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 NEWTON,
IA (June 2, 2007) -- Defending ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel won the
Prairie Meadows 250 at Iowa Speedway Saturday night becoming the ninth
different winner in the nine events contested to date. Kimmel fought off the
late-race challenge of Michael McDowell en route to his 69th series win. The
45-year-old veteran held off the 22-year-old rookie winning by half a car
length at the finish line. For his career, Kimmel ranks second in total wins
behind Iggy Katona who compiled 79 career wins in the series. The ARCA RE/MAX
Series runs exclusively on Hoosier tires and has done so the past 13
years.
This was the second time the ARCA Series raced at
Iowa Speedway since it opened in 2006. Last year, the series ended its 23-race
season at the newly-opened facility with Steven Wallace capturing the win.
Wallace has since moved to a full time ride in the NASCAR Busch Series. Thirty-eight
cars were on hand at the 7/8-mile track with all 38 cars mounted on radial
tires made by Hoosier. In qualifying, in his first-ever
series attempt, Michael Annett earned the pole as the fastest qualifier with a
time of 23.471 seconds (134.208 mph). Phillip McGilton, Bryan Reffner, Frank
Kimmel and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five in qualifying. The
250-lap race had 12 leaders among six different drivers. Drivers leading during
the event included; Michael Annett 1-4, 81-84 (8), Justin Allgaier 5-20, 71-80,
188-208 (47), Frank Kimmel 21-70, 181-187, 214-250 (94), Michael McDowell
85-152, 175-180 (74), Bryan Clauson 153-174 (22) and Phillip McGilton 209-213
(5). The race was slowed by nine cautions for a total of 49 laps. With
five laps to go, Frank Kimmel held a 10-car lead over second place runner Michael
McDowell. However, McDowell was able to erase the entire deficit and pull
alongside Kimmel on the final lap. The duo raced hard (and clean) with Kimmel
claiming the win by half a car length at the stripe. McDowell
finished in second place followed by fellow rookie Michael Annett. The pole
sitter was followed by Phillip McGilton and Bryan Clauson to round out the top
five. Bobby Gerhart finished in sixth followed by Justin
Allgaier, Justin South, Josh Krug and Jason Hedlesky in seventh through tenth,
respectively. Hedelsky was the first car one lap down, while Krug won the
Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions. Krug started
23rd en route to a ninth place finish. Frank Kimmel extended his
lead to 110 points in the driver standings over Justin Allgaier. Bobby Gerhart
is in third place 125 points behind Kimmel who is seeking his ninth series
championship (including eight in a row). All ARCA RE/MAX
Series races are serviced out of Hoosier's corporate headquarters in Lakeville,
IN. Members of the Hoosier service team making the trip to Iowa for the race
included; David Wroblewski, Rick Tostevin, Mike Haenes, Fred Awald, Luke
Morris, Clint Williams, Mason Fischer and Charlie Brown.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series will travel to Pocono, PA for its next
race this Saturday, June 9th.
For more information on the ARCA RE/MAX Series visit www.arcaracing.com.
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