Evergreen Speedway played host to the season opening race for the Northwest Sprint Tour with the second annual Granite Construction Can/Am Shootout on May 9th.
16 cars took time to start the night, with Aaron Willison nabbing quick time with a 12.789 in his own 41W. Willison had not run his family car since 2017, but was quickly up to speed even after an off track excursion in practice necessitated a new radiator.
In heat race action Jeff Montgomery dodged a first lap wreck involving Marty Rosler, Chloe Hudson and Brad Aumen to pick up the win in heat one, with Willison passing Jacob Austin on a restart with two laps remaining to pick up heat two.
The 50 lap main event would be led to the green by defending NST Rookie of the Year Sawyer Lind, with Darren Yates on the outside of the front row.
The race would immediately be under yellow after Jayme Wright spun going into turn three on the opening lap, collecting Jacob Austin in the process. Lind would take the top spot early with Jeff Montgomery moving into second, tracking Lind down and passing him for the lead shortly after.
Montgomery would remain out front until the 33J started to fade with a faltering right rear shock and spring, allowing Willison to rapidly close in. The 41W would take the lead on lap 21 and apart from a caution for Jayme Wright and Cody Ridge on lap 22 was uncontested the rest of the way.
Montgomery would limp his car home to salvage a second place run, with Evan Margeson just holding off Sawyer Lind for the final spot on the podium.
The next race for the Northwest Sprint Tour is June 6th at Penticton Speedway for the track’s annual Open Wheel Extravaganza.