Via NSLMS Media

Wenatchee, WA (April 30, 2018) Tayler Riddle (Naches, WA) is no stranger to the winner’s circle. He’s won some of the biggest and richest races in the country. Riddle was faced with some stiff competition getting to the front in the 4th Annual Leonard Evans 150 at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval. It wasn’t until lap 85 that Riddle was able to take over the lead for good in his bid for the 2018 championship. Riddle becomes the only two-time winner of the Leonard Evans 150 event honoring the late father of Garrett Evans.

The Northwest Super Late Model Series Inc. (NWSLMS) 2018 season kicked off Saturday with qualifying for the 23-car field. The top qualifier was 2017 Season Champion Brittney Zamora (Kennewick, WA) with a lap of 12.741 seconds. Eight cars qualifying in the 12.7 second bracket set the pace for the day. Zamora drew a ten-car invert for the start of the feature event.

The pace to the green flag was set by Jan Evans (E. Wenatchee, WA) and Mitch Kleyn (Quincy, WA). The youngest Evans, running a brand-new car and sporting a new number “5”, would take the lead and hold it for the first 46 laps. Riddle and Kleyn would make the inside pass, putting Evans back to third. Riddle continued to lead until Mitch Kleyn made an impressive pass on a restart from the outside to take over. Riddle would keep pace with Kleyn and finally regained the lead for the final time to take it to the checkers.

Evans made an outstanding save while running third after contact racing with Kleyn. Evans lost only one position to Zamora in the melee. With her sites set on Riddle, Zamora would start reeling him in and making up ground in lapped traffic. After contact on a restart, Zamora and Kleyn would have a great battle before she took the second position for the final time at lap 128. Riddle took advantage of their battle to put distance between them.

Rookie contender, Trenton Moriarity (Monroe, WA), making his first start on the NWSLMS Tour, made a remarkable comeback after spinning in the early stages of the event. Moriarity, who restarted 22nd, battled his way through the field to take the third.

A late race caution set up a Green-White-Checkered finish. With the fans on their feet, Riddle was able to get the jump on Zamora to the finish line, and Moriarity was able to clear Kleyn for the third and final podium position. Logan Jewell (Agassiz, BC, Canada) finished fifth. Zamora will leave Wenatchee with a 1 point lead over Riddle.

The next NWSLMS Tour event is June 2 at South Sound Speedway.

Leonard Evans 150 Final
1 15 Tayler Riddle 150
2 52 Brittney Zamora 150
3 12 Trenton Moriarity 150
4 1K Mitch Kleyn 150
5 92 Logan Jewell 150
6 31 Jessie Jensen 150
7 00 Naima Lang 150
8 12F Chad Fitzpatrick 150
9 81 Darrell Midgely 150
10 20 Andy Sole 150
11 91 Alan Cress 150
12 5 Jan Evans 150
13 35 Rob Touchette 150
14 11 Ed Thomsen 149
15 15F Jim Franklin 149
16 38 Chad Hinkle 143
17 18 Ian Graham 143
18 89 Doni Wanat 122
19 17 Robert Presley 74
20 88 Dirk Bennett 62
21 33 Brooke Schimmel 42
22 16 Dan Moore 42
DNS 83 Braeden Havens
Lap leaders: 1-46 Jan Evans, 47-77 Tayler Riddle, 78-84 Mitch Kleyn, 85-150 Tayler Riddle