Sean Hingorani celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday night’s ARCA Menards Series West race at
Shasta Speedway. Photo: ARCA Menards Series
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 race to claim victory.
After hounding Huddleston for multiple laps, with 39 laps to go in the 150-lap race Hingorani put his bumper to Huddleston’s left-rear and made what turned out to be the race-winning move. 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 pole on Saturday night, led the first two thirds of the race. 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.
“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 finished fourth, with Eric Nascimento fifth.
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 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.
The ARCA Menards Series West gets a few weeks off before returning to action at Washington’s Evergreen Speedway on Saturday, August 19.
ARCA Menards Series West
Shasta Speedway – Anderson, CA
Shasta 150 – July 29, 2023
1. Sean Hingorani
2. Trevor Huddleston
3. Kole Raz
4. Landen Lewis
5. Eric Nascimento Jr
6. Kyle Keller
7. Tanner Reif
8. Nick Joanides
9. Bradley Erickson
10. Todd Souza
11. Takuma Koga
12. Tim Spurgeon
13. Ryan Philpott
14. Tyler Reif
15. David Smith
16. Jake Drew
17. Derek Copeland
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