EVANS SHOWS HE IS STILL HAS THE MAGIC AT TWIN FALLS

Source: RACINGWEST STAFF
Date: 09/15/2002

The hot weather at Twin Falls Idaho did not have much chance to cool down before the wild race action of the Northwest Tour heated up the Magic Valley Speedway.

The day began with Gary Lewis, Kevin Hamlin and Joe Benedetti scrambling to fix mechanical gremlins, Benedetti had the biggest work when he found he needed to change a motor before qualifying.

The NWT regulars were joined by a number of local and SWT drivers and qualifying became even more important. Drivers were apprehensive to run the B-Main, but for some it would be inevitable.

As qualifying progressed, Kevin Hamlin zipped to his 2nd Pole of the season with a time of 14.039. Of the SWT contingent – Scott Lynch, Eddy McKean, Burney Lamar made it in to the race on time as did Winston West rookie, Brett Thompson.

Drivers coming up short on time or unable to take advantage of a provisional were confronted with competing in the B-Main; included in this group was the 05 of Russell Butler, the 84 of Zan Sharp, the 69 of Ralph Hubbard, the 29 of Nick Lynch, the 98 of Greg Bennett, the 22 of Chris Ruthfus, the 03 of Clint Kidd and 23 of Brian Sailing. There were eight drivers to compete for the two coveted positions that would transfer them into the main event, the NAPA 150.

Wild does not quite describe the dogfight that ensued but skirmishing to make the main is the nature of the race and the warriors in their cars battled fiercely. (Nick) Lynch on his familiar turf was like a racehorse at the starting gate, jumping the start not once, but twice was pulled in by NASCAR’s black flag for a stop and go. At one point during the event the 69 and 84 cars made contact and spun under yellow conditions. The end of the race was a wild one and the 84 of Sharp was in second coming around to take the checkers when contact from another car sent him spinning, allowing the transfer positions to go to the 03 of Kidd and the 05 of Butler.

A four car invert put 4th place qualifier Garrett Evans on the pole for the event with Gary Lewis on his outside. Jeff Jefferson, who had been warned by NASCAR not to bump any car, was on the inside of the second row with Hamlin on the outside.

When the green flag came out the veteran Evans took the lead and pulled away leaving Lewis, Jefferson and Hamlin to battle for position behind him. Before the race was barely begun the yellow flag was displayed when the 3 car of Lamar took a spin on the backstretch.

As the field went back to green Evans again pulled away and behind him the 42 of Jefferson and 16 of Conrad were raging a battle for position. Then it was Hamlin and Conrad fighting for position. All the while Evans was extending his lead on the 2nd place car of Lewis and Lewis was cushioning his place by putting a couple car lengths between himself and the third place car.

Meanwhile in the back of the pack the other veteran, the injured Pete Harding, was handily weaving his way through the field. He may have been war wounded at Tri Cities but it most certainly did not seem to be dampening his driving style.

Hart who was looking strong started smoking, the 40 spun in the loose stuff on the track and the yellow was brought out.

As the green came out and with the field tightened up Lewis attempted to get his nose under Evans on the restart and continued to do so as the laps went on, but lap after lap Evans would go high gaining momentum and just as soon as it appeared Lewis was in position to take the lead Evans slammed the door taking advantage of the inside groove.

The 87 of Travis Powell entered the pits and in an unrelated incident the 81 of Scott Lynch spun into the infield. The yellow flag slowed the pace and in between it all the 2 of Benedetti began smoking and the 05 of Butler was weaving on the track. NASCAR posted both cars to come in for a consultation.

The race went yellow again. Amazingly the 39 of Harding worked his way up to the 6th place position. The 28 of Matt Hall became loose and spun, but no yellow was brought out by NASCAR and as the 42 of Jefferson came around the 28 was T-Boned. A multi-car pile up brought out the red. Troy Conrad and John Dillon were also involved.

Under the red some teams worked on their cars making a mockery of NASCAR’s penalty. After all, if the teams that are wrecked work on their car under the red they most likely will lose less laps with the penalty than they would if they waited for the yellow.

Teams were sorting out with NASCAR where their cars should be when the race went green. This is where team frustration comes in and the NASCAR pencil comes out. It seems that there is no racing back to the yellow in the Tour, but most everyone does; the problem stems from the fact that some get away with it and some don’t. The teams scream to deaf ears for consistency in the series.

The race went green again and then in the blinking of an eye the yellow was back out due to contact with the 81 of Lynch and the 5 of Hart. The 5-car came into the pit and the attention of its crew, but went back out for the green.

Once the race was back under way the running order was Evans, Lewis, Hamlin, Harding and Biles. The top four pulled away from the rest of the field. Lewis kept trying to get under Evans who would go wide in turn two, but then would pick up speed coming off the corner forcing Lewis to fall back behind him. The heated battle continued with Hamlin right behind Lewis ready to take advantage of even the slightest window of opportunity.

Lewis tried the outside of Evans and Hamlin tried the inside of Lewis. The 2nd and 3rd place cars of Lewis and Hamlin went side-by-side battling for position when the tires touched. Lewis was sent backwards and the yellow made yet another appearance.

Teams began scrubbing their tires, anticipating the green and when it was shown Hamlin went high, went low, and did everything he could to get around Evans. Lap after lap the fight for position continued, but only once did Hamlin get the lead, but Evans was not ready to give it up.

In the back Lewis was charging back up to the front, applying the “horn” to a few of the drivers that were slowing him down. Points were on the line and the championship battle between Hamlin and Lewis is a tight one.

And then the NAPA 150 hosted by Magic Valley Speedway ended as it began…with Evans in first. The cagey veteran had shown the fans and the rest of the teams how to get around a short little track, called Magic Valley Speedway. Joining Evans on the podium was Hamlin and another experienced veteran, Harding.

Two races remain in the NWT, Yakima on September 21 and then the grand finale, THE NORTHWEST RACING ENTERPRISES 150 at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval.

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