Christmas came early, five days early, at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway. As Dylan Zampa and Jace Hale, respectively were crowned champions in Spears CARS Tour West Limited and Pro Late Model divisions, to cap off the 2025 season.
An early November storm produced an atmospheric river, forcing series officials to preemptively postpone the November 15 season finale in Kern to December 20. Given the circumstances of the postponement, only a week removed from both PRI show and Snowball Derby and not to mention it being only five days until Christmas, teams and race fans alike showed up alike in numbers, as the community gathered for this unusually late racing weekend.
The sun shined down on Sean Woodside, as he rocketed to pole position in the early morning Limited Late Model qualifying session over Tanner Huddleston. Dylan Zampa, series points leader, enters the weekend 43 points ahead of rival Parker Malone. The pair start the afternoon sharing the second row, third and fourth respectively with Jeffrey Peterson starting fifth.
In the first of what would be two tributes in the race, the event was extended by two extra laps, now making it 77 in total. This is to pay tribute to Nicholas Joanides, who passed away in early December.
With their fellow racer and friend in their hearts, Woodside and the field made their way to the green flag and after a month’s worth of waiting, the final Limited Late Model event of the season was finally underway. Woodside and Huddleston battled hard on the opening lap with the latter winning the early fight for the lead off the fourth turn. Behind the leaders Malone and Zampa fought one another for the next handful of laps, with Malone using the outside lane to move around Zampa and claim the third spot.
As the field was in sight of the impending lap 16 competition caution, a natural caution would occur just one lap sooner. On lap 15. Kale McClenny spins after arguing over real estate with Andrew Chapman in turn 3. This also quickly gets rolled into the competition caution and the red flag then is displayed. A hush fell over the facility as the field stopped down the front straight and all you can hear is I-5 rushing by behind the track, as a moment of silence was observed in tribute to Greg Biffle and everyone who passed away on Thursday in a tragic plane crash in Statesville, North Carolina.
As the field resumed racing on lap 15, Woodside got a much better restart and easily moved away from Huddleston and the field. As the top two scoot away a little bit further, all eyes turn towards the battle for third as Parker Malone re-passes Zampa for position. In the process this brought Kenna Mitchell into the fight, passing the champion elect with ease and sliding Zampa back to fifth place. Mitchell was not done as shortly after, Malone slid up the track out of Turn 4, giving the driver of the No.7 the inside lane, setting off a multi-lap side by side battle, with Zampa and Vito Cancilla also racing for the final spot in the top five.
On lap 33, the caution flew once again as Zampa had a heart in mouth moment with Jeffrey Peterson off the second turn. Peterson washes up the track and loses the rear end, just barely brushing Zampa on corner exit before spinning and stopping just shy of the inside wall. The driver of the No.51 had been running in seventh prior to the spin.
Racing resumed on Lap 33 and Kenna Mitchell is once again on the move. She dispatches Tanner Huddleston after the restart as she hounds Woodside for the race lead, however a caution shortly after on lap 38 puts a pause on her charge. Jeffrey Peterson makes door to door contact with Andrew Chapman in turn one, sending the driver of the No.55 car spinning up the banking and coming to a rest way before the outside wall. Both sustained no serious damage in the on-track altercation and both continued on.
On the lap 38 restart, Woodside gets loose exiting Turn 1 with Huddleston right on his door, the pair once again racing hard for the lead. Both race side by side until Woodside eventually rolls the bottom on lap 41 to power back around the blue No.56 of Huddleston, with the pole sitter then starting to break away from the field.
With 20 laps remaining, Parker Malone worked his way under Huddleston, dispatching the newly crowned ARCA West Champion and setting his sights on a potential charge for the lead against a quickly disappearing Woodside. Huddleston falling back set up an incredible fight for third place during the final 20 laps as he battled Vito Cancilla, Mitchell with a fast approaching Jeffrey Peterson waiting on the wings.
Car owner and crew chief Linny White, made some adjustments for his driver Jeffrey Peterson under the recent caution which helped Peterson battle put his No.51 in for a chance at the final step of the podium. Lap after lap the four drivers fought one another for track position, then with 12 laps to go, while three wide Huddleston and Cancilla made contact off turn two, allowing Peterson to sweep by on the outside lane for the third position.
