6/17/2025
Meridian Speedway
Warf Tops Alberding, Tillman to Win 2025 Diamond Cup Title
Thunder shook downtown Meridian, Idaho Friday and Saturday, June 13 and 14, as the quarter-mile asphalt oval hosted the 36th running of the Diamond Cup presented by Neil Alan Fine Jewelry. The Speed Tour Sprint Cars brought the event’s signature fire and fury to bear on a two-day championship while the Speed Tour Supermodifieds ran a pair of Memorial races and the Speedway Midgets dueled for crucial early season points. Friday’s Stinker Family Pass night also featured the Boise Bath and Kitchen Company Mini Stocks and Idaho Asphalt Services Hornets as they did battle for the night’s Maxwell Plumbing hardware. Saturday’s Ninja Kitty Fireworks Finale saw the Firehouse Pub and Grill Thunderdogs and the Apex Drifters fight for the night’s Trammel Construction trophies.
Nineteen Speed Tour Sprint Cars roared to the green flag of Friday night’s 40-lap feature. Polesitter Matt Elliott squeezed ahead of Mike Anderson to take the early lead while the rest of the pack jockeyed for position.
On the move early was Cory Lockwood who, after a disappointing qualifying effort, needed to score maximum feature finish points to stay in Diamond Cup championship contention. A lap seven caution allowed Lockwood to line up outside of Elliott’s Grip Suspension, B&W Wrecker Service sprinter, and when the green flag waved Lockwood screamed to the lead.
Behind Lockwood high speed mayhem nearly erupted as cars slid sideways, bumped tires, and shot three-wide in an effort to move forward. Veteran open-wheel pilot Bryan Warf made the most of this chaotic opportunity as he moved from the eye of the storm up to the relative safety of the top-five.
On the restart Lockwood was tested by defending Diamond Cup champ Mike Murgoitio. Lockwood romped on the gas pedal first and piloted his Stinker, Eloy and Sons Landscaping machine back to the front while Murgoitio settled into second place ahead of Warf. But all was not well under the hood of Murgoitio’s GM Land and Cattle, Timber Creek Recycling entry, and the Meridian, Idaho racer’s engine expired in a thick cloud of smoke on the backstretch.
With eleven laps to go the race restarted with Lockwood and Warf on the front row. The green flag waved and Lockwood motored back to the top spot while Warf settled into the runner up spot and went on the defensive against Hunter Stanley and Casey Tillman. But the man on the move late was quick-qualifier Kyle Alberding, who put the whip to his Holte Drilling Tools sprinter and blasted from eighth to fourth in a matter of two corners.
Alberding’s run to the front was nearly cut short as contact between Tillman and Stanley sent Stanley for a wild slide across the track in front of him. Alberding darted low, hopped the chicane entrance, and got right back on the gas pedal as soon as his car made landfall.
As the laps wound down Lockwood’s lead over Warf grew and grew while Tillman and Alberding settled into the third and fourth positions, respectively. But with just three laps left on the Pepsi-Cola scoreboard something in Lockwood’s engine let go and he slowed to a stop at the track exit.
On the restart Warf roared to the lead while Alberding tried Tillman on the high side. Ultimately Alberding’s challenge was unsuccessful, but it slowed Tillman enough that he was unable to challenge Warf, who sped across the Caleb’s Chop Shop Victory Stripe first.
Sixteen Speed Tour Sprint Car survivors started Saturday night’s fifty-lap Diamond Cup presented by Neil Alan Fine Jewelry feature. DJ Lyons got out of the blocks first and piloted his Stinker, Sunroc racer to the early lead.
Warf, the Diamond Cup championship leader after night one, wasted no time as he worked his way to the top five early in the going. Standings runner up Alberding and third-place runner Tillman made their own early runs forward but stalled out in the eighth and sixth positions respectively.
Lapped traffic became the story near the race’s halfway point as Hunter Stanley used slower traffic to overtake Lyons for the race lead. One lap later fourth place runner Riley Rogers was collected by lapped traffic at the end of the back straightaway. While no major damage was done to either machine, broken suspension parts would force Rogers to retire from the race.
On the restart Stanley blasted back to the lead while runner up Josh Fanopoulos was left to fend off Warf’s Allan Marsh Travel Center, Smania Fine Finishings sprinter. Warf made quick work of Fanopoulos before he set his sights on Stanley.
