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| Courtesy Thomas Vick, Evergreen Speedway (click to enlarge)
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| Jason Fraser (center) of Snohomish won the iRacing.com ASA Northwest Late Model Tour feature during the Washington 500 at Evergreen Speedway on Saturday, July 25. Pete Harding of Surrey, B.C., (left) finished second and Kelly Mann of Monroe (right) was third. |
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Fraser wins NW Late Model Tour race at Washington 500
Posted
at
10:37 am
by By Scott Whitmore, Herald Writer
Note: I have seen several unconfirmed reports that Jason Fraser's car was disqualified in post-race tech inspection. I have not been able to confirm this with ASA Northwest Late Model Tour officials, so I'm going to leave this post up. I will update it as soon as I confirm either way. SW
MONROE, Wash. -- This time, this race, Jason Fraser didn't finish runner-up.
Fraser dominated the second segment of the ASA Northwest Late Model Tour race during the Washington 500 on Saturday at Evergreen Speedway, bringing home a victory that eluded him last year.
“It feels good … I love this track,” the Snohomish driver said from victory stage. “I have to thank (crew chief) Jesse (Jensen) and my guys. It looks like it's all me out there, but when the car is this good …”
Defending champions Naima Lang and Lane Sundholm won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model and Street Stock division races, respectively. Ricky Deitz finished first in the Super Figure Eight race and Jesse Branhom won the Northwest Legends feature.
Because of a rain delay and several lengthy cautions that required dealing with oil on the track, just 326 of the scheduled 500 laps was completed. Three races — for the Northwest Late Model Tour, and the speedway's late-model and Street Stock divisions — were cut short due to time, and the Northwest Legends feature was halved due to a low car count.
Fraser started from the third row for the final segment of the tour race, but steadily moved forward, taking the lead on lap 25 by passing Joey Tanner of Portland, Ore. After building up a large gap on the field, Fraser successfully held off Pete Harding of Surrey, B.C., in a late restart for the victory.
Harding was second, Kelly Mann of Monroe finished third, Jay Sauls of Puyallup was fourth and Gary Lewis of Snohomish rounded out the top five.
The Northwest Late Model Tour race was cut to 100 laps from the scheduled 175, and was run in two parts. When black clouds gathered near the track, speedway and tour officials shuffled the racing program, moving the tour race up in an attempt to avoid the rain.
Former speedway late-model champion Shane Harding of Langley, B.C., led all 12 laps of the first segment, which was halted for a caution when the car of Mark Sundberg of Seattle had engine trouble, leaving a long swathe of oil on the track from turn 4 to the entrance of the temporary pit road set up on the three-eighths mile oval. While speedway crews were dealing with that, the rain began to fall.
Fraser also dominated the ASA Northwest Tour's 150-lap race at the Washington 500 last year, but he finished second after Lewis passed him on a restart with 22 laps to go. Fraser had qualified fastest and led every lap until Lewis passed him.
Although just six cars showed up, the Northwest Legends started the night off with a duel to the checkered flag between Branhom and Jared Alseth. The two swapped the lead several times in the 25-lap feature, with Branhom pulling ahead for good on lap 23. Rachel VanKopp finished third, Chad Sinner was fourth and Aaron Stowe was fifth.
“This was probably the toughest race I've ever had,” Branhom said. “This is one I'll remember quite awhile.”
Lang passed Daniel Moore for the lead on lap 32 of the Super Late Model race, which was halted after 51 of the scheduled 125 laps. Moore, who had led all but one lap to that point, finished second. Tom Moriarity came in third, Jeff Knight was fourth and Alex Kerslake finished fifth.
The Super Figure Eight 100-lap feature was the only race to go the originally advertised distance. Shane Sawin led the first 90 laps, building up a large margin on the field, but when he lost the cap off of a tire Deitz was able to close the gap and take the lead.
“That was tough racing,” Sawin said after. “There're tears involved sometimes when you get that close.”
Ryan Gunderson finished second, Sawin was third, Troy Simianer came in fourth and Sean Peters rounded out the top five.
“Really it was my teammate's race all the way,” Deitz said of Sawin from victory stage. “He had the fast car.”
To assist with efforts to dry the track after the rain stopped, Speedway officials shuffled the racing program again by running the rain-or-shine Street Stock division.
Sundholm led flag-to-flag in winning the 50-lap Street Stock feature. Mann, who did double-duty in the Tour and Street Stocks, started at the back of the 18-car field but charged forward to finish second. Casey Branch came in third, Frank Cowgill was fourth and Darrel Lutovsky rounded out the top five.
“Finally — five years and I haven't finished this race,” Sundholm said. “I'm glad I could pull it off; that was awesome.”
