Source: NASCAR MEDIA RELATIONS
Date: 07/15/2001

YAKIMA, Wash. (July 14, 2001) – Pete Harding, the 1999 Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring champion, ended a nearly two year dry spell by capturing the Frank’s Chevrolet Sun City 250 at Yakima Speedway. Current points leader, Kevin Hamlin finished second, followed by current Totem Travel Rookie of the Year points leader, John Bender, in third. Joe Benedetti and Gary Lewis rounded out the top-5.

Jeff Jefferson, a local favorite from Naches, Wash., earned the Bud Pole Award and led the field to the green flag. Jefferson grabbed the lead entering turn No. 1 and by lap 14 had built a four second lead over second place Ron Eaton.

Jefferson set a quick pace to the 250-lap event. By lap 38, he had guided his D&G Bodyworks Chevrolet through lapped traffic and had Eaton, Lewis, Harding, and Garrett Evans in tow behind him.

Lewis moved to second place in the running order by lap 54 with Harding’s LP Body Shop Chevrolet in close pursuit. The pair caught Jefferson in lapped traffic by lap 59 and began to apply pressure to the leader.

As the top-3 exited turn No. 4, Lewis and The Sign Factory USA Pontiac beat Jefferson to the stripe and grabbed the lead with Harding coming up to second. Jefferson fell back to third and tried to save his tires as lap 60 began.

Lewis led the next lap and caught lap traffic entering turn No. 1 on lap 62. Travis Powell checked up as the leaders approached, making contact with Lewis in the apex of turns No. 1 and 2. Harding grabbed the lead bringing Eaton back to second place. Lewis would pit to check for damage and emerge back on the track at the tail end of the lead lap. Powell was done for the evening with front-end damage.

On lap 87, Bender and his B&B Excavation Chevrolet moved to third place in the running order as he passed Jefferson exiting turn No. 2. Bender caught Hamlin for second place by lap 107.

Harding led the field to the halfway break on lap 125. Jefferson lost a lap just before the break and restarted the next 125-lap segment on Harding’s inside. He beat the leader to turn No. 1 and moved back to the lead lap. It was short lived as Jefferson was forced to pit for a flat tire in the late stages of the event, he would finish 11th, three laps down to the leader.

As the race worked its way to the 200-lap mark, Harding had built a two second lead over Hamlin’s American Dream Motorsports Chevrolet who had passed Bender for second place. After the leaders worked through lapped traffic, Hamlin found himself less than one second behind Harding by lap 224.

Over the next 26 laps, Hamlin caught Harding and brought Bender with him as the top-3 waged a fierce battle for the lead. Exiting turn No. 4 with less than five laps to go, the leaders made it three-wide with Harding moving to the inside groove entering turn No. 1, Hamlin settled back in line for second with Bender on his rear bumper for third. Harding took the checkered flag for his 13th career victory on the series.

“I feel tired,” Harding said after climbing from his racecar. “I tried to pace myself in the second 125 because I didn’t know if the guys behind me had anything for me,” he added.

Shane Harding, the crew chief on his father’s race team, and the entire crew earned praise from the winner for the set-up calls they made.

“The car stayed the same the second time as it did in the first. My guys just did an excellent job of keeping the car underneath me,” Harding said.

With sponsorship from Yakima, Wash. based LP Body Shop; Harding was elated to earn the victory in front of his supporters and their employees.

“It was great to win here in Yakima. You know I haven’t won here on the tour since 1999 when I won the championship, if this is the only place I can get a win, I’ll take it every time,” Harding said.

With his second place finish in the first 250-lap race of his career, Hamlin extended his points lead to 65 points over Benedetti.

“The car was real good tonight. A couple of times there I thought I had something for Pete and I got on the outside of him and tried to pass him but John (Bender) was coming so we got back in line. Pete has won a ton of races here so I’ll take this as a win for us,” Hamlin said.

Bender was excited to be in the top-3 and gave credit to the tires on his racecar for getting him to the front.

“Goodyear did an awesome job of giving us the proper stagger this weekend, I’d like to thank those guys. Yakima has not been one of my favorite tracks, but this is my highest finish here in a tour race. I should have played it a little smarter, I made a mistake there on the last restart, I was going to try and get them both on the outside of turn No. 1 but Kevin was in front of me so I couldn’t do anything,” Bender said.

NOTES OF INTEREST:

Jefferson drove a car owned by Rick Allison for the second time this season. He had planned to run his own Ford Taurus, but an accident the week before in a late model race destroyed the racecar. Allison along with crewmembers for Jefferson spent all week converting the No. 42 back to an oval car after Jefferson piloted the machine to a top-5 finish at Portland International Raceway on June 23.

Rick Suran tied his best career finish by capturing sixth place in the Frank’s Chevrolet Sun City 250. Suran stayed on the lead lap until late in the game, then held off former Yakima Speedway champion, Troy Conrad, for the position. With the top-10 finish, Suran maintains the 14th spot in the points standings.

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