Owen Riddle Wins Neal Newberry 125 at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval

Owen Riddle is not a frequent visitor with the Northwest Super Late Model Series. He had not raced with the series since the 2022 Fall Classic 125 at Tri-City Raceway before Saturday night.

Riddle made the most of Saturday's Neal Newberry 125 at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval, claiming his second victory in the event.

Riddle, who also won the Neal Newberry 125 in 2015, inherited the lead with 36 laps to go after Evan Goetz ran into issues from the lead and stalled out on track. Riddle held off Jan Evans on the following restart to take the checkered flag. It was Riddle's first NWSLMS victory since 2017.

"Preston Peltier gave me a great race car tonight," said Riddle. "I've got to thank him first of all for taking a chance, going out on this new venture he's got going on. These things are phenomenal."

While Goetz's misfortune put Riddle out front, the two drivers were nose-to-tail before Goetz came to a halt. Riddle was patiently waiting for a chance to pass Goetz on corner exit, only for a surprising and different turn of events.

"We were just trying to be patient, wait for an opportunity. I felt like we rolled a little bit better right after the apex than he did. I was just trying to wait for an opportunity."

Jan Evans, who won at Wenatchee Valley earlier this season in the NWSLMS Leonard Evans 150, settled for second on this occasion. Evans was pleased with the turnaround for him and his team over the weekend, but disappointed with the final outcome.

"Our crew has worked really, really hard all weekend to get this thing ready," said Evans. "We weren't really good out the box, and they worked their ass off to get it done. I was hoping to race the 10 [of Riddle] clean there at the end, but I guess he had to knock the toe out of my car to beat me. It is what it is."

Jason O'Neil made his third NWSLMS appearance on Saturday, and claimed a third-place finish as reward. O'Neil also finished third in his last event with the tour which came at Stateline Speedway in May.

"We just got a little tight," said O'Neil. "Then I burned it up a little bit, so then coming off we were getting a little bit loose. We'll get better, we'll keep getting after it. We're lucky we finished the race, so I feel good about that. We'll try again another day."

John Newhouse finished fourth, while Goetz recovered from his misfortune to take the fifth position.

The Northwest Super Late Model Series concludes its 2024 season on October 6 with the Fall Classic 125 at Tri-City Raceway @ RMEC.

-Photo credit: Shari Garber

Neal Newberry 125 Unofficial Results