Try as Warf might, he couldn’t match Stanley’s speed, and so instead worked to build what gap he could between himself and now fourth-place Alberding and fifth-place Tillman. Though his Diamond Cup points rivals would close over the race’s final laps, neither could mount a serious challenge for position and were forced to watch Warf finish second behind Stanley.
“Mission number one was to just beat Kyle and see where the points fell,” Warf said as he awaited word on the final Diamond Cup standings. Finally, it was confirmed that with 175 points Warf had won his third Diamond Cup diamond ring.
Stinker Family Pass Night saw the Speed Tour Supermodifieds honor the Naylor family with the 25-lap Naylor Classic. On the break Dayton, Texas racer Brian Otts got the drop on polesitter Kenny Hamilton and sped to the early lead with Colton Nelson and Cody Castor in tow.
As the lead duo sprinted into lapped traffic Nelson made his play for the top spot and swung his YMC Inc., Maxwell Plumbing machine to the inside of Otts. But Otts was too strong on the outside and raced back around Nelson to regain the lead one corner later.
This would prove to be the winning pass as Otts set sail and cruised to the Naylor Classic victory.
Saturday night the Speed Tour Supermodifieds contested the forty-lap JP Memorial. Jim White got to the gas pedal first and charged to the early lead while Ricky Otts and son Brian worked to find a way around the Kamloops, British Columbia racer.
With no way around the elder Otts moved White up the track off turn two and snatched the top spot on the Pepsi-Cola scoreboard on lap eight. White kept his focus forward and began to reel the leader in little by little.
While White and the Otts battled up front some bad blood was brewing deep in the field as Art McCarthy and Randy Anderson butted heads and bumpers with seven laps to go. This first run in sent McCarthy skyward and Anderson for a spin but resulted in little serious damage.
The restart would prove much more consequential to the lead battle as on the restart White got the jump on Otts and piloted his Inland Truck and Equipment, Sun-Ridge Contracting supermodified to the lead.
Just three laps after the restart McCarthy caught up to Anderson again, and this time McCarthy’s Salon Blonde, Stallion Vinyl and Graphics machine first hit, then climbed over Anderson’s Central Welding Supply, Northern Environmental mount. McCarthy slammed back to earth and continued to roll, but Anderson’s machine limped to a stop minus it’s top wing and most of its left side components.
Once the debris was cleaned up and McCarthy black flagged for rough driving, the green flag waved again over White, who
River Merrill was the class of the Speedway Midget field both Friday and Saturday nights, and to prove it the Salt Lake City, Utah racer swept the weekend.
The Boise Bath and Kitchen Company Mini Stocks traded paint throughout their Friday night feature. Division dominator Morgan Trammel looked to have another main event win in his grasp, but a late caution flag brought Chase Parker alongside Trammel’s Trammel Construction, Bobby’s Transmission Center machine for the restart. The green flag waved and Parker stormed around the outside of Trammel to take the lead and, two laps later, the win.
Tommy Harrod outran his PBT Auto Sales teammate Ron Clausen to win Friday night’s Idaho Asphalt Services Hornets feature.
The Firehouse Pub and Grill Thunderdogs traded haymakers as they raced for the Trammel Construction trophy. Once the dust settled Keith Gonzales stood victorious in the Caleb’s Chop Shop Winner’s Circle.
Meridian Speedway gets back to its roots this week with the Diary Days Carnival, a Friday night Demolition Derby, and Saturday night’s Idaho CDL Training Dairy Days Races. Gates open Friday night at 6 p.m. with demolition starting at 7 p.m. Tickets to the Sockeye Brewing Dairy Days Demolition Derby are $16 for adults 12 and up, $9 for kids 7-11, and free for kids 6 and under. Saturday night the gates open one hour earlier than normal at 3:45 p.m. with Idaho CDL Training Dairy Days Races also taking the green flag an hour early at 5:30 p.m. Log on to www.meridianspeedway.com for further event information and to purchase your advance tickets. We’ll see you under the big, yellow water tower this Friday and Saturday night for the Meridian Dairy Days festivities at your NASCAR Home Track, Meridian Speedway.
Submitted By: Tyler Schild