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 SPARTA,
KY (May 10) -- Eighteen-year-old Kyle Busch became the ARCA RE/MAX
Series first repeat winner of the season by winning "The Channel
5-205" race Saturday night. The race was the sixth of the year on
the series' 22-race schedule. Amazingly, it was only Busch's third
start in the series with now two wins to his credit. The win came as
an early Mother's Day present to Kyle's mother who was in attendance,
as well as, brother and Winston Cup star Kurt. The younger Busch led a
total of 91 of the 137 race laps en route to the win over Frank Kimmel
who led the balance of the race laps. Busch and Kimmel were the class
of the field and dueled it out in a classic veteran versus young-gun
battle.
Forty-six cars attempted to make the 38-car field on
Friday via their respective qualifying efforts on the 1.5-mile
Kentucky Speedway oval. Frank Kimmel won the Old Milwaukee Pole Award
after circling the track in 31.980 seconds (168.856 mph). Jerry
Glanville who was among six drivers to crash during qualifying had to
be transported to a local hospital after his fiery crash. Thankfully,
the former NFL coach and commentator was released Saturday night in
good condition.
The race began with Kimmel and Matt Hagans leading the
38-car field to the starting line. Kimmel took immediate control of
the race at the drop of the green flag. Kimmel led the first 14 laps
before giving way to Kyle Busch who had started fourth. Busch led
until lap 48, when Kimmel moved back into the lead. Kimmel led until
lap number 80, at which time the younger of the racing Busch brother's
steered his Hendrick Motorsports Ditech.com Chevrolet back into the
lead for good. Busch led the remaining 57 circuits to take the
win--his second in just three starts in the series.
Frank Kimmel finished second followed by Matt Hagans
in third. It was a career-best finish for Hagans. Seventeen-year-old
Shelby Howard finished fourth followed by Jason Jarrett in fifth and
Mark Gibson in sixth and completing the list of lead-lap finishers.
The race had six cautions for a total of 35 laps.
Keith Murt won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for
advancing the most positions. Murt finished 14th after starting 26th.
Hoosier ARCA Series Track Service Manager Doug Barnes attended
and commented about the event, "We had many teams participating
in the Hoosier Wheel Program in which we pre-mount tire and wheel
assemblies for any team that wants to participate in the
program." Barnes added, "It really reduces the amount of
time the teams have to spend waiting for their tires to be mounted and
balanced." Barnes also added, "There were several teams that
came by after the race to comment about the tread wear they
experienced during the 137-lap race. The tread wear was excellent and
added to the exciting racing that the ARCA Series has always been
known for."
Frank Kimmel (1655) increased his lead in the ARCA
Series standings over Billy Venturini (1425), who finished tenth.
Jason Jarrett is in third place in the rankings with 1410 markers as
Ron Cox and Mark Gibson round out the top five.
The ARCA Series will next be in action on May 22nd at
Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The series then
quickly resumes racing on May 24th at Berlin Raceway's 1/2-mile track
in Michigan.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the exclusive
provider of tires to the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
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