IRWINDALE, California – Toyota Speedway at Irwindale hosted a pair of premier NASCAR stock car series and a 15-minute aerial fireworks show accompanied by patriotic music Friday, July 4. An enthusiastic, capacity crowd of 6,500 attended the popular annual racing event at the banked, half-mile track in the San Gabriel Valley, east of downtown Los Angeles. Journeyman driver Nick Joanides won the preliminary Auto Club Late Model 28-car "Firecracker 100" lap race for the in-house Whelen All-American Racing Series division. Then an on-track exhibition of precision driving by nine California Highway Patrol black and white patrol cars, with lights flashing, and a CHP helicopter fly-over the front straight followed. A CHP patrol car with flashing lights also served as the pace car for the $115,232 featured West Series race.
Jason Bowles, a 25-year old second year West Series driver from nearby Ontario, started first and won the featured Camping World West Series "California Highway Patrol 200" lap race, event seven of 13 on the 2008 schedule for the touring series. It was his first victory at his home track, first oval track NASCAR West triumph and fourth victory in the series. He had recorded three West victories on road courses—at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT and the California Speedway (Fontana) road course last year, and at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma on June 21. The CHP 200 was televised live from 8:00 to just past 10:00 pm by HDNetTV. The race telecast will be shown (enhanced replay) on Speed TV Friday, July 18 at 1:30 pm (ET) – 10:30 am (PT). .
Joanides, 37, scored his second ACLM main event victory this year to give him four ACLM main event victories in his career. He recorded his first two triumphs last year, also driving Loyd McGhee's J & M Construction/Mr. Crane No. 77 Chevy Monte Carlo. The Woodland Hills resident also has won seven of 11 NASCAR AC Delco Super Late Model Series features at TS@I this season while driving for McGhee. His career-year finds Joanides only 10 points in back of point leader Andrew Myers in Irwindale's ACLM series. Joanides leads the AC Delco SLM points by16 points over Travis Thirkettle. Joanides also used the same No. 77 Chevy to win the last ACLM 100-lap feature at the track last November 3 in a non-point event.
ACLM: The ACLM 28-car field began the two series, 300-laps of racing at 7:04 pm for 100-laps or 45-minutes whichever came first. The ACLM race took 39:56.285 and had three cautions for 24 laps. Jace Meier, a 19-year old Las Vegas resident, made his first racing start of 2008 after attending college in North Carolina. Irwindale's 2007 ACLM championship runner-up and rookie of the year, won his first ACLM 50-lap feature last September 15 in Tim Huddleston's Justice Brothers High-Point Distributing No. 55 Chevy. Meier, driving the No. 56 Chevy vacated recently by rookie Jennifer Greenberg, set the fastest qualifying time Friday during 3:00 pm single car time trials. Meier's car owner Huddleston called him "miracle man". Huddleston's five cars qualified first, third, fourth, sixth and eighth fastest.
When the first lap green flag flew, second fastest qualifier Joanides shot into the lead entering the first turn. Pole-sitter Meier fell to fourth as teammate Colin Fleming, in Meier's No. 55 ex-ride from 2007, shot under him entering the first turn. Point leader Andrew Myers, who raced cars in both series Friday and finished all 300 laps, was third after the first lap. Meier was fourth and CHP-sponsored Travis Irving fifth after the initial circuit. Team owner Huddleston passed Irving and his protege Meier on the fifth lap for fourth position. Two car collisions caused yellow flags from lap 13-18 and 22-31. At lap 33 rookie Ryan Kaplan, a 22-year old USAC Midget and Sprint Car champion, came from eighth starting spot in Huddleston's No. 51, the team's lone Ford Fusion, to pass teammates Meier (L 33) and boss Huddleston (L 34) on the inside from the fourth turn to the starting line. The final caution flag flew from lap 39-43 when 11th place George Atkinson got loose and spun out of turn four to the front straight. Rookie Miles Copenhaver, 17, could not avoid contact with Atkinson's car and knocked the front bumper off Copenhaver's car just before the starting line. He took his damaged car to the infield pits and parked.
The final 56 laps were green with close racing and passing throughout the field. The lap 44 green flag had Joanides, rookie Fleming, Myers, Kaplan, Huddleston, Meier, Lindsey King, Mike Johnson, Daniel DiGiacomo and Sean Bennett running first through tenth and 22 cars on the lead lap. Meier passed his team owner Huddleston for fifth on lap 61. Rookie Kaplan took third\ from point leader Myers on lap 75 with an inside move from turn four to the starting line. Kaplan then passed teammate Fleming for second on lap 78 at the same place he nipped Myer. Kaplan got by several lapped cars by lap 81 and closed ground on leader Joanides. With 30-yards to make lap at lap 90, Kaplan closed gradually to 15-yards back (1.040-seconds) at the the checker. Kaplan had four lapped cars between his Ford and third place Myers, who finished 5.089-seconds behind winner Joanides. Meier passed teammate Fleming for fourth place on lap 90 and that was the final pass among the top ten. Fleming, Huddleston, King, Johnson, Irving and Bennett completed the top ten and were the only drivers to complete all 100 laps. Huddleston's blue cars occupied five of the top seven finishing positions--second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. Joanides reduced Myers point lead from 14 to 10 points (402-392) after nine of 18 scheduled races. Huddleston moved past Johnson to third in points (358).
