With the 23rd annual Montana 200 winding down late Saturday night under a full moon at Montana Raceway Park, leader Jonathon Gomez of Twins Falls, Idaho, in car No. 22, was preparing for a restart with nine laps remaining and the pressure was clearly on.

“That was the most nervous I have even been in a race car,” he said.

“I was good up until then.”

Gomez, who took the lead for keeps with 76 laps remaining, held on to hold off a determined late-charge by Kalispell’s Alex Lessor to take the checkered flag.

The victory was worth $15,000 for Gomez, who started in the No. 4 spot. He also led for 20 laps during the first 100.

The total purse for the two-days of super late model racing was more than $50,000.

“It’s the biggest race in the Northwest,” Gomez said.

“The Daytona 500 of the Northwest, the whole West Coast. Everybody knows what the Montana 200 is.”

Owen Riddle of Naches, Wash., finished third while Cameron Hayley of Calgary, Alberta, was fourth and Kalispell’s Bodie Morton came in with an impressive fifth-place showing.

Morton made it to the main event by winning the 40-lap Last Chance Qualifier held earlier Saturday evening.

Morton started on the outside in Row 10 for the main event.

More then 5,000 fans packed the stands for the final night and nearly saw a Kalispell driver wind up in Victory Lane for the first time since Bob Schweigert did it in 1992.

“Sickening close,” Lessor said of his runner-up performance.

“I don’t know what else I could have done to get him other than wreck his car, and I was not going to do that.”

Lessor edged ahead of Gomez briefly a couple times during the final laps. Lessor stayed low while Gomez was riding up on the high-banked, quarter-mile asphalt oval.

“It would only work on the outside,” Gomez said of his car.

“It was way too loose on the bottom.”

And that worked to his advantage.

“It’s a lot faster,” Lessor said of the second groove.

Lessor was driving in the Montana 200 for the eighth time. His previous high finish was a third in 2006. He’s also been seventh and ninth.

“It bunched us up,” Lessor said of the final restart.

“It got me second place for sure.”

Lessor, driving car No. 53 and sponsored by the Rainbow Bar, Army and Navy of Evergreen and Whitefish and Bob’s Alley Speed, started the 200-lap main event in Row 4 in the No. 7 spot.

“I thought I had the car to win the race for sure,” he said.

“So close ... maybe five or 10 more laps and I could have had him. Jonathon is a heckuva driver.”

Gomez was competing in the Montana 200 for the third time. He was seventh last year and did not finish the other time because of a flat tire.

The night, however, ended in disappointing fashion for pole sitter Giles Thornton of Whitefish. He came in with the fast time, dropped back as far as fourth place, but was back up to No. 2 after the first 100 laps.

Then with 82 laps left, he got pinched into the wall along the back straightaway by Hayley just before Turn 3.

Thornton’s car was towed off the track.

Thornton, 15, was the youngest pole sitter ever for this race. Hayley is just a year older.

Fifteen-year-old Nicole Behar of Otis Orchards, Wash., finished ninth.

Agni Howell of Kalispell was 10th.

Last year’s champion Jeff Jefferson of Naches, Wash., came in 14th and Cory Wolfe of Ronan, the 1994 champion, was 15th.

Four-time champion Gary Lewis of Snohomish, Wash., did not finish. He went to the pits with 82 laps remaining.

Howell and Wolfe, like Morton, qualified for the main show by finishing in the top four of the Last Chance Qualifer.

23rd annual Montana 200

Montana Raceway Park

Saturday

Main Event (200 laps)

1. Jonathon Gomez; 2. Alex Lessor; 3. Owen Riddle; 4. Cameron Hayley; 5. Bodie Morton; 6. Trevor Emond; 7. Ryan Wells; 8. Dave Garber; 9. Nicole Behar; 10. Agni Howell.

11. Jason Fraser; 12. Greg VanGool; 13. Eric Schmidt; 14. Jeff Jefferson; 15. Cory Wolfe; 16. Jay Sauls; 17. Braeden Havens; 18. Shane Mitchell; 19. Brian Johnson Jr.; 20. Giles Thornton.

21. Gary Lewis; 22. Mike Longton; 23. Blake Williams; 24. Mark Sundberg.

Last Chance Qualifier (40 laps)

Top Four Moved On To Main Event

1. Bodie Morton; 2. Greg VanGool; 3. Agni Howell; 4. Cory Wolfe; 5. Mark Sundberg; 6. Garrett Evans; 7. Micah Sampson; 8. Tim Elliott; 9. Lucas Valdez; 10. Mitch Kleyn.

11. Joey Bird; 12. Clint Habart; 13. Dan Obrist; 14. Dalton Halden; 15. Zach Moran; 16. Brandon Sickler; 17. Taylor Riddle; 18. Troy Schweigert.

———

Late Friday

B Main (40 laps)

1. Braeden Havens; 2. Jay Sauls; 3. Trevor Emond; 4. Ryan Wells; 5. Mike Longton; 6. Bodie Morton; 7. Greg VanGool; 8. Brandon Sickler; 9. Joey Bird; 10. Agni Howell.

11. Taylor Riddle; 12. Dan Obrist; 13. Clint Habart; 14. Cory Wolfe; 15. Garrett Evans; 16. Dalton Halden; 17. Lucas Valdez; 18. Grant Brown; 19. Tim Elliott; 20. Mike Obrist.

21. Mark Sundberg.