RHODES GRABS WIN EN ROUTE TO ARCA WEST LMCS CHAMPIONSHIP

EAST WENATCHEE, Washington — Wes Rhodes captured his first win of the 2008 season on the ARCA West Circle K Late Model Championship in the Wenatchee 200 held at Wenatchee Valley's Super Oval.

Erick Hargraves was second followed by Brent Harris, Garrett Evans and Jason Jefferson.

Rhodes victory, his first in a late model touring series since 2004, earned the Knight Fire Protection race team the 2008 ARCA West LMCS season championship.

Evans picked up the Mechanix Wear Pole Award with a time of 12.734-seconds at a speed of 70.677 mph. Rolling the dice for an eight-car invert allowed Todd Walters to lead the 18-car field to the green flag with Jefferson to the outside on the front row.

Rhodes just missed the pole by .002-seconds and after qualifying found an issue in their fuel system that had caused the team's motor to smoke in their qualfying laps. Draining the fuel cell and lines, Rhodes showed that their team would be fine as the 200 began.

Jefferson jumped to the lead with his Evans Car Credit Chevrolet exiting turn No. 2. Evans worked his way from eighth to fourth by lap 5 and brought Rhodes with him in the process. Evans moved his Leonard Evans Hyundai and Used Car Superstore Chevrolet to third place by lap 22.

Gary Lewis, who had started in the fourth postion, climbed to second by lap 25 and gave chase to Jefferson as the pair entered lapped traffic by lap 29.

Rhodes moved by Evans for third place at lap 36 and pressured Lewis for second by lap 47. Rhodes touched the rear bumper of Lewis's Nutter Racing Engines Chevrolet in turn No. 4 on lap 55. By lap 58 Rhodes had cleared Lewis for second and set his sights on Jefferson.

Jefferson and Rhodes raced nose to tail in lap traffic with Rhodes prevailing at lap 79 entering the backstretch. Jefferson fell back to second place and held the position. At lap 97 Christian Roeder's Brandt Law Firm Chevrolet spun in turn No. 4 collecting Lewis and bringing about the race's midway break.

Hargraves had moved from his 12th starting position to third place by the break and once racing resumed challenged Jefferson for second place in a spirited battle that lasted over ten laps of side-by-side action.

Hargraves' shut the door on Jefferson on lap 110 for second place and turned up the power on his Magic Metals Pontiac in an effort to catch Rhodes in the closing laps.

By lap 170 Hargraves had moved his Pontiac to Rhodes' rear bumper and the pair raced for the win to the race's final caution of the night at lap 183. On the restart Rhodes jumped out to a three-car length lead and held the point for the final 17 laps en route to the victory.

Rhodes win cemented his hold on the championship with Jared Vorse, the series 2008 Port City Racecars Rookie of the Year, capturing second place overall. Hargraves finished third in the points standings with Todd Walters and Dan Rhodes rounding out the top-5.

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WENATCHEE 200 NEWS/NOTES/QUOTES

No. 6 Wes Rhodes, Knight Fire Protection/Larry's Shock Shop Chevrolet Impala:

"I've waited a long time for this win and to get a championship makes it even better. We got to the front there getting around Jason and just had a great car the rest of the way. I knew Hargraves was coming but I wanted this one real bad. We're not sure what we picked up in our fuel there just before qualifying but my guys worked real hard to get it (drained and

replaced) and the car was a rocket."

No. 51 Erick Hargraves, Magic Metals/APEX Anodizing Pontiac GTO:

"We had a good car and to get second place after starting 12th is real good. I looked up at the board after my first qualifying lap and saw we'd posted a 12.9 and just got to hot entering the corner and set us back there for it. It was great to get the car right and get back up to the front. I knew Wes had a good car and it was great to see him get the win.

Congratulations to their team on the championship."

No. 0 Brent Harris, Ambitions/Landrum Springs Chevrolet Impala:

"Man our car was strong there at the end of the race. We got by Garrett and Jason and showed how good it was. We struggled there in qualifying but we made up for it in the race to get it good for the longer runs."

- Christian Roeder returned to car owner Frank Brandt's home track and had a good car throughout the evening until spinning by himself at lap 97.

Roeder was in Brandt's car for the first time since his car owner lost his life while traveling to Montana in July for the Montana 200. The Ephrata, Wash. native received a standing ovation during driver introductions and loud cheers throughout the night.

- Despite being collected in Roeder's spin, Gary Lewis managed to repair the damage to the nose of his race car and soldiered on to an eighth place finish. The run was Lewis' ninth top-10 finish of the season for his race team to go along with six wins and two second place trophies.

- Don Vickery, a mainstay on the ARCA West LMCS over its near decade history, notched a stellar finish with his sixth place run after qualifying ninth. Vickery's Aussie Machine Chevrolet has taken part in nearly every race the series has run over the last nine years.

- Paul Buttkus earned the long tow award of the weekend, but his travels were short lived as the British Columbia driver lost an engine just before qualifying and was unable to start the evening's main event.

- Chris Hart made the most of his first career start on the ARCA West LMCS as the Yakima, Wash. native set the fourth quickest time in qualifying behind the wheel of Mark Sundberg's International Parking Managment Ford Fusion. During the race Hart climbed as high as fifth place in the running order before retiring for the evening with suspension issues.

- The Wenatchee 200 marked the 90th race of the ARCA West Circle K Late Model Challenge Series. Over 310 drivers have earned points on the series in its nine-year history with 70 taking part in this season. 2009 will mark the series tenth season of competition in the Pacific Northwest.