|
 TALLADEGA, AL (October 2) -- Rookie
Blake Feese captured the season-ending ARCA RE/MAX Series race at
Talladega Superspeedway Saturday winning the Food World 300. Feese,
another of the talented Hendrick Motorsports development drivers, was
one of ten drivers to lead in the 113-lap race. The driver of the #94
Carquest Chevrolet led the most laps (30) and was the only driver to
lead twice during the event leading the final 22 laps to conclude yet
another exciting season in the series. It was the second win of the
season for the young Saybrook, IL driver. Feese also won the second
race of the season at Nashville Superspeedway. Amazingly, the first
four finishers were drivers in development programs including Reed
Sorenson in second, Denny Hamlin, making his first-ever series start,
in third and Ryan Hemphill in fourth. Brent Sherman was the top
finishing ARCA regular claiming the fifth spot.
Frank Kimmel won his 18th career superspeedway pole as
the event's fastest qualifier. The 42-year-old series veteran circled
the 2.66-mile track in 51.750 seconds for an average speed of 185.043
mph. Blake Feese joined Kimmel in the front row with a time of 51.832
seconds (184.751 mph).
Drivers leading during the race included; Frank Kimmel
(1-28), Bobby Bowsher (29-31), Reed Sorenson (32-56), T.J. Bell
(57-59), Stuart Kirby (60-65), Johnny Leonard (66-68), Chuck Weber
(69), Boston Reid (70-82), Blake Feese (83-90, 92-113) and Ryan
Hemphill (91). Of the 40 race starters, 15 of them finished on the
lead lap.
The race, slowed eight times for a total of 53 laps,
took 2:38:05 to complete. Feese finished .131 seconds ahead of
runner-up Reed Sorenson driving the #77 Target Dodge for Ganassi
Racing. Denny Hamlin finished in third place making his first-ever
ARCA Series start. Hamlin is a development driver for Joe Gibbs
Racing. Ryan Hemphill, also in the Ganassi development program,
finished in fourth place followed by the 2004 ARCA RE/MAX Series
runner-up in points, Brent Sherman.
T.J. Bell finished in sixth place followed by Stuart
Kirby in seventh place. Late model dirt driver Ray Cook finished in
eighth place making his first-ever series start after starting 23rd.
Rookie Jim Walker took ninth followed by Roger Williams in tenth.
Williams also won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing
the most positions. The Charlotte, NC driver started 28th en route to
a tenth place finish.
Christie Passmore, who was involved in a crash early
in the race, was airlifted to the University of Alabama Medical Center
after hitting both the inside and outside frontstretch retaining
walls. She was held overnight and later released.
The 2004 ARCA RE/MAX Series ends with Frank Kimmel
claiming his sixth series championship. Amazingly, it was also the
Clarksville, IN driver's fifth title in a row. Finishing in second
place in the final standings was Brent Sherman followed by T.J. Bell,
Billy Venturini, Jason Jarrett, Mark Gibson, A.J. Fike, Christie
Passmore, Todd Bowsher and Norm Benning in third through tenth,
respectively.
The final event of the season was again serviced out
of Hoosier's corporate headquarters in Lakeville, IN. Doug Barnes,
Hoosier's Track Service Manager for the ARCA Series, was in Talladega
overseeing the activities of the service crew which included; engineer
Rick Tostevin, Crew Chief Dave Wroblewski, Mike Haenes, Chad Wright,
Jake Hartle, and Larry Merrill. Everyone at Hoosier would like to
thank all the members of the service crew for their service and representation
of the company during the 22-race schedule.
The entire Hoosier organization also would like to
extend our deepest appreciation to the ARCA RE/MAX Series for
selecting Hoosier as their exclusive tire provider and thank all the
race teams who competed on Tires Designed for Champions made by
Hoosier during the 2004 season. With the release of the 2005 schedule,
planning next year's tire needs has already started.
|
