SPOKANE, Wash. — Preston Peltier made the trip from Brighten, Colo. worth the effort, as he took home $10,000 in the 53rd Annual Bonney’s Tracker Trailers Apple Cup 125 at Tri-City Raceway.
Peltier took the lead for the final time on a lap 56 restart, and pulled away from 2019 NWSLMS champion Trevor Cristiani by 2.823 seconds.
Dylan Caldwell qualified fifth, but started from the pole when the top eight redrew for position. Haeden Plybon would line up alongside Caldwell, but would jump to the lead upon the green flag.
The race would be halted on lap ten, as Caldwell began to fall back with fluid leaking from his No. 40 super late model. Tyler Brown spun in the fluid in turn one, with B.J. Tidrick unable to miss the spinning No. 8 car, suffering the most damage.
After the red flag was lifted, Peltier clawed his way to the lead, as Plybon began to fall back with another fluid leak. The fluid on track would result in an incident involving Scott Walker, Tyler Brown and Nick Gibson on lap 13.
Plybon proceeded to the pits as another lengthy red flag was required for the clean-up. The drivers involved in the spin were given their positions back for the restart.
After the field restarted, Christopher Kalsch spun a couple laps later to bring out another caution, as Peltier now led Mike Longton, Trevor Cristiani, Randy Marshall Jr. and Scott Walker.
Another caution came out on the ensuing restart, as Jason O’Neil found himself in the turn three tire barrier with significant damage.
The caution negated a pass for the lead by Longton, but on the following restart, Longton repeated the move and secured the top spot.
The lead was short-lived, as Peltier and Cristiani both raced under a fading Longton on lap 29. Randy Marshall Jr. and Trenton Moriarity followed a few laps later, as Longton dropped to fifth.
In the meantime, Cristiani had moved to the back bumper of Peltier, making his move for the lead on lap 41. Cristiani would lead the same top-five duo to the caution on lap 56, as Scott Walker began experiencing suspension problems, pitting from tenth.
The restart proved to be the pivotal moment of the event, as Peltier powered by Cristiani for the lead. The battle for the top-five, behind the lead duo, began to heat up as the field approached the scheduled lap 75 break.
Cristiani began to close on Peltier during the long run, but he ran out of time at the break.
Coming out of the break, Peltier was able to jump out to a short lead over Cristiani, as Marshall and Longton were able to get back by Anderson, with their two fresh tires.
The field ran green until lap 100, when Christopher Kalsch spun. Cristiani had once again taken advantage of the 25-lap run to close on Peltier, but the restart would doom Cristiani’s opportunity for the win.
As the green waved, Trevor Cristiani got a poor restart, allowing Mike Longton to use the outside groove to move by for second. Cristiani was able to get back by the former Apple Cup winner, but by that time, Peltier was gone as he led to the lap 127 checkered flag.
The finish:
1. Preston Peltier, 2. Trevor Cristiani, 3. Mike Longton, 4. Randy Marshall Jr., 5. Trenton Moriarity, 6. Kaiden Anderson, 7. Nick Gibson, 8. Jim Franklin, 9. Andy Beaman, 10. Dan Nelson, 11. Braeden Havens, 12. Haeden Plybon, 13. Christopher Kalsch, 14. Ken Bonney, 15. Todd Connell, 16. Max Schroeder, 17. Dave Garber, 18. Scott Walker, 19. Tyler Brown, 20. Ed Vecchiarelli, 21. BJ Tidrick, 22. Jason O’Neil, 23. Dylan Caldwell.