EATON CLAIMS SECOND WIN OF SEASON

Source: NASCAR Media Relations
Date: 06/03/2001

YAKIMA, Wash. (June 2, 2001) – Ron Eaton extended his own record as the oldest driver to win on the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring, as he captured the Frank’s Chevrolet 125 at Yakima Speedway. The win is Eaton’s second of the young season as he looks to claim his fourth points championship since the series began in 1985.

Joe Benedetti came home in second place followed by Kevin Hamlin. Pete Harding and Mel Shenyer rounded out the top 5.

With rain washing out most of the afternoon practice sessions, finding the right qualifying and race set-ups was a challenge for all 25 teams that entered the event.

Bryan Wiener of Tacoma, Wash. hit the mark in qualifying with a lap of 18.444 seconds at 97.587 mph. Wiener and his Budweiser/TSTR Chevrolet team had never won a Bud Pole Award on the series. With the invert set at four, Gary Lewis and Pete Harding started on the front row followed by Eaton and Wiener.

With the green flag in the air, Lewis would make a strong move on Harding heading into turn No. 1 to lead the first lap. The Bothell, Wash, native held the lead for the first four circuits around the .500 paved oval before Harding would go to the inside of Lewis exiting turn No. 2 for the top spot. Lewis would fall back in the running order to battle with 2000 series champion, Garrett Evans, for the fourth place position.

Evans and Lewis stayed nose to tail for several laps before Lewis would pull away with fourth place. Lewis would fall back to the 14th position in the final running order due to a flat right front tire.

Back up front, Eaton found lapped traffic by lap 60. With Benedetti in tow, the pair weaved through the back markers without a scratch however; Benedetti could not use the slower cars to his advantage to catch the leader.

Eaton used strong restarts on laps 91 and 105 after cautions to avoid pressure from lapped traffic and Benedetti. Hamlin found himself stuck behind slower cars several times in the late going and was never able to mount a serious challenge to the front-runners.

At the tender age of 57 years and ten months, Eaton earned his fourth career victory at Yakima Speedway and the Gatorade Front Runner Award for leading the most laps during the event.

“I kept it off the wall and the car stayed really good,” Eaton said.

As he builds towards a possible fourth championship, Eaton is quick to point out the key to his early season success.

“A lot of guys have been working to help me. I brought back some of my old guys and one of my old crew chiefs. I haven’t tried to run for the points since 95 when I won it,” Eaton said.

“He is just strong and has the whole package. He’s just awesome” Benedetti said of Eaton’s team.

“This year we’re off to a good start and that is what we’re concentrating on is getting good finishes,” Benedetti said of his own effort.

Despite running into lapped traffic that slowed his march to the front, Hamlin was happy with the outcome.

“The car was a little loose tonight, not a winning car but we did what we could with it,” Hamlin said.

NOTES OF INTEREST:

John Bender took the lead away from Troy Conrad in the Totem Travel Rookie of the Year chase. Bender started 12th and finished sixth while Conrad was caught in an accident and came home 24th.

Eaton extended his lead to 43 points over Hamlin in the season points chase. Bender moved into third place overall while 1999 series champion, Pete Harding, moved up two positions to fourth place. 1998 champion, Gary Lewis, holds down the fifth spot.

While Eaton may have run away with the win, several drivers turned in impressive top 10 finishes after starting back in the field. Mel Shenyer came up to fifth from his 15trh place starting position while Bender moved forward from his 12th place spot at the beginning of the evening. Perhaps the biggest move of the night came from Royal City, Wash. driver, Zach Niessner, who started the race from the 22nd position and came home in eighth.

The series moves next to Tri-City Raceway in West Richland, Wash. for the Oasis Waterworks 125 before taking a week off to prepare for the George Morlan Plumbing 100 at Portland International Raceway on June 23, 2001.

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