Fleury aims for big flurry
Fresh off a stellar Idaho 200 weekend, Stateline Speedway’s Saturday schedule is again filled with outstanding racing action. Headlining the evening will be the ICAR Late Model Series along with the Northwest Outlaw Street Stocks and the Big Sky Pro Stocks.
ICAR points leader Nathan Fleury sits just seven points ahead of Mike Eller Jr. as the series makes its final appearance of the season at Stateline. The championship battle shapes up to be a four-team race as Colton Garber and Amanda McDonald are within striking distance of the title.
Garber is mere 13 points back while McDonald is 50 points out of first place.
Fleury knows that with two races left in the season it will take a stronger effort than in recent weeks to put the championship away.
“I have to say we’re surprised at how good we’ve run this year,” Fleury said. “We’ve gotten three poles and a couple of wins, but we need to get back to the front and running consistently. “It seems like every week we’re working hard on the car to be ready, but this will be the first race we haven’t had to pull the motor or do some kind of body repair.”
With a slim margin over Eller it would appear that nerves may start to set in on Fleury, but it’s been just the opposite, said the driver of the Two Brothers Concrete Chevrolet.
“I’ve been doing this for so long that the pressure never really seems to bother me,” he said. “We’re having way too much fun this year to stress out over the points.”
While a relaxed approach is the name of the game for Fleury’s weekend at Stateline, it doesn’t mean that a focused effort to come away with his third win of the season is not on his mind.
“We need to step it up a notch for this race and the season finale in Ronan (Mont., site of the Sept. 9 race at Mission Valley Speedway). It’s time to switch from being consistent to going after the championship.”
To accomplish the goal, Fleury said he will need to retool for his home track.
“We haven’t been as strong at Stateline this season as we’ve been up at Mission Valley,” he said. “That’s a good thing, actually, because we know we can turn things around here and head out there next month with a chance to finish strong. I’m really looking forward to the last two races of the season”
ICAR awards its 2008 champion with an all-expenses- paid trip to the Las Vegas Bullring’s Fall Classic in November and Fleury acknowledges to get there will mean help from his strongest supporters.
“I know that this entire season would not be possible without my crew,” he said. “We couldn’t even do this without all the work they’ve put in the last few weeks to get me to this position.”
The Northwest Outlaw Street Stocks also have a good points battle brewing in their series.
Gary Homad of Malaga leads two other Washington drivers, Quincy’s Mike Knutson and Okanogan’s Bryan Goetz, by less than 50 points heading into the weekend.
Homad picked up the win in the series’ last race, July 26 in Wenatchee. In a strong performance over Chad Holaday and Goetz, Homad rallied late after early leader Josh Ingram blew a right-side tire exiting turn No. 4.
The NWOSS put on a great show for fans in their street stock racing versions of 1970s and ’80s Camaros, Monte Carlos, Thunderbirds and other American muscle cars.
•Sunset Speedway resumes its season Saturday and features a tight points race in its Junior I class, with Jerid Pickens in front of defending champion Corey McQuire by 38 points with one race to go after this weekend’s event.
Junior II hot shoe Joe Bird appears well on his way to his second consecutive championship as he holds a commanding 156-point lead over Jereme Nereaux.
F200 driver James Townsend brings a 79-point lead into this week’s race. Nick Nereaux will be out to get his season back on track after leading the points standings for the first half of the year.