By Vincent Delforge, Staff Writer
The ninth race of the 2025 ARCA Menards West Series season, the NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame, held on September 13 at the All American Speedway in Roseville, CA, was won by Jan’s Racing Team driver Robbie Kennealy. His first career victory was a masterpiece. He was dazzling, leading every lap from the pole position. It was an emotional victory, coming almost a year after the passing of his father, Gary (September 30, 2024).
Championship leader Trevor Huddleston (High Point Racing) finished second. Kyle Keller (Jan’s Racing Team) and Tanner Reif (Central Coast Racing) finished sixth and eighth, respectively, losing a few points in the championship.
Next race is September 27th at Madera Speedway, Madera, CA for the Madera 150. In the meantime, it’s time to take a closer look at the Roseville race.
ARCA West Practice/Qualifying
While Friday’s optional practice was led by Eric Johnson, Jr. (Jerry Pitts Racing), Bill McAnally Racing driver Jake Bollman set the fastest time in Saturday’s practice session. RJ Smotherman, who made a deal with Jan Qualkenbush to drive the No. 9 car for Jan’s Racing Team in place of Joey Kennealy, finished ninth in his first West Series appearance since the 2023 Las Vegas race. Joey Iest was 11th in the No. 88 car, not the No. 54 car with Naake Motorsports, as announced during the week.
While Robbie Kennealy had set the second fastest time in practice, he topped the qualifying session, 67 thousandths of a second ahead of Tanner Reif. It was his first career pole. Eric Nascimento, Jr. (Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports) is third, just ahead of Huddleston. Bollman hasn’t regained the speed he had during practice and is only eighth, his worst qualifying of the year. Jonathan Reaume (Strike Mamba Racing) is 14th and last.
Reif Jumps the Start!!
When the green flag dropped for the start of the 150-lap race, Tanner Reif was the fastest to make his move and passed pole-sitter Kennealy on the outside line. In fact, Reif was even too fast, and the officials black-flagged him for jumping the start. However, he led the early laps before serving a stop-and-go on lap eight along the infield of the backstretch. He lost a lap in the process.
Kennealy led the race with Huddleston in second. Bollman was unleashed and in just ten laps had already moved up to fourth. But he found himself in a fierce battle between Johnson, Jr., Andrew Chapman (High Point Racing), Joey Iest, Kyle Keller (Jan’s Racing Team), Smotherman, and Nascimento.
Reaume retired on lap nine due to a suspension issue.
Bollman will lose several positions from the 15th lap and around the 50th lap, he will have fallen back to his starting position (eighth).
The top five on lap 20 consisted of Kennealy, Huddleston, Nascimento, Jr., Keller, and Johnson, Jr.
Todd Souza (Central Coast Racing) struggled after contacting the frontstretch wall early in the race and was out of the top ten. He was 12th behind Blake Lothian (Strike Mamba Racing) and Reif, who was tenth and the first driver a lap behind the leaders. But Reif, like his teammate Souza, would experience mechanical issues and drop to 12th.
This first green flag lasted a long time, and Nascimento, Jr. appeared to be experiencing a brake overheating problem. He was the one with the reddest front brake rotors. This was confirmed as he lost several positions and even lost a lap to the leader, Kennealy. Bollman yo-yoed up and down the order and was back in the top five as the race approached the halfway point. Kennealy leads by a good second over Huddleston.
Smotherman hits the wall!
The first yellow flag was waved on lap 96 following the accident of Smotherman, then in eighth position, who hit the outside wall in turn 4 after breaking his right front brake disc. The impact was violent and forced the driver of the No. 9 car to retire. Bubba Nascimento, Jr. earned the free pass and returned to the lead lap in eighth position.
The standings were as follows for the restart on lap 104: Kennealy in the lead ahead of Huddleston, Johnson, Jr., Chapman, Bollman, Keller, Iest, Nascimento, Jr., Reif (-1), Lothian (-1), Souza (-2), Smotherman (out), David Smith (Shockwave Racing) (-7), and Reaume (out).
Robbie Kennealy made a good restart and maintained the lead ahead of Huddleston, who nevertheless didn’t hesitate to give him a few bumps with his bumpers.
Double spun!
But on lap 107, as the cars were running in a tight pack, two incidents occurred almost simultaneously. First, Blake Lothian spun alone into the turn 4 without hitting anything. Then, just a few seconds later, Jake Bollman spun into Turn 1 after contact with Chapman while they were battling for fourth position. He was able to restart without losing a lap. All of this benefited Tanner Reif, who received the free pass and returned to the lead lap in ninth position.
The restart came on lap 114 with Kennealy leading ahead of Huddleston, Johnson, Jr., Chapman, Ieast, Keller, Bollman, Reif, Nascimento, Jr. (-1), Lothian (-1), Souza (-3), and Smith (-8). This restart was going to be wild for the third to eigth positions!
But the third yellow flag didn’t take long as Nascimento, Jr. spun in turn 2 on lap 118. Since he made the caution, he couldn’t benefit from the free pass.
The restart came on lap 125 with Kennealy leading ahead of Huddleston, Chapman, Iest, Johnson, Jr., Bollman, Keller, Reif, Nascimento, Jr. (-1), Lothian (-1), Souza (-3), and Smith (-8).
Disaster was narrowly avoided between the High Point Racing drivers as Chapman locked his wheels entering turn 3 in the 126th lap and narrowly missed hitting his teammate Huddleston!
Kennealy is the boss!
Ahead, Robbie Kennealy gradually managed to build up a sufficient gap to protect himself from a bump and run from Huddleston. It’s worth noting the great class of the championship leader, who fought with fair play.
Nothing changed in the final laps except for Kyle Keller, who overtook Bollman for sixth place, picking up a point that would be very important in the championship battle.
Kennealy took the checkered flag as the winner, ahead of Huddleston and Chapman. It was Robbie’s first career victory, and he was able to express his joy in Victory Lane. It was an emotional victory for him and his family almost a year after the death of his father, Gary.
“One year ago this exact race is when my dad suddenly passed away. One year later we win one of the biggest races…that’s for you, dad ! It’s all thanks to my Jan’s Racing crew. Without Jan giving me and Kyle Keller this opportunity we wouldn’t be standing here. I drove all 150 laps the hardest I ever have in my life.” Kennealy said.
In the championship, Trevor Huddleston (419 points) increased his lead over Kyle Keller (407) by four points and now has an advantage of twelve points in the championship. Tanner Reif is third, 26 points behind. Robbie Kennealy (385) gains one position and is now fourth ahead of Eric Johnson, Jr. (382).
The next race will be held on September 27 at Madera Speedway in Madera, California. The Madera 150 will be the second of three races on the “bullring tour”.
