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Eric Holmes won the inaugural NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Montana Raceway Park on Saturday night and padded his lead in the West Series standings.
Eric Holmes started seventh and took the lead from David Mayhew on lap 113.
Holmes won his third race of the season and his first since June 5 at Douglas County Speedway in Oregon.
Holmes started seventh and took the lead from David Mayhew on lap 113. Two crashes over the last 30 laps bunched up the field, but Holmes was able to maintain his lead through both caution periods.
"We had a great car here tonight. Set up was real good," said Holmes, driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing. "The car worked real well on the bottom."
The race was caution free from the start until lap 103. Greg Pursley won the pole and led the first 18 laps of the race.
Eric Holmes wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Montana Raceway Park
"It's a pretty cool track to race at," said Pursley, driver of the No. 26 Ford for Gene Price Motorsports. "Started out really good. We were fighting a little loose, David Mayhew had a better can than we did at that point. Let him go by. We were just trying to hang out until lap 150. I don't think anybody thought we were going to run 105 laps straight under green."
Mayhew took the lead on lap 19 and held it for a race-high 94 laps. Meanwhile Holmes was working his through the field and closing in on Mayhew.
"Started seventh, took a little bit to get up to the front," Holmes said. "Once we got into second, we had that long green. Just kind of rode there in second waiting for a caution."
Holmes got his caution for debris on lap 103. Holmes took the lead from Mayhew 10 laps later, but rookie Luis Martinez spun out on lap 118 and brought out another caution.
"Got a caution late in the race there, had a great restart against Mayhew, ran side by side with him for a couple of laps," Holmes said. "Them late yellows there were a little nerve racking having to go through them restarts again."
Late in the race, Travis Bennett and Paulie Harraka, who was running in second place at the time, collided. Pursley was caught up in the wreck and limped around the track for an 18th place finish. Harraka crossed the finish line in 11th. Bennett was penalized for rough driving and pushed back to the last car on the lead lap in 12th.
Holmes has a 79-point lead over Mayhew in the West Series standings after eight races. Jonathon Gomez, who was fourth in Montana, is third in the West Series standings, 162 points out of first.
"The car was real good on the bottom and had some great restarts and brought the NAPA Toyota back to victory lane," Holmes said.
Mayhew finished second, followed by Moses Smith in third. Gomez was fourth and Gary Lewis, from nearby Bothel, Wash., was fifth.
"We had a pretty good car," Mayhew said. "We had a good car up front. Didn't quite have the thing at the end like we needed, had a good battle with Eric on that last restart. I was hoping to pinch him down and hold him off. He's got these short tracks down and had a good car at the end."
The next K&N Pro Series West race is Saturday, Aug. 14, at Colorado National Speedway.
What do you call a transmission full of gremlins and a lapped-contact rollover? Bad weekend! It's been an up and down year for 2009 Winged Outlaw Warriors champ Josh Fisher, and that bad weekend came on the heels of victorious back-to-back performances at the Lake (Missouri's Lake Ozark Speedway, where Fisher leads points in the 360s).
2009 Winged Outlaw Warriors champ Josh Fisher
Fisher wrestled with a failing shifter (which ultimately took the trans with it) in the Northrop #83 at Illinois' Jacksonville Speedway on a hot July Friday evening, and didn't quite master the dark art of moving through lapped traffic (with a #86-demolishing wall climber as a result) at Lake Ozark the following Saturday. Not good, but only a dent in an otherwise strong season.
Fisher's 2010 points total is still building, with three K&N-fed wins and 10 top-fives out of 18 events so far (his wins all coming at Lake Ozark Speedway). His varying fortune on-track has not kept him out of the title hunt for the 2010 Winged Outlaw Warriors season, and he's currently ranked 17 of more than 100 drivers as he chases a repeat of his 2009 WOW championship.
You might pause to wonder if Fisher would like a couple days of his own to get Jacksonville Speedway under control - it's been his Achilles heel in 2010. Tough crowd or tough track?
