MONROE — In a race of early mishaps, including two red flag stoppages in the opening minutes, Bubba Pollard stayed out of trouble at the outset and then held on through some bumper-to-bumper racing in the final laps to win the Summer Showdown on Saturday night at Evergreen Speedway.
Pollard, who lives in Senoia, Georgia, outside of Atlanta, pocketed the winner’s paycheck of $25,000, plus a $10,000 bonus for combined victories in both the Summer Showdown and the Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California, in February.
After leading much of the early race, Pollard lost the lead to Taylor Riddle of Naches on the 127th lap. Riddle then built a five-second lead, but a late yellow flag and the subsequent restart allowed Pollard to challenge for the lead.
Pollard slipped ahead on the back stretch of Lap 183, and held on to the end, though another late yellow extended the race for another four laps. The final total was 204 on the speedway’s 5⁄8-mile oval.
On the final restart, Pollard had Garrett Evans of East Wenatchee right on his bumper, but managed to hold on for a two-car margin at the checkered flag.
“It’s been great out here,” Pollard said in a post-race interview. “This was a heck of a crowd. It doesn’t get any better than this. … I can’t thank all the fans enough.”
Evans finished second, followed by Derek Thorn of Lakeport, California, Kelly Mann of Monroe, and Parker Stephens of Olympia. Riddle, whose car seemed to slow in the late going, finished seventh.
Barely was the race underway when it was halted by a red flag on the third lap because of a big crash at the top of the third turn. The multi-car accident, evidently due to oil on the track, took out several cars, including Jason Fraser of Snohomish, who had started on the outside of the first row, and Jeff Knight of Monroe, who had started ninth.
Other casualties included Owen Riddle of Naches who had started third, Mike Longton of Moxee who had started fourth, Doni Wanat of Woodinville, Tyler Tanner of Seattle. Also, Daniel Moore of Snohomish, whose car apparently lost an engine and caused the oil spill.
After a delay of about 20 minutes, 27 cars returned for the restart. But 10 laps later, Naima Lang of Snohomish banged with Blaine Rocha of Oaksdale, Calif., on the front stretch, with Rocha going hard into the wall, bringing out the evening’s second red flag.
Twenty-five cars were on the track for the second restart, but the field continued to drop due to some ensuing yellow flags. The race was stopped after 100 laps for a brief break, and when the racing resumed, there were just 19 cars left from the original starting field of 36.
Molly Helmuth of Seattle made a strong showing in the first half of the race, picking her way from a starting position of 31st all the way up to fourth place. But on the 79th lap she bumped another car as she made a move on the outside and hit the wall at the top of Turn 3, causing significant damage to the car and knocking her out of the race.
Delisa Lynch, the mother of Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, was the grand marshal and hollered the pre-race command, “Drivers, start your engines.”
In a preliminary race, Rick Thompson of Prosser won the Pro 4 main. Thompson padded his lead in the season points standings.
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