LEWIS WINS SNO-COUNTRY 125, TRACK WORKER INJURED

Source: RacingWest Staff
Date: 04/08/2001

Gary Lewis held off a hard-charging Tom Sweatman to win the Sno-Country Ford 125, the season opener for the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series. Said Daniel Smith, “It was a great race, especially toward the end, with Lewis and Sweatman exchanging the lead a couple of times and Hamlin dogging both of them. The top three all had a chance to win.”

Sweatman who was second across the stripe at the Evergreen Speedway event was disqualified in post-race tech for what NASCAR said was “a non approved fuel”. The disqualification moved Kevin Hamlin to second place and Gaylon Stewart to third.

The exciting night of racing was lessened by an upsetting tragedy during the NSRA Sprint race. While under caution, a track worker was hit by one of the cars. Said Smith, “Apparently, the worker was on the track, was hit, thrown over the top of the car and, from what I heard from eye witnesses, drug for some distance. The race was red flagged for 45 minutes until the track worker could be air lifted to a trauma unit in Seattle. I was at the other end of the track and didn't see the accident and I am glad I did not. Last I heard last night, he was in very critical condition with head trauma. A bad situation for everyone involved.”

Condition of the injured push-truck driver are not known at this time. Those wanting to leave condolences for the worker on RacingWest may email them to Cares@RacingWest.com.

The finishing order of RBNWS event as reported by Evergreen Speedway: Gary Lewis,Kevin Hamlin, Gaylon Stewart, Pete Harding, Ron Eaton, Garrett Evans, Steven Howard, Zack Niessner, Troy Conrad, Ray Wallace, Kevin Moland, John Bender, Shane Biles, Travis Powell, Roger Habich, Wilbur Bruce, Howard Ford, Wes Rhodes, Greg Bennett, Takuma Koga, Joe Benedetti, Jerry Fink, Matt Kelley, Chris Rothtus, Bill Lawrence, Rick Suran, Chris Hart, John Zaretzke, Tom Sweatman

Editors Note: Our apologies to Mr. Smith for the inital misreporting of his name.

News Index | E-mail to a Friend