Preston wins Evergreen Speedway late-model opener
Carlson, Cowgill, Barber and O'Grain also win
Saturday, April 11, 2009 | 12:01 am
MONROE — Season openers often start out rough, as everyone shakes off the rust and begins the process of getting back to mid-season form, and Saturday at Evergreen Speedway was no exception.
Veteran racer Chris Preston of Abbottsford, B.C., recorded his first victory at the Monroe track in the time-shortened Super Late Model feature.
“Oh, man,” Preston said after climbing victory stage. “It’s amazing to finally get it. Was that 40 laps? I don’t think it was, but that’s OK.”
Featuring a seemingly never-ending yellow as well as a black flag for former champion Tom Moriarity, the late-model feature went 26 of the scheduled 40 laps.
Fellow Canadian and two-time late-model champion Shane Harding finished second, Tom Sweatman was third, defending champion Naima Lang was fourth and Jeff Knight rounded out the top five.
After the late-model feature, three of the remaining four races went off smoothly and all went the advertised 25-lap distances.
In the Super Figure 8 feature, it was just like last season hadn’t ended as defending champion John “Cowboy” Carlson led most of the way, with Ricky “The Kid” Deitz following him. Finishing third behind Deitz was Shane Shawin, with Nick Gunderson fourth and Steve Peters fifth.
“It’s a great way to come back and start the year with the first win tonight,” Carlson said from victory stage.
Frank Cowgill won the final race of the night, the Street Stock feature, crossing the finish line to the yellow and checkered flags after there was a spin-out in turn 1 of the final lap.
There was a short delay in the Street Stock race after a caution on lap 20 required the field to be re-ordered. Street Stocks are not required to have radios or spotters, making the line-up process a bit longer.
Casey Branch was second, Michael Ebeling was third, Darrel Lutovsky finished fourth and Jim Foti rounded out the top five.
Former champion Nat Barber passed Rod Helmuth for the lead on lap 11 en route to winning the Mini-Stock feature. Kyle Schukar was second, Jon Roberts finished third, Mike Fritz was fourth and Kim Lang was fifth.
“We worked all of last year to get the bugs out,” said Barber, who struggled during the 2008 season. “Now they’re worked out and we’re going to try to get more of these (trophies).”
Lance O’Grain edged defending champion Mike Middleton in a scrum at the finish line to win the Stinger 8 feature. Cody Koroshes finished third, Seth Funden was fourth and Josh Young rounded out the top five.
After climbing victory stage, O’Grain said he had figured finishing second would be good enough, but he was just as surprised as anyone when Middleton got caught in traffic, leaving the door open for a pass at the checkered flag.
In the Super Late Model feature, Preston took advantage of the speedway’s revised restart policy en route to passing Darin Stordahl for the lead on lap 11.
For all divisions this season, when the field is lined up and ready to go for a restart with more than five laps remaining, a commitment cone will be put out on the front stretch. By how they pass the cone — going in order of their position in the field — drivers can elect to restart on the inside or outside.
On a lap 10 restart, Preston moved up from the third position to restart on the outside of the first row when Wade Gaughran, who was scored in second, opted to go to the inside groove behind Stordahl.
The yellow came out again on lap 12 when Moriarity spun out exiting turn 3. Evidently the former champion felt he had some assistance in bringing out the caution, because he proceeded to spin-out the car of Brian Cottrell along the frontstretch while still under yellow.
That move excited the opening-night crowd but resulted in track officials issuing a black flag to Moriarity, who left the track for pit road.
On the track, the lap 12 caution lasted through two restart attempts, as Gaughran spinning brought out the caution flag before a full lap was completed under green.
NASCAR Drive for Diversity program driver Natalie Sather finished ninth in her first racing action in a late-model car on asphalt. Sather, who is from North Dakota and spent some time there helping her family deal with the recent flooding, raced sprint cars on dirt prior to being one of just 12 drivers selected nationwide for the NASCAR program.
Veteran racer Chris Preston of Abbottsford, B.C., recorded his first victory at the Monroe track in the time-shortened Super Late Model feature.
“Oh, man,” Preston said after climbing victory stage. “It’s amazing to finally get it. Was that 40 laps? I don’t think it was, but that’s OK.”
Featuring a seemingly never-ending yellow as well as a black flag for former champion Tom Moriarity, the late-model feature went 26 of the scheduled 40 laps.
Fellow Canadian and two-time late-model champion Shane Harding finished second, Tom Sweatman was third, defending champion Naima Lang was fourth and Jeff Knight rounded out the top five.
After the late-model feature, three of the remaining four races went off smoothly and all went the advertised 25-lap distances.
In the Super Figure 8 feature, it was just like last season hadn’t ended as defending champion John “Cowboy” Carlson led most of the way, with Ricky “The Kid” Deitz following him. Finishing third behind Deitz was Shane Shawin, with Nick Gunderson fourth and Steve Peters fifth.
“It’s a great way to come back and start the year with the first win tonight,” Carlson said from victory stage.
Frank Cowgill won the final race of the night, the Street Stock feature, crossing the finish line to the yellow and checkered flags after there was a spin-out in turn 1 of the final lap.
There was a short delay in the Street Stock race after a caution on lap 20 required the field to be re-ordered. Street Stocks are not required to have radios or spotters, making the line-up process a bit longer.
Casey Branch was second, Michael Ebeling was third, Darrel Lutovsky finished fourth and Jim Foti rounded out the top five.
Former champion Nat Barber passed Rod Helmuth for the lead on lap 11 en route to winning the Mini-Stock feature. Kyle Schukar was second, Jon Roberts finished third, Mike Fritz was fourth and Kim Lang was fifth.
“We worked all of last year to get the bugs out,” said Barber, who struggled during the 2008 season. “Now they’re worked out and we’re going to try to get more of these (trophies).”
Lance O’Grain edged defending champion Mike Middleton in a scrum at the finish line to win the Stinger 8 feature. Cody Koroshes finished third, Seth Funden was fourth and Josh Young rounded out the top five.
After climbing victory stage, O’Grain said he had figured finishing second would be good enough, but he was just as surprised as anyone when Middleton got caught in traffic, leaving the door open for a pass at the checkered flag.
In the Super Late Model feature, Preston took advantage of the speedway’s revised restart policy en route to passing Darin Stordahl for the lead on lap 11.
For all divisions this season, when the field is lined up and ready to go for a restart with more than five laps remaining, a commitment cone will be put out on the front stretch. By how they pass the cone — going in order of their position in the field — drivers can elect to restart on the inside or outside.
On a lap 10 restart, Preston moved up from the third position to restart on the outside of the first row when Wade Gaughran, who was scored in second, opted to go to the inside groove behind Stordahl.
The yellow came out again on lap 12 when Moriarity spun out exiting turn 3. Evidently the former champion felt he had some assistance in bringing out the caution, because he proceeded to spin-out the car of Brian Cottrell along the frontstretch while still under yellow.
That move excited the opening-night crowd but resulted in track officials issuing a black flag to Moriarity, who left the track for pit road.
On the track, the lap 12 caution lasted through two restart attempts, as Gaughran spinning brought out the caution flag before a full lap was completed under green.
NASCAR Drive for Diversity program driver Natalie Sather finished ninth in her first racing action in a late-model car on asphalt. Sather, who is from North Dakota and spent some time there helping her family deal with the recent flooding, raced sprint cars on dirt prior to being one of just 12 drivers selected nationwide for the NASCAR program.
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