MERIDIAN, Idaho — The opening night of the season Saturday at Meridian Speedway featured a pair of winners in the headlining Bud Light Modified division, as Neal Latham and Josh Jackson each earned a trip to Victory Lane.

The twin 25-lap features headlined a five-division, six-race card at the quarter-mile asphalt oval during the ATS Inland Season Opener.

The first of the two 25-lap features was captured by Latham, who started fifth. It initially appeared polesitter Tommy Harrod would be the man to beat after leading the first 11 laps uncontested, but he spun by himself on the 12th circuit and fell to last place.

That gave the lead to Latham, who had worked his way up to second two laps before Harrod’s bad luck. Latham led the remainder of the distance to earn his first victory of the year ahead of teammate Joe Daily and Jackson.

“I’ve got to thank all the guys in the pits,” Latham said in Victory Lane. “We have been fighting this car all day. I think we’ve finally got a piece. A little bit tight, but we’ll get that fixed up. I think we’ll be even better in the second main.”

The Bud Light Modified division returned to the track to close out the night at Meridian, with Mike Davis and Rus Ward leading the field to the green flag. Ward took the lead from the outside on the opening lap while Jackson started his pursuit from the ninth position.

Two quick cautions in nine laps allowed Jackson to close the gap on the lead pack. At the halfway, mark Jackson was sixth and closing on the battle for the lead at a rapid pace. With eight laps left, leaders Brendon Fries and Darrell Dolling made contact on the frontstretch, which took both men out of contention.

During the subsequent restart, Jackson emerged with the race lead and drove away from Colton Nelson to close out the night in Victory Lane. Latham finished third in the second feature after starting 11th.

“I ran this car two years ago in the last race of the season,” Jackson explained in Victory Lane. “We ran on six cylinders and we won one and finished second or third in the second main. It sat in a barn since then. We pulled it out three days ago because it looked like the motor was going to be done.

“We just dusted her off and put the new motor in and thought we’d come out and have some fun.”

Also in action Saturday night was the Pepsi Sprintcar division, which was won by a driver with a familiar name. Ryan Newman, a driver from Caldwell, Idaho, who happens to share the name with the 2008 Daytona 500 winner, advanced six positions to win that feature.

Skip Taylor collected a victory in the Touchdown Automotive Street Stock class, while Jordan Harris took home the checkered flag in the Project Filter Pro 4s. Despite getting bit by the bad luck bug in the first Bud Light Modified feature, Tommy Harrod left Meridian as a winner in the Big Daddy’s BBQ Hornet class.

Meridian Speedway will be in action throughout the rest of the year on various Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings with a variety of classes on the schedule. The annual running of the Idaho 208, the biggest event each season at the track, is slated for Aug. 20.

Catch live racing from Meridian Speedway throughout the season only on FloRacing.