|
 MARNE,
MI (July 3) -- Frank Kimmel won his third ARCA RE/MAX Series race of
the season, and 53rd of his career, Saturday night at Berlin Raceway
capturing the rain-shortened GFS Marketplace 200. Kimmel, who led 65
of the 116 race laps, was out front when the rains came around 8:00 pm
forcing officials to call the race complete 84 laps from its scheduled
length. Kimmel had to battle 10-time Berlin track champion Fred
Campbell and rookie A.J. Fike en route to the action packed win. All
30 of the race starters rode on Hoosier's short track bias-ply tires
(11.5/26.0-15 "12" left side and 11.5/27.0-15 "20"
right side tires). Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is the exclusive tire
provider to many of the world's premier racing series including the
ARCA RE/MAX Series.
Qualifying began at 4:30 pm on Saturday. Berlin's
10-time late model track champion Fred Campbell won the Pork Pole
Award as the fastest qualifier when he circled the familiar 7/16-mile
oval in 17.737 seconds (88.899 mph). Brent Sherman was second in
qualifying and joined Campbell in the front row. Ironically, Campbell
was the Pork Pole Award winner at last year's event at Berlin.
The race was moved up an hour from its original 8:00
pm starting time by race officials who had been monitoring the
approaching rain on radar. The race began with Brent Sherman taking
the lead from his outside pole starting position. Sherman led through
lap 15, when defending race winner Frank Kimmel moved into the lead
after starting fourth. Kimmel led until lap 60, when Battle Creek,
Michigan's Fred Campbell took a turn out front. Campbell thrilled the
Berlin fans leading the race's next 36 laps until Kimmel retook the
lead on the 97th circuit. Kimmel was still in the lead on lap 116,
when rain forced the race to be halted around 8:00 pm. While fans and
officials hoped the rains would clear and racing would resume, it was
not to be, and officials declared the race complete around 9:00 pm
with 116 of the 200 scheduled race laps in the books.
Finishing in second place was rookie A.J. Fike who was
actually closing on the 5-time series champion when the rain started
to fall. Berlin sportsman driver Billy Shotko from West Olive, MI was
third. Brent Sherman, T.J. Bell, Josh Allison, Billy Venturini, Joe
Cooksey, Fred Campbell and Todd Bowsher finished fourth through tenth,
respectively, with Norm Benning finishing in 11th--the final car on
the lead lap. It was a career-best finish for Shotko (3rd), Bell (5th)
and Allison (6th).
A.J. Fike won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for
advancing the most positions. Fike motored to his runner-up finish
after starting tenth.
The event was serviced out of Hoosier Racing Tire
Corp. out of Lakeville, IN. The service team included Hoosier's ARCA
RE/MAX Series Track Service Manager Doug Barnes, Dave Wroblewski,
Larry "Toots" Merrill, Mike "Moonpie" Haenes,
Chris Grossman, Brian Herthoge and Mike Merrill.
Frank Kimmel (2905) continues to add to his points
lead in the ARCA RE/MAX Series standings. Brent Sherman moved to
second place in the driver rankings with 2550 points, while Billy
Venturini falls to third (2545).
The ARCA RE/MAX competitors will be back on Hoosier
radials for their next event this Friday night, July 9th, at Kentucky
Speedway. The event will be carried live on SPEED channel beginning at
8:00 pm (Eastern).
|
