The two NASCAR K&N West ladies were among the protagonists at the Evergreen Speedway race staged last night in Washington
Saturday night marked the second weekly appearance for Hailie Deegan on racetracks, as she was back in her Toyota #19 after taking part in the K&N East event at Bristol.
The day had started in the best possible way for the Californian, as she ended on top of the first practice session and she confirm herself one of the leading drivers in FP2 by getting the second fastest time.
However, it was hometown girl Brittney Zamora to steal the limelight during qualifying, conquering her second career pole position.
Hailie Deegan started in fourth position, behind her teammate and title rival Derek Kraus.
Deegan drove a solid first 70 laps' stint and went into the half-race stop in third place.
Brittney Zamora was fifth, after she lost positions during the opening stages but was able to remain within racing distance to the leading group.
Derek Kraus had a great restart and won a side-by-side battle with Huddleston to take the lead of the race. Deegan and Zamora remained respectively in third and fifth positions.
On lap 90, the fight between Kraus and Huddleston re-ignited, with Hailie Deegan trying to play the opportunistic game as joined the action. Deegan effectively came into winning contention when she made a remarkable move stick on Huddleston for P2.
A few laps later, Huddleston reclaimed second place and with only 50 laps to the checkered flag, he overtook Kraus for the lead of the race, showing impressive pace and possibly the fastest car at Evergreen Speedway this weekend.
From that moment on, home hero Brittney Zamora stole the show: she completed a decisive move at turn three on Jones for P4 and aggressively approached Deegan to take third.
The yellow flag fell on the track on lap 112, with the race being resumed 4 laps later with Jones immediately gaining two positions and advancing to third. But the racing action was far from over: Deegan bumped Jones and went back to third place, while Zamora took advantage of the battle and overtook Jones.
This battle, however, had a high price for Deegan, who from that moment lost her rythm and started to lose pace and positions.
At the same time, Zamora continued her remarkable race by firstly gaining one position over Deegan and then went on to hunt for Kraus. Moriarity in the #7 strongly emerged as a podium contender, as he passed Deegan and chased Zamora for third position.
The race ended with a sensational photofinish between Zamora and Moriarity, with the 20-year old lady successfully holding her third place: she could thus celebrate a top-3 at her hometown event.
Hailie Deegan finished seventh, also betrayed by a contact that damaged her Toyota.
"We had a lot speed during practice and drove up to 2nd in the race. Then I got hit pretty hard in the left rear a few laps into the second segment. Ended up tweaking something in the LR [left-rear] which made it chatter super bad and push in the center then snap loose off " - those were her words after the race.
Huddleston brought home a firm victory, while Derek Kraus crossed the line in second and increased his championship standings' advantage.
In Brittney's words:
"Sat her on pole and came home p3! Led 45 laps and had some really good battles. It was awesome being in front of my home crowd and being able to put on a show for them."
Ph credits: Matthew T. Thacker, NKP/NASCAR