MONROE, Washington — On Saturday night August 13 it was USG Ladies Night at Evergreen Speedway featuring the Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Whelen All American Series Super Late Model twin 50’s on the 3/8-mile paved oval. In race one Naima Lang extended his win streak to eight. In race two Tom Hughes won his first ever main. The track qualifying record for the Super late Model Division was broke on the new reconditioned surface of the 3/8-mile with five drivers under the old mark set back in 2004. Lang is now the new record holder. Also in action were the Les Schwab Tires NASCAR Street Stocks with Brian Cottrell capturing his second win in succession. The Foster Press NASCAR Mini-Stocks were back, debuting a new car, Robert DeYoung won his first main of the season. A large contingent of local youngsters from the Washington Quarter Midget Racing Association exhibited their skills. Many in the crowd wore pink for breast cancer awareness night at the races. Lots of money was raised to go towards the ‘Race for the Cure’. All ladies were admitted fret and men who wore pink got a $2 off ticket.
Lang looked as strong on the 3/8-mile as he has on the 5/8-mile continuing the win streak by winning race #1 of the twin 50-lap mains for the Super Late Models. Taking the lead from WSU student Daniel Moore who had led a large portion of the feature, Lang pulled away in what was thought to be the final laps. Moore fought hard to keep the lead. He and Lang raced side by side for many laps but to no avail. A late race caution had the two restart for a green, white, checker aside each other. In the green lap they remained together but by turn two of the final lap Moore just could not hold off Lang. Moore finished second with Jeff Knight third.
Race #2 for the Super Late Models had a first time winner and the end of the Lang streak. Hughes who has raced at Evergreen since the mid 80’s in many different divisions won his first ever SLM main. Taking the lead from Moore after a long contested nose to tail fight, Hughes made an inside move to gain the lead and was pulling away at the end of the 50-laps. The large crowd was as elated as was Hughes on the first win. Moore finished second and Lang third. Both Lang and Moore were very complimentary towards Hughes and were excited for his win.
The Street Stock division win for Cottrell was almost a carbon copy of his win the last time out for this division. Starting towards the front of the 30-lap main Cottrell gained the top spot early and held off challengers. Second place went to Jim Foti and third to Frank Cowgill.
DeYoung brought out a new car and took it to his first win in sometime. DeYoung took the lead within the first laps of the scheduled 30-lap main. The division has struggled this season with many accidents during their mains. The full moon night was no different. By lap three the race had been stopped five times for incidents including two restarts of the first lap. With their time limit running out, officials cut the number of laps. The main ended as a 20-lap feature. Scott LaCross made a final laps charge for the lead and had to settle for second ahead of Kris Harriss.
Next up at the ‘Super Speedway of the West’ the ‘Northwest Center of Racing’, Evergreen Speedway on Saturday August 20 is the annual Figure Eight Nationals presented by Comcast Business Class. The 100-lap main for the best in the west figure eight racers is one of the top events for this style of racing in the country each year. It brings out many of the present and past racers to vie for a chance to add their name to the list of past winners. The Les Schwab Tires NASCAR Street Stocks and Foster Press NASCAR Mini-Stocks, Stinger 8’s and Extreme V-8’s round out the great night of racing. The front gates will open at 4pm followed by Fanfest at 5pm and racing at 6pm. For tickets go to the web page at www.evergreenspeedway.com or call 360-805-6100.
Evergreen Speedway August 13, 2011 USG Ladies Night Official Results:
Speedway Chevrolet NASCAR Whelen All American Series Super Late Model Twin 50’s (Race #1 - 50-laps 3/8-mile oval): 1-Naima Lang; 2-Daniel Moore; 3-Jeff Knight; 4-Tome Hughes; 5-Doni Wanat; 6-Timothy Minister; 7-Tom Moriarity – (Race #2 – 50-laps 3/8-mile oval): 1-Tom Hughes; 2-Daniel Moore; 3-Naima Lang; 4-Jeff Knight; 5-Timothy Minister; 6-Doni Wanat
Les Schwab Tires NASCAR Street Stocks (30-lap main): 1-Brian Cottrell; 2-Jim Foti; 3-Frank Cowgill; 4-Joe Kneeland; 5-Doug Davidson; 6- Kenny Erickson; 7-Steve Ptacek; 8-Zach Bristol; 9-AJ Baxter; 10-Jason McQuinn; 11-Breanna Bristol; 12-Duane Schosboek
Foster Press NASCAR Mini-Stocks (20-lap main): 1-Robert DeYoung; 2-Scott LaCross; 3-Kris Harriss; 4-Jon Roberts; 5-Andrew Schukar; 6-Molly Helmuth; 7-Michael Fritz; 8-Rod Helmuth; 9-Mark Creager; 10-Chuck Richard; 11-Shannon Macintosh; 12-Travis Woodward; 13-Mike Hessler; 14-Eric Whitaker; 15-Dale Creager
