Evergreen: Lang Wins The Battle, Holden Wins The War

The Washington State Champion would be crowned at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington on September 19^th. Mike Holden entered the final event of the 2015 Super Late Model season with just a slim lead in the standings over Doni Wanat.

Making things more interesting was the fact that Holden’s car was destroyed in a wreck during the previous race. When all seemed lost, fellow racer and current 7^th place points holder Jeramiah Johnson stepped up and handed his car to Holden for the final event. With 16 cars on hand for the final event, all Holden needed to do was start this one to lock up his second consecutive Washington State Championship.

Quailfying saw Shane Sawin set a fast time of 16.886. Molly Helmuth missed the fast time by a mere 1/100^th of a second. The top 7 qualifiers would be separated by just 2/100ths of a second, making for a very tight field. With a 6 car invert, Brandon Schieber would find himself on the pole for the 75 lap Main Event.

On the warm up laps, Schieber’s car would suffer an engine issue that would see his #75 car pushed to the pits and the crew going under the hood to assess the issue at hand. The shuffled lineup would now see Andy Sole moved to the pole as the inside line all moved up one spot. Sole would line up inside of 3 time Washington State Champion Naima Lang in his familiar blue #00 car. Schieber’s car would not return to competition.

At the drop of the green flag Lang would pull Sole slightly as the two entered turn 1. Then insanity would ensue as Sole and Lang made contact, stacking up most of the field as the two leaders turned sideways, blocking the entire track. Roughly 8 cars would end up at the top side of turn 1 in a heap of bent body panels. Fortunately all cars were able to continue on as the field was relined for a complete restart. The big change to the running order would be the #20 car of Andy Sole moved to the back in a penalty that some agreed with while others strongly disagreed.

The relined field would now see crowd favorite Molly Helmuth inherit the pole alongside Lang. On the restart Helmuth would drop the hammer all the way back in turn 3 as the field came to the green flag. Lang immediately jumped to the lead coming off turn 4 while the rest of the field got sorted out behind him. Helmuth would promptly have her hands full with a hard charging Tom Hughs who would not relinquish the top side as he battled Helmuth for a couple laps before taking the 2^nd spot from her #90 car.

Wanat, 2^nd in the championship standings settled into 4^th place behind Helmuth for a couple laps before mounting his charge. As the #89 car worked past Helmuth, BC resident Shane Harding would follow past as well, moving Helmuth back to 5^th as the duo took over 3^rd and 4^th respectively. Championship points leader Mike Holden had settled into 7^th in his borrowed car.

The first caution would fly for the spinning #98 car of Greg Bennet, who returned to the driver’s seat for the first time in many seasons after spending his days crewing for several different teams. The double file restart would see Naima Lang lined up inside of Tom Hughs, with Doni Wanat and Shane Harding making up row 2, Molly Helmuth and Rookie of the Year contender Luke Selliken making up row 3, Championship leader Mike Holden and fast qualifier Shane Sawin would make up row 4 and Andy Sole would line up in row 5 at this point.

Lang would use the restart line in turn 4 to go racing on this green flag, jumping back to the point easily as they reached turn 1. Wanat would use his inside restart position to battle the #48 car of Hughs for that 2^nd spot. Restarting on the high side at Evergreen Speedway can often be a death sentence and Wanat wanted to be the executioner in this case. Not being denied, Hughs would battle back to his 2^nd place position, forcing Wanat to settle into 3^rd for now. Behind the duo, Harding had settled into 4^th with Selliken trailing him ahead of Helmuth who now found herself in 6^th as Holden still rode in that 7^th position. Sole had raced his way back to 8^th but had found difficulty in making much headway beyond that point.

The running order would largely stay unchanged from that, aside from Harding and Selliken moving Wanat back a couple places before a caution on lap 36 for debris in turn 4. The restart would see the field lined up with Lang on the pole alongside Hughs once again. Harding would line up next to Selliken in row 2 with Wanat and Helmuth making up row 3. Holden and Sole would make up row 4 as Urqhart and Scott would round out the field in row 5.

Once back under green Lang wasted no time flexing his muscle as he moved back to the point. Harding would use that inside line on the restart to move past Hughs while Wanat also showed the desired line on the restart as he moved past Selliken to take back 4^th. Harding would mount the only pressure on Lang during this run as Wanat began to pressure Hughs in 3^rd. after putting pressure on Lang for the lead for several laps, Harding would slow before pulling to the pits, his run ending at that point.

The relief from Harding pulling off would be all Lang would need to see as he continued to command the pace of this race. Wanat moved to 2^nd around Hughs but clearly had nothing for Lang who seemed to simply put it on cruise control with a full straightaway lead. After the retired Harding, Helmuth now found herself back in the top-5 as Selliken began to work on Hughs for 3^rd. The positions would remain unchanged until the lap 65 caution flag for an undisclosed reason. The field would bunch up behind the pace car as track officials and safety crew showed no movement of any kind.

After just 2 laps of caution the field would go back to green. Wanat would line up outside of Lang with one last chance at a charge to the front. This time Lang would go racing back at the entrance to turn 3. Hughs would give Wanat a shove, lifting his rear end up enough to cause Wanat to spin the tires. But Wanat would not relinquish the 2^nd position. Helmuth grabbed the moment of confusion as Wanat and Hughs sorted things out to sneak her #90 car into 3^rd ahead of Hughs as he found himself looking for grip in his recovery. Andy Sole saw his opportunity having restarted on that preferred inside line and moved past Hughs to take over 4^th while Selliken grabbed the 5^th spot before Hughs could stabilize, dropping clear back to 6^th. Lang had moved back to his customary 10 car length lead before setting the #00 back on cruise control.

Lang would bring the field to the checkered flag ahead of Wanat, who would come up just short in his Championship bid. Helmuth would hold on to the 3^rd spot ahead of Sole who had raced his way back to 4^th after being moved to the back on lap 1. Selliken would round out the top 5 as Hughs managed to hold 6^th after his incident on the final restart. Scott Lacross had taken that 7^th spot from Mike Holden, who crossed the stripe in 8^th as he drove the borrowed car to a repeat Championship. Shane Harding had rejoined the field and drove to a 9^th place finish ahead of John Urqhart and Greg Scott, 10^th and 11^th respectively, who were the remaining cars left running at the end of the scheduled 75 lap distance. Greg Bennet would be shown in 12^th place with Shane Sawin, your fast time of the night, shown in 13^th. Jimmy Raybourn, and Frank Urso would round out the field in 14^th and 15^th respectively with Brandon Scheiber shown in 16^th despite having never taken the green flag.