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 SPARTA,
KY (May 11) -- Frank Kimmel continues to show why he has won three of
the past four ARCA RE/MAX Series titles after posting his third
consecutive series win. This time, it was at Kentucky Speedway where
Kimmel won the Channel 5-155. Kimmel led four different times for a
total of 72 laps in the 104-lap event en route to the win. The
defending series champion finished just ahead of rising rookie
hot-shoe Chad Blount from Walkerton, Indiana. A crowd of over 30,000
were in attendance at the stand-alone event that was televised live on
Speed Channel.
The 41-car field was led to the starting line by
pole-sitter John Metcalf who earned the Old Milwaukee Pole Award after
posting a qualifying lap of 32.324 seconds around the 1.5-mile oval.
Frank Kimmel, in the Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford,
took the race lead at the drop of the green flag from his outside pole
position. Kimmel's lead was interrupted three times when Chad Blount
(12 laps), AJ Henrikson (4 laps), and Andy Belmont (16 laps) each took
a turn out front. But, Kimmel was the car to beat winning by .296
seconds over Chad Blount in the Braun Auto Group Dodge.
Finishing in third place was Jason Rudd. John Metcalf
and Andy Belmont rounded out the top five. ten of the 41 race starters
finished the event on the lead lap.
Andy Belmont won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award
for advancing the most positions. Belmont raced from 21st to finish in
fifth place.
Hoosier engineer Rick Tostevin attended the event and
reported from trackside that tire wear was not a factor in the race
and that pit stops were dictated by fuel needs.
Hoosier Tire ARCA Product Manager Jeff Speer was also on hand to assist teams with the setup of new tires. "We were told in February the track was going to be repaved and was going to be finished in April. Chad Blount in the #77 Braun Motorsports Dodge performed our tire test flawlessly on April 17. Usually newly repaved racetracks along with racing compounds generate
a lot of heat, so we elected to go conservative with more heat resistant
but lower traction tread compounds. It took several laps for the teams to
heat up the tires and get the 'feel' for them. We were very pleased
with the wear and handling performance of the tires throughout the 104 lap race."
Frank Kimmel currently leads the ARCA Series standings
with 1300 points followed by Damon Lusk with 1265 points and Chad
Blount with 1260 points.
The next race for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is May 18 at
Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the exclusive
tire supplier to the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
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