As I was heading out to the pits this afternoon, the NASCAR Super Stocks were in the middle of practice and I noticed the very distinct car of John Bender’s #18 running in the practice session. Bender was the 2000 Season Champion here at Evergreen Speedway and has been running the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Tour this season, and consistently running in the top 10. Bender had a week off from the tour and decided to visit us here, but in doing so, he WON. Not only did he take fast time tonight, but he also took the checkered at the end of the 40-lap A-Main event tonight. Not that this is his first time back here this year, but it has been awhile. Nice to see you again John!
It was like reliving the 2000 season as the race between Tom Moriarity (#5 and 2 time past champion here at Evergreen Speedway) and John Bender was as tight as ever. There were a very few points separating them during the entire 2000 season, and in the end it was Bender who walked with championship title. Well, it was not much different out here tonight; they are still archrivals.
Matt Murphy (#00) had the pole position tonight after fast time qualifier John Bender spun the invert, which put him in row two on the outside. Murphy, who already has two wins this season under his belt and is currently 3rd in the points standings, had the lead on the green, but Bender took that only moments into the race and was a dominant force the whole way. But that did not deter Murphy, who held on to that 2nd position even with Moriarity and another strong competitor right on his tail and that was the #47 of John Pierce currently in the #2 spot in the point standings, and who also has two wins to his credit this season. John Pierce is also a past champion here at Evergreen. The field in front was full of past champions, so the competition was very stiff.
Bender was out in front by 3-4 car lengths and the battle continued for 2nd and 3rd position between Murphy, Moriarity, and Pierce. By lap 13, Bender was beginning to get into lap traffic, but maneuvered his way through or around them and put yet another 6-7 car lengths between he and Murphy. Moriarity continued to ride Murphy’s bumper trying to get under him and take 2nd, but Murphy was not going to give up that position too readily. He held those corners tight and managed to hold Moriarity off…for a while. But on lap 29, Moriarity managed to get into that inside groove and move right under Murphy and shot out to take a firm 2nd place position. At this point, his sights were set on Bender with quite a distance to make up and only 11 laps to do so.
You could see Moriarity really pour it on now as he was trying to catch Bender, who by this time had a substantial lead and without any mishaps, it would take a lot for Moriarity to even be able to catch him with only 11 laps to go in this 40 lap 3/8 mile A-Main event. Although Moriarity did manage to close the gap substantially, it was not enough to keep Bender from flying across that finish line and taking the checkered. The final had Moriarity in 2nd, Murphy in 3rd, John Pierce in 4th and Joel Cox (#10) rounding out the top 5.
NASCAR STREET STOCK BOMBERS
CHUCK CONWELL TAKES FIRST WELL DESERVED WIN OF THE SEASON!
There were enough cars here tonight to run a B-Main as well as an A-Main event. Donna Gentry (#27) had the lead and took the checkered, but chose to take the move up to the A-Main which placed Ken Hyde in the winners circle for his first win this season in the B-Main event. Way to go Ken.
The A-Main placed Norm Daggett in the #47 car on the pole. The #05 of Kyle Cooley rested beside Daggett on the outside lane. With the way this division does their line-up, all the faster cars are at the back of the pack, so it makes for an interesting race to see who gets to the front first. Both Dave Lund, who is point leader at this time, and Gary Flammang, 2nd in points, at the back. By lap 7, Lund had secured the 8th position and Flammang was not far behind.
Bill Eddy in the #03 took the lead almost upon the green with Chuck Conwell riding his bumper on every lap. It was not long before Conwell managed to get under Eddy and take the lead. With the mishaps back in the middle of the pack, Conwell just kept moving out and stayed in the lead all the way to the finish. At one point, the #74 of Steve McElroy overtook Eddy and had #2 position. The final was as follows: Chuck Conwell placed 1st, a well deserved win; nice to see you in winner’ s circle Chuck; Steve McElroy 2nd, Bill Eddy 3rd, Victor Fort (#38), who is running, at present, 3rd in points placed 4th and rounding out the top five was Dave Lund. Way to go guys…..good race! The trophy dash was taken by Brad Sweeny in the #65 car tonight.
NASCAR MINI STOCK
NAT BARBER TAKES THE CHECKERED TONIGHT MAKING THIS HIS 3RD WIN THIS SEASON
What is funny about this, is that I was in the pits tonight talking to Nat…doing a ‘Driver Highlight” of him this week,…and when I waked away I told him ‘good luck’ and he said, “I have 2, I want 3…this would be the 3rd win”…well he made it happen. This proves the theory that, ‘what you believe, you can achieve’. (Kelly Mann did it a couple of weeks ago in the Super Stock Division.)
This was probably the most exciting race of the evening in the NASCAR divisions, in my opinion…for whatever that is worth. When the green flag dropped a race began; a very exciting race. The lead kept changing and that is what makes for an entertaining event, for me anyway
Stacey Alseth (#17) held the pole position on the green with Chuck Richard in the #00 right along side her. Dale Attfield in the #04 was right behind Alseth and the #02 of Kevin McLeod was at his side. With that said, once the green dropped, it took only moments before the Chuck Richard had the lead position. Nat Barber in his #97 car, had started in row 5 on the inside lane and by lap 6, was in 2nd place. He was running real strong tonight, a real force to contend with. Barber kept the heat on and was on Richard’s bumper by lap 8. He kept trying to get under Richard and finally gave that up and just went on the outside and had the lead position by lap 14. The two ran door to door for awhile, making for an ‘edge of your seat’ race. By the time they had passed the lap 15 marker, Barber had a strong lead.
Ken Jorgensen, #57, was continuously moving up from the back and by lap 16 had secured 2nd position. Jorgensen is currently running in 4th place in the point standings. In the end, it was Nat Barber taking the checkered and the trophy, Ken Jorgensen placed 2nd, Chuck Richard held 3rd, Michael Johnston (#37) took 4th, and Marty Marsolek, #36 took 5th position. Ken Jorgensen took the Trophy Dash tonight.
COMING NEXT WEEK:
NORTH AMERICAN BIG RIG NIGHT
Plus EXTREME CONTACT FIGURE 8, FIGURE 8, BUMP-TO-PASS, HORNETS, AND SCHOOL BUS FIGURE 8
Gates open at 3:30 pm, qualifying at 4:30 pm, and racing at 7:00 pm.
For further information please call the speedway office at
(360) 805-6110
Have a great week and we will see you next week.
Thank you again from all of us at Evergreen Speedway and…
Have a great week!
