Richards cruises to victory

STATELINE, Idaho – Finally it all fell into place for Kevin Richards.

Often plagued in the past by failure of nickel-and-dime parts, or a cut tire, Richards put that all behind him to post a convincing win at the Idaho 200 in his Rent-Rite/McClintock & Turk Chevrolet on a blistering hot Sunday afternoon at Stateline Speedway.

Starting 10th, the Newman Lake driver, who finished third last year, took the lead from Spokane’s Jack Morse on lap 115 and was never challenged, finishing comfortably ahead of Christan Roeder of Ephrata and Morse, in third.

“We’ve come out here and tried five or six times and something’s happened,” Richards said. “These guys (my crew) did a great job with the car. I brought it in fourth place (after 100 laps) and it was junk.

“As soon as I went into the lead I figured something would break. I figured we’d cut a tire down because it always happens out here.”

But bad luck found other contenders to pick on this afternoon.

Spokane’s Dan Garber, who led 95 of the first 100 laps, got into a chain-reaction wreck with Brandon Riehl on lap 80 that essentially knocked both him and Bodie Morton out of contention.

Then at the break, first-half leader Darrell Midgley of Sidney, British Columbia, discovered a broken valve as he was heading out to start the second half.

That gave the lead to Morse, who was just happy to be able to be racing with the people he was. The second generation driver – his dad Jack was a fixture at the old Fairgrounds Speedway in the 1960s and 70s – seemed a bit in awe when it was all over.

“It’s great to run with these guys,” Morse said. “This is a lot for this Windermere team. I still can’t believe it. I just started this three years ago. My dad is looking over my shoulder,” Morse said of his father, who passed away a few years ago.

Morse lost the lead to Richards after some contact coming out of turn two on lap 115.

“Kevin (Richards) nudged me a little bit but it was clean. Kevin was faster than me. Christan was right behind and I just lost two positions,” Morse said.

Roeder fought an ill-handling car all afternoon and felt fortunate to finish second.

“We missed the setup all weekend. I couldn’t get into the corners to save my life,” Roeder said. “We were just holding on at the end (of the first 100 laps). The leaders had some trouble, which helped us.

“The second half I hooked up with Kevin for the first 30 laps. I figured I was going to be able to race with him but then it started to get loose again and at the end we were just holding on.”

“Kevin ran well in the open,” Roeder added, and that was very evident as Richards had a significant four-second lead through much of the second half of the race. He finished three seconds in front of Roeder.

The second half of the race ran virtually without a hitch but with only 11 of the 20 starters running by the 125 lap mark, there wasn’t much chance of getting into trouble. Only Mike Behar’s spin on lap 127 brought out the caution flag.

The same can’t be said for the start of the race, which took three tries before getting past the second lap. Morse spun right off the start on the back straightaway, luckily for him forcing a full restart. Then, two laps into the restart, a front-stretch collision collected four cars. None were seriously damaged.

Once everyone got over early jitters, Garber and Kalispell’s Morton bolted to a sizeable lead. They maintained the margin until problems arose due to traffic such as Riehl, who was fresh from victory the night before in a NASCAR Northwest Series race at Twin Falls.

“I came up on Brandon and he was holding on for dear life,” said a disappointed Garber. ” I was being chased by Bodie. There was absolutely no second groove so we were racing behind him. We bumped him (Riehl) a little bit and it (turns) one and two and he decided to hit the brakes.”

The wreck knocked Morton out of the race immediately, but Garber was able to maintain the lead until lap 95 when his crumpled hood became an apparent hindrance and he headed for the pits.

Three other Spokane drivers finished all 200 laps. Andy Brown had a great run, starting eighth, finishing fourth, and challenging Roeder and Morse much of the final 50 laps. The only two-time Idaho 200 winner, John Gamble (2001-02) of Otis Orchards, driving a team car of Richards, ended up fifth in his first race in two years. Mike Behar, also of Otis Orchards was sixth and the last car on the lead lap, despite a second half spin.