Paulie Harraka Takes His First Win at the NASCAR Toyota/Napa Camping World Series West

Saturday, 15 August 2009 23:36

Tonight, August 15th marked the 11th of 13 Camping World West races of the 2009 season. 22 West cars made it out to Colorado National Speedway to race on our 3/8ths oval. If you aren’t paying close attention, you can easily confuse a West car for any of our own Late Models, the difference is simply a larger, heavier engine and a heavier chassis.

If you couldn’t make it out to Colorado National Speedway for the Camping World Series, you can still catch the race on the Speed channel on Comcast this Wednesday at 12 noon PT. Those who did make it out braved through a short rain shower and some chilly temperatures as the race cars sped into the evening hours.

Starting the Camping World Series West off at Colorado National Speedway, #20 Eric Holmes had taken the lead and was running away with it through 24 clean laps. A yellow flag flew when #3 Wes Sanka spun out on the front stretch, lining Holmes back up with #12 Paulie Harraka, #61 Brett Thompson and the rest of the field followed behind.
On the restart, Eric Holmes shot into the lead once again while Harraka and Thompson rode door handle to door handle for 2nd. Harraka bested Thompson in the brief bout while, just a few cars back, our current point leader #6 Jason Bowles moved into 5th.
By lap 59, Holmes had a gargantuan lead, the length of a full straight away, and was navigating lapped traffic. A spin out between turns 3 and 4 brought the field back together for a double file restart.
Holmes took his place in the lead at the restart but this time around #21 Blake Koch passed by Harraka on the outside for 2nd with his sights set on Holmes. It only took 1 more lap for Koch to pass by Eric Holmes along the back stretch! Meanwhile, Jason Bowles navigated patiently through the field, moving into 4th. 
It soon became obvious that Bowles had found the groove on the outside and he took advantage of it, passing by Harraka for 3rd. Caution due to a spin out at lap 93 brought our leaders back together once again. Surprisingly, Eric Holmes left the track advancing Bowles to the outside of Koch.
On the restart, Bowles took full advantage of the outside groove, passing Blake Koch via the back stretch. Not to be outdone, Koch and Harraka nipped at the heels of Jason Bowles. Harraka found the inside line on Bowles and the two made it a drag race. Without warning, Koch left the track as Harraka broke away for the lead over Bowles via the inside. Harraka’s lead grew while Bowles and the advancing #10 Jim Warn duked it out for 2nd. Jim warn came out on top. With only 15 to go Warn was closing in fast on Harraka. In 3rd place, our point leader Jason Bowles suffered a flat tire and left the track. With only 6 to go Warn and Harraka were deep in lapped traffic which gave the two of them the opportunity to show the crowd not only their speed, but their skill behind the wheel also. Paulie Harraka held it together for his first ever Camping World Series win!

The Supermodified of #02 Johnny Pickard sprang into a quarter lap lead over the rest of the field right off the get go. Caution at lap 10 lined him back up with #40 Harry Stone and #51 Joe Priselac who had advanced to the front of the field prior to the yellow flag.
Harry Stone gave Pickard a fleeting run for his money before Pickard took off to regain his massive lead. Only a few laps later, Stone took a black for leaking fluid. Shortly thereafter, #26 Brian Pacheco spun around coming through lap 27 and the yellow flag brought Pickard back in touch with the rest of the field. The restart made no difference as Pickard sped away for the win. Joe Priselac raced hard also, coming from the inside of row 5 to win 2nd place.

#90 John Johnson pulled ahead for the lead to start the Loveland Goodyear Figure 8 A Main while #24 Joe Martinez and #22 Joe Matlock followed in tow.
A flat tire took Martinez out of the running and #26 Nick Martinez pulled up to fill his spot. At the finish it was John Johnson followed by Matlock and Nick Martinez.

