HARDING EXTENDS POINTS LEAD WITH WIN AT MONROE

Source: NASCAR Public Relations
Date: 07/19/1999

MONROE, Washington -- Pete Harding took the good with the bad in winning the Parts Plus Auto Parts 125 on the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring, at Evergreen Speedway July 17. Harding, fighting pain from shifting kidney stones, capitalized on some bad luck for race leader John Zaretzke to take the lead on lap 119. Harding then held off a hard charging Tom Sweatman to take the checkered flag. Shane Biles, newcomer Gaylon Stewart, and two-time series champion Kelly Tanner rounded out the top-five.

Pole sitter Gary Lewis jumped out to the lead on the first lap of the race. Lewis held the point for the first 19 laps before track champion Zaretzke took over the point. Zaretzke set a blistering pace. On lap 56, Zaretzke pushed things a little too much, going three wide in turn one to pass Rick Allison and Keith Armstrong. Zaretzke spun after contact, falling to sixth place. Lewis retook the lead, holding the position until lap 62. Then Lewis spun on a restart in turn one when he was hit by a hard-charging Kevin Hamlin, who was trying to get back on the lead lap. When the dust settled from the resulting six car pile-up, Lewis' car was on a wrecker and Harding was back in the lead.

By lap 66, Zaretzke moved past Harding for the lead once more. Zaretzke then stretched out to a comfortable lead. Harding held back, saving his tires. With 15 laps to go, Harding began to reel in the leader. Lapped traffic and fading tires on the leader's car closed the gap. On lap 119, Zaretzke's Ford suddenly slowed. A fuel cell problem robbed the engine of gasoline. Harding shot past with Sweatman close on his heals. The two dueled over the final six laps, with Harding taking away Sweatman's preferred line.

"The car was excellent," said a ginger Harding in victory circle. "We practiced real good, qualified real good. The team did a great job getting the car ready. I've been gone a lot on business, and they have taken care of things in the shop."

"Excellent race," said Sweatman. "We were just a little bit tight. I was trying to save the tires for the end. I was letting them (Harding and Zaretzke) do the racing. We were coming. Pete had an excellent race car, the car to beat."

"We were saving the tires," said Biles. "We should have gone earlier. We just waited too long. The crew did a great job getting the car ready. The engine was in pieces on Thursday. They had it ready to go tonight."

The pace set by the leaders shattered the old record at the 125-lap distance for Evergreen Speedway. The race was completed in 56 minutes, 44 seconds, for an average speed of 85.400 MPH. The old record was held by Lewis at 57.876 MPH. Tanner won the Bud Pole for the race. Zaretzke picked up the Gatorade Front Runner Award while Ken Kaltschmidt was the Totem Travel Rookie of the Race with a sixth place finish. Kevin Quesnell, Joe Constance, Armstrong, and John Dillon rounded out the top-ten.

Next race on the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series is the Frank's Chevrolet 125 on July 31, at Yakima Speedway in Yakima, Wash.

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