Lang, Cowgill local winners at Washington 500

MONROE — Alone.

That was the situation both winning drivers from Evergreen Speedway’s local divisions found themselves in on Saturday night.

Naima Lang lapped the field and was all by himself at the end of the Super Stock division’s 150-lap race, and Frank Cowgill avoided trouble and the rest of the field en route to winning the Bomber division’s 50-lap race.

Both divisions of the Whelen All-American Series saw action Saturday night as part of the annual Washington 500.

Joining the local racers at the Monroe speedway were the drivers of the NASCAR Camping World Series West and the ASA Aero Exhaust Northwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment.

Lang passed Jason Fraser for the lead on lap 7 of the Super Stock race, then led Fraser on a dominating run that saw both lap the rest of the field.

As the laps wound down, Fraser would pull close to Lang, appear to gain position, then fall back after racing side-by-side. Lang gave up the lead to Fraser for just one lap — lap 57 — over the final 143 of the race.

Fraser pulled off the track into the pit area — possibly needing gas — when the yellow flag flew on lap 145 and was unable to get his car restarted for the finish.

That caution, resulting from defending champion John Zaretzke hitting Tom Hughs on the frontstretch after exiting pit row, set up a green-white checkered finish.

But with just Lang on the lead lap, all he had to do was ride around for two laps after the restart to collect his sixth victory of the season.

“I love racing with that guy, man, it’s so much fun,” Lang said of Fraser. “I’ve got to thank my crew … all week long we spent 50 hours in the shop tearing the car down and building it back up to what it was tonight.”

Rookie James Mugge finished second, Jeff Holden was third, Tony Green was fourth and Tom Hughs rounded out the top five.

Zaretzke, who finished 15th, had battled his way to third after pitting for adjustments during the first two cautions. On lap 142 he pitted again, this time for a flat tire, and was involved in the third and final caution a few laps later.

Lang qualified fastest but pulled a 12-car invert for the start. He was on the outside of the sixth row, with Fraser one row up and on the inside.

Unofficial Results

Speedway Chevrolet Super Stocks

Pos No. Name

1 00 Naima Lang

2 34 James Mugge

3 12 Jeff Holden

4 6 Tony Green

5 48 Tom Hughs

6 70 Jeff Knight

7 14 Billy Weber

8 11 Mike Holden

9 2 Tom Berrow

10 16 Daniel Moore

11 99 Scott LaCross

12 28 Chris Preston

13 31 Jason Frasier

14 06 Steve Ptacek

15 51 John Zaretzke

16 36 Brian Cottrell

17 26 Michael Prudnick

Cowgill was in the right place at the right time.

More importantly, he wasn’t near Jill Lang and Lane Sundholm.

Coming off a restart on lap 39, Lang and Sundholm dueled side-by-side for the lead for four laps, Lang on the outside and Sundholm on the inside, with neither able to get an advantage on the other.

Then Sundholm spun out after exiting turn 1, and Lang went high to avoid him — and held onto her car for several seconds — before losing control in turn 2.

Trailing the leaders by a few car lengths, Cowgill was able to avoid both spinning cars and then hold on to a comfortable lead over runner-up Travis Blackwood.

Merlin Cook finished third and Ryan Hanson was fourth.

Sundholm started on the pole and jumped out to the lead at the green flag. Lang started from the inside of the second row, and she pulled past Cowgill, who started outside of Sundholm on the front row, to take second entering turn 1.

The three — Sundholm, Lang and Cowgill — pulled away from the field over the first half of the race, slowing only to thread their way through lapped traffic on the five-eighths mile oval.

There were just two yellows in the race, one of which turned into a red flag as track officials worked to get the field into the right order to restart.

Bomber division cars are not required to have spotters at Evergreen Speedway, making it difficult at times to ensure everyone is in the right place for a restart.

Unofficial results

Les Schwab Tires Bombers

Pos No. Name

1 76 Frank Cowgill

2 5 Travis Blackwood

3 11 Merlin Cook

4 66 Ryan Hansen

5 99 Joe Kneeland

6 53 Darrel Lutovsky

7 27 Jill Lang

8 48 Mark Trail

9 00 Lane Sundholm