Evergreen Speedway Super Speedway of the West! – Northwest's Destination for Motorsports!
The quote “I’ve been to Evergreen Speedway more times than I can remember and I have never seen it rain this hard” was the prevalent theme last Saturday at the Super Speedway of the West, as our incredible summer came to a screeching halt with the most intense storm recorded in Washington state history.
With the Evergreen State Fair in full swing, the winds in full gale and the rain at times in full “dump mode”, the valiant race teams and Evergreen Speedway employees braved weather conditions that hadn’t been experienced in decades. The highlight race of the night was the Monroe Grocery Outlet Super Stock Figure 8 Shootout scheduled for 75 laps. Season point leader and defending champion Quenton Borreson came into the night with a 15 point advantage over many time F8 champion Doug Delfel. Earlier in the day on Northsound Racings annual live show from the Evergreen State Fair, Borreson mentioned that there are several new cars that were put together just for this race. “Tommy Gapp has put together a complete rocket ship to run the race tonight” Borreson said. “Tommy’s been a huge help with my car this season, and now he’s put together a car that I’m really worried about. His car is so fast and Tommy is such a good driver that he’ll be hard to beat tonight”
Main events started off with a 25 lap feature for the Northwest Pro 4 trucks. 7 trucks took to the 3/8’s oval and in the end, Doug Wilkenson picked up his 3rd main event win over Rick Shaver and Cecil Howard rounding out the top 3. This win for Wilkenson was not nearly as thrilling as his last two given the fact that those races were won with last lap turn 4 passes to get the checkered. This race was not that close, but the win was just as sweet for the driver of the #27 truck. Wilkenson is leading in the NWP4TS championship point’s battle with a 11 point lead over Mat Greene. The NWP4TS wraps up 2015 as part of the huge Championship Night September 19th here at Evergreen Speedway.
Dylan Biewald had a career night in the Interstate Battery Hornet 25 lap main event. Ran in a moderate rainstorm, Beiwald’s Volkswagen Golf was set up for the rain and the “Boot” road course. Dylan mentioned on the Angel of the Winds Victory Stage that he had never finished better than 4th place, so this was special. Dylan held off some talented Hornet drivers with Cullen Hubbard finishing 2nd and Jeff Thomas taking 3rd. The division ran a non-points “Reverse Boot” race which included some Buzz Inn Steakhouse Stinger 8 cars. Brandon Lindberg won that race, with Cody Hoopes in 2nd and Matt Somerville getting 3rd. The “Boot” course starts with the cars taking the green and going into turn 1 of the 1/5th mile flat track. Thye then come out of turn 2 and go down the backstretch towards turn 3, but then make a hard right and head down an access road that connects to turn 3 of the 3/8’s oval. They make the hard left onto turn 3 of the 3/8’s and go through turn 4 and back to the start/finish line. Draw it out on a piece of paper and you’ll see why it’s called the “Boot”.
The Buzz Inn Steakhouse Stinger 8’s ran a 25 lap main. The battle for the season Championship is going to be as close as you could ask for. Only 5 points separate 1st place driver Lance Ograin and 4th place driver and last season Champion Toby Jenkins! And to make it even better, only one point separates Ograin from 2nd place and Rookie of the Year contender Brandon Lindberg. The race played right into Toby Jenkins plans, as he won the race, with Lindberg finishing 2nd and Ograin finishing 3rd. With 2 races left in the season, this exciting class will certainly be fun to watch.
16 cars started the Monroe Grocery Outlet Super Stock Figure 8 Shootout. Quenton Borreson set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 17.528 on a dry/slick track. Steve “Mr. Excitement” Cox is a several time F8 Champion but this season has devoted his time assisting his son Dawson in the Buzz Inn Steakhouse Figure 8 division. As I took my walk around the pits in the afternoon, I ran into Hornet driver Nick Beecher, whose legs I spotted sticking out from under his race car. I asked him what the issue was, and he explained that his problem was terminal, but he was going to end up helping the #7 Super Stock F8 car. He told me that Steve Cox literally pulled his car out of a thicket of blackberry vines last week, and had spent the week getting it ready to race in the shootout!
The race started and it was soon apparent that the former agriculture experiment of Mr. Excitement was going to be something to be contended with, as Cox jumped out to an early lead. Five laps in, hard contact between Tommy Gapp and the #81 car ended Gapp’s night. And then it started to rain. And rain. And then it REALLY started to rain. On Lap 17, Quenton Borreson felt something going wrong with his car. The field was on a yellow flag caution, and Borreson started to head for the pits. The 77 car of Brandon Florer was coming back onto the track when Quenton was going in, and as these things tend to happen, Florer collided with Borreson ending the point leader’s night.
Due to the insane weather conditions, officials decided to shorten to race to 50 laps. From the grandstands, it was like watching a Figure 8 hydroplane race. It was a race that was impossible to describe, let alone what it must have been like to race in! In the end, Steve Cox got the win, with Devin Jenkins in 2nd and Doug Delfel finishing 3rd. While waiting for the drivers to get out of their cars to get their trophies and interviews, all of the top 3 drivers were grinning from ear to ear, clearly enjoying being in a race unlike anyone has seen! Congratulations not only to the drivers, but the fans that stuck it out on a crazy night.
Quenton Borreson posted this on his Facebook page on Sunday: “This has become the moment I have feared my whole life. Multiple fractures from my thumb to the joint, full on splint, see a hand specialist Monday and surgery immediately to follow! I have always thought about what would life be like if I hurt my hand or arm, well now I am about to find out.” Obviously, he is out for the season. The “One Armed Bandit” will be back in full force next season!
This weekend will be a busy one as Saturday will be KING 5 TV Night featuring the Speedway Chevrolet Super Late Models, the Les Schwab Street Stocks, the Foster Press Mini Stocks and the Interstate Battery Hornets. Sunday will be the Labor Day Demo Derby, Fireworks show and the return of Mr. Dizzy Mike Buse to his home track of Evergreen Speedway. It’s also the last weekend of the Evergreen State Fair, and combo fair/race tickets can be lined up by checking out www.evergreenspeedway.com.
Steve Mortland