MONROE – For most of Saturday’s NASCAR Grand National West Series Coors Light 200 at Evergreen Speedway, it was a two-car race, and in the end it was a longtime Evergreen bridesmaid who was impressive in finally earning his first win at the Northwest track.
Mike Duncan of Bakersfield, Calif., twice passed David Gilliland to take leads and held off the Riverside, Calif., driver over the last 82 laps for his first series victory since last year in Colorado. It was Duncan’s fourth victory of his West Series career. Duncan was the defending series champion and led the tour in cash earnings last year.
Duncan started from the pole, the fourth time in six races he’s done so this year. But until Saturday, not one had translated into a win. He had two runner-ups and was in the top five four times.
The last time the winner started from the pole in a 200-lap event at Evergreen was in 1982.
“I love this place,” Duncan said. “This place is tough to drive.”
Duncan’s inability to finish in the lead extended to his Evergreen career. Though he had another strong car that even led last year, he finished third. That followed a second-place and third-place finish the previous two years at Evergreen.
This year, though, Duncan found enough to hold off Gilliland, last year’s pole sitter who started second this year and led the first 65 laps, and series points leader Scott Lynch of Burley, Idaho. In fact, Duncan opened up large leads several times and though there were some tight spots on re-starts, he was never seriously challenged once he took the lead for good.
“The car was working good,” Duncan said. “(Gilliland and Lynch) were definitely coming hard.”
Tim Woods III of Chino Hills, Calif., finished fourth and Andrew Lewis was fifth. Sarah Fischer, the former Indy Racing League star who is a rookie stock car racer, finished 11th. Mount Vernon’s Ed Watson was 10th.
While Duncan led nearly the entire second half of the race, two cautions helped keep Gilliland and Lynch right on his tail. A caution on lap 181 helped make it a sprint to the finish. The cars re-started on lap 186 and Duncan’s white Chevy Monte Carlo held off Gilliland and Lynch, who saw his points lead increase as second-place Steve Portenga failed to finish because of rear end problems.
Gillaland grabbed the lead from Duncan on the first lap and held it through lap 63 before Duncan took first place back. A caution on lap 67 drew nine of the 12 cars on the lead lap into the pits, allowing Gilliland to re-take the lead.
“We were pretty good, just not quite as good at Duncan,” Gilliland said.
Gilliland again ran out front until Duncan caught him on lap 88. A caution on lap 109 again brought cars into the pits and also brought on history. Fischer, who has five Indianapolis 500s under her belt, took her first lead in eight career stock car races on the caution.
Fischer, who had the best qualifying time of her career and started fourth, held the lead for eight laps, seven under caution, before Duncan passed her on lap 118. From that point, Duncan didn’t relinquish first.
“I drove as hard as I could every lap,” Duncan said. “I think our car just worked better longer in the run.”
Zaretzke makes strong return: After a strong start to the Evergreen season (three wins, two seconds and a third in the first six races), John Zaretzke decided he wouldn’t try to defend his Super Stocks points title. A change in NASCAR rules and less money for wins led to his decision, and he’s instead taken his car on the road around the West. On Saturday Zaretzke returned home for the first time in three weeks and roared to a win in the Hertz 75. Zaretzke, a 33-year-old from Monroe, said he used his best motor, which he’s only used in a couple races. His team finished the engine late Friday night but the overtime paid off.
“I really wanted to run this motor here,” Zaretzke said. “The car was really good. And I needed those cautions at the end to cool things down.”
Zaretzke had the fast qualifying time but started eighth after an invert. He took 10 laps to pass Naima Lang for the lead. He held off points leader Shane Harding during a spirited final few laps, with Harding getting on Zaretzke’s bumper several times going around Turn 4. Harding finished second but maintained his points lead over Jason Fraser, who was third. Zaretzke said he had hoped to run in the Coors Light 200 this year but got a later start organizing. Now he hopes to race in the West Series next year.
“We had to go somewhere this year where we could subsidize the money we spend,” Zaretzke said. “It’s a huge goal next year (racing the West Series). We need to scale back next year because that’s a different animal.”
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