Sean Woodside proved to be too dominate as he cruised to the checkered flag for his first CARS Tour West Limited Late Model win of the season, Parker Malone gave it it his all to finish second and Jeffrey Peterson charging from the back of the field and racing his way up to the final step of the podium in the last 40 laps of the race. Kenna Mitchell and Tanner Huddleson each with great afternoons complete the event fourth and fifth respectively, with a sixth place effort awarded to the champion, Dylan Zampa.
Vito Cancilla, who was running in fifth place on the white flag lap, spun down the back straight before making hard contact with the inside wall. He would be okay but a tough way to finish what was a very strong run in the final LLM race of the season.
As the track crews attended to Cancilla, the victory lane celebration was just getting started for Woodside, however not without a heavy heart.
“Nick is gone and I grew up racing with him and that’s a big loss, as well as the Biffle family as I also grew up racing him as well, it’s been a rough week”, Woodside said with sadness in his voice. “On the bright side, hopefully this year gets a little better and this is a good way to end it (winning the race).”
A dejected Parker Malone came up just short in the end, finishing both the race and points standings in second place, while also breaking some news that he would be scaling back his racing in 2026.
“Props to Sean, I was giving it everything I had.” Malone said. “I found another lane up there and I was trying everything I could. I bounced off the wall pretty good, as I was just trying to put my best foot forward. I really wanted to win this one. I don’t really know what next year lies for me, I think we might do one more for Chilly Willy in January but other than that I think that is it for me, guys. It’s been a long, long road and I really wanted the ‘chip this year, I made one little sacrifice to get it but just didn’t quite have it. It is what it is, I’ll take my seconds and I have a lot of them, that’s for damn sure.”
From spinning out down the backstretch 40 laps prior, Jeffrey Peterson gave the fans quite a show for third.
“When the race started it was really loose.” Peterson said. “I think the No.92 (of Zampa) was leaking some fluid. Some guys were able to get through there better than I was but my windshield was covered. Then we got together off turn two, I got loose at the same time he came off the wall a little bit, I slid up into him and but I was fortunate enough to spin off turn two and not kill our race car here. Then I went to the top and ripped the lip, it was a little nerve wracking trying to get outside of guys but that was a lot of fun.”
Then it was time to crown a champion, Zampa started the day in third but all he needed to do was finish the race and he brought the No.92 home in sixth position. The driver nicknamed “Mighty Mouse” collected five wins in his 2025 campaign on the way to the championship.
“This one feels pretty awesome.” Zampa said. “We didn’t get to practice yesterday as I was at my brother’s college graduation, so this is a pretty good weekend for the Zampas. We’re definitely going to home and celebrate this one and just have a blast. It was a tough season but I feel like we had really good stats to back it up, we only had two finishes all year outside of the top three. Five wins, I’ll take it and hopefully we go onto bigger and better things next season.”
RESULTS
- Sean Woodside
- Parker Malone
- Jeffrey Peterson
- Kenna Mitchell
- Tanner Huddleston
- Dylan Zampa
- Kabe McClenny
- Ethan Cheek
- Andrew Chapman
- Trevor Cristiani
- Christen Bazen
- Mikey Killen
- Kale McClenny
- Chase Lopez
- Vito Cancilla
- Caden Cordova
- Donald Witkowski
- Patrick Dennison
As day turned to night and the sun started, the Pro Late Models made their way to the grid. Jace Hale enters the afternoon with one hand already on the championship trophy and a chance to become first PLM champion in tour history, as the young phenom enters the race 43 points ahead of Taylor Mayhew.
Hale however would have to deal with fast drivers early in the event as Seth Wise in his No.24 claimed pole position ahead of Vito Cancilla. As the field took the green flag a slight stack up in the middle of the pack gave the No.7 of Robby Sawyer extensive damage to the front end of his machine, no caution as a result and the 100 lap feature was underway.
Cancilla and Wise battled hard for the early race lead, before the driver of the No.V5 took control and powered away, briefly from the No.24. However on lap 24, Wise ran Cancilla back down to re-take command for the race lead and rocketed away to almost a 3 second lead. As Wise raced away into the distance, Cancilla then had his hands full with the champion elect of Jace Hale for the second position. The driver of the No.15 battled Cancilla for multiple laps until on Lap 38, he finally was able to move into second position.
