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| Courtesy Thomas Vick/Evergreen Speedway (click to enlarge)
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| The Bomber division cars of Tony Deegan (42) and Nikki Bristol (17) wreck on the backstretch on Saturday, July 12 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash. |
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Zaretzke gets 1st win of year at Evergreen Speedway
Posted
at
1:46 am
by Scott Whitmore
Overview
Maybe Evergreen Speedway had the wrong sponsor for Saturday night’s racing program on the three-eighths mile oval.
On NC Machinery Night at the Monroe, Wash., track, defending Super Stock division champion John Zaretzke recorded his first main win of the year and 2007 Mini-Stock division rookie of the year Kris Harriss survived two shootouts to get his first win of the season.
Frank Cowgill won a time-shortened Bomber division main, Nick Gunderson came in first in the Super Figure Eight main and Bill Wade won the Stinger Eight main.
The evening’s sponsor easily could have been Sky Valley Towing for the sheer number of wrecks that had to be towed off the track.
For complete results — which are unofficial at this point — (CLICK HERE). I'll post my Evergreen Speedway notebook later Sunday.
To see what happened at Skagit Speedway on Saturday, (CLICK HERE).Speedway Chevrolet Super Stocks
Zaretzke put on a short-track racing clinic on Saturday, coming from the rear of the field — where he was sent after spinning out on lap 13 — to record his first victory of the season.
“I just want to thank all my guys, the crew worked hard all week — all year actually,” Zaretzke said. “It’s been at least 15 races since we won and they just work on it every week, and at the shop every night. All the guys are volunteers and dedicated, they come in after work.”
Fred Hall finished second and point leader Naima Lang, who lost his brakes about halfway through the 40-lap race, came in third. Rookie of the year candidate Steve Ptacek was fourth and Jeff Knight rounded out the top five.
Polesitter Mike Holden took lead on the start, and had built up a five car-lengths advantage over Hall by lap 13, when Zaretzke’s spin brought out the first caution of the race.
On the restart, Holden reclaimed the lead on the inside, and James Mugge followed Holden into second place. For the next six laps Mugge pressured Holden, looking for a way around.
On lap 20, Mugge appeared to gain the upper hand by taking the inside line on the frontstretch, but Holden cut across his front entering turn 1. Holden spun out on exit — perhaps aided by Mugge, who was trying to slow down after Holden cut in front of him — bringing out the second caution.
Both Holden and Mugge were sent to the rear of the field for the restart, putting Zaretzke — who had been methodically working his way back to the front — in fourth place behind new leader Hall.
Hall held off Zaretzke for nine laps after the restart, but on lap 34 the defending champion was able to get past on the outside on the backstretch en route to the win.
“(Hall) did a good job of protecting his line,” Zaretzke said. “I had to show him a couple veteran moves that I’ve learned over the years and managed to get it done — a little short track racing.”
Zaretzke and Knight were the heat race winners.Mini Stocks
Although 14 cars started the Mini-Stock main, just six remained when Harriss held off defending champion Chuck Richard in a one-lap shootout to take the checkered flag.
“I almost got caught up in some stuff,” Harriss said after the race. “(One car) was up there and then it went down, and turned this way, and I just got by.”
It was the second career victory for Harriss, who laughed and said “one a year so far.”
Richard finished second, Michael Fritz was third, Mindy Harriss came in fourth and Weedin was fifth.
Harriss’ victory came on the second attempt at finishing the race, which was originally schedule for 30 laps, under a green flag.
In the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, race leader Brent Rohrer missed a shift after the restart, and point leader Mark Weedin wasn’t able to get off the gas quickly enough to avoid spinning him — collecting Jeff Miller in the process.
Rohrer, who passed Rod Helmuth for the lead on a restart on lap 9, had a comfortable lead by lap 28 when Aren Loiser spun out on the backstretch, collecting Andrew Schukar, and setting up the green-white-checkered attempts.
Rohrer and Schukar were the heat race winners.Les Schwab Bombers
Some of the most intense short-track racing of the season has been witnessed in Evergreen Speedway’s Bomber division, and Saturday was no exception.
Frank Cowgill held off defending champion Lane Sundholm and Darrel Lutovsky for the victory. Joe Kneeland finished fourth and point leader Jim Foti was fifth.
It took three tries to get the Bomber main started, and then because of time constraints 10 laps were cut from the originally schedule 30-lap race.
In between there was a lot of bumping and banging, and just one caution, on lap 14 when Jill Lang entered into turn 1 very low and clipped one of the large tires used as a barrier on the figure-eight track.
Lang’s car bounced off the tire and spun back into the oncoming traffic, collecting Casey Branch and Tim Widener.
The second attempt at starting the race ended when Tony Deegan, who started on the pole, spun out after exiting turn 2. As the field parted to get around Deegan, Nikki Bristol was caught with nowhere to go and she ran into the side of Deegan’s car, ending her evening.
The first try at getting the race going ended in turn 3, as three-wide racing — a common occurrence in the division this season — led to several cars spinning out and leaving the racing surface.
Casey Branch and Sundholm won the heat races.Super Figure Eight/Stinger Eight
A pair of Nicks, Nick Gunderson and Nick Dunham, finished first and second respectively in the Pawn X-Change Super Figure Eight main.
Bill Wade, who won the Stinger Eight main, finished third and defending champion John Carlson was fourth. Troy Seminar rounded out the top five.
Greg Estes and Wade won the Super Figure Eight heat races.
Following Wade in the Stinger Eight main was Joselyn Lafleur in second, Josh Young in third, Brian Wheeler finished fourth and Seth Funden rounded out the top five.
Wade and Michael Durbin won the Stinger Eight heat races.
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