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By DINO OBERTO
(Butler Township, PA 10-12-24) Evergreen Raceway kicked-off the first of back-to-back weekends of the 23rd Annual King of the Green (KoG) with the checkers going to a pair of racers scoring their third class wins while it was a second KoG for another and two more came across the finish line for the first time in the marquee event.
Nick Ross of White Haven and Eric Kocher from Danielsville can now boast as the three-time King of Green winners in the Late Models and Street Stocks respectively. Meanwhile Paulie Hartwig III of Galloway, NJ topped the field in the 602 Crate Modifieds for a second time winning the KoG and Abby McNulty of Freeland cruised to the checkers in the Novice division with Josh Patterson of East Greenville taking top honors with the East Coast TQ Midgets.
The DW Machine & Fabricating Late Models lined for a 55 lap feature run that also saw its biggest field of the year as 17 cars checked in to do battle.
After a redraw of the top eight from time trials it was Jared Barclay and Brain Sones who shared the front row and once the action got underway it would Barclay who jumped out front followed by Eldon King, Sones, Brandon Turbush and Ross.
By the third lap King was showing the way but it would be under tight quarters as Sones raced right alongside him. They continued to run neck and neck until lap 10 when Sones got into the right side of King and caused him to spin and bring out the cuation. For his part officials put Sones to the rear with King.
When the race got back underway Barclay was at the helm with Turbush, Ross, Mike Sweeney and Jimmy Rennick Jr., in the top five. That group would then stay in that order until a lap 13 restart which then saw Ross and Sweeney move to second and third.
The top three of Barclay, Ross and Sweeney all ran in close proximity of each other and then following a lap 29 restart, Barclay and Ross began a two-wide duel and when the lap was completed so too was the lead as Ross hustled to the outside in gaining the front spot.
As Ross showed the way King had worked his way back through the pack and zeroed in on Sweeney with 18 laps to go and the next time by had unseated him for second. He then tried as best he could to catch Ross but could never get within a car length. Ross would take the victory, his second straight and third time claiming a KoG win.
“After not having a good season because we had a motor break and then to come out last week and smoke the field and back that up with a King of the Green win makes up for all that lost time we had to endure,” said Ross, who collected $2000 for his efforts.
“I can’t thank my whole family and everyone on this team enough for all the support and hard work they put into this.”
Second finisher King was indeed one of the fastest cars all day as he had the quickest lap in time trials until Ross bested him as the final car to take time. King, after having to restart from the back after the lap 10 spin, made quick work of all those ahead of him until getting to Ross who was able to hold him off and garner the win.
“I raced a few times against Eldon (King) and he’s always very good. I knew I had to hit my marks each time around because he was fast today and you can never let your guard down against him,” Ross said.
“He was impressive and not only him but to win against such has a great field of cars made this win even more special.”
Sweeney, Barclay and Turbush rounded out the top five.
The 602 Crate Modifieds faced off in a 40-lap main that saw the previous weekend’s stars, Jayden Harman and Hartwig, bring the field to the green.
Harman, who was the Tour Type Modified winner here last Sunday and Hartwig, who won the Tour Type Modified feature a week ago at Mahoning Valley Speedway, raced nose-to-tail over the first half dozen laps. The next time by Hartwig went side-by-side with Harman and as the circuit was finished off the lead changed hands as well.
And once he took command Hartwig but a decent gap between him and Harman off, staying well enough ahead. His only issues where when he came upon lapped traffic but even then he handled that with precision timing in getting by them all.
It was not only his first KoG win with the Crate Modified but his second in the event, having also win with the Evergreen Mods in 2022. Behind Harman was Brian Rygielski Jr., 2024 champion Steve Shultz and Jerry Hildebrand.
In the Harry’s U-Pull-It Street Stocks Kocher was gripped in a power struggle with early leader Bobby Kibler Jr., and 2024 Evergreen champion Mike Pollack as the trio run under a blanket over the first half of the race.
Finally shaking free of Pollack, Kocher then tagged behind Kibler and on lap 20 he dipped to his inside and took over as the race leader. Five laps later and Pollack was now second.
Once past the halfway mark Kocher and Pollock cleared Kibler and it was then an intense bumper-to-bumper battle. Keeping glued to Kocher, Pollack tried several times to get by but each attempt was foiled. Nonetheless the front pair remained a close one-two until lap 43 when Pollack suddenly encountered overheating issues and pulled off.
Kocher then began to stretch his lead until a late race caution bunched the field and up to the finish had to fend off a very determined Kibler. It was his second Evergreen win of the season and 33rd overall of his career.
Abby McNulty of Freeland may have waited over two years to get her career first win but it only took six days to get victory number two as she made it back-to-back stops in Victory Lane with the McNulty Funeral Homes Novice’s.
McNulty jumped out front at the get-go and never looked back as she easily cruised to career win number two over Gavin Higgins.
The East Coast TQ Midgets completed the day of racing with Paterson putting on a very spirited battle with Christopher Coleman. The twosome were putting on a thrilling duel with Coleman out front by the slimmest of margins.
Finally after laps of pressure Paterson was able to make a squeeze play to the inside at the start of lap 18 and take the lead and go on to claim his first KoG victory and second at Evergreen.
Late Model feature finish (55 laps): 1. Nick Ross, 2. Eldon King, 3. Mike Sweeney, 4. Jared Barclay, 5. Brandon Turbush, 6. Jimmy Rennick Jr., 7. Geno Steigerwalt, 8. Roger Maynor, 9. Brian Romig Jr., 10. Brett Peters, 11. Brian Sones, 12. Dennis Wenner, 13. Brandon Cook, 14. Tony Hilliard, 15. Marc Aigeldinger, 16. Frank Hughes, 17. Evan Beretta
602 Crate Modified feature finish (40 laps): 1. Paulie Hartwig III, 2. Jayden Harman, 3. Brian Rygielski, 4. Steve Shultz, 5. Jerry Hildebrand, 6. Paul Hartwig Jr., 7. Ricky Collins, 8. Evan Rygielski, 9. Jason Kerstetter, 10. Mike Dutka, 11. Deegen Underwood, 12. Josh Mooney, 13. Joe Schmutz, 14. Tommy Catanzaro, 15. Geno Steigerwalt, 16. Micah Adams
Street Stock feature finish (55 laps): 1. Eric Kocher, 2. Bobby Kibler Jr., 3. Ken Erney Jr., 4. Brian Wozniak, 5. Cory Derr, 6. Amber Knecht, 7. Mike Odwazny, 8. Mike Pollack, 9. Josh LaBatch, 10. Zach Biros, 11. Jay Kanor
Novice feature finish (12 laps): 1. Abby McNulty, 2. Gavin Higgins, 3. Savannah Romig, 4. Caitlyn Makarewicz, 5. Lexus Kutz
ECTQM feature finish (25 laps): 1. Josh Patterson, 2. Christopher Coleman, 3. Don Zirinski, 4. Steve Craig, 5. Billy Cole, 6. Tyler Wagner, 7. Ozzy Carlino, 8. Graham Hughes, 9. Vinny Testinaro, 10. Howard Boss