On Lap 40, the first caution of the race would be displayed for a competition caution. At the same time that occurred, Linny White spun down the back straight and made significant contact with the inside wall, ultimately ending his day early in 14th position. Robby Sawyer used this opportunity to come to the attention of his crew to urgently repair his damaged racecar.
On the ensuing restart, Jace Hale starting on the outside of the front row spun his tires with Kyle Keller all over his back bumper, backing the outside lane up. Everyone made it out cleanly and Hale maintained second position.
The caution flag would once again be displayed on Lap 49 as Reston Morehouse in the No.40 spins in Turn 4, barely missing Hans Beeler in the process. Morehouse would continue on without major damage.
And just as quickly as racing resumed on Lap 49, the caution would once again be displayed in dramatic style. As the heartbreak would plague the leader of Seth Wise. The driver who looked to have the dominant car of the day, lost an engine with a massive plume of smoke billowing behind and effectively blinding the field directly behind. Everyone evaded the ill stricken No.24, with Cancilla getting too close for comfort, trying to evade the now powerless Wise.
After a lengthy red flag for track cleanup, the race resumed on Lap 53, this time it was Cancilla and Hale leading the field back to racing. Cancilla got the early lead and held onto it, while Hale stalked the back bumper. Meanwhile Taylor Mayhew raced his way up into the third position, trying to run down his championship adversary.
As laps ticked away and the slight chilliness of a December night began to set in, the fight for the lead heated up. Cancilla and Hale ran side by side for multiple laps, with Vito running a higher lane and making it to work with great effect, albeit temporary. Then on Lap 72, Hale used the lapped car of Hans Beeler as a pick and overtook Cancilla for the top spot.
As the laps continued to click away the fight no longer was for the win but for second, with 20 to go Taylor Mayhew passed Cancilla for second, all the while Jace Hale was in a different zipcode, as he roared away to an almost 3.5 second lead away from the field and never looked back.
After 100 laps of frantic Pro Late Model action, Jace Hale captured the checkered flag for his third win of the season to become the inaugural PLM champion in Cars Tour West competition. Taylor Mayhew claims the runner-up position in both the race and championship, with Vito Cancilla rounding out the final step of the podium. Colton Hale, Jace’s little brother finishes in fourth with Kyle Keller rounding out the top 5.
In victory lane, an elated Jace Hale both at a loss for words but was also appreciative of his team in his championship moment.
“I couldn’t have done this without my team, they are a big help.” Hale said. “We ended up wrecking the car at the (snowball) derby, so we pulled a backup car out and the backup is pretty good. I’m speechless, I’m really grateful for this moment. We started fourth and I didn’t have the best run in qualifying, I made it up in the race and then just checked out. I burned up my right rear battling with Vito. It was a really good battle, really clean.”
While dejected that his bid for the title came up just a bit short, Taylor Mayhew offered a positive perspective on his second place night.
“Congrats to Jace, he drove great all year long.” Runner-up Mayhew said. “I’m stoked with second, obviously it’s not first but I’m still stoked. As someone who came from racing dirt, I knew running the top lane I had to be patient. After 25 laps I set him (Cancilla) up over and over again before it finally ended up working out, I am super pumped.”
For Vito Cancilla it was a tale of two races on the same day, unlike his finish in Limited Lates a few short hours prior, this time he was able to make it back to the line for a well deserved third place effort.
“It was a great race.” Third place finisher, Cancilla said. “I’m glad I could take this car back home in shape. It was a really good race and good job to Jace, Taylor and Colton. They all did a really good job. I wish we would have had a longer run car, I really only had short run speed, I was able to make early passes before we got passed back. Still a good race though, I’m glad to end the season like this but I am looking for more.”
RESULTS
- Jace Hale
- Taylor Mayhew
- Vito Cancilla
- Colton Hale
- Kyle Keller
- Cody Kimele
- Ethan Nascimento
- Mike Beeler
- Robby Sawyer
- Reston Morehouse
- Sean Woodside
- Hans Beeler
- Seth Wise
- Linny White
- Trevor Huddleston
- Trevor Cristiani
As the celebrations commence, that wraps up the 2025 Spears CARS Tour West season. Racing action resumes for CARS West on January 17, for the 13th annual Chilly Willy 150 at Tucson Speedway to kick-off the 2026 season.
Jon
December 22, 2025 at 4:41 pm
Great article and coverage Rence!