Monroe, WA (June 26, 2005): Mid-Season Championship night at Evergreen Speedway will be one to remember. The Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Super Stock main was decided by inches with three cars involved. Gaylon Stewart won the tightly contested finish. Travis Blackwood made his first trip to Victory Stage this season in the Les Schwab NASCAR Bomber Division. NASCAR Mini-Stock driver Rick Lapinski won his respective main. The Super Figure Eight main kept everyone in suspense right up to the checkered flag. John Carlson survived the rough stuff to take the win. Steve Peters won the Extreme Contact Figure Eight main. The first visit of the season by the traveling Northwest Pro-4 Truck Tour was a success for Jason Majors.
A late yellow flag in the Super Stock main was all that was needed for Gaylon Stewart. With a green-white-checker restart of the 50-lap main Stewart drove to the high side of turn one and by turn two had pulled alongside race leader Kelly Mann. As the two stayed side by side third place driver Shane Harding stayed directly behind Mann. On the white flag lap Stewart and Mann were still battling for the lead. As the trio entered turn three Harding made it three wide. They were that way exiting turn four and it was a race to the flag. Stewart won by a foot with Mann finishing just inches ahead of Harding.
Harding started the night 4-points behind point leader Jason Fraser. Harding and Fraser made contact mid way through the main. Fraser spun losing his position and Harding penalized to the back of the 14-car field. Fraser could only recover to finish seventh. With his come from behind third place finish Harding takes the point lead unofficially by 4-points.
Travis Blackwood had five previous seconds in the Bomber Division this season with no wins. That came to an end when Blackwood withstood the pressure from Russ Hales to garner his fist victory this season. It was a spirited race between Hales and Blackwood with a lot of close racing. Naima Lang got bogged down in traffic and by the time he caught the two it was too late and he had to settle for third.
With Blackwood’s first and Lang’s third place finishes the point lead for Lang unofficially shrunk to 8-points. The top 12 drivers in this extremely competitive division are close enough in points, with half a season remaining, to win the championship.
It was a donnybrook of a main event for the Super Figure Eight Division. There was not a single car that did not have a mark on it from contact at the end of the 40-lap main. Rubbing, bumping and dumping was rampant. Known as the ‘Cowboy’ John Carlson took advantage of traffic at the intersection to grab another win in the first half of the long figure eight season. Steve Peters was leading late in the main when he had to go wide to avoid another car at the intersection. Peters recovered to place second. Doug Wilkinson finished third.
The Mini-Stock championship race tightened after the 25-lap main. Rick Lapinski in the rotary powered Mazda had too much horsepower for any of the other competitors. Lapinski had a few moments when it looked like Tony Bunkleman could keep up. Bunkleman had to settle for second and point leader Jamie Richardson third. Nat Barber third in the points did not make it to the main with a reported blown motor. Bunkleman gained points on Richardson for the championship.
Josh Beckel said in an early evening interview “All I want to do tonight is stay out of trouble and finish the race”. He did that and finished second in the Extreme Contact Figure Eight main event. He could not catch race winner Steve Peters. With the second place finish Beckel may have won the first half championship. He will know later in the week.
Northwest Pro-4 Truck Tour point leader Jason Majors won his first ever main on Evergreen Speedway’s 3/8-mile oval. Majors took half of the 35-lap main to catch race leader Terry Warren. Warren put up a good fight but is was Majors coming out on top. This traveling tour returns to Evergreen on September 17 racing on the Super 5/8-mile oval.
Next up at Evergreen Speedway will be the Fourth of July weekend quadruple header. On Friday July 1 the Western Washington Racing Association will be in action starting at 7pm. Saturday July 2 at 7pm it is Boeing Night at the Races featuring the Les Schwab NASCAR Bombers, Northwest Legends, Mini-Stocks, Hertz Hornets, Super and Extreme Contact Figure Eights. Sunday afternoon July 3 Street Drags take to the 1/8-mile. On Monday the annual 4th of July Demo Derby/Fireworks extravaganza starts at 7pm. In addition to the Derby/Fireworks there will be Boat Races, Coast to Coast School Bus Figure Eights, 3-Car Trains, Roll-Over Contest, Hertz Hornets, The Gauntlet, Stinger 8’s and the Believers Motorcycle Stunt Team.
Tickets are available via the speedway’s web page at www.evergreenspeedway.com. They are also available by calling the office Tuesday through Saturday at (360) 805-6100. Tickets are always available on race nights at the front gates.
Evergreen Speedway June 25 Results:
Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Super Stocks:
50-Lap Main: 1-Gaylon Stewart; 2-Kelly Mann; 3-Shane Harding; 4-Doug Davidson; 5-John Burtsche; 6-Billy Coates; 7-Jason Fraser; 8-Joe Decker Jr; 9-Daniel Boys; 10-Wade Bennett; 11-Richard Harriman; 12-Steve Hurley; 13-Josh Charles; 14-Naima Lang
Les Schwab NASCAR Bombers:
15-Lap Transfer Main: 1-Clark Casey(transferred); 2-Brian Cottrell(transferred); 3-Mark Trail(trophy); 4-Eric Shover; 5-Bill Ruddell; 6-Kenny Paine; 7-Nikki Bristol; 8-Dwayne Humenny; 9-Travis Ross; 10-Diamond Young; 11-Mike Miller
35-Lap Main: 1-Travis Blackwood; 2-Russ Hales; 3-Naima Lang; 4-Steve McElroy; 5-Darrell Lutovsky; 6-Steve Ptacek; 7-Jim Foti; 8-James Mugge; 9-Brad Sweeney; 10-Merlin Cook; 11-Cottrell; 12-Marv Monty; 13-Casey; 14-Craig Rowalt; 15-Michael Counihan; 16-Jill Lang; 17-Monty Boyd; 18-Darin Stordahl
NASCAR Mini-Stocks:
Gem Star Homes Dash for Cash: Jamie Richardson
25-Lap Main: 1-Rick Lapinski; 2-Tony Bunkleman; 3-Richardson; 4-Douglas Hinds; 5-Troy Selby; 6-Travis Bliven; 7-Steve Kelly; 8-Mark Weedin; 9-Chad Chase; 10-Dave Ramey
Super Figure Eights:
40-Lap Main: 1-John Carlson; 2-Steve Peters; 3-Doug Wilkinson; 4-Don Eslick; 5-Greg Scott; 6-Jerry Funden; 7-Wendi Boyd; 8-Augie Vezzoni; 9-Richard Shaver; 10-Renny Marose; 11-Malcolm Lindberg; 12-Jason Holton; 13-Rich Groshong; 14-Dale Larson; 15-John Zaretzke; 16-Nick Gunderson; 17-Brandon Lindberg; 18-Tony Crenshaw
Extreme Contact Figure Eights:
25-Lap Main: 1- Steve Peters; 2-Josh Beckel; 3-Benny Raynes; 4-Noah Chandler; 5-Russ Stotler; 6-Bryce Kolar; 7-Sean Peters; 8-Bill Wade; 9-Rick Gentry
Northwest Pro 4 Tour:
35-Lap Main: 1-Jason Majors; 2-Terry Warren; 3-Matt Sticklers; 4-Rob Tipps; 5-Carl Sheffler; 6-Steve Pryor; 7-Mike Blouer; 8-Wally Walling; 9-Jerimiah Moore; 10-Don Brown; 11-Roger Maynard; 12-Aaron Green
