Joey Iest to Conquer the West!
Update – Correction from Sharon Boswell. Mariah Boudrieau was in the #77 race car and did not wreck causing a caution - that was the #7 car .. Mariah spun out but did not wreck.
July 31, 2021, NAPA AUTO PARTS COLORADO 150 at Colorado National Speedway, Erie, CO (150 laps/50 miles)
If the weather disrupted the race day at the Colorado National Speedway with the cancellation of the combined practice / qualifying session and the one hour advancement of the start of the race, it did not however disturb the young Joey Iest in any way who won at 18 his first win in the ARCA Menards West Series, the NAPA Auto Parts Colorado 150, 4th race of the 2021 season.
Yet it was not won when the race started. Indeed, Joey started only 9th on this bullring where to overtake a competitor, you have to strengthen your way of driving!
At the start, championship leader Todd Souza (# 13) took the lead. Quickly followed like his shadow by Cole Moore (# 99), Jesse Love (# 16), Jake Drew (# 9) and Trevor Huddleston (# 6). Dean Thompson (# 51) losing a few positions straight away. In the end, he will never be a candidate for victory and will end up outside the top 10 in 11th position.
You don't have to wait long for the first caution, caused by Hiroyuki Ueno. The Japanese driver who will have a complicated race as he will also be involved in the 3rd caution with his compatriot Takuma Koga (# 7). The time spent repairing the front end of the # 38 Ford Fusion will take it a long time from the action on the track.
On the 7th lap, during the restart, Cole Moore took the leadership and this was the beginning of the ride for BMR drivers since the following 126 laps would be dominated in part first by Moore then more than a hundred laps by the 2020 champion Jesse Love. But behind the brawl is intense. Paul Pedroncelli (# 31) had to retire on lap 10 due to a transmission problem.
First big disillusionment of the race on the 25th lap when Todd Souza had to leave the track to change his flat left rear tire, causing the second caution of the day. This mishap will make him lose two laps. He will manage to recover them thanks to two successive free passes later in the race. He will limit the damage to the championship by finishing 7th in the race.
At the restart of lap 32 Jesse Love took control with authority and kept him despite threats from Moore and Drew until a good 30 laps from the finish. In the meantime there will be the abandonment of Bobby Hillis, Jr. (# 27) whose the old "Kamree", out of breath, is overheating ... and also 3 other caution flags. The one I already talked about between Ueno and Koga then the one caused by the local and debutante Mariah Boudrieau (# 77). The 5th and last yellow will take place at the same place in the backstretch on the 107th lap, this time caused by Josh Fanopoulos (# 21).
These multiple regroupings behind the pace car benefit two drivers, Eric Nascimento who climbs back into the top 5 from his distant 15th position at the start with the ex Toyota # 78 of Jack Wood renumbered with the # 4 here. But it's mostly Joey Iest that benefits. He's as always very fast and is full of confidence after finally having obtained a result to match his ambitions at Irwindale at the start of the month (3rd). He will first benefit from the loss of power of Trevor Huddleston, then 4th, on the 103rd lap to make it into the top 5 definitively, before successively defeating Dean Thompson, Cole Moore and Jake Drew on the last restart. Lap after lap he narrows the gap with Jesse Love and begins to attack with 20 laps remaining. Side-by-side for two laps before taking the lead 18 laps from the end. He will then gradually increase his lead while Love bravely resists Jake Drew despite a big heat stroke in his car.
Huddleston who after slowing down for a lap regains power but the damage is done. He's now one lap behind the leaders and will only finish 10th in the race.
The top10 is completed by Paul "PJ" Pedroncelli, Jr. in 6th position, debutante and Alabama native Jolynn "JoJo" Wilkinson takes a superb 8th position with the 3rd car from BMR while Bridget Burgess is 9th and last driver in the lap of the leader. Finally, John Wood for his return to competition finished 12th with his Chevrolet # 08.
How about @IestJoey???
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) August 1, 2021
The 18-year-old gets is FIRST ARCA Menards win in tonight's West Series race at @cnsracing 🏁 pic.twitter.com/rTQcbqBTdY
Joey Iest therefore won his first victory in his 8th career start. It allows Naake-Klauer Motorsports to win its second victory after that obtained in 2012 in Sonoma by David Gilliland. David who is the owner of DGR, the team that runs Joey in the ARCA Menards East Series and who is a technical partner with Mike Naake and Tom Klauer in the West Series. The world is small!
Stout Colorado Run Gives @jesselovejr1 Points Lead
— Bill McAnally Racing (@BMR_NASCAR) August 1, 2021
Strong Performance By @BMR_NASCAR Drivers In #ARCAWest Racinghttps://t.co/iiXArqBhJG pic.twitter.com/Ac1RVKTlMy
In the championship Jesse Love seizes first position for the first time of the season. He's 2 points ahead of his teammate Cole Moore and 4 points ahead of Todd Souza. Dean Thompson and Jake are both at 9 points and Joey Iest climbs up to 6th position at 14 points.
Next race on August 21 for this year's second visit to the Irwindale, CA half mile.
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