MONROE, Wash. (June 3, 2000) - Second year driver Ken Kaltschmidt of Marion, Mont., claimed the Pepsi 100 held at Evergreen Speedway on the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring, after race officials placed apparent race winner Ron Eaton last in the official finishing order. Eaton's car was found to have nonconforming fuel in the post-race inspection. Eaton will receive last place money and points. The penalty elevates rookie John Zaretzke to second place. Tom Sweatman, Zach Niessner, and John Bender rounded out the top-five.
Kaltschmidt started on the pole as a result of a six-car invert. He paced the field for the first eight laps. On lap six, caution came out on the field as a result of a spin by Harold Raczynski. The spin also collected the cars of Matt Kelley and Keith Armstrong. On the restart on lap nine, Joe Bender got the jump on Kaltschmidt and took the lead. NASCAR penalized Bender, however, for passing to the left on a restart. That put Gary Lewis into the lead who had moved on past Kaltschmidt as well. Kaltschmidt slid back as far a fifth in the race before working his way back up to the runner-up position.
Lewis held the point until lap 22 when Eaton cruised by for the lead. Eaton, Garrett Evans and Zaretzke then became a three-car freight train and drove away from the rest of the field. The trio set a blistering pace. The pace had an impact on Evans who was forced to pit on lap 86 under caution to change a right front tire. He got his Chevrolet out in front of the field right before a restart. A few laps later he went down a lap to Eaton.
"This was an awesome race car," said Kaltschmidt after the race. "The guys did a heck of a job on it. I'm real proud of this K-C Racin' team." "I tried to stay on the bottom of the racetrack and save the tires," said Zaretzke. "In doing so, I wore the right front tire off of it. I thought maybe I could give Kenny a run there, but a lapped car got underneath me and I thought it would be best just to let him go and keep the car in one piece."
Evans claimed his fourth Bud Pole award of the season. Gary Lewis won the Gatorade Frontrunner Award. Zaretzke was the Totem Travel Rookie of the Race. The race was slowed by just three caution flags for 13 laps. The average speed was a fast 80.055 mph.
The Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series travels next to the Tri-City Raceway in West Richland, Wash. The Hall Chevrolet 125 will be Saturday, June 17.
NOTES OF INTEREST:
Kaltschmidt is the seventh different race winner in the first seven races
this year on the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series. He is also the fifth
first time winner on the series this year.
The win moves Kaltschmidt into second place in the series points race. He trails points leader Gary Lewis by 13 points. Garrett Evans, who suffered with a flat tire during the race, is in third. He trails Kaltschmidt by 25 points.
Gaylon Stewart has caught Tom Kelley in the race for the Totem Travel Rookie
of the Year award. Each driver has 62 points. John Zaretzke, with his
strong finish, has closed in on the two leaders. He has 60 points. Steven
Howard is fourth with 52 points.
