Saturday September 15th is Big Track Championship Night at Evergreen Speedway. Once again the Speedway Chevrolet Super Stocks will tackle the Northwest's biggest racetrack, the .646-mile oval. This will be the culmination of the Northwest's finest weekly late model programs. The 150-lap $10,000.00 purse race is for the second time this season, the longest race in the Northwest for any touring or weekly late model series. Not since the Washington 500 in early August have the Super Stocks been on the 5/8's and that race ended a four straight race run on the big track. The rest of the season was spent earning valuable NASCAR Whelen All American Series points towards the Track Championship and first ever Washington State NASCAR Championship, on the Northwest's third biggest track, the "Almost Too Tough to Tame" 3/8's oval. The two different tracks make for an exciting season for fans and extra work for race teams running for points. The experience and talent required making it through a season, pitting team and driver against the best in the Northwest is at the very least a monumental challenge.
Rookies find the task daunting but Evergreen Speedway continues to produce quality rookie teams for sure. For example the Holden Brothers Mike and Jeff have had an excellent season in their rookie years. Mike Holden is set to wrap up Rookie of the Year honors followed closely by Jeff. Another rookie making noise this season is Jeff Knight. Jeff is Roger Habich's teammate and has steadily improved his driving skills as the season progressed. He has already expressed his enthusiasm in regards to the 2008 racing season and is expecting to take a giant leap towards that first win in the late model division at Evergreen.
The sophomore class including Naima Lang, Darin Stordahl, Doug Wilkinson, Chris Preston and others have had their fair share of spirited battles this season. Although many of them have made the podium all are looking for their first wins as well. The competition has made all of them much better drivers as they season themselves to Evergreens tough racing schedule. Veterans Roger Habich and Lex Johnson (two wins) have dug in deep to hold third and sixth place respectively in the overall point standings.
Current points leader and two time champion John Zaretzke has had quite the duel this season with two time defending champion Shane Harding. Just 28 points separate them putting the pressure on Zaretzke to finish at least fourteenth in the race on Saturday to assure him the NASCAR "Duel" championship. Harding comes into the race with momentum but is there enough to carry him to his third straight championship? Harding's season began satisfactory with 3 top three finishes in the first four weeks, but then things went a bit south. It wasn't until June 30th that he finally made it to the top of victory stage for his first win in 2007. Another dry spell happened as he avoided the top 3 for another three long weeks, then he made a decisive comeback. The last four main events have all been victories for Harding. Meanwhile John Zaretzke has had sort of the opposite season. The first eight races of 2007 Zaretzke had 7 top three finishes six of which were wins! Since then he has only managed three top 3's in the last nine races with one win. His seven wins lead all competitors. There have been five different winners and eleven different drivers on the podium at Evergreen in 2007.
Gates open at 3:30, racing at 7:00pm More information at evergreenspeedway.com
