From Tadd Haislop | ARCA
ANDERSON, Calif. — The majority of Saturday night’s ARCA Menards Series West race at Shasta Speedway in Anderson, California was the Trevor Huddleston show.
Unfortunately for Huddleston, Sean Hingorani did not need the majority, but only the final third of the Shasta 150 to claim victory.
After hounding Huddleston for multiple laps, Hingorani with 39 laps to go in the 150-lap race put his bumper to his West Series rival’s left-rear and made what turned out to be the race-winning move. The 16-year-old from Newport Beach, California, Hingorani pulled away from the field over the final pair of restarts and cruised to his third West Series victory — all three of which have come in 2023.
“So pumped on this win,” Hingorani said after climbing into the Shasta Speedway stands and giving his checkered flag to a fan. “The Venturini guys gave me a great car today. I can’t thank them enough.
“I knew we had to get a good [final] restart or else we’d have been moved out of the way. So we did exactly that and drove away and got the win.”
Huddleston, who started on the General Tire Pole on Saturday night, led the first two thirds of the race despite Hingorani’s Venturini Motorsports Toyota occupying his rear-view mirror throughout the duration. Hingorani got to Huddleston a couple times before the aforementioned pass.
“Proud of our team,” Huddleston said. “P2 — it’s not where we wanted to be, but we picked up some points, so all in all, it is what it is.”
Restarting second outside of Hingorani with 31 laps to go, Huddleston missed a gear and lost several positions. He used the final stretch of the race to battle back to a second-place finish.
Kole Raz, a rising star in the California Super Late Model ranks, finished an impressive third in his ARCA platform debut Saturday at Shasta.
“For our first race together, it’s a huge statement for us, Jerry Pitts Racing, these guys have worked so hard. … I’m just so incredibly thankful to be in this position, and we’re going to go give them hell at Evergreen.”
West Series points leader Landen Lewis and Eric Nascimento finished fourth and fifth, respectively, at Shasta.
Kyle Keller, Tanner Reif, Nick Joanidas, Bradley Erickson and Todd Souza rounded out the top 10.
Tyler Reif, who on Saturday made his debut racing for Souza after beginning the West Series season with Lowden-Jackson Motorsports, finished 14th. He got caught up in the battle for the lead between Hingorani and Huddleston and brought out the first caution of the race when he stopped his No. 13 Ford on the Shasta Speedway frontstretch.
Including that yellow flag, Saturday night’s race featured two cautions, the second of which flew when Erickson spun with 12 laps to go.
A replay of the Shasta 150 will air on CNBC on Saturday, Aug. 12 starting at 2 p.m. ET.
The ARCA Menards Series West gets a few weeks off before returning to action at Washington’s Evergreen Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 19. That race will be shown live on FloRacing starting at 6:30 p.m. PT / 9:30 p.m. ET.
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Photo's: ARCA | Venturini Motorsports
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