The race included the spectacular wreck of Mike Kyles on the frontstretch. Kyles scraped the outside wall exiting turn 4 of lap 32, losing control and skidding across the track toward the infield. His car hit two of the large tractor tires used as barriers on the figure-eight course, coming to rest on the roof.
Emergency crews quickly responded and Kyles crawled from the car, evidently unhurt.
Earlier in the evening it was announced that the Street Stock race would be extended to 75 laps from the scheduled 50 — the extra 25 laps coming from the Northwest Legends feature — but in the end 50 laps was that was run.
With Sundholm leading the way, the first 20 laps of the race were run with both the green and yellow flags flying — meaning no passing — to give the drivers the chance to check out the surface of the five-eighths mile oval. Although Street Stocks routinely race in the rain on the three-eighths mile oval, extra caution was warranted on the larger, faster five-eighths.Washington 500 results
Saturday, July 25 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash.
(Unofficial, provided by speedway)
(Car number in parenthesis)
iRacing.com ASA Northwest Late Model Tour (100 laps on the five-eighths mile oval*)
1. (31) Jason Fraser
2. (39) Pete Harding
3. (9M) Kelly Mann
4. (20) Jay Sauls
5. (73) Gary Lewis
6. (34) James Mugge
7. (29) Shane Harding
8. (36) Joey Tanner (-2 laps)
9. (0) Brent Harris (-2 laps)
10. (86) Harold Raczynski (-2 laps)
11. (11t) Ed Thomsen (-3 laps)
12. (91) Alan Cress (-4 laps)
13. (76) Amanda MacDonald (-6 laps)
14. (15) Don Vickery (-11 laps)
15. (36b) Grant Brown (-53 laps)
16. (94) Natalie Sather (-88 laps)
17. (7) Mark Sundberg (-92 laps)
(*-- Originally scheduled for 175 laps, shortened due to time)
Northwest Legends (25 laps on three-eighths mile oval*)
1. (2) Jesse Branhom
2. (5) Jared Alseth
3. (79) Rachel VanKopp
4. (50) Chad Sinner
5. (99) Aaron Stowe
6. (77) Billy Goings (-2 laps)
(*-- original distance 50 laps; shortened due to car count)
Pawn X-Change Super Figure Eight (100 laps on figure-eight track)
1. (76) Ricky Deitz
2. (13) Ryan Gunderson (-1 lap)
3. (67) Shane Sawin (-1 lap)
4. (16) Troy Simianer (-2 laps)
5. (8) Sean Peters (-3 laps)
6. (04X) Seth Funden (-4 laps)
7. (53) Doug Wilkinson (-6 laps)
8. (30) Steve Peters (-11 laps)
9. (45) Jake Repin (-31 laps)
10. (50) John Carlson (-48 laps)
11. (02) Dale Larson (-57 laps)
12. (17) Dave Brandenburg (-67 laps)
13. (0) Jessica Wilkinson (-74 laps)
14. (95) Bruce Wilson (-74 laps)
15. (15) Brian Gunderson (-81 laps)
16. (49) Don Eslick (-88 laps)
17. (48) Jay VanBuskirk (-89 laps)
18. (43) Richard Shaver (-96 laps)
Speedway Chevrolet Super Late Model (51 laps on five-eighths mile oval*)
1. (00) Naima Lang
2. (16) Daniel Moore
3. (5) Tom Moriarity
4. (70) Jeff Knight
5. (28X) Alex Kerslake
6. (06) Steve Ptacek
7. (62) John Burtsche (-1 lap)
8. (94) Natalie Sather (-12 laps)
9. (4) Darrin Stordahl (-18 laps)
10. (48) Tom Hughs (-38 laps)
11. (25) Brea Lopez (-42 laps)
(*-- original distance 125 laps, shortened due to time)
Les Schwab Tires Street Stocks (50 laps on five-eighths mile oval*)
1. (00) Lane Sundholm
2. (9) Kelly Mann
3. (71) Casey Branch
4. (76) Frank Cowgill
5. (53) Darrel Lutovsky
6. (66) Ryan Hansen
7. (54) Tim Widener
8. (81) Bill Mann
9. (65) Clark Casey (-1 lap)
10. (29) Mike Ebeling (-1 lap)
11. (8) AJ Baxter (-1 lap)
12. (53X) Doug Wilkinson (-1 lap)
13. (7) Kimmi Wilkinson (-4 laps)
14. (34) Andy Sole (-10 laps)
15. (15) David Stewart Jr. (-11 laps)
16. (36) Mike Kyles (-19 laps)
17. (99) Joe Kneeland (-19 laps)
18. (27) Jill Lang (-27 laps)
(*-- originally scheduled for 50 laps; lengthened to 75 laps by speedway to make up for NW Legends, then shortened to 50 laps due to time)
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