A sweet sweep for Longton

YAKIMA -- Mike Longton has enjoyed plenty of success at Yakima Speedway over the years, but never in one of the track's biggest events.

That all changed Sunday as the Moxee driver capped a dominating weekend with a convincing victory in the weather-delayed Fall Classic.

"I've been running here for nine years and earned some good wins, but these are the ones that count," Longton said of the season finale that was postponed a week because of rain. "There are some big races around here, but the Fall Classic is the biggest of the big."

Sunday's victory in the 200-lap Late Model race ended a run of frustrating finishes for Longton.

"We've been close before, but then something would happen to the car," he said. "Everything came together this week."

Indeed it did.

After making a "couple of tweaks" prior to Friday's Race of Champions, Longton's car proved unbeatable as he captured that first race, the Limited Late Model main Saturday, and then Sunday's finale.

"We tried to make some changes ... but I couldn't keep up with him coming off the corners and he'd pull away on the straights," said runner-up B.J. Tidrick, who delayed his Las Vegas wedding to compete this weekend. "They had it figured out for sure."

"We had a good setup all year and then we made a spring change Friday because it was so cold," Longton said of the nighttime temperatures that dipped into the 30s. "That worked and, honestly, we used that same setup all weekend."

By sticking to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage, Longton capped his weekend sweep with a wire-to-wire victory Sunday to claim the $11,000 first prize.

At the start, Erick Hargraves, who joined the polesitting Longton on the front row, jumped ahead, but the race was red flagged following an accident before the first lap could be completed.

On the restart, Longton got in front of Hargraves, starting a trip in which the only time another driver got close was after a yellow caution or restart.

Hargraves held second through the first half of the race, but on the first lap after the mid-race restart, his car suffered a broken rear axle and he was done for the day.

That allowed Tidrick, the winner of the Speedway's season-opening Apple Cup, to move into second. The Union Gap driver didn't let Longton get away from him, but he also could never get close enough to make a serious pass attempt.

Ellensburg's Travis Bennett completed a local sweep of the top spots by taking third.

Even though he wasn't caught, Longton's past misfortunes prevented him from getting too comfortable.

"When you're out front like that," he said, "you start to hear stuff, 'Was that a pop? Was that my tire?'"

In the end, all Longton heard were the cheers of the crowd as he did a NASCAR-style burnout on the front straightaway.

"This still really hasn't set in," he said. "This was awesome."

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