Owen Riddle Holds Off Challengers for $25,000, Wenatchee 200 Triumph

Owen Riddle added the Wenatchee 200 presented by Plumb Perfect to his resume and took home more than $25,000 on Saturday night at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval.

Riddle has won many of the top Late Model races on the West Coast, including three Apple Cup wins, three Montana 200 victories, as well as wins in the Summer Showdown and Chilly Willy. Riddle added the Wenatchee 200 to that list on Saturday in a dominant showing.

Riddle took the lead on lap 75, giving him the top spot at the race's halfway break. While Kasey Kleyn closed in during the final laps, no one would wrestle the advantage away from Riddle during the race's second half.

The veteran driver set fast time in qualifying, but a four-car invert placed Riddle on the outside of row two to start the race. Riddle dropped back to fifth in the opening laps, but soon worked his way forward and eventually took the lead from Jan Evans.

"You know, I didn't want to start where we started," said Riddle. "We kind of tried to bide our time there. Just be smart, took what it gave us. We got a chance before the break there to try to get by Jan. Jan is very strong and I knew that if we could do that to try to control the second half, it would make a big difference."

While Riddle controlled the second half as he hoped, Kleyn and Kole Raz grew larger in his mirror at the end of the race. The top three nearly finished within a half-second of each other after 200 laps.

"I was just trying to be smart, not doing anything dumb in there, slip a tire," said Riddle. "I was getting lapped traffic. I knew Kasey was coming. To be honest with you, I was getting ready to give a bumper or something like that. I just kept hitting my marks and did the best we could to keep away from him."

Kleyn held off Raz for second, taking that spot from him with 31 laps to go. It was a hard-fought runner-up finish, with the 2024 Northwest Super Late Model Series champion wishing he had more speed on restarts to truly challenge for the win.

"We were fast in the long run," said Kleyn. "I just, unfortunately, couldn't put together a good restart. I kept spinning my tires, couldn't find grip on the restarts. It just put us behind. If I was able to get a good restart, maybe capitalize and pass Kole on a restart, maybe we could have had a better chance. If I were closer to his bumper, it would have just been one less car we had to pass late in the run.

"Overall, I'm happy. We had no motor in this car on Wednesday, blew it up. To put one in there, come out, finish second with a chance to win it, we fell a little short. It sucks. We were so close, and we were running them down fast at the end."

Meanwhile, Raz finished third in the tight finish. The ARCA Menards Series competitor enjoyed the return to the Northwest and his Late Model roots, and is eager to race again at Wenatchee Valley.

"I just tried moving around and using every tool I have inside to try to make a last-ditch effort to try and get to the front," said Raz. "Man, the 10 [of Riddle] was on rails there. I feel like our short runs were really our only chance, and restarts. I feel like we could capitalize out of the box, just couldn't get through one and two to really keep a position on them.

"It was so much fun, coming back and going Late Model racing and being back with my guys, coming back home to the Pacific Northwest. To see this place back once again, this track puts on some badass races. I can't wait to come back next year."

Haeden Plybon finished fourth, with Alan Cress rounding out the top five.

The next event at Wenatchee Valley Super Oval is the Bump 2 Pass Father's Day Bash. B-Mods, Roadrunners, Crown Vic Stocks, and Roadrunners join the Bump 2 Pass on the racing card for Saturday, June 14.

-Photo credit: Shari Garber

Wenatchee 200 Unofficial Results