BUTLER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Evergreen Raceway’s 23rd Annual King of the Green was played out on a sun-splashed afternoon and landing the top prize in the headline Tour Type Modified 75-lap main was 13-year old “Boy Wonder” Paulie Hartwig III.
Hartwig, who started eighth, only needed the first four laps to battle his way into the top five. He would then take advantage of restarts as well as some classy moves both inside and outside to manage his way to third with 37 laps complete.
At that point he would begin his assault on front runners Brian Sones and Roger Coss, themselves putting on a torrid duel for the lead at the time.
But as the front pair waged their close battle, Hartwig would also get in on the action, sneaking his way underneath Coss for second on lap 41 then two laps later pulling off a similar pass to go past Sones for what would turn out to be the race winning move.
Once in front there would be no looking back as he was able to easily hold down a two car length advantage to the checkers ahead of Coss.
“We’re still learning about this car and it’s only my third time running it so far. Once I got out front I was just on cruise control,” said Hartwig, who was also the winner in last week’s KoG feature for the 602 Crate Modifieds.
“You have to set these cars up a bit different than the 602. When you have them set-up right then you have the speed you need coming off the corners and if you don’t burn the tires off then you know you have something good.”
As It Happened
Time trials took place with the top eight redrawing and it would be Jayden Harman on the pole and Coss second. At the drop of the race commencing green Harman took to the early lead while Bobby Jones slipped into second over Coss.
Making haste during the early going was Sones who was picking off cars with each passing and getting up to second second after the first dozen tours. He was, however, having to deal with Coss as they each went back and forth for the runner-up spot while staying directly behind leader Harman.
Sones and Coss would continue their constant two-abreast dogfight until lap 25. Sones had then shaken free of Coss and was now beginning to make a run at Harman and was just about to attempt a pass when a caution foiled his effort with 27 circuits completed.
When the action resumed Harman was able to stay at the front while the intense battle for second once again heated up between Sones and Coss. And to make matters even tougher Hartwig was now right behind them.
By lap 30 Coss was able to take control and following behind him was Sones and Hartwig as Harman began to fade. The next nine laps turned into a thrilling match-up as Coss and Sones would exchange the lead several times.
On lap 40 Sones was showing the way but coming on strong was Hartwig. At the outset of the 43rd lap Hartwig went to the inside of Sones as the raced into turn one and by the time they exited the second corner the lead would be Hartwig’s which he would hold the rest of the way.
“Everyone is really good here and they run you clean. With a 600 horsepower Modified you really don’t want to spin the tires so I just kept it in high gear the whole time after the restarts,” rationalized Hartwig.
Hartwig actually brought two cars to the track. He won with his No. 73 but also had Matty Ricco’s No. 11 on hand, which was the same car he achieved victory with two weeks ago at Mahoning Valley Speedway.
“It was tough choice,” Hartwig said. “Matty’s car is a short track car but a really good car. But this car is definitely a big track car and we made the right choice to go with it today. We’ll hopefully take this down to the North/South Shootout and the 300 at Riverhead.”
While Hartwig was leading Sones and Coss continued to race toe-to-toe for second. 13th place starter Austin Kochenash was running strong and stood fourth and on a lap 57 restart he and Sones rubbed side rails. Sones did a dramatic job of keeping from spinning while Kochenash dashed his way into third.
The top three would then remain Hartwig, Coss and Kochenash. Brian DeFebo and Jacob Kerstetter rounded out the top five.
For Coss, who was the fastest in time trials, it was the third time in the last three races that he had to settle for runner-up. That included two weeks ago when he finished behind Hartwig at Mahoning Valley Speedway then the next day at Evergreen behind Jayden Harman.
“Three races in a row and second place again. It’s tough but we were better than we were two weeks ago when we finished second to Jayden here and we were better than everybody else by a decent amount but just not as good as Paulie and he just had the better car,” reflected Coss.
There was no denying that despite Hartwig winning the battle that waged between Coss and Sones was perhaps the best crowd pleasing action of the day.
“The 12 (Sones) was good and we race each other hard but as for the 73 (Hartwig) he wasn’t backing up at all and he was two to three tenths faster than anybody again.”
The 40-lap Four Cylinder Feature finish was won by T.J. Kapish. Devin Thornton won the legends feature and Easton Houghtaling claimed the Bandolero event.
Feature Finish (75 Laps)
1. Paulie Hartwig III, 2. Roger Coss, 3. Austin Kochenash, 4. Bria DeFebo, 5. Jacob Kerstetter, 6. Earl Paules, 7. Brian Sones, 8. Blake Barney, 9. Jayden Harman, 10. Daren Scherer, 11. Jimmy Seeger, 12. Bobby Jones, 13. Nick Baer, 14. Sean Verwys, 15. Eric Kocher, 16. Neal Rutt III, 17. Vinnie Morone 18. Jerry Hildebrand, 19. Jake Christman, 20. Ricky Ross Jr., 21. Jaden Brown, 22. Randall Richard