 KANSAS
CITY, KS (July 1, 2006) -- Defending ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel
led the final eight laps en route to winning Saturday's "Kansas Lottery
$200 Grand" at Kansas Speedway. The seven-time series champion used a
late-race pit stop to capture the win and become the series' first repeat
winner of 2006. It took nine races for a repeat winner to emerge in what has
become one of the most competitive seasons in recent ARCA RE/MAX Series
history.
Forty-seven cars were entered for Saturday's race with 39 cars posting times
in qualifying. Brad Coleman earned the Pork Pole Award as the event's fastest
qualifier. The 18-year-old driver circled the 1.5-mile track in 32.166 seconds
(167.879 mph). Steven Wallace was second fastest in qualifying with a time of
32.233 seconds (167.530 mph). Erin Crocker was third quickest with a 32.274
second lap (167.317 mph), while Scott Legasse and Frank Kimmel rounded out the
top five in qualifying.
The race had 40 starters and featured eight different leaders. Race leaders
included; Steven Wallace (1-39), Brett Rowe (40-48), Richard Johns (49), Ryan
Howard (50-53), Scott Legasse (54-96), Mario Gosselin (97-125), Brad Coleman
(126) and Frank Kimmel (127-134). The race was slowed 10 times for cautions for
a total of 53 laps.
Kimmel won by 2.214 seconds over Evernham Motorsports developmental driver
Erin Crocker. Crocker was followed to the finish line by Brad Coleman and Brett
Rowe to round out the list of lead-lap finishers. For Rowe, it was a career
best finish in the series, while Crocker became the first-ever female driver in
ARCA history to finish in second place twice during a season.
Steve Wallace finished in fifth place--the first car a lap down. Wallace was
followed by Bobby Gerhart, Richard Johns, Brent Sherman, Phillip McGilton and
Chuck Weber in sixth through tenth, respectively.
Todd Bowsher finished in 11th place--the final car one lap off the pace.
Bowsher also earned the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most
positions. Bowsher started 27th en route to claiming the 11th spot.
Bobby Gerhart retains the top spot in the driver standing with 1950 points
followed by Frank Kimmel with 1860 points. Rounding out the top five in the
rankings is Damon Lusk (1690), Ken Weaver (1605) and Billy Venturini
(1585).
All the competitors rode on radial tires specifically manufactured by
Hoosier for the ARCA RE/MAX Series. Hoosier has been the official tire provider
to the series for 12 seasons.
All ARCA RE/MAX Series events are serviced out of Hoosier headquarters in
Lakeville, IN. The service team for the Kansas event included; Doug Barnes
(track service manager), Rick Tostevin (engineer), Dave Wroblewski (crew
chief), Chad Wright, Larry Merrill and Fred
Awald (mounting) Joe Carter (balancing), Mike Haenes (tire
preparations & relief crew chief).
The ARCA RE/MAX Series is
back in action this Friday (July 7) at Kentucky Speedway.
For complete race results and more information about the ARCA
RE/MAX Series visit their website at www.arcaracing.com.
|
