By Vincent Delforge, Staff Writer
The third race of the 2025 ARCA Menards West Series season took place in Tucson, Arizona, on the 0.375-mile paved oval at Tucson Speedway this Saturday, April 5. The first race here since 2019. The ARCA Menards Series 150 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame offered an incredible spectacle with a stunning finish between three drivers right up to the checkered flag. Tanner Reif had the final say over Eric Johnson, Jr. and Jake Bollman. A race where strategy and tire wear management were decisive.
ARCA West Practice/Qualifying
Jake Bollman finished first in practice and secured his first career pole position during the qualifying session, the second for Bill McAnally Racing this season after Daniel Hemric’s pole position at Bakersfield. He finished ahead of Trevor Huddleston, Tanner Reif, and Robbie Kennealy. Tim Goulet was last on the starting grid. He only participated in half of the practice session as his team continued repairs to his car following his crash the day before during the optional practice session in Tucson. It’s also worth noting that Eric Johnson, Jr. will have to start from the back due to unapproved adjustments. Despite his seventh place in the qualifying session, he suffered an ignition issue that his team had to resolve by replacing parts.
Note that just before the start of the race, David Smith fell and fractured a finger. This will make his life behind the wheel difficult during the race!
Green, Green, Green !!!
From the start, polesitter Jake Bollman took a conservative approach and didn’t push the pace. He was passed by Trevor Huddleston via the outside line in Turn 2. A strategy that the favorites would eventually all adopt one after the other.
Kyle Keller took the lead from Huddleston on lap 9 before also putting up no resistance against veteran Todd Souza, making his first start this season.
Souza led 53 laps. This was his career record. He had curiously only led 15 laps so far in 131 races!
Shortly before the midway race, the favorites gradually increased their pace. On lap 65, the standings were surprising, with Souza leading ahead of Cody Dennison, Huddleston, Keller, and Blake Lothian for the top five. Polesitter Bollman was comfortably nestled in seventh position behind Robbie Kennealy and ahead of Tanner Reif. Jerry Pitts Racing drivers Eric Johnson, Jr. and Caleb Shrader completed the top 10. Mariah Boudrieau, in eleventh place, was the first off the leader’s lap ahead of Tim Goulet and David Smith.
Dennison and Lothian, the two drivers from the new Strike Mamba Racing team who had not opted to conserve their tires, began to lose pace. Huddleston overtook Dennison for second place on lap 66 and closed in on Souza, whom he overtook on lap 70. The championship leader took the lead. Keller was close behind and also got the better of Dennison.
Goulet spun… and Souza hit the wall!!
On lap 74, Tim Goulet spun between turns 3 and 4 ahead of the race leaders. He was stopped in the middle of the track, and Todd Souza, trying to avoid him, went between the No. 31 Toyota and the outside wall. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough room, and Souza brushed the wall, which led to the beginning of his troubles. Boudrieau received a free pass.
This first yellow flag, which would be the only one of the race, came at a good time for the drivers looking to make chassis adjustments.
At the restart on lap 84, Huddleston led ahead of Souza, but the latter quickly lost the pace, as did Dennison. Tanner Reif and Eric Johnson, Jr., who had been holding onto the leader before the yellow flag, began their climb back to the front. Johnson, Jr. quickly moved into the top five, then into third place on lap 91. On lap 93, he passed Keller for second place. Bollman and Reif would do the same in the following laps.
The battle for first place was fierce, side-by-side for nearly 10 laps, and Johnson, Jr. managed to take it on lap 103 by exiting Turn 4 better by navigating the inside lane. But Huddleston would try everything in the following laps to regain first place, but to no avail. Worse still, he wore out his tires too much and had a difficult end to the race.
Bollman and Reif sound the charge!
With 25 laps remaining, Jake Bollman took second place from Huddleston and quickly came back to hug Johnson, Jr.’s rear bumper. The BMR driver took the lead with 16 laps remaining. Behind, Reif passed Huddleston for third place.
While Bollman led the race, he was only a few tenths ahead of Johnson, Jr. and Reif. With three laps remaining, taking advantage of Souza’s overtaking, who lost a second lap on the leaders, Reif dived inside on Johnson, Jr. for second place.
On the penultimate lap, the top three found themselves three-wide in Turn 3. Bollman, sandwiched between Johnson, Jr., was on the outside lane and Reif on the inside lane. Bollman lost two places in one go. Johnson, Jr., very comfortable on the outside line, gave it his all in the final lap but slipped a bit too much coming out of turn 4. It was enough for Tanner Reif to finally get away from him by putting the gas pedal to the floor and taking the checkered flag as the winner!
Tanner Reif only led two laps, but the last two were the most important! He took his first victory of the year, his third of his career. The entire Central Coast Racing team was thrilled. The car prepared by the team and the strategy developed by its crew chief, Michael Munoz, combined with the mastery of Tanner Reif, made the difference.
“Everything was perfect. I had to work so hard for it, but this team, Central Coast Cabinets Racing, did such a good job setting this thing up. I was crying in the car. I had to compose myself. I said, ‘I’m going to ride as slow as anybody can go, and when it’s time to go, I’m going to have a car better than anybody out there. I didn’t have a lot of high hopes entering this weekend. I just wasn’t feeling it,” said Reif. “The first time I hoped in the car, I went, ‘OK, this is going to be one of our race weekends. This is going to be somewhere where we actually have a chance to fight.’ And man did we fight.Eric Johnson wheeled that thing, man. I really wasn’t expecting that from him. He gave us one great fight. I’m just so proud to be here.” Tanner Reif said.
The race standings are as follows: Tanner Reif won, followed by Eric Johnson, Jr., Jake Bollman, Kyle Keller, Trevor Huddleston, Caleb Shrader, Robbie Kennealy, Todd Souza, Blake Lothian, Cody Dennison, Mariah Boudrieau, David Smith, and Tim Goulet.
In the championship, Trevor Huddleston and Tanner Reif are now tied for the lead with 120 points. Eric Johnson, Jr. is third with 115 points, while Jan’s Racing teammates Kyle Keller and Robbie Kennealy are tied with 112 points.
The next race is on April 24 in Erie, Colorado, at the Colorado National Speedway, another 0.375-mile paved oval bullring.