From Dean Reynolds
Evans Mills, NY — (June 6, 2015) — Parker Evans etched his name into the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint history books for the first time on Saturday night at the Evans Mills Motorsports Park. The Owego, N.Y., driver captured his first ever A-Main victory with the organization as he held off all challengers in the Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial Asphalt Assault.
Evans collected $3,400 for his win in the 25-lap feature including $2,500 winner’s share thanks to sponsorship for the event from Westward Painting Company, L&J Landscaping and a host of others. He joins the late Kevin Ward Jr. and Lee Ladouceur as the only winners with the series on the asphalt.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Evans in Victory Lane. “It seems like we’ve been close a couple times. We got awful frustrated; we’ve switched cars up, changed shocks, everything you can but the driver. We finally got some success. I was feeling pretty under the weather and I didn’t even turn a wrench on the car the weekend so I have to thank the guys that help us out.”
Evans earned the pole for the feature via the redraw after an impressive run in his heat race saw him pass Dave Axton late for the victory. Mike Stelter pulled alongside Evans for the start of the feature.
Evans won the race into the first turn with Stelter in tow right behind him. The duo remained glued together for the early laps before Evans got into a groove and opened up a slight lead.
By lap six Evans caught the tail-end of the field and began moving around with his No. 61. He worked the outside lane when necessary keeping Stelter in check. Stelter closed the distance as the traffic got heavier for Evans.
“We had to make a couple moves to the outside,” commented Evans. “That is one of those things where you just got to hold the pedal, stomp and steer and hope she sticks. We did what we could.”
At the halfway point Stelter was on the back bumper of Evans as the pair navigator through slower cars. Evans was careful not to miss his marks as Stelter was looking and waiting for an opportunity.
The laps clicked off and Evans never opened the door for Stelter. As the race reached the checkered flag Evans rear brake pad glowed bright orange as he used them as much as he could to keep his car glued to bottom to ensure no one was going to be able to get by him. And ultimately no one did.
“I couldn’t hear him but I could see the shadows off his wing,” stated Evans about Stelter. “You could kind of judge where he was at. I was kind of hard on the breaks out there because I wanted to hold my line on the bottom. I knew if Mike (Stelter) was going to get a run on me it was going to be off the bottom.”
Stelter, of Webster, N.Y., was a happy second place finisher. Stelter, in his third event on the asphalt, was pleased with the night and happy for the opportunity that the series gets each year to compete on the pavement surface.
“I tried to get him going into one on the start,” said the veteran driver. “We got close a couple times in traffic but not close enough to stick my nose in there to make the pass. Congratulations to them, they ran a great race. I’ll take second. The way it’s been going this is a Godsend.”
Axton crossed the line in the third position. The Port Byron, N.Y., driver was disappointed with his heat race effort that saw him get into the back of a slower car which broke the front end. He was able to finish second and make the redraw. Although repairs were made the car was never same after that point.
“I normally wouldn’t be disappointed with a podium finish on the ESS tour, it’s one of the toughest in the country, but we had such a good car early until I made a terrible mistake down here and we were way off after that and it’s just too bad,” said Axton. “I’ll take a third. This track is fantastic. I wish we could do this more than once a year.”
Kelly Hebing scored a fourth place finish with her No. 10 car as she nearly got a podium finish in the closing laps of the feature. She worked over Axton for third but just couldn’t complete the pass. Matt Tanner came from eighth to finish in the fifth position and earned hard charger bonus money.
ESS/Evans Mills Notes – Thanks to so many contributors, lap money totaled $3,650…The Ward family came some 50 people strong in what was a night of celebration of Kevin Ward Jr.’s life…The entire night went caution free!…The Lucas Oil ESS Tour now takes a weekend off before heading to Lebanon Valley for a $2,000 to win, $300 to start event.
Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial A-Main – Parker Evans ($3,400), Mike Stelter ($2,250), Dave Axton ($1,725), Kelly Hebing ($1,575), Matt Tanner ($1,500), Lee Ladouceur ($700), Jeff Cook ($650), Dylan Swiernik ($775), Yan Bilodeau ($600), Denny Peebles ($575), Tim Axton ($550), Paul Pekkonen ($540), Tom Fletcher ($530).
Lap Leader – Evans (1-25).
L&J Landscaping $100 to win Heats – Evans and Stelter.
Friend of ESS Hard Charger – Tanner $200
Lap Money:
Evans – $800
Hebing – $775
D. Axton – $725
Stelter – $650
Tanner – $550
Swiernik – $150