Colorado National Speedway's Comfort Shack Sportsman point leader #46 Blackey Blackard started fish tailing on the back stretch before the completion of a single lap of the 40 lap A Main. He tried to hold it together but found himself falling back into the middle of the field where several serious collisions took place. Blackey, #39 Scott Estes and #84 Bruce Borchardt all left the track as a result.
#38 Frankie Estes had the pole on the restart, #99 Nick Brinlee on his outside. Brinlee sped off for the lead, maintaining it through 20 laps, but at lap 21 he got into the back of the #67 Stephanie Brown (a lapped car) and spun her out. This led to caution and Brinlee got sent to the rear of the field. The new leaders #62 Jim Bob Rogers and Frankie Estes lined it up to get the race back under way. On the restart, #6 Tommy Roe split the crowd and burst into second place with #8 Jeffrey Walbaum close behind. With only 3 laps to go Frankie Estes, Tommy Roe and Walbaum made it an intense race for 2nd. Jim Bob crossed the finish line for the win followed by Roe, Walbaum and Estes.

The bus race was a ridiculous spectacle with 2 busses flipping over. Fear not, the CNS staff has provided all local public schools with the names of our competitors to make sure none of them are ever hired to cart your kids off to school.

All in all, it was a great night for racing. See y'all next week race fans!

Camping World Series West
1 #12 PAULIE HARRAKA, 2 #10 JIM WARN, 3 #16 MOSES SMITH, 4 #28 GREG PURSLEY, 5 #42 JEFF JEFFERSON, 6 #14 TRAVIS MILBUM, 7 #88 JAMIE DICK, 8 #5 JOHNATHAN HALE, 9 #20 ERIC HOLMES, 10 #34 PHIL DUGAN, 11 #3 WES BANKS, 12 #15 JACK SELLERS, 13 #6 JASON BOWLES, 14 #21 BLAKE KOCH, 15 #61 BRETT THOMPSON, 16 #17 DAVID MAYHEW, 17 #31 JIM MARCHINO

ERA Supermodified
1 #02 JOHNNY PICKARD, 2 #2 RICH CASTOR J.R., 3 #51 JOE PRISELAC, 4 #3 AJ EVANS, 5 #11 NICK HAYGOOD, 6 #29 MOORE CRAIG, 7 #33 CHRIS SCHEIL, 8 #26 BRIAN PACHECO, 9 #14 JOE GALLEGOS, 10 #52 SCOTT DECENICK, 11 #15 JOSHUA LEWIS, 12 #40 HARRY STONE, 13 #88 KEVIN DAY, 14 #54 MATT GILBERT, 15 #22 IRA EASTOR

Loveland Goodyear Figure 8s
1 #90 JOHN JOHNSON, 2 #22 JOE MATLOCK, 3 #26 NICHOLAS MARTINEZ, 4 #23 AL DURAN, 5 #24 JOE MARTINEZ, 6 #17 HARRY LIVERMORE JR, 7 #15 JEREME WALL, 8 #52 JARED WALL, 9 #03 # LUKE ZIKE, 10 #86 SHIRLEY THOMPSON, 11 #66 JOHN MARTELLO, 12 #25 PHIL TAYLOR, 13 #69 # TAMMY TOTOS, 14 #50 JUSTIN MCKEACHIE, 15 #8 MATT WILLAMS

Comfort Shack Sportsman
1 #62 JIM BOB ROGERS, 2 #6 TOMMY ROE, 3 #8 JEFFREY WALBAUM, 4 #38 FRANKIE ESTES, 5 #43 STAN GRIFFIN, 6 #58 JEFF WEBB, 7 #49 DENNIS POBANZ, 8 #55 CRAIG HOLMES, 9 #98 LEE KEMMIT, 10 #21 TROY MEYER, 11 #26 # DALE REEDER, 12 #67 STEPHANIE BROWN, 13 #83 # GREG WOHLCKE, 14 #13 ERIC POTTS, 15 #84 BRUCE BORCHARDT, 16 #99 NICHOLAS BRINLEE, 17 #41 # DOUG JENSEN, 18 #28 ALAN CARTER, 19 #1 TOM POWERS, 20 #75 # DALE MULLEN, 21 #46 ERIC BLACKARD, 22 #3 WADE GROVE, 23 #47 CHRISTOPHER ANGLIM, 24 #39 SCOTT ESTES

Buses
1 #33 KURT WEYEND, 2 #72, 3 #26, 4 #27, 5 #13, 6 #99, 7 #69, 8 #15, 9 #56