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 NASHVILLE,
TN (August 9) -- Mario Gosselin led three times, including the
final nine laps, en route to winning Saturday's ARCA RE/MAX Series
Waste Management 200, at Nashville Superspeedway. Gosselin was making
just his eighth series start and now has two wins to his credit. The
race came on the heels of Friday's welcome announcement that the ARCA
RE/MAX Series has, for the fourth consecutive time, inked a 3-year
deal with Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. to have the Indiana-based tire
maker exclusively provide tires for the series through the 2006
season.
Forty-cars took the green flag Saturday afternoon. The
front row was to have been Frank Kimmel on the pole and Christi
Passmore alongside, but a pre-race engine change by Kimmel sent the
defending series champion to the rear of the field for the race
start.
When the green flag waved, fifth starting David Keith
powered into the race lead. Keith led the race's first three laps
before giving way to fourth starting Mario Gosselin. Gosselin led
through lap 59, before pitting and losing the race off pit lane to
Jason Jarrett. Jarrett would lead the next 15 laps before Gosselin
regained the race lead on lap 75. But Gosselin's lead would be brief
with Tandy Marlin (cousin to Winston Cup veteran Sterling Marlin)
moving into the lead for four circuits before relinquishing the lead
to Clint Bowyer who was making his first ARCA Series start. Bowyer led
the next 47 laps before being passed on the inside by Gosselin with
just nine laps to go. Gosselin held on to take the win by 1.158
seconds over Bowyer, who's effort was nothing short of phenomenal.
Finishing in third place was young Shelby Howard.
The exciting race had 10 of the 40 race starters
finishing on the lead lap. Completing the list of lead-lap finishers
were Doug Stevens, Jason Jarrett, Tandy Marlin, Wayne Anderson, Mark
Gibson, Jimmy Thiel and Bill Eversole in fourth through tenth,
respectively.
Hoosier ARCA Track Service Manager Doug Barnes
commented after the race, "The new right side tires used today
were awesome. It's very gratifying to witness the tires perform so
well after all the testing that was done. I feel it's just another
testament to why Hoosier was selected by ARCA to be their exclusive
tire supplier for another three years."
Despite a disappointing 31st place finish after
suffering transmission woes, Frank Kimmel (3695) continues to hold a
commanding 525 point lead in the driver standings over Jason Jarrett
(3170). Shelby Howard and Mark Gibson are tied for third place with
3000 points, while Billy Venturini is in fifth place with 2935
points.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series will return to action this
Sunday, August 17, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds where the ARCA
competitors will be tested on the 1-mile clay surface. For more
information visit www.arcaracing.com.
Special thanks also go out to Hoosier Engineer Rick
Tostevin for providing the details for this report.
The entire Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. extend their
thanks and appreciation to Ron Drager and all the members of the ARCA
Series for selecting Hoosier as the only tire brand the series will
compete on through the 2006 season. Everyone at Hoosier realizes the
weight of this decision and vows to continue to provide the best
racing tires in the world to the ARCA competitors for many years to
come.
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