 SALEM,
IN (April 28) -- Frank Kimmel made it two in a row Sunday winning the
Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 at Salem Speedway. On the heels of his
victory at Nashville two weeks ago, Kimmel led early and led late en route to
picking up the win. It was Kimmel's fourth consecutive win at Salem and sixth
overall at the famous Indiana half-mile.
With qualifying rained out on Saturday, the starting grid was set by 2001
owners points which placed Frank Kimmel and Jason Jarrett in the front row at
the drop of the green flag. Kimmel immediately jumped out to the race lead with
Jarrett in tow.
Other leaders during the 200-lap race included, Jarrett for 24 laps, Andy
Belmont for 73 laps and Shelby Howard for 18 laps. But, it was Frank Kimmel
leading the final 61 laps and capturing his second ARCA Series win in a row.
Jason Jarrett made it close however. As the young hot-shoe finished runner-up
by a slim .161 seconds behind the defending series champion.
Andy Belmont took third place honors followed by Randy VanZant in fourth.
VanZant's finish was a career-best. Rounding out the top five was Matt Hagans
in his first-ever ARCA RE/MAX Series start.
A.J. Henrickson earned the Hoosier Performance Tire Hard Charger Award after
starting 24th and finishing in seventh place.
Hoosier ARCA Product Manager Jeff Speer commented, "The ARCA RE/MAX Series is an unusual series that you will see running the half-mile
race tracks to the 2.5-mile Super Speedways at Daytona and Talladega. This event is the first short track race of their busy 2002 race schedule. The ARCA teams use a common left and right side tire at all of their short track venues
and they have used this set-up for several years. This tire is 'bulletproof'
and can run well into the 100 lap range on a set of tires. The tires worked flawlessly for the 200-lap race
this past weekend at Salem. The tires really have to be tough to withstand the 80-120 mph 3400 pound cars running on a tight track for 50-100 laps at a time."
The next stop on the ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule is May 11, at Kentucky
Speedway in Sparta, KY.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the exclusive tire brand for the
ARCA RE/MAX Series for the 2002 racing season.
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