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 NORTH EAST, PA (July 12) -- The ARCA RE/MAX Series
competitors put on quite a show Saturday night at Lake Erie Speedway
with defending series champion Frank Kimmel making a pass for the lead
in the final corner of the final lap of the race to capture his fourth
win of the season. On a night that appeared to be a disaster for
Kimmel, the #46 Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford spun twice during the
race and came from the rear of the field three times en route to
winning the ARCA RE/MAX 200.
Thirty-five cars took the green flag at Lake Erie
Speedway's 4/10-mile oval with Billy Venturini starting on the pole after
posting the fastest time in qualifying. Venturini set a new track
record in qualifying when he circled the track in 15.757 seconds (91.388 mph) to capture his first-ever Old
Milwaukee Pole Award. Joining the third generation driver in the front
row was 17-year-old David Ragan making his first-ever series start.
The race began with third starting Frank Kimmel moving
to the inside of the young pole-sitter Venturini to take the race lead
on the first lap. From there, Kimmel led the next 48 laps. David Ragan
then briefly moved into the lead on lap 49, but was unable to maintain
leader status with Kimmel regaining the lead on the next circuit.
Kimmel led through lap 81, that is when Venturini made the pass for
the lead with Kimmel and Shelby Howard left battling for second. That
battle resulted in contact between the two multi-race
winners sending Kimmel spinning. Kimmel regained control but was
left far back in the field. During the ensuing laps, Kimmel was sent
spinning again--this time by Joe Cooksey. But the cagey veteran
regained control and after a quick pit stop for left side tires,
Kimmel rejoined the rear of the field for the restart.
Venturini looked to be well on his way to the win
leading through lap 199 of 200. But by this time, Kimmel had worked
his way from the tail of the field to second place with one lap to go.
First trying to pass Venturini high, then darting low, the two raced
into the final turn side-by-side in front of a cheering crowd. But
when Venturini gassed his Pontiac in a final bid for the win coming
out of the final turn, his car broke loose freeing Kimmel to take the
win with Venturini spinning 180 degrees and amazingly crossing the
finish line backwards for second place. The margin of victory was .377
seconds with Venturini crossing the line backwards. Venturini made his
impressive run without pitting for fresh tires.
Andy Belmont finished in third place after starting
13th with Tom Eriksen and Shelby Howard rounding out the top five. The
200-lap race had 16 caution periods for a total of 57 laps with 12 of
the 35 starters finishing on the lead lap.
Hoosier's ARCA Track Service Manager Doug Barnes
attended the event and commented after the race, "This was an
incredible race with an awesome finish. It was great to see Billy
(Venturini) win the pole and do so well throughout the night. But it
was a heart-breaker to see him come so close and not win the
race."
Barnes continued, "Once again the performance
of the Hoosier short track tires was amazing. I am sure that a few
teams completed the entire race on only one set of tires and others
only stopped to change once. I have no doubt that this tire will
continue to be a rock-solid performer at ARCA short track events for
years to come."
With the win, Frank Kimmel extends an already
commanding lead in the series standings with 3145 points over Jason
Jarrett with 2700 points. Jarrett finished in sixth place. Billy Venturini is in
third place with 2470 points after his stellar runner-up finish.
Shelby Howard and Brent Sherman round out the top five in the
standings.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series will be doing double-duty in
two weeks when they travel to Pocono Raceway where they will be
contesting two races in two days. First, on Friday they will be
running the rescheduled ARCA
Giant 200, and on Saturday, they will run regularly scheduled Pennsylvania 200.
Friday's race was originally scheduled for June 7, but rain forced it
to be rescheduled to July 25.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the exclusive
provider of tires to the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
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