Jefferson wire-to-wire winner at Montana 200
Jeff Jefferson of Naches, Wash., became the forth driver in the history of the Montana 200 to win this event more than once Saturday night with a wire-to-wire performance.
Ryan Wells of Hingham had his best ever finish with a second-place showing and Jason Fraser of Snohomish, Wash, took third. Garrett Evans of Wenatchee, Wash., and Shelby Thompson of Mead, Wash., rounded out the top five positions.
Defending champion Shane Mitchell of East Wenatchee, Wash., finished sixth.
Gary Lewis of Snohomish, Wash., wound up 10th. He won this event four-straight times before Mitchell snapped his streak a year ago.
The top local placer was Kalispell’s Agni Howell, who was ninth. Kalispell’s Wrango West was 14th and Bodie Morton 15th in the 26-car field.
Jefferson used a first place in qualifying and excellent heat race positioning to set his super late model Chevrolet on the pole for the 22nd running of this race. Then in the main event, he set a fast pace and never let up.
BJ Tidrick of Yakima, Wash., started on the outside front row and did keep the pressure on Jefferson in the opening laps while Fraser and Mitchell applied equal pressure during the race.
The first caution came out on lap 20 when Alex Lessor forced Chris Skelton to spin in turn four. Skelton damaged his car to the extent that it ended his night of racing.
This set up the first double file cone restart.
Blake Williams and Shelby Thompson got together on lap 26, bringing out another caution. This set up another cone restart with Jefferson on the inside and Tidrick on the outside.
On Lap 30, Fraser maneauvered by Tidrick to take over the second position.
Fraser and Tidrick battled for 16 laps until the pair swapped positions on lap 46. Those two continued their back and forth racing for the remainder of the night. This allowed Jefferson to gain an 8-plus, car-length lead.
Trevor Emond and Lessor tangled in turn four with 54 laps left before the 100-lap break.
This caution re-aligned the field again with Jefferson taking the inside lane and Fraser challenging. Jefferson jumped the start, allowing Tidrick to pull up with Fraser to fight for second position.
Four more laps were checked off the 200 lap main when Emond, Tim Elliot and Dave Garber spun in turn two. Some heads-up driving by Erick Hargraves kept him out of that mixup.
After the restart, the top six cars spread out, but their was some exciting side-by-side racing from seventh position back. Jonathon Gomez, Mike Longton, Mitchell and Lewis were all paired up door-to-door for five laps.
Wells, who started 15th, passed Lewis and Longton on lap 56 to move up to the ninth position.
A major accident occurred on lap 87 when Longton went sideways on the backstretch. This collected Owen Riddle, Braden Havens, Lessor and Garber. The race was red flagged while safety crews worked to get the cars pulled apart. This wreck ended the night for Longton, Havens, Lessor and Riddle.
At lap 100, the drivers exited to the pits to make adjustments and install fresh rubber.
Jefferson again took the inside on the cone restart for lap 100 with Fraser on the outside. The top five at the halfway point also included Fraser, Wells, and Mitchell.
Jefferson and Fraser stayed side-by-side on the restart. Fraser tried to get a run on Jefferson, but Jefferson pulled away again.
On lap 102, West spun out on some fluid put down on the track by Gomez. On the restart Tidrick got a jump on Fraser, but Fraser regained his second-place position.
On lap 105, there was a multi-car spin in turn 2 behind Jefferson and Fraser. Tidrick and Mitchell wrecked on that mishap, which sent them to the pits. Both cars were able to get back on the track and make a charge back to the front.
Jefferson, Fraser and Wells rounded out the top three at lap 167 when Lewis and Morton touched tires, causing Morton to cut a tire and hit the turn 3 wall. This accident ended Morton’s night.
Wells kept working on Fraser in the remaining laps and made a clean pass to secure second place. Fraser fought back and regained second, but Wells was not about to give up. The final caution of the race came out on lap 185 for debris. This aligned the field for a 15- lap shootout to the finish. A very dominant Jefferson took the inside and Fraser chose the outside. Wells lined up behind Jefferson.
Wells passed Fraser for second place with six laps to go as Jefferson was working on a 4-car length lead on Wells.
There will be no racing this weekend, but action resumes Aug. 4 with the Mid-Season Madness featuring the Super Stocks, Bombers, Legends and Bandoleros. Time trials will start at 6 p.m. with racing at 7.
For tickets and the most up to date information log onto montanaracewaypark.com or call 257-7223.
22nd Annual Montana 200
Montana Raceway Park
Saturday
LCQ
Pos No. Name
1 22 Jonathon Gomez
2 36 Wrango West
3 27 Tim Elliott
4 14t Shelby Thompson
5 1 Agni Howell
6 93 Dave Garber
7 51 Erick Hargraves
8 76 Brian Johnson Jr.
9 09 Clint Habart
10 88 Cory Wolfe
11 38 Grant Brown
12 20 Ryan Tarr
13 12 Giles Thornton
14 77v Greg Vangool
15 1K Mitch Kleyn
16 67 Tim Johnson
17 14 Don Staggs
18 7 Mark Sundberg
19 25 Kirk Hennefer
200-Lap Main Event
Pos No. Name
1 42 Jeff Jefferson
2 5 Ryan Wells
3 31 Jason Fraser
4 64 Garrett Evans
5 14t Shelby Thompson
6 99 Shane Mitchell
7 12o Dan Obrist
8 22 Jonathon Gomez
9 1 Agni Howell
10 73 Gary Lewis
11 93 Dave Garber
12 16 Blake Williams
13 97 Jason Jefferson
14 36 Wrango West
15 77 Bodie Morton
16 72 BJ Tidrick
17 24 Cameron Hayley
18 27 Tim Elliott
19 37 Mike Longton
20 10 Owen Riddle
21 83 Braeden Havens
22 17 Trevor Emond
23 53 Alex Lessor
24 05 Eric Schmidt
25 51 Erick Hargraves
26 6 Chris Skelton