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 SPRINGFIELD,
IL (August 18) -- Defending ARCA RE/MAX Series Champion Frank Kimmel
captured his seventh race of the season Sunday afternoon at the
Illinois State Fairgrounds. The win was Kimmel's third in a row at
Springfield's 1-mile clay oval and 40th overall in the series. Kimmel
led 84 of the 100 race laps en route to winning the Allen Crowe
Memorial 100.
Qualifying was rained out so the starting grid was set
by owners points which placed Kimmel and Chad Blount on the front row
for the race. Kimmel took the early race lead when the checkered flag
fell--leading the first 19 circuits before giving way to Andy Belmont.
Belmont's lead would last just four laps before giving way to Ron Cox
who led the next four laps. Billy Thomas was next in line to lead,
what else, the next four laps. That is when, Kimmel charged back into
the lead for good on lap 36. Kimmel led the next 65 laps to take the
checkered flag win over the 37 other race starters.
Finishing in second place was 16th starting Doug
Keller, while third place went to 28th starting Bob Strait. Not to be
outdone, Joe Cooksey took 4th after starting back in the 31st
position. Cooksey also won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for
advancing the most positions. Rounding out the top five was Tom
Eriksen who started 15th.
Twelve of the 38 race starters finished the race on
the lead lap. Completing the list of lead-lap finishers were Norm
Benning, Kevin Belmont, Chad Blount, Billy Venturini, Jason Jarrett,
Chase Montgomery, and Todd Coon in sixth through twelfth,
respectively. Chad Blount was also the highest finishing rookie of the
race.
Justin Allgaier, the 16 year-old son of Hoosier Tire
Midwest's Mike Allgaier, finished 17th.
Hoosier ARCA Product Manager Jeff Speer commented,
"This is ARCA's first dirt track race of 2002. Hoosier makes a specific dirt tire for the heavy 3400 pound stock cars. We have been using this tire combination for several years and have had good success."
Speer continued, "Many of the top teams change all four tires on their first pit stop, but most of the field run the entire 100 laps on one set of tires. Because of the heavy, high horsepower cars, these tires are designed with
a tough, deeply grooved tread compound and stiff sidewalls."
Speer concluded, "Several teams praised the tire performance of
their Hoosiers after finishing the event."
Frank Kimmel retains the ARCA Series points lead with
4225 points, followed by Chad Blount with 3945. Rounding out the top
five in the standings is Jason Jarrett, Chase Montgomery and Billy Venturini.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series will next be in action on
August 31, at Winchester Speedway for the Winchester ARCA 200.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is the exclusive supplier of
tires to the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
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