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 NORTH
EAST, PA (August 7) -- Defending ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank
Kimmel captured his fourth win of the season winning the ARCA RE/MAX
200, at Lake Erie Speedway Saturday night. Ironically, Kimmel won last
year's Lake Erie race which was also his fourth win of the season.
Also contested during the evening was the MMRA Mini-Cup Nationals
which, like the ARCA RE/MAX Series, run exclusively on Hoosier tires.
In the MMRA Eastern Mini-Cup Future Stars Division, Zach Coll was the
winner, while Chad Willis, with his second place finish, captured the division
championship. In the MMRA Eastern Open Division which attracted a huge
31-car field, Joe Meyer won the battle--but Josh Byrns won the war
earning the 2004 Eastern Mini-Cup Open Division championship with his
second place finish. In the MMRA Eastern Pro Division, Bill Christie
was both the race winner and the division's champion for the season.
(See MMRA photo at the end of this report.)
In the ARCA RE/MAX Series race, 33 cars started the
15th event on the series' 22-race schedule. Frank Kimmel, the race's
defending champion, was the Pork Pole Award winner with a 15.822
second (85.324 mph) lap around the 3/8-mile oval. Kimmel was joined in
the front row by A.J. Fike.
The race featured nine race leaders among four
different drivers with Frank Kimmel leading a total of four times for
134 of the 203 race laps. Other race leaders included Indianapolis'
Kyle Krisiloff who led three times for 38 laps. Krisiloff, making his
first series start, is another of the talented drivers in the Hendrick
Motorsports driver development program. A.J. Fike also led once during
the event for 20 laps, while Brent Sherman also took a turn out front
leading 11 circuits.
When the race was over, Frank Kimmel had taken the win
finishing .240 seconds ahead of sixth starting Brent Sherman. Sherman
was followed by Jason Jarrett, Billy Venturini and T.J. Bell to round
out the top five. A.J. Fike finished in sixth place followed by Bobby
Gerhart, Christi Passmore, Kyle Krisiloff and Randy VanZant to
complete the list of top ten finishers. Norm Benning finished in 11th
place and completed the list of lead-lap finishers.
With the win, Frank Kimmel now ties Jack Bowsher for
second place on the all-time ARCA Series win list with 54 victories.
Bobby Gerhart won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing
the most positions. Gerhart started 16th en route to finishing in 7th
place.
All the ARCA race teams used Hoosier's short track
bias-ply (11.5/26.0-15 "12" left side and 11.5/27.0-15
"20" right side) tires on the asphalt 3/8-mile track. The
race was serviced, as always, out of Hoosier's corporate headquarters
in Lakeville, IN. Doug Barnes, Hoosier's ARCA Track Service Manager
was on hand as was Dave Wroblewski, Mike Haenes, Jacob Hartle, Kevin
Wroblewski and Tom Carter. The tires were also transported to the
facility by Hoosier driver Gary Ecker.
Frank Kimmel continues to add to his already big lead
in the season-long driver standings. Currently, Kimmel is in command
with 4095 points followed by Brent Sherman with 3615 points, while
Billy Venturini, T.J. Bell and Jason Jarrett round out the top five in
the rankings.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series is back in action this
Saturday, August 14th, at Nashville Superspeedway. For more
information about the exciting ARCA RE/MAX Series, visit their website
at www.arcaracing.com.
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In the MMRA Eastern Mini-Cup Future Stars Division,
Zach Coll was the winner, while Chad Willis, with his second place
finish, captured the division championship. In the MMRA Eastern Open
Division which attracted a huge 31-car field, Joe Meyer won the
battle--but Josh Byrns won the war earning the 2004 Eastern Mini-Cup
Open Division championship with his second place finish. In the MMRA
Eastern Pro Division, Bill Christie was both the race winner and the
division's champion for the season.
Other race notes, Frank Kimmel II competed in the MMRA
Open Division but finished 29th after a crash. Lindsey Daniels, who
was the test driver for Hoosier before entering the Mini-Cup market,
came back from an injury to compete in the season-ending race
finishing in ninth place.
Congratulations to all the competitors who rode on
Hoosier's Tires Designed For Champions during
the exciting 2004 season.
For more information about MMRA, visit their website
at www.mmraracing.com.
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