For Immediate Release: Montana Raceway Park Media Relations
KALISPELL, Mont. - For Shane Mitchell the Coors Light Montana 200 powered by Kalispell Toyota has been one event sure to be on a season’s racing schedule. For many of the last 10 years the results have been less then kind when it came to standing in victory lane. Accidents, mechanical issues or late race dramatics have always played a role in an elusive first victory.
Those gremlins were finally dispatched on Saturday night.
Mitchell started on the outside of row one and chased pole sitter Owen Riddle for the event’s first 64 laps then overtook the leader exiting turn No. 2 and never looked back en route to a first career victory in the famed Montana 200.
Riddle gave chase to Mitchell for the majority of the race but was unable to advance past his runner-up finish. Four-time and defending champion Gary Lewis ran third with Brandon Riehl and 14-year old Cameron Hayley rounding out the top-5.
Early on Riddle appeared to have a car capable of staying in the lead and withstanding Mitchell and Lewis’ pressure. The Naches, Wash. native could streak to a 10-car length lead on restarts and navigate traffic with ease. As the midway point of the first-half came to a close the handle on Riddle’s car began to give way forcing the driver of the Horseshoe Bend Quarry Ford Fusion to leave the bottom lane open for Mitchell to tuck his nose underneath. The opening finally paid off for Mitchell who stayed door-to-door with Riddle before finally overtaking the leader.
Lewis debuted a brand new car over the weekend and while his streak of consecutive Montana 200 victories may have come to a close, a top-3 finish was considered a small victory after a nearly 9-month layoff due to hand surgery.
Mitchell was overcome by emotion upon exiting his car in victory lane with his two closest competitors among the first to greet the new champion.
“We have tried to win this thing for so long,” said the driver of the Mitchell Trucking and Paving Chevrolet. “Last year I got together with Lewis at the beginning of the race and lost a chance there but this time we raced each other clean for a lot of laps and finally made something happen to get this victory.”
Riddle felt he had a car capable of winning the main event but conceded that the eventual winner had the field covered.
“Shane was on a roll tonight that’s for sure,” he said. “I was out there riding in the lead and would look back at him and wondered if he was doing the same thing. Before you know it he came on there at the midway of the first-half and got around us and from there you could just tell it was going to be his night.”
To see a streak as incredible as winning four straight 200’s finally come to a close was a disappointment for Lewis, but considering all that went into getting to the podium it was taken with a smile.
“Shane and I raced each other clean tonight and he had the car to beat,” said the driver of The Sign Factory USA Chevrolet. “We came with a similar set-up to the last four years we’d used on the old car and really had some things going with this new one but in the end (Riddle) and Shane were just on top of their game.”