1) Jake Bissett
2) Adam Bishop
3) Giles Thornton
4) Brianna Holley
5) Tyfini West
6) Blake Erb
7) Kyle Koehler
8) Kelly Thelen
9) Aaron Stowe
10) R.D. Bergdahl
11) Adam Gilbert
12) Michael Karper
13) Zach Havens
14) Kyle Stevens
DNS-Joe Bissett (Heat Race accident)
Pro Division
1) Kory Abbott
2) Wrango West
3) Tyler Corpron
4) Josh Gross
5) Aaron Freind
6) Scott Moore
7) Jody Archer
8) Matt Henderson
9) Scott Dalla
10) Brandon Sickler
Masters Division
1) Ira Laughy
2) Tim Corbett
3) Bob Kronenberg
4) Spike Schultze
5) Leroy Brush
6) Darrel Buckingham
7) Ron Custer
8) Jon Vangesen
9) Dave Daughtry
10) Barry Mayer
11) Scott Eldredge
12) Tommy Jordan
Thunder Roadsters
1) Scott Dalla
2) Tyler Corpron
3) Zach Havens
4) Josh Gross
5) Larry Gerek
6) Scott Lee
7) John Logan
Bandoleros Young Guns
1) Mike Hilliker
2) Devin Clayton
3) Dalton Halden
4) Tristan Corpron
Bandoleros Bandits
1) Addie Thornton
2) Tyler Rohrman
3) Nino Robinette
4) Richard Soto