"I like the Lake a lot more - Jacksonville is a different kind of animal. It's got a really high bank and a lot of big walls, and it's a little shorter than a quarter-mile so I can't stretch the 410 out as much as I want. It's a tough track."
The second-half of the 2010 WOW season is where Fisher expects folks to feel the weight of his championship 2009 season. "I would really like to thank Rick and Ricky for the opportunity to run their 410 car. I'd also like to thank all my supporters on my 360 car: Ozark Barge & Dock Services Inc., ASAP Properties, Impact Wraps, Impact Sign & Lighting, Fischer's Concrete, Champion Brands, Bill Ferguson Livestock Trucking, K&N Filters, Butler Built Seats, Maxim Racing Chassis, Winters Performance, Bell Helmets, Hoosier Tires, Ramey Dirtworks, TCI Tire Centers and Brian's Gym."
With several checks in the win column for K&N's Mike Ferderer already during the 2010 season, a racer of Ferderer's championship caliber is bound to find room to make a few more on his list before season's end and that's just what he did during the most recent NHRA Division 6 event at Spokane County Raceway.
Mike Ferderer and the K&N Clad Pontiac Grand-Am
A track with a very long history for Ferderer, including his very first championship some thirty years ago when the facility flew under the AHRA banner, it's truly no surprise to see him continue to extend his long list of accomplishments at the Spokane, Washington facility.
Coming into the event, Ferderer has already won NHRA National events during the current season with his K&N clad Pontiac Grand-Am, in both Super Gas and even Top Sportsman on his very first attempt at the class. He also just nearly missed a victory in Super Comp the week prior at the Sonoma NHRA Divisional event, all while driving a car he had never before taken down the track.
Looking for his first Division win of the season, Ferderer felt going into eliminations for the Super Gas class, that this particular event may be a little tougher than usual.
"Well it was a short field," he explained. "The trouble with that is, the guy that's on the outside of that looking at it thinks 'ah well you only have to go five rounds'. And really the problem is everybody gets so many time runs that they are already dialed in."
"So that's makes everybody extremely tough," he emphasized. "Were as if you get two or three time runs over a weekend, sometimes then if you are a better dialer than the guy you are racing and you can get a round win that way. But this race here, they were all pretty much playing hard ball."
Ferderer's own game of hard ball was just a little tougher than his competitors' in the other lane. He made it through four tough rounds of competition before meeting up with hungry Chris Cannon is the final, looking to acquire his first NHRA Divisional win and should it happen at the race, it would be one with extra bragging rights.
Cannon had been rather consistent on the tree throughout eliminations, while Ferderer had a few lights in earlier rounds where he was able to make up for with his deadly top-end decision making.
When it came to the final, Ferderer was the event champion before he even left the line as Cannon went .014 red, although Ferderer wasn't immediately aware of the win.
"I didn't know that he had red-lit in the final," he said. "We got down to about a thousand foot and all of a sudden he just lifted completely and I thought he lost a motor. So I slowed way down just to make it safe and it all worked out in the wash."
Ferderer, who is on the Top Ten All-Time Win List for NHRA Division 6, has a very important back-to-back event planned for his K&N Pontiac in the coming weeks, with 2010 NHRA Division 6 Championships on the line. First will be a continuation of the postponed NHRA Division 6 Mission, B.C. event from May, where Ferderer already won first round. That will take place in the days leading up to the regularly scheduled Division 6 event for Pacific Raceways, both at the Seattle, Washington track.
Spokane County Raceway recently hosted the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Northwest Thunderfest is the raceway's biggest event of each year. This year over 500 cars registered and thoroughly entertained 10,000 spectators in attendance at the Airway Heights, Washington track.
Mark Faul's two racecars have been treating him right lately - his Pontiac Grand Am has delivered wins two weekends in a row.
The event is one of six in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Northwest Division, where drivers from across the country earn points leading to divisional and national championships, as well as a chance at a share of the year-end purse of more than $560,000. Taking the win and earning the points in the Super Stock Final, Round 5 Eliminations, driving his trusty Pontiac Grand Am, it was K&N sponsored Mark Faul. His winning ET was 10.847 at 122.03 mph.
