PABLO, Montana–Defending ARCA West Circle K Late Model Challenge Series champion, Gary Lewis, continued his mastery of new race tracks with a win in the Big Sky 150 Cory Wolfe Challenge presented by Chuckie McClure held at Mission Valley Speedway.
The victory was Lewis’ first of 2008 and first ever on the high-banked .375-mile facility. In each of his last three starts at a track Lewis has never seen the three-time late model champion has picked up a victory–a streak unmatched in Northwest racing.
2008 Port City Racecars Rookie of the Year contender, Jared Vorse, was second followed by Cory Wolfe, Christian Roeder and Wes Rhodes.
Mechanix Wear pole award winner, B.J. Tidrick paced the field with a 14.652-second time and finished sixth with Kevin Richards, Wade Bland, Dave Garber and Shelby Thompson roun ding out the top-10.
A field of 30 cars battled spotty showers early Sunday morning prior to a one-hour practice session. Once the track was dried speeds over 92 mph were the norm of the midday test.
Lewis had been running mid-pack through most of the practice session never cracking the top-10 on the speed charts, but with new Hoosier racing tires bolted on found considerable speed and based on a six-car invert started third in the 150-lap main event.
Harris led the field to the green flag based on the invert and his sixth fastest qualifying effort. Vorse was to his outside with Lewis in hot pursuit in third.
The No. 0 Ambitions Chevrolet of Harris held point for the first 42 laps of the event as Lewis took a conservative approach to the early stages of the race.
Mounting pressure on Harris off turn No. 4, Lewis was able to make his Sign Factory USA Chevrolet work in turn No. 2 to clear Harris as the pair entered t he backstretch.
Tidrick worked his way through the field from his sixth starting position and by lap 46 had cleared Richards’ McLintock & Turk Chevrolet off turn No. 2 for second place with sights set on continuing his TQT Ford Fusion’s march to the front and a battle with Lewis.
Over the next 40 laps Lewis held a four to six car lead over Tidrick as the racing action behind the pair picked up.
Spokane native Shelby Thompson recovered from a sub-par qualifying effort of 12th to battle his way up to fifth by lap 88. At lap 136 Thompson had moved to third and worked with Vorse to close the gap on Lewis.
With five laps to go in the event the field went under caution. Lewis took off to a great re-start but Vorse fell back to Thompson who clear the Knight Fire Protection No. 21 and gave chase to Lewis.
Richards, who had pitted for a flat tire but was able to stay on the lead lap, drove from 10th to third in just over 30 l aps and found himself battling Thompson with the laps winding down. Exiting turn No. 4 both cars got together to bring out the afternoon’s final caution and set up a three-lap shootout to the checkers.
With a handful of laps to go, Wolfe made a last ditch effort to get to the front and chased Vorse down to just miss a pass for second coming off turn No. 4. The Montana driver had the run of the day as he moved from his 16th starting position into the top-5 by lap 134.
With the win Lewis picked a $10,000 check presented by Chuckie McClure and a custom embroidered jacket courtesy of Snap-On Tools. The Snohomish, WA driver covered the event with a time of 1:20.19. Due to nearly a dozen cautions the pace was slowed to 42.019 mph despite Lewis running a lap of 91.062 mph during the midway point of the race.
Next up for the ARCA West Circle K Late Model Challenge Series is a visit to Sun Valley Speedway in Vernon, BC on June 14. Lewis is the defending race champion of the event and will be out to make it two straight wins on the Canadian .500-mile tri-oval.
NEWS/NOTES/QUOTES
No. 73 Gary Lewis, The Sign Factory USA/Nutter Racing Engines Chevrolet Impala: “ I can’t really tell you how we’re able to do that (winning at tracks on the first try). We bring a good baseline set-up and work in practice to make it better. In practice we were running on old tires and I knew once we went to new tires the car would be just fine. I was turning lap times at the end of the race at 15.10 on our tires which was faster than what we practiced.
“This (Mission Valley Speedway) is a fun track to drive and I have to thank the fans and Chuckie (McClure) for putting this show on.”
No. 21 Jared Vorse, Knight Fire Protection/Heritage Meats Chevrolet Monte Carlo: “This is an unbeliable experince to be racing with Gary Lewis for a win in a race this big. (Memorial Day) is my Mom’s (Cindy Vorse) birthday and I won the trophy dash and did this (finished second) so it’s been a great weekend.”
No. 88 Cory Wolfe Don AaDsen Ford/McMannis Transport Ford Fusion: “We didn’t start out the best but I just rode around and worked my way to the front. This was an awesome race for the fans and to drive in and if someone missed it I know next year will be even better.
–Three of the top-5 drivers in the Big Sky 150 finishing order had never run a lap at Mission Valley Speedway prior to this event (Lewis, Vorse and Roeder). –Wolfe was the highest finishing driver from the state of Montana followed by Rocky Erickson (16th).
–Portland, OR native Mike Obrist and Canada’s Wade Bland made the longest tow to the event. Obrist had a drive of over 12 hours while Bland hopped a ferry to travel from Victoria, BC to the mainland and then onto Montana; over 14 hours. Both drivers ran in the top-10 for most of the day with Bland staying on the lead lap (8th) while Obrist (11th) fell one-lap down due to an incident late in the race.
–Jason Jefferson made his 2008 ARCA West Circle K Late Model Challenge Series debut behind the wheel of former NASCAR Northwest Series champion Garrett Evans Chevrolet. The Naches, WA native had the fastest car throughout the midday practice session but a sub-par 13th place qualifying effort forced Jefferson to wheel his car through traffic. At one point he had passed nine cars to take over fourth place but was involved in an incident that put Jefferson to the end of the running order. Again Jefferson drove up through the field to sixth place before being collected in an incident with Agni Howell that relegated him to a 15th place finish.
–Dan Rhodes, a 2008 Port City Racecars Rookie of the Year challenger and
teammate to Vorse and his father, Wes, had a tough outing in qualifying.
Running a solid top-10 lap on his first timin g attempt, Rhodes lost the
engine coming off turn No. 2 that ended his day prior to the green flag
for the Big Sky 150. He was scored 29th out of 30 cars.
