Richards puts streak on line

As if 400 laps of racing wasn’t enough last weekend, Late Model drivers will be back on the track Saturday night at Stateline Speedway when the Inland Northwest Superstocks stage another points race.

Time trials begin at 6 p.m. on a racing program that also features Fever 4 Hobbies and Hobby Cars.

Fresh off the track – and maybe dog-tired – after rain forced the Montana 200 at Kalispell’s Raceway Park to be extended to Sunday, some drivers, like third-place finisher Kevin Richards, are raring to go again.

“We’re going after four in a row,” Richards said referring to his current three-race INSSA win streak. The series points leader is not just looking at the short-term. He’s eying the next big race and potential payday. “This is a tune-up for the Idaho 200,” which runs Aug. 5-7 at Stateline.

“I think you have to run every race you can to get better,” Richards said. Richards said with the temperatures, rising the track is going to be changing, and he wants to have that dialed in for his McClintock and Turk/Rent-Rite entry.

Richards looked back at his Kalispell finish with a little disappointment. “Our finish was acceptable,” Richards said. “We went to win it and came up a little short.” B.J. Tidrick of Yakima won the race, while veteran Garrett Evans was second. “That kid in the No. 7 seven (Tidrick) was awful good.”

This was the best showing for locals at this race in history with three area drivers finishing in the top 10.

But the field was a tough one. “That was the most talented field of cars I’ve ever seen,” Richards said. “Qualifying for the quick 12 was a race within itself.”

Besides Richards, Rick Schultz put a ton of misfortune behind him to finish fifth. Former two-time winner Marc Groskreutz drove an admittedly outdated car to ninth place.

Schultz failed to qualify in the top 12, which forced him to race in the qualifying heat. He spun the car there and then had to enter the last-chance race just to make the field. “We scraped the wall there,” Schultz said.

And is that wasn’t enough, in the feature race, Schultz said, “We spun twice there and had to come from the back of the pack three times to be fifth.

“This was the most extreme field I’ve ever seen,” Schultz said. “Just 3/10ths of a second separated the field. We went bumper-to-bumper for 130 laps.”

Unlike Richards, Schultz will take this weekend off. “We’re not racing this Saturday. We’re taking it off and regroup for the Idaho 200.”

Downtown car show

The streets of downtown Spokane will come alive with the sights and sounds of over 250 classics, rods, customs, muscle cars and motorcycles tonight in the 2005 edition of the Inland Northwest Car Club Council’s Downtown Scholarship Car Show.

The show promises to fill Riverside Avenue from Stevens Street to Lincoln Street and runs from 6 to 9 p.m.

It is one of the major fund-raisers for the INCCC’s Scholarship Funds. A donation of $5 per entry will go towards enhancing a fund that provides scholarships to local students.

Organizers request those planning to display cars to show up early, as the display area is usually filled by 6:45.

Info: Randy Campbell, (509) 953-8914, or Chris Hall, (509) 467-8235.

Pit stops

Eagle Track at Republic will run its annual Kids Day race Saturday beginning at 3 p.m.

•Extreme Motorsports will present Supercross race No. 4 on Saturday night at the Spokane Motorsports Complex. Info: (509) 218-2014 or www.extmotorsports.com.

•The Intermountain Motorcycle Club will present the fourth of a series of eight flat-track motorcycle races at Sunset Speedway in the Airway Heights Motorsports Complex. Gates open at 4:30 with racing at 7. Info: Peggy Myers, (509) 999-5448.

•Spokane Raceway Park’s schedule calls for another race in the track’s Northwest Late Model series, as well as bracket drag racing and imports on the quarter-mile. Gates open Saturday at 3 p.m. The weekend schedule kicks off with high school drag racing on Friday beginning at 5 p.m.

Streaks and stats

It’s eight straight Road Runner main event wins for Rich Hatton at Stateline Speedway, prior to last night’s racing. Overall this season, Hatton has 12 wins in 14 outings. Dave Roberts extended his Bump-to-Pass streak to two, while John Vick won his first Fever 4 Hobby main. … Lewiston’s Kevin McKeehan won his second Northwest Late Model 4 race of the season Saturday at Stateline. … The drought – perhaps a bad choice of words considering the circumstances – is over for the Northwest Modifieds. The open wheelers finally got a race in the books Saturday at Spokane Raceway Park. That’s where Justin Hoffman won his second career series victory and ended a string of five straight rainouts. … The NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Northwest Series reaches the halfway point in Saturday’s Magic Metals 125 at Yakima Speedway. Jeff Jefferson (666 points) leads Brandon Riehl (607). The 125-lap feature is expected to begin at 9:05 p.m.