In our last meeting with the Tacoma, Washington, drag racer Faul told us that he felt fortunate to have certain freedoms without a regular job to corral him, and that wins such as this one, are not only fiscally necessary, but they're also a great morale boost.
"After the Allstars victory, the highlights were few and far between for a few races," admitted Faul, "Then the last two weeks have been incredible. At the Sonoma divisional race I won in Super Stock (Grand Am) and was runner up in the Chevelle in Stock. Then last weekend I won again in the Grand Am at Spokane County Raceway."
We asked Faul what he thought attributed to his recent successes, was he was starting to feel it, or he had found something extra in his cars?
"It's hard to pinpoint. I feel I'm not driving any differently, but something definitely 'clicked' lately. I guess the confidence boost I got in Sonoma really helped with the Spokane win."
Last year Faul schlepped his two racecars around from race-to-race for 208 days, that's a lot of open opportunity for things to get misplaced or go amuck.
"I think the beauty of using K&N products is that they are so reliable, and that I don't have to worry about anything but racing the cars. I know I'm protected completely, so that's one less thing to lose sleep over."
The Josh Lucas Racing Open Wheel Dirt Modified car requires a family team effort to ready for each race.
Josh Lucas Racing visited Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Kentucky last weekend. There were 23 other Open Wheel Dirt Modified cars in their class. Josh Lucas qualified fifth, won his heat, and then started on the outside of the pole for the feature. Lucas led the race flag-to-flag, earning his first trip to victory lane during the 2010 racing season. The win also marks the first time Lucas has won a feature event in the new Larry Shaw modified chassis the team purchased last year.
Getting the new Larry Shaw chassis dialed in has been tricky this year, but the team appears to have found the right combination now.
"I have raced for 16 years in the same chassis, last July we bought a completely different one, a Shaw Chassis, it has been a very challenging year," explains Lucas, "This chassis is so much different than other one."
Lucas won four Bluegrass Speedway Championships with his other chassis.
"With that being said, this is our first win in this chassis, our year of long, hard work paid off in a great way.
All the teams hard work paid off last week with Josh Lucas' wire-to-wire win at Richmond Raceway.
This was our first trip to Richmond Speedway this year. The guy that I beat has won seven times in a row - so this was sweet. They offered a bounty on him, and we dethroned him Saturday night," said Lucas.
"The crowd went crazy. They were chanting that Russ Gabbert had won too many times already and they wanted someone else to win. People we didn't even know were shaking our hand, and telling us how glad they were to see us win. When I stopped on track after the race, I could hear the crowd yelling and clapping. My Mom said it was the same way in the pit area too. It was a very thrilling feeling for me and our entire team."
The Lucas Racing team consists of Josh, his wife Jenna, Rita and Gerald his parents and owners of the car, his brother Shawn, two nephews - Branden and Andrew - and Raffo. Raffo is a very good family friend that has been with the team for three years.
This year of tweaking and adjusting to the new chassis hasn't been a total bust by any means for the team. Lucas has been knocking at the door many times this year, winning heats, qualifying first, and finishing second and third in several events. They finally just put it all together at Richmond.
Lucas thanked all his sponsors for their continuing support and patience this year.
"K&N products are amazing, we use the filters, filter oil, wraps, and the filter cleaner is the best cleaning product we have ever used. We would never even consider using anything else. We are so lucky and thankful for the K&N sponsorship. Bob Harris is always encouraging use, even when we were down and out."
As for his racing future Lucas says - who knows?
"I love to race - its hard work - but we all really do love it. We all have eight hour day-jobs, and then we come into the garage every night and work another two or three hours on the car."
"But Saturday nights - that's what all the hard work is all about. We do all our own work and set-ups, we can't afford to hire people to help us, so it's a very satisfying feeling getting this first win in our new chassis. I hope there will be many more to come."
