 SPARTA,
KY (May 13, 2006) -- Steven Wallace, son of former Nextel Cup champion Rusty
Wallace, won the ARCA RE/MAX Series "Harley Davidson of Cincinnati
150" at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday. Several rain delays hampered the
weekend, but when the skies cleared long enough to race, Wallace was about the
only bright spot in an otherwise gloomy Midwest weekend. Wallace set a new
track record in qualifying which earned the young driver the pole position for
the race which he eventually won--leading 63 of the 103 race laps. It was the
18-year-old's second career win in the series. In August last year, just one
day after turning 18, he became the youngest driver ever to win at Michigan
International Speedway winning the "Hantz Group 200." Both speedway
wins came while riding on radial tires made by Hoosier Racing Tire Corp.
Forty-six cars posted times in qualifying with Steven Wallace circling the
1.5-mile oval in 30.421 seconds (177.509 mph). The mark crushed the old series
record set on July 2, 2000 by David Keith. Defending series champion Frank
Kimmel was second in qualifying with a time of 30.430 seconds (177.456
mph).
Forty-one cars made the field for the race which was delayed three hours due
to rain showers. The race finally began around 6:00 pm with Wallace and Kimmel
on the front row. On lap 24, Kimmel and Wallace tangled for the lead among
several lapped cars. The pair made contact with Kimmel getting the worst of
things. The four-time Kentucky Speedway winner crashed and was never a factor
the remainder of the race. Rains forced several lengthy delays and, as luck
would have it, a late race caution extended the race an addition two circuits
before a winner could be decided.
The race had eight race leaders among five different drivers including:
Steven Wallace (1-5, 19-52, 54-62, 89-103), Frank Kimmel (6-18), Scott Legasse
(53), Andrew Myers (63-67) and Brad Coleman (68-88). The race was slowed six
times for various cautions for a total of 46 laps.
A caution on lap 96 forced the race to be lengthened two laps to allow for a
green flag finish. The race resumed on lap 101 with fellow rookie Brad Coleman
looking to capture the win over the young Wallace. Wallace would have none of
it, defeating Coleman by .229 seconds at the finish line. Coleman settled for a
runner-up finish followed by Matt McCall, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Foster to
round out the top five. Chuck Weber was sixth followed by Blake Bjorklund,
David Odell, Billy Venturini and Josh Krug in seventh through tenth,
respectively. Venturini won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing
the most positions after starting 25th en route to his ninth place
finish.
With five of 23 races in the books, Bobby Gerhart leads the overall driver
standings with 1210 points followed by TJ Bell with 1165 points. Damon Lusk is
in third with 1130 points followed by Billy Venturini with 1125 points. After a
disappointing 28th place finish, Frank Kimmel falls to the fifth position with
1105 points.
All the competitors rode on Hoosier 12.0/28.0-15 5230 (left side) and
12.0/28.0-15 5788 (right side) radial tires with one inch of stagger.
All Hoosier tires are made in Plymouth, IN, while all ARCA RE/MAX Series
events are serviced out of Hoosier headquarters in Lakeville, IN. Doug Barnes
is the ARCA RE/MAX Series manager for Hoosier. In addition to Barnes, the
service team at Kentucky included crew chief Dave Wroblewski and engineer Rick
Tostevin. Other members of the service team included Kevin Wroblewski, Larry
Merrill, Fred Awald and newcomers Brett Bartels, Matt Idema, Brian Marshall and
Rick Sisk.
Next stop for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is Ohio's Toledo Speedway on May 21st.
Last year, Nextel Cup veteran Kenny Schrader was the race winner.
For complete race results and more information about the ARCA RE/MAX Series
visit their website at www.arcaracing.com.
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