Saturday night August 20 is a night that Jason Fraser will always remember. He won his first ever Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Super Stock Main Event. Other winners on CanAm RV night at the races were Russ Hales, his second of the season, in the Les Schwab Bomber Division. Figure Eight winners were Sean Peters in the Extreme Contact Division, Greg Scott in the Super Division and Dan Koester in the Stinger 8 Division. Rounding out the Super ‘7’ night it was Nat Barber in the Mini-Stock Division, Dan Koester in main #1 and Tom Bunkleman in main #2 for the Hertz Equipment Rental Hornets Division.
Jason Fraser drove his Super Stock to the front of the pack early in the 50-lap main and hung on for his first win. With five to go Fraser got into lapped traffic and almost took the wrong path to get through the 4-car group. Second place Shane Harding was able to get alongside Fraser. On victory stage Fraser said “I was bound and determined not to let it happen again” referring to when he was leading and took the wrong lane to pass with the slower car choosing the same path and Harding was able to pass to gain another win. Fraser’s win and a second for point leader Harding the difference now for the championship is just fourteen points with three races remaining. John Burtsche had a strong third place finish and Billy Coats a career best fourth.
The 30-lap Bomber main saw a lot of side by side action. Once winner Russ Hales was able to get to the front he kept it to the checkers. The best race of the night was for second with eventual second place finisher Merlin Cook, third place finisher Darrell Lutovsky and Steve Ptacek who finished fourth. This trio was three wide many times and raced each other hard for all 30-laps. Point leader Travis Blackwood did not have a good night after a mechanical problem in his qualifying heat race that put him out. Blackwood borrowed a car for the last chance B-Main but failed to transfer. Former and now present point leader Naima Lang finished seventh in the 30-lap A-Main.
Nat Barber loaned his car to Pete Jensen two weeks ago and Jensen won. Barber said on Victory Stage after winning the 15-lap Mini-Stock Main “I could not be outdone by Jensen in my own car”. Second place went to point leader Jamie Richardson and third to Dave Ramey.
Super Figure Eight main event winner Greg Scott started from thirteenth and that was a lucky number. Seventeen cars started the 30-lap main and it was not long before everyone was dodging each other at the intersection. Scott credited his win to the motor that Jay Barnes built. Tony Crenshaw was second and Doug Delfel third. This was a tune up race for the big 100-lap Figure Eight Nationals next Saturday.
Sixteen year old Sean Peters returned to action after some weeks off to recover from an arm injury. A win in the Extreme Contact main was preceded by a heat and trophy dash win in the Stinger 8’s Division. Sean has become a fan favorite and they were on their feet cheering the first place on his first night back. Russ Stotler finished second ahead of Sean’s dad Steve Peters.
It was a great night for Dan Koester. Koester won the Stinger 8 main and a Hornet main. The other Hornet main winner was won by newcomer to the division Tom Bunkleman.
Next up on Saturday August 27 at Evergreen Speedway is the opening weekend of the Evergreen State Fair. The Dwayne Lanes Figure Eight Nationals is a grueling 100-lap main with the drivers having to negotiate the intersection 200 times. The Nationals started in 1984 and has become a major west coast Figure Eight race. It is an event that brings out the Northwest’s best Figure Eight racers. In addition the Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Super Stocks and Les Schwab NASCAR Bombers continue their respective chases to the championship. Each of these two divisions has only three races remaining in the 2005 season and each has a very tight point’s battle. Racing at The Super Speedway of the West, carnival rides, great food and all of the other fair amenities makes this a great way to spend a Saturday in Monroe, WA.
Tickets are available on line at www.evergreenspeedway.com, by calling 360-805-6100 and at the front gate of the fair. If you purchase tickets at the fair gate remember to get the fair and racing combo ticket it will save you money.
Saturday August 20 Results at Evergreen Speedway:
Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Super Stocks:
50-Lap Main 3/8-Mile: 1-Jason Fraser; 2-Shane Harding; 3-John Burtsche; 4-Billy Coats; 5-Gaylon Stewart; 6-Wade Bennett; 7-Naima Lang; 8-Michael Counihan; 9-Doug Davidson; 10-Daryl Hall; 11-Joey Decker; 12-Richard Harriman
Les Schwab NASCAR Bombers:
15-lap Transfer Main: 1-Lane Sundholm (transferred); 2-Eric Shover (transferred); 3-Brian Cottrell (trophy); 4-Travis Blackwood; 5-Chance Terrill; 6-Nikki Bristol
30-Lap Main: 1-Russ Hales: 2-Merlin Cook; 3-Darrell Lutovsky; 4-Steve Ptacek; 5-Duane Schosboek; 6-Jim Foti; 7-Naima Lang; 8-Frank Cowgill; 9-James Mugge; 10-Darin Stordahl; 11-Steve McElroy; 12-Sundholm; 13-Tim Davis; 14-Craig Rowalt; 15-Eric Shover; 16-Marv Monty; 17-Rich Brown; 18-Jill Lang
NASCAR Mini-Stocks:
Gem Star Homes Dash for Cash: Nat Barber
15-Lap Main: 1-Barber; 2-Jamie Richardson; 3-Dave Ramey; 4-Tony Bunkleman; 5-Chad Chase; 6-Douglas Hinds; 7-Joe Hobbs
Super Figure Eights:
Trophy Dash: Steve Peters
30-Lap Main: 1-Greg Scott; 2-Tony Crenshaw; 3-Doug Delfel; 4-John Carlson; 5-Peters; 6-Rich Groshong; 7-Wendi Boyd, 8-Jerry Funden; 9-Jason Holton, 10-William Houghtaling; 11-Renny Marose; 12-Doug Wilkinson; 13-Tim Bergstrom; 14-Brian Gunderson; 15-Dale Larson; 16-Joe Young; 17-Chuck Widdis
Extreme Contact Figure Eights:
Trophy Dash: Noah Chandler
15-Lap Main: 1-Sean peters; 2-Russ Stotler; 3-Steve Peters; 4-Josh Beckel; 5-Benny Raynes; 6-Nick Niesen; 7-Bill Wade; 8-Randy Hilburn; 9-Tom Large; 10-David Martinez; 11-Noah Chandler
Stinger 8’s:
Trophy Dash: Sean Peters
15-Lap Main: 1-Dan Koester; 2-Greg Estes; 3-Derrick VanDerHoff; 4-Steve Baumgartner; 5-Ben Chandler; 6-Billie Williams; 7-Brian Estes; 8-Gary Estes; 9-Tom Leopold; 10-Craig Jantz; 11-Brianna Stotler; 12-Kody Koroshes; 13-Kyle Zornes; 14-Justin Ferguson; 15-William Schamps; 16-Tom Fraser; 17-Nick Williams; 18-Sean Peters
Hertz Equipment Rental Hornets:
Main #1: 1-Dan Koester; 2-Dennis Yarnell; 3-Mark Light
Main #2: 1-Tom Bunkleman; 2-Gary Becktold; 3-Steve Baumgartner
