Evans Takes third Northwest Series

win at Magic valley speedway

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (September 14, 2002) – Garrett Evans led all but one lap of the Napa 150 held at Magic Valley Speedway, to claim his first victory on the Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series, NASCAR Touring division since September of 2000. Defending series champion Kevin Hamlin was second followed by Pete Harding. Shane Biles and Gary Lewis rounded out the top-5.

above: Garrett Evans out front racing for the win at Magic Valley Speedway

(photo courtesy of NASCAR)

Hamlin grabbed his second Bud Pole Award of the season with a lap of 14.039 seconds at 85.391 mph. The race was run in 52 minutes, 18 seconds. The race was slowed by eight cautions for 37 laps, which resulted in an average speed of 57.375 mph. Evans led 149 laps to earn the Gatorade Front Runner Award.

Evans and Lewis, two drivers with a tremendous history at the .333-mile Magic Valley Speedway led a full 24-car field to the green flag. Evans quickly grabbed the lead entering turn No. 1 as Lewis settled in behind the leader.

A quick early pace brought Evans to the rear of the field as he began lapping traffic by the events 18th circuit.

Hamlin moved to third place by lap 52 and began to apply pressure to Lewis for second by lap 70. On several occasions Hamlin made a good run on Lewis, but was unable to clear. The racing action behind Evans allowed the four-time series champion to move out to a ten-car length lead.

Lewis maneuvered back to the rear of Evans Chevrolet by lap 90 and the pair battled for the lead over the next three laps. By lap 101, Lewis had made over a half-dozen attempts to pass Evans for the lead but could not clear for the point exiting the turns. As Evans and Lewis battled for first place, Hamlin held steady and kept an eye on a hard charging Pete Harding. Harding started the event in 17th place and moved to fourth by lap 55.

Hamlin caught Lewis by lap 127 and the top-2 in series points began a fierce battle for second place. Entering turn No. 4, contact was made between the two and Lewis slid off the track as Hamlin went by for second place. Lewis re-entered the track in ninth place and fought back to fifth at the checkers.

With Lewis out of the way, Harding moved to third place and followed Hamlin as the two began to chase down Evans. Hamlin made an attempt to get by Evans on lap 136, with Evans sliding just a bit exiting turn No.4. By lap 140, Hamlin was drag racing Evans off the corners for the lead and on lap 141 the champion cleared by a fender to lead one lap in the event.

Entering turn No. 2, Evans was able to move past Hamlin for the lead and held on over the final eight laps for a .250-second margin of victory. The win was Evans third Napa 150 victory in the last four events. After an up and down season, Evans was elated to be in victory lane.

"I have to thank Bill Maropolis Racing Engines and give a special thanks to Freddy Querry of Kannapolis, North Carolina who has been doing a little help for us the last couple of weeks," Evans said. "I really to have gotten this win."

"The best way to protect our lead was to keep it on the bottom and that's what we did all night. There at the end they were faster than us so we just had to protect the bottom groove."

Hamlin summed up Evans victory since September of 2000. "Man I guess he really wanted this one."
"I had a hard time keeping up with him," Hamlin added. "I drove as hard as I could for this one. I have to thank Napa for this and the crowd here in Twin Falls was awesome, I have to thank them for coming out here tonight."

The series last event found Pete Harding exiting early due to an accident. He was limping around the Magic Valley pit area with a sore knee most of the afternoon but found a quick step in victory lane.

"The guys worked so hard on this car the last two weeks," Harding said. "I could not have done this without them, I was hurting pretty good."

Harding had thought of putting his son Shane in the car if he could not make it through 150 laps of racing. "I had Shane ready to go but we taped the knee up and it wasn't to bad, when the car is good who wants to get out of it."

NOTES OF INTEREST-
Russell Butler and Clint Kidd transfer from the Qualifying race to make the Napa 150. Kidd finished 14th while Butler came home 16th.

Featherlite Southwest Series points leader and hometown hero Eddy McKean finished ninth after starting in ninth position on the grid. Burney Lamar, who sits in third place on the Southwest points ladder, started 10th and finished eighth in route to the highest finishing position for a Southwest team.

View the Northwest Series on NASCAR.com with Results - Standings & Driver Profiles