COX AND MORIARITY AT EVERGREEN

Source: Evergreen Speedway
Date: 06/01/2003

More fortunate were the winners who walked up to the Victory Stage on May 31. The headline feature race was the Snap on Tools Ed Ritchie Memorial 60 Minutes of FEAR . Last years winner Steve Peters of Monroe was displaced by Steve Cox as the new 60 Minutes of FEAR Champion. The NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Super Stock feature was won by Tom Moriarity for the second week in a row after setting fast time in his brand new Port City Monte Carlo. Accepting first place honors for the NASCAR Randy’s Ring & Pinion Bomber 20 lap B Main was Jason Fraser while Dirk Kruiswyk scored his first ever main event win in the Randy’s Ring & Pinion Bomber 30 lap A Main.

The evening had officially started with the 6:30 autograph session and flag ceremony. The dashes got underway just as the sun started going down. Frank Cowgill won the Bomber division dash while Matt ‘Ballard Bullet’ Murphy took honors for the Super Stocks dash. The F-8 A Dash led to a win from Malcolm ‘Maniac’ Lindberg and the B Dash went to Shane Sawin.

Spinning cars were the theme of the NASCAR Randy’s Ring & Pinion Bomber B Main. Several cars ended up taking a turn to face their opponents, including David Lamb who had held a close second to Jason Fraser until leaving by tow truck on lap 19. Fraser saw nothing but air from the start of the B Main, and cruised to the win.

Rookie drivers Chad Smith and John Burtsche lead the pack to the green in the 30 lap NASCAR Randy’s Ring & Pinion Bomber A-Main. Smith lead the first 4 laps before Craig Szweda pulled ahead on lap 5. The first yellow came out when Charles “Tuna” Davis made extreme contact with the front stretch wall. Jim Foti took over the lead from Szweda on lap 10 and held it until the 19th lap when Kruiswyk made the winning pass. Foti didn’t give up easy as he chased Kruiswyk, Kruiswyk finally managed to close the door for the win on an insistent Jim Foti who came in second. Mark Moulaison Mike Ebeling,and Frank Cowgill rounded out the top five.

Tensions were riding high in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series Super Stock feature. Last week, 2002 Defending Champion Tom Moriarity held John Zaretzke away from his from his fifth feature win of the season.

This week’s NASCAR Super Stock feature, which was run on the 3/8s oval, was started by five Snap-On Tools Pace Trucks. Joey Decker and Doug Davidson pulled away from the rest immediately while John Zaretzke gained a few slots. In the ninth lap, Kevin Brown and Matt Murphy tangled bringing out the yellow flag for three laps. As soon as the green flag waved, Zaretzke and Moriarity began racing in earnest. They picked up the second and third slots by the 14th. By lap 16 they were one and two and pulling away. Moriarity, in his new #1 car took the lead by lap 20. The caution flag was back out at laps 29 and 35 for minor problems but the top four of Moriarity, Zaretzke, Decker and Davidson did not change until Matt Murphy edged out Davidson in Lap 42. The final results had Moriarity on the Victory Stand for the second week in a row. Zaretzke, Decker, Murphy and Davidson followed second through fifth.

“Well, it’s not a new car anymore. It’s got a dent now” Tom Moriarity commented afterwards. He was referring to contact with Zaretzke earlier in the race. “But it’s no big deal, we didn’t take each other out or anything.”

‘Exciting’ was the word to describe the Ed Ritchie Memorial 60 minutes of FEAR presented by Snap-On Tools. There were countless hair-raising near misses and some rather ugly contacts in the feature race that began with Shane Sawin up front. Sawin kept Steve Peters’ Battlewagon in his rear view until about the 19th lap. About that time the track turned into a wild melee. The intersection was the scene of contact and chaos. There was a car fire in the 50th. Several cars left due to flats, oil leaks or contact damage. Finally, a red flag was called to clean up debris. Shane Sawin must have been annoyed to have been the recipient of several contacts, taking away his early lead. Steve Cox and Doug ‘Griz” Delfel took off out in front as rain began coming down in the 54th. The red flag and tow trucks came out again in the 61st for multiple cars. By the time the rain let up in lap 94, another red flag was waving. Doug ‘Griz” Delfel had been hit and lost his steering. Ricky “the Kid” Dietz was hit from two sides at the intersection. Shane Sawin and Steve Cox began dominating the field again. By lap 120 only a dozen cars were on the track The race went 140 laps total during the 60 minutes. Steve Cox won with a miraculously unscathed vehicle. Shane Sawin followed for second.

“I had a great time and Thank God!” were Cox’s final words on the race.

Next week its USG Night at Evergreen Speedway as the NASCAR Super Stocks, Bombers, Mini Stocks, along with the FEAR Super Figure 8 and Xtreme Contact Figure 8’s are in action with a added bonus of Auto Bowling.

See Also .:

• Evergreen Speedway Track Page

News Index | E-mail to a Friend