|
 CONCORD,
NC (May 27) -- It took six races, but Thursday evening the ARCA RE/MAX
Series had its first repeat winner of the season when rookie Ryan
Hemphill won the "Quaker Steak & Lube 100" at Lowe's
Motor Speedway. Hemphill, a winner earlier in the season at Kentucky
Speedway, took the lead from fellow rookie Reed Sorenson on lap 60 of
the 73-lap race en route to the win. In what has developed as one of
the most competitive season's in recent ARCA history, the rookie
phenom from Apollo, PA continues to impress driving the TrimSpa Dodge
#64 after capturing the pole as the fastest qualifier among the
41-race starters.
Hemphill won the Pork Pole Award after circling the
Lowe's 1.5-mile oval in 29.914 seconds for an average speed of 180.517
mph. As a result, Hemphill started the event on the pole alongside
Brent Sherman.
The race began with Hemphill charging into the race
lead before giving way to Georgia's Reed Sorenson on the sixth lap.
From there, Sorenson was the class of the field leading the next 54
laps until Hemphill came charging back with just 14 laps remaining.
Hemphill maintained the race lead until the checkered flag dropped on
lap 73.
Hemphill was followed to the finish line by Justin
Hobgood--yet another rookie. Last year's Lowe's winner Frank Kimmel
took third, while Reed Soreson and veteran Wayne Anderson rounded out
the top five giving the ARCA rookie's three of the top four places in
the finishing order.
Rounding out the top ten were A.J. Henrikson, Blake
Feese, Kelly Bires, T.J. Bell and Michael Simko as 21 of the 41 race
starters finished the race on the lead lap. The race, which was
carried live on SpeedChannel, was slowed by six cautions for a total
of 36 laps. The competitors all used Hoosier's 12.0/28.0-15 speedway
radial tires (5025/lefts and 5550/rights) with many running the entire
event on the same set of tires.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series runs exclusively on Hoosier
tires. The event was serviced by the Hoosier ARCA Series Track Service
crew which is managed by Hoosier's Doug Barnes.
Defending series champion Frank Kimmel remains atop
the ARCA RE/MAX Series driver standings followed by Billy Venturini
and Jason Jarrett as the series travels next to Kansas Speedway in
Kansas City, KS (June 5) for the BPU 200.
|
