Havens wins Idaho 200

POST FALLS — Two Spokane drivers with a Montana chaser.

No, it’s not a new drink order, just the scene at crunch time in the 17th running of the Idaho 200 that finished just before midnight Saturday night at Stateline Speedway.

Braeden Havens and Dave Garber slugged it out for Spokane bragging rights and the tallest trophy in the late going, but Hingham, Montana’s Ryan Wells made it interesting before Havens crossed the finish line first for his first Idaho 200 win.

Wells got involved in an accident back on lap 120, and had to fight his way through the entire field, which he did to perfection.

Meanwhile, Havens and Garber stayed out front the entire race, bided their time and duked it out in crunch time.

After a restart on lap 162, Garber held the lead, but Havens, Ephrata’s Josh Roberts and Trevor Cristiani of Boise all had eyes on the lead.

Garber and Havens continued to battle side by side, as Wells continued his climb back from an earlier accident and subsequent trip to the back of the field. By lap 181, Havens had slipped inside Garber for the top spot, and a few laps later, Garber slowed considerably, allowing the hard-charging Wells to get through and pursue Havens.

Havens held a three-car-length lead on Wells with 12 to go, but Wells had the ability to run in any groove, and continued to make up ground.

With five laps to go, Wells had closed in and that’s when a couple lapped cars made it difficult for Havens to decide what to do next. He finally found an opening going into the final lap, allowing him some clear track to hold off Wells.

“It was a hard-fought one, and the car was really tight in the first half,” Havens said as he leaned on his 83 machine in the winners circle. “But we got up to third, which was good positioning for the second half.

“We just bided our time, and Dave got out in front of us, but we knew he’d come back to us, so we just let him stay out there.”

Havens’ spotter told him Wells was making his way back to the front. “He had a really fast car, and he got to me at the end, but lapped traffic came into my favor and I got the win.”

Havens commended Travis Sharpe and Jim Dotson and the crew. “They worked their asses off — they worked on it during the (break) and made it better.”

Wells was rightfully frustrated in the winners circle, knowing he had a dominant car.

“We were running great; started 6th, got up through the field and ran Garrett down,” Wells said. “Every time coming off the corner (Garrett) was a groove and a half off the wall, and that one time he came all the way up to the wall, he just wasn’t in the gas, and by the time I lifted, he was already crossed up, nothing I could do.

“We fought pretty hard, came all the way back up through the field — second is nice, but you always want the win.”

Wells said the car in the first hundred was “free in and free off” the turns, so the crew dropped the track bar and put some rebound in the right rear at the break “and it was a rocket in that second half.”

Roberts stayed out of trouble all night, and sliced and diced his way up to third at the finish.

“We started way deep in the field, and dropped back on one of the first restarts,” Roberts said. “I think we had a bad tire that first 100-lap segment, but we changed it at break and that made all the difference in the world for the car, plus a few minor shock adjustments.”

Fast qualifier Garrett Evans, one of two former Idaho 200 champs in the field, was able to shoot out to comfortable leads in the early part of the race on restarts. Unfortunately, heading out of turn 4 on lap 130, Evans hesitated with the throttle, and Wells couldn’t stop his momentum until he was under the back of Evans, who spun to the inside where Havens was making an attempt to get by. Havens’ car launched up over the right front of the spinning Evans, but landed back down softly enough, with no apparent damage.

Evans pitted and Wells was forced to the back after the contact.

Evans’ car had lost the speed it had earlier, and he finished in 19th.

Garber came home fourth, having tried everything he could to hold off a very strong field for long stretches.

Blake Williams of Spokane, another former Idaho 200 winner, finished in 7th after battling back from on-track skirmishes during the first half.

Joey Bird, the second fastest qualifer, tried to dodge a turn-2 wreck on lap 70, and bounced off Bodie Morton. Bird’s car landed hard on the front end, and he pitted and never returned, settling for 22nd.

Terry Armstrong Jr. of Hauser finished 14th, five laps off the pace.

Sagle’s Corey Allard ran in the top 10 toward the end of the first half, and continued to maintain decent position through the majority of the second half.

On lap 160, Chris Kellogg got loose coming through turns 3 and 4 and collected Allard, whose front end was damaged beyond the point of returing to the race. Allard finished in 23rd spot, with Kellogg 17th.

2016 Idaho 200

Pos. No. Name Laps

1. 83 Braeden Havens 200

2. 5 Ryan Wells 200

3. 9 Josh Roberts 200

4. 93 Dave Garber 200

5. 51 Glenn Knutson 200

6. 90 Trevor Cristiani 200

7. 16 Blake Williams 200

8. 1K Mitch Kleyn 200

9. 29 Jason O’Neil 200

10. 52 Brittany Zamora 200

11. 77 Bodie Morton 200

12. 3 Barry Shingar 200

13. 88 Dirk Bennett 197

14. 38 Terry Armstrong Jr. 195

15. 11 Ed Thomsen 194

16. 09 Clint Habart 186

17. 98 Chris Kellogg 162

18. 23 Corey Allard 160

19. 64g Garrett Evans 159

20. 64j Jan Evans 152

21. 99 Shane Mitchell 125

22. 24 Joey Bird 71

23. 15 Tom Plybon 10

Friday’s results

HOBBY STOCK SHOOTOUT

Fast time — John Vallone, 15.768 seconds. Trophy dash — A: Ted Shue. B: Avery Miller. Main — 1, Reesen Tarr. 2, John Vallone. 3, Ted Shue. 4, Scott Seltzer. 5, Avery Miller. 6, Bryer Reynolds. 7, Aaron Clanton. 8, Jim Kruse. 9, Aaron Nevers. 10, Kody Ghram.

SUPER LATE MODEL QUALIFYING

Fast time — Garrett Evans, 13.055. Trophy dash — A: Braeden Havens. B: Bodie Morton. C: Trevor Cristiani. D: Josh Roberts. E: Tom Plybon. Main — 1, Garrett Evans. 2, Joey Bird. 3, Ryan Wells. 4, Braeden Havens. 5, Blake Williams. 6, Mitch Kleyn. 7, Bodie Morton. 8, Shane Mitchell. 9, Clint Habart. 10, Dave Garber. 11, Trevor Cristiani. 12, Jason O’Neil. 13, Corey Allard. 14, Jan Evans. 15, Barry Shingar. 16, Chris Kellogg. 17, Josh Roberts. 18, Dirk Bennett. 19, Glenn Knutson. 20, Brittney Zamora. 21, Terry Armstrong, Jr. 22, Tom Plybon. 23, Ed Thompson. 24, Alex Lessor.