CW WEST 200: Bowles, the fastest qualifier in a 31-car Camping World West field, started first, led the first two laps and laps 129-200. He drove the Sunrise Ford-sponsored Ford Fusion owned by Bob Bruncati, of nearby Glendora. The competitive race had two leaders and two lead changes. Outside front row starter David Mayhew, driving the No. 21 Bay Bio-Diesel/RCR Chevy Monte Carlo, took the lead on the third lap and led through lap 128. The two leaders battled closely as they weaved through lapped cars after a 16-minute full-field pit stop following lap 100. Crews were able to add fuel and perform necessary work at their infield pit stalls during the break.
The top four CW West Series finishers used cars from four different manufacturers. Series point leader/triple 2008 winner Eric Holmes, 33, came from seventh grid position to finish second, 0.994 back, in Bill McAnally's No. 20 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry. Johnny Borneman III finished third, 1.236 seconds back, in his Red Line Oil Chevy Monte Carlo, an ex-Rick Hendrick Kyle Busch ride. He ran second from lap 157-189. Jeff Barkshire, the Auburn, WA.-based leading rookie in series points, started sixth and finished fourth in his Centennial Batteries Dodge Charger—the only Dodge in the race. He ran second from lap 75-100 and again from lap 135-156. He dropped to his fourth place finish on a lap 190 restart. He trailed Bowles by 1.625 seconds.
Completing the top ten were: Jim Inglebright (Jelly Belly Chevy), Austin Cameron (NAPA Toyota), Mike Gallegos (Chevy), Mayhew (Chevy), Moses Smith (Toyota) and Terry Henry (Chevy). Twenty-three of the 31 starters finished the 200 laps in 1:22.41.208 and 12 drivers completed all 200 circuits. The race had two minor cautions for oil clean-up from Tim Woods III Ford on lap 22 and another yellow from lap 68-74 for debris removal. The halfway break found Mayhew leading the pack over Barkshire, Bowles, Brett Thompson, Borneman, Holmes, Jeff Jefferson, Jason Patison, Inglebright and Gallegos. With 50 laps to go Bowles led Barkshire, Borneman, Holmes, Inglebright, Thompson, Mayhew, Cameron, Patison, Jefferson, Henry, Smith, Mike David and Gallegos with only those14 drivers on the lead lap. Near lap 170 sixth place Thompson pitted with a flat right front tire. He lost eight laps slowing and making the pit stop and was the last finisher in 23rd position.
Another caution for Jameel Saied's stalled car consumed laps 176-183. On the lap 184 green flag the big crash occurred at turn three and involved nine cars. Eighth place Patison, a 28-year old new father of one day, had the left rear of his Ford hit from behind, causing him to spin up the track into tenth place Henry. Jefferson's ninth place car received heavy damage. Others involved were Chris Johnson, Daryl Harr, Kristin Bumbera, a 20-year old blond Texan making her Irwindale debut and her second CW West Series start, rookie James Warn, 63-year old Jack Sellers and Billy Kann. The Patison, Jefferson and Harr cars were sidelined with extensive damage. Bumbera finished 14th, down two laps, despite damage to both right and left side doors. The red flag came out at 9:47 for for six minutes to complete track clean-up work and removal of wrecked cars. Twenty-three of the 26 cars on the track when the lap 184 crash occurred returned for the final 11 laps under the green flag. No top ten positions changed hands during the closing laps and the checkers flew at 10:01 pm on a still warm 74-degree evening. Holmes increased his point lead from two to 42 (1141-1099) over 2007 series champion Mike David, who finished 11th. Bowles ranks third at 1090 points.
Winner Bowles, happy to win his second consecutive West Series race and $7,500 payday, told the crowd via the portable pit microphone, "I got through the lappers better than the others. Twenty laps after the break I knew I had to go because they'd be coming. I had a little trouble lapping some cars with 30 laps to go." Runner-up Holmes said, "This is my third or fourth second place here. It's my second runner-up finish in a row, so it's a good point night. I'm happy with that." Later the top three finishers came to the press box during the fireworks show and answered questions from the media. Bowles, who has competed in local races on the Irwindale half-mile, acknowledged it was his first win on an oval. "I never won here at my home track. I was really worried this week with the race here. My crew made changes at the break and it was a rocket in the second half. They changed rear shocks, wedge and track bar. My car was good on top or at the bottom. This win is great for Bob (car owner Bruncati) because he brought a lot of Sunrise Ford employees, family and friends to the track tonight. My mom flew in from New Mexico to see this race and my sister came too."
Runner-up Holmes said, "I didn't have a good car early. We made changes at the break and I was driving aggressively patient. It wasn't a bad day. If I had one more restart I think I could have given him (Bowles) a run. We got second two races in a row, so we can't complain." Third place Borneman said the heat wasn't bad during the hot day and early evening (it was 86 degrees at the track during 4:00 pm time trials). "My car really worked in the bottom groove." Holmes earned $3,500 and Borneman collected $2,500. CW West Series teams will compete for the next two weeks on oval tracks at Roseburg, OR and Monroe, WA before returning to the Tooele, UT road course on August 2 and back to Irwindale on Saturday, August 16 for round 11.
