MONROE — Owen Riddle no longer has to play second fiddle in his family, at least as far as Summer Showdown is concerned.
Riddle joined his brother on the list of Summer Showdown champions as he took the checkered flag late Saturday night to claim Evergreen Speedway’s premier race on a caution-filled evening.
Riddle, who hails from Naches, took the lead from Derek Thorn, who led most of the way, on lap 158 of the 200-lap race for Super Late Models on Evergreen’s 5/8-mile track. He then held off the field on a restart on lap 199 to take home the $25,000 check for first place. He matched the feat of his brother Tayler, who won the race in 2016.
Former Evergreen Speedway track champion Tyler Tanner, who’s now based in Mooresville, North Carolina, placed second. Brandon Farrington of Tucson, Arizona, finished third. Thorn, from Bakersfield, California, took fourth.
Three-time defending champion Preston Peltier of Brighton. Colorado, nearly pulled off two miracles. First, after a mishap in Friday’s heat races meant he started 26th, Peltier climbed all the way into second before the race’s midpoint. However, he ran out of fuel during a caution after 93 laps, entered the pits from the wrong direction and was penalized a lap. Then he worked his way through the field, passed the leaders to get back on the lead lap, and was put back within striking distance by the late caution. However, the caution came too late and he had to settle for eighth, meaning he missed out on a $40,000 bonus — Peltier won Friday night’s Pro Late Models main event, and the bonus was in place for any driver who swept both nights.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Ty Dillon, the first Cup Series driver to participate in Summer Showdown’s nine iterations, suffered car problems after just two laps and did not return.
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