MONROE — A year ago, David Mayhew used a dramatic last-lap maneuver to overtake Dylan Lupton and win the NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Evergreen Speedway.
Mayhew won the K&N Pro Series West event again on Saturday night, though this year’s victory was, by comparison, an absolute walk in the park.
The 33-year-old Mayhew, a resident of Atascadero, Calif., and a nine-year driver on the K&N Series, had a car that was easily the class of this year’s field. Starting on the outside of the first row, Mayhew went in front on the 34th lap and kept his lead the rest of the way.
His margin over the last 50 or so laps on the speedway’s 5/8-mile oval was a good two seconds, or close to a full straightaway. In the late going he wisely backed off the throttle just a bit, but he still had a comfortable cushion at the checkered flag.
Though Mayhew drove an almost flawless race, his crew deserves much of the credit, he said afterward. They gave him “an awesome car,” he said. “Once we got out front in clean air, this thing was a rocket ship.”
Mayhew, who won for the second time this season on the K&N Series — he also won at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway on June 27 — chuckled at the memory of last year’s race. Trailing Lupton on the last turn of the final lap, Mayhew gave his rival a jolt on the bumper and managed to slip past for the win.
This year “was a lot less stressful, that’s for sure,” he said with a grin. “Things all fell in place tonight.”
The runner-up was Ryan Partridge of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., with third place going to Chris Eggleston of Erie, Colo.
On a mostly overcast evening with occasional sunbreaks, Mayhew tailed pole sitter and early leader James Bickford of Napa, Calif., for the first 33 laps before finally going in front. He then built his lead to several car lengths, and he did so again after a yellow flag a few laps later and then again following the mid-race restart after 75 laps.
In the second half of the race Mayhew was never seriously threatened en route to his 10th career K&N Series victory.
“(I had) a good car and good people behind me, and that’s what it takes to win these races,” he said. “All these other (drivers) are so good, and to have a car that dominant (is great).”
There were only two yellow flags during the race and the first was early in the second lap. At the top of the first turn, cars driven by Dylan Caldwell of Meridian, Idaho, and Johnny Borneman of Ramona, Calif., collided with each other and then with the outside wall. The front-end damage was severe enough that both cars ended up on tow trucks during an 11-lap yellow.
The only other yellow flag came on the 45th lap and was due to debris on the track.
Noah Gragson of Las Vegas, the series points leader before the race, started fourth and finished fifth. Like others in the field, his car this night was simply no match for Mayhew’s car.
The race tightened the K&N Series point standings with four races remaining. Eggleston and Noah Gragson of Las Vegas (the points leader before the race) share the top spot with 354 points. Partridge is third with 347, followed by Gracin Raz of Lake Oswego, Ore., with 346 and Mayhew with 338.
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