MERIDIAN, Idaho – Cory Lockwood used a lap-three restart to steal the lead from Hunter Stanley en route to victory in the first of two sprint car features Saturday afternoon at Meridian Speedway.
The 30-lap Speed Tour Regional Sprint Car Series victory was worth $1,000 for Lockwood.
Stanley got the jump at the start of the race and lead the first two laps of the feature event before a caution flew when Rob Taylor and Zach Webster tangled exiting turn four.
Lockwood was able to drag Stanley into turn one on the double-file restart to take command of the event. He built a sizeable lead and claimed the victory by 4.614 seconds over Justin Segura.
Colton Nelson was third, followed by Stanley and Kyle Alberding.
The race was run with no fans in attendance due to Idaho state regulations as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The race was only available as a pay-per-view through Speedcast.tv, a SPEED SPORT Network affiliate. The second show for the day at Meridian is slated for an 8 p.m. ET start.
“I’ve learned about restarts from a dear good friend and great racer in the Northwest who passed away, Rick Brown,” explained Lockwood in victory lane. ”You hang back and kinda get ahead of them on the start. You kinda watch then when they’re coming up on you. You can get a pretty even jump. I just dove it in and hoped it stuck in (turns) one and two.”
When asked about racing with no fans in attendance, Lockwood added, “It’s a different element. I’ve been trying for I don’t know how long to get my first winged sprint car win here at Meridian Speedway. I finally get it. It’s a little disappointing to not be able to do it in front of a packed grandstand and park on the front straightaway.
“At the end of the day, though, a race is a race.”
The second segment of racing at Meridian Speedway will be headlined by a 40-lap, $3,500-to-win feature for the Speed Tour sprint cars.
The finish:
1. Cory Lockwood, 2. Justin Segura, 3. Colton Nelson, 4. Hunter Stanley, 5. Kyle Alberding, 6. Bryan Warf, 7. Casey Tillman, 8. Randy Dubois, 9. Rob Grice, 10. Mike Anderson, 11. Austin Carter, 12. Matt Elliott, 13. Mike Straub, 14. Rob Taylor, 15. Zach Webster, 16. Mike Smith (DNS).