 NEWTON,
IA (April 19, 2008) -- Twenty-year-old rookie Matt Hawkins won the Prairie
Meadows 250 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday making his first career ARCA
RE/MAX Series start. The Canton, GA native drove his JaniKing Dodge past Matt
Carter with six laps to go en route to the win. It was the third different
winner in the series in as many races to kick off the 2008 season. Last year,
the ARCA RE/MAX Series went 10 races before experiencing a repeat winner.
With qualifying rained out, the starting grid was set by 2007 car owner
points. This put Matt Carter in the #46 Ford on the pole with Scott Speed
driving the #2 Red Bull Toyota alongside.
Forty-one cars started the race which featured 13 leaders among six
different drivers. Those leading during the event included; Justin Allgaier 1,
22-74, 107-135 (83 laps), Matt Carter 2-31, 136-198, 212-245 (117 laps),
Michael Phelps 75-78 (4 laps), Matt Hawkins 199-204, 208, 246-250 (12 laps),
Frank Kimmel 205-207 (3 laps), Jesse Smith 209-211 (3 laps). The 250-lap race
was slowed nine times for cautions for a total of 54 laps.
In the end, it all came down to the final few laps when 28th starting Matt
Hawkins passed Matt Carter with six to go. Although a bit of contact was made
between the two, Hawkins was faster and apologized afterwards. Carter accepted
the apology and admitted afterwards Hawkins was faster at the end of the race.
Had the race been a few laps longer, Justin Allgaier may have picked up his
second consecutive victory as he was closing fast at the finish. Allgaier
settled for the runner-up spot--.908 seconds behind the Hawkins who was making
his first career series start.
Defending ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel, who started 39th,
finished in third place followed by Matt Carter and Jesse Smith who started
32nd. The 18-year-old Smith was making just his second series start.
Scott Speed finished in sixth place followed by Ken Butler III, Bryan Silas,
Patrick Sheltra and Tayler Malsam to round out the top ten.
Tom Hessert III, the first car one lap down, finished 11th.
With his runner-up finish, Justin Allgaier (680) extends his
lead in the driver standings to 45 points over Frank Kimmel (635). Matt Carter
is in third place with 615 points followed by John Wes Townley (540) and Tom
Hessert III (535).
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the official tire of
the ARCA RE/MAX Series which has used Hoosier tires the past 14 seasons.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series travels next to the 1.5-mile Kansas
Speedway this Friday, April 25th.
The race will be broadcast Saturday on SPEED at 8:30 PM (ET).
For more information about the ARCA RE/MAX Series visit www.arcaracing.com.
|
