PixelatedRESULTS: Jesse Love and Blaine Perkins Find First ARCA Victories in Utah
TOOELE, Utah (June 27, 2020) — Jesse Love and Blaine Perkins were the class of the field in the ENEOS/Sunrise Ford Twins at Utah Motorsports Complex on Saturday. Both were strong in both races, and both picked up wins, the first for both in the ARCA Menards West Series.
Jesse Love won the first race of the doubleheader, beating out Kris Wright and Gio Scelzi. Polesitter Blaine Perkins led the first eight laps prior to being passed by Love on lap nine.
The race ended in a Green-White-Checkered and on the restart for that G-W-C, Perkins lost a tire, going off track in turn five, allowing Love to cruise to the win. This is Jesse Love’s first career ARCA Menards Series West win.
Covering the race from the PixelatedSPEED headquarters at the Gravel Media Network Studio in Pensacola, Florida requires the use of online streaming. Unfortunately, the first eight laps were dark as NBC Gold’s Trackpass was working on a technical issue.
When the stream picked up, the field was coming to green on lap nine, following a caution.
Jesse Love took the lead from polesitter Blaine Perkins in turn six, and the field fell into a single-file parade afterward.
The race’s second caution flew on lap 12 for Trevor Huddleston, who came to a stop after going up in smoke. Parked in the grass just off the course, a small fire lit, concerning Huddleston who could only throw his hands up in frustration as he waited for the safety crew to arrive at his car. Luckily, no serious damage was done, and he would be able to continue on in the day’s second race.
Love was able to keep the lead on the lap 17 restart and Perkins kept the pressure on the leader, but just couldn’t find a way around.
With five laps remaining, the race’s third caution flew for Lawless Alan, who came to a stop in a gravel pit just off course. This would set up a green-white-checkered situation to finish out the race.
On the restart, Love was able to clear the field as Perkins lost a left front tire in turn five, ending his bid at contending for the win as Love cruised to the victory.
Sometimes when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. That’s exactly what Blaine Perkins did in race two at Utah Motorsports Complex.
After having a tire go down on the next to last lap of race one, Perkins started race two on the pole by virtue of having had the best lap time during race one.
Perkins used this to cement his place at the front, pulling out a five car length lead over second place Jesse Love by turn 5 of the 15 turn course.
From there, Perkins led wire-to-wire in a race that had zero cautions, winning by 9.398 seconds over Love.
Unofficial Results – ENEOS/Sunrise Ford Twins at Utah Motorsports Complex:
Race #1:
| 1. | 19 – Jesse Love |
| 2. | 7 – Kris Wright |
| 3. | 16 – Gio Scelzi |
| 4. | 17 – Taylor Gray |
| 5. | 42 – Will Rogers |
| 6. | 13 – Todd Souza |
| 7. | 99 – Gracie Trotter |
| 8. | 80 – Brian Kaminsky |
| 9. | 50 – Holley Hollan |
| 10. | 27 – Bobby Hillis Jr. |
| 11. | 9 – Blaine Perkins |
| 12. | 12 – Lawless Alan |
| 13. | 6 – Trevor Huddleston |
| 14. | 77 – Takuma Koga |
Race #2:
| 1. | 9 – Blaine Perkins |
| 2. | 19 – Jesse Love |
| 3. | 7 – Kris Wright |
| 4. | 16 – Gio Scelzi |
| 5. | 6 – Trevor Huddleston |
| 6. | 13 – Todd Souza |
| 7. | 99 – Gracie Trotter |
| 8. | 42 – Will Rogers |
| 9. | 80 – Brian Kaminsky |
| 10. | 50 – Holley Hollan |
| 11. | 17 – Taylor Gray |
| 12. | 12 – Lawless Alan |
| 13. | 27 – Bobby Hillis Jr. |
| 14. | 77 – Takuma Koga |
– Daniel Vining, Twitter: @danielvining
PixelatedSPEED is a motorsports news and views website covering all things racing and has been going “Beyond the Headline” Since 2018. If you’ve made it this far into the post, thank you. Please consider sharing this content on the interwebs and following PixelatedSPEED on Facebook and Twitter and joining in on the conversation. http://facebook.com/PixelatedSPEED & http://twitter.com/PixelatedSPEED PixelatedSPEED is a part of the Gravel Media Network. Copyright – 2018 – 2020
