It was a great day for Venturini Motorsports. After taking the win at Talladega Superspeedway in the ARCA Menards Series General Tire 200 with Jesse Love, rookie Sean Hingorani took home the win in the ARCA Menards Series West NAPA Auto Parts BlueDef 150 at Kern County Raceway Park.
Two West Series wins in a row for @seanhingorani ?? pic.twitter.com/9K4VAW4k0r
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) April 23, 2023
It wasn’t a cruise though as he and the No. 15 team had to overcome a penalty at the start of the race for beating polesitter Landen Lewis to the line on the initial start.
“Yeah, we went a lap down early on. I knew it was gonna be tough to get back through the field, but we did it. They gave me a rocket ship today,” the rookie Hingorani said in victory lane. It marks his second career ARCA West Series win in his third start.
Lewis was dominant in the first half of the race, leading every lap until 39 laps to go. Hingorani, the 16-year-old, overcame the penalty and was a lap down to pass the 17 and set sail. Lewis came home in second after starting on the pole. However, Lewis now leads the points.
Trevor Huddleston, Tanner Reif, and Bradley Erickson rounded out the top five. Phoenix winner Tyler Reif came home sixth on the night, which dropped him to second in the point standings, only five points back of Lewis.
ARCA Menards Series West NAPA Auto Parts BlueDEF 150 Race Results
| Pos | No. | Driver | Laps | Diff | Lap time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Sean Hingorani | 150 | -- | 19.318 |
| 2 | 17 | Landen Lewis | 150 | 0.836 | 18.978 |
| 3 | 50 | Trevor Huddleston | 150 | 1.656 | 19.451 |
| 4 | 16 | Tanner Reif | 150 | 1.727 | 19.384 |
| 5 | 88 | Bradley Erickson | 150 | 1.965 | 19.706 |
| 6 | 41 | Tyler Reif | 150 | 2.481 | 19.580 |
| 7 | 55 | Jake Bollman | 150 | 2.593 | 19.523 |
| 8 | 04 | Ethan Nascimento | 150 | 4.868 | 19.675 |
| 9 | 13 | Todd Souza | 149 | 1 lap | 19.649 |
| 10 | 77 | Nick Joanides | 148 | 1 lap | 19.800 |
| 11 | 7 | Takuma Koga | 147 | 2 laps | 19.793 |
| 12 | 27 | Bobby Hillils Jr | 143 | 6 laps | 20.103 |
| 13 | 05 | David Smith | 133 | 16 laps | 20.056 |
| 14 | 70 | Kyle Keller | 92 | 57 laps | 19.597 |
| 15 | 4 | Eric Nascimento | 72 | 77 laps | 19.734 |
| 16 | 46 | RJ Smotherman | 8 | 141 laps | 19.776 |
Hingorani, the California native sits third, eight points back. Trevor Huddleston and Bradley Erickson round out the top five in the ARCA West points after the third race of the 13-race season.
POINTS – ARCA WEST (AFTER 3/13):
1. Landen Lewis 131pts
2. Tyler Reif (-5)
3. Sean Hingorani (-8)
4. Trevor Huddleston (-12)
5. Bradley Erickson (-14)
6. Tanner Reif (-20)
7. Kyle Keller (-24)
8. Todd Souza (-30)
9. Takuma Koga (-37)
10. David Smith (-39)#ARCA | @ARCA_Racing— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) April 23, 2023
Looking ahead, the ARCA West Series takes a break until June 2nd for the Portland International Raceway road course. That race will be broadcast live on FloRacing at 8:30 PM ET.
