 MARNE,
MI (July 16, 2005) -- Rookie Joey Miller won his first ARCA RE/MAX Series race
of the season Saturday at Berlin Raceway. Miller dominated the event leading
162 of the 202 race laps in the Request/Sara Lee 200. It was his second career
win in the series. Competing part-time last year, the Minnesota driver's first
win came last season at Nashville in his first-ever ARCA RE/MAX Series start.
This year, Miller is second in the driver standings just 130 points behind
defending series champion Frank Kimmel. Amazingly, Kimmel has won the series
crown six of the past seven seasons finishing second in 1999. Hoosier is proud
to be the exclusive tire provider to the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
Huge car counts continue to grace the ARCA RE/MAX Series with 48 cars
registering for the event and 45 cars actually making the trip to Berlin
Raceway. Last year's race, which was won by Frank Kimmel, featured 30 cars.
This year, 35 cars took the green flag as the series continues its phenomenal
growth. Joey Miller was the event's fastest qualifier earning the Pork Pole
Award after circling the .438-mile oval in 17.455 seconds (90.335 mph). Miller
was joined in the front row by fellow rookie Brett Hudson for the Saturday
evening race.
The race featured five leaders among four drivers with Joey Miller leading
twice. Lap leaders included; Joey Miller (1-74, 115-202), Jason Jarrett
(75-92), Chad Blount (93-105) and Brian Tyler (106-114). The short-track race
was slowed 14 times for 70 laps for various fender benders.
Following Miller to the finish line was Brian Tyler making only his second
series start. Tyler, who started fifth, is a two-time USAC National Sprint Car
champion. Three-time ARCA champion Tim Steele came in third after starting
15th. Frank Kimmel finished fourth followed by Gary Sherman, David Ragan, Chad
Blount, Billy Shotko, Brian Keselowski and Brett Hudson in fifth through tenth,
respectively.
Ron Cox won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most
positions. Cox, who started 28th, finished in 12th place.
With 12 races complete, Frank Kimmel leads the drivers standings with 3135
points followed by Joey Miller with 3005 markers. Chad Blount lurks in third
place with 2870 points.
TIRES: Hoosier 11.5/26.0-15 12L (left side) and 11.5/27.0-15 20R
(right side) tires. This was the same tire combination used in last season's
event. Berlin is one of eight tracks the ARCA RE/MAX Series visits on its
23-race schedule where a bias-ply tire is used. All other events use radial
tires made by Hoosier.
All ARCA Series events are serviced out of Hoosier headquarters in
Lakeville, IN. Hoosier's track service manager Doug Barnes made the trip to
Michigan to service the event. Barnes was assisted by Mike Haenes, Larry
Merrill, Eriks Bers, Dan Webb and Jake Hartle who performed
mounting/dismounting and balancing activities for the 45 cars on hand.
Quote from Doug Barnes: "With the high car count, we were
kept very busy in the hot and humid conditions. While temperatures reached well
past the 90 degree mark followed by rain and 4" of standings water, the
guys did a great job and the (Hoosier) tires were up to the task performing
extremely well."
Next stop for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is a return trip to Pocono Raceway,
July 23rd. The previous race in June was won by Travis Kvapil. For complete
race results and more information about the ARCA Series, visit their website at
www.arcaracing.com.
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