 WEST
ALLIS, WI (August 26, 2006) -- Phil Bozell became the 15th different winner in
17 events contested to date in the ARCA RE/MAX Series after winning Sunday's
"Governor's Cup 200" at the Milwaukee Mile. The Portage, MI driver
opted to pit just two times during the 200-lap race which proved to be the edge
the veteran late model driver needed to etch his name into the ARCA Series
record books. In addition to being the series' 15th different winner this year,
Bozell also becomes the 10th driver to claim their first career win in the
series. The ARCA RE/MAX Series is probably the country's most challenging
series with races contested on both dirt and pavement using both bias and
radial tires on tracks varying in length from half-mile bull rings to the
2.66-mile Superspeedway at Talladega. Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is also proud
to have been the official tire of the ARCA RE/MAX Series for the past 12
seasons.
Forty-five cars were entered for Sunday's race with 38 cars posting times in
qualifying. Blake Bjorklund earned the Pork Pole Award as the event's fastest
qualifier circling the mile track in 30.425 seconds (118.324 mph). Phil Bozell
was second in qualifying with a time of 30.515 seconds (117.975 mph) while
Wisconsin rookie Tim Schendel, Ryan Foster and Justin Allgaier rounded out the
list of top five qualifiers.
The 200-lap race featured 10 race leaders split among six different drivers.
Race leaders included; Blake Bjorklund (1-17, 70-87), Justin Allgaier (18-34,
48-66, 88-115), Tim Schendel (35-47, 135-157), Mike Harmon (67-69), Frank
Kimmel (116-134) and Phil Bozell (160-200). The race was slowed 6 times for
cautions for a total of 34 laps.
In the race's final stages, Bozell elected not to follow the leaders and pit
for tires. Instead, he opted to stay out and hang on the remaining 40 laps. At
the finish, Bozell took the win 1.493 seconds ahead of second place finisher
Tim Schendel. Frank Kimmel, who started 13th, finished in third place followed
by Justin Allgaier and Wisconsin rookie Ryan Mathews in fourth and fifth, respectively.
After the race Bozell commented, "We decided not to pit at the end even
though everyone else came in because ARCA issues 10 tires for this race and we
knew they all had already gone through two sets, that meant they could only put
on two tires at most. I think most of them went with right sides. But our car
didn’t seem like we needed any (Hoosier) tires, and we had plenty of fuel so
we stayed out. I just kept hitting my marks being smooth and it paid
off."
Tony Leis finished in sixth place followed by Brian Keselowski, Todd Hansen,
Billy Venturini and Bobby Gerhart in seventh through tenth, respectively. Leis
won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions. The
La Crosse, WI driver started 25th en route to a sixth place finish, while 10 of
the 39 drivers to start the race finished on the lead lap.
All the competitors raced on Hoosier 11.5/26.0-15 12L (left
side) and 11.5/27.0-15 20R (right side) bias-ply tires. Milwaukee is one of 10
stops the ARCA RE/MAX Series 23-race schedule in which bias-ply tires are used.
All ARCA Series events are serviced out of Hoosier headquarters
in Lakeville, IN. Service for the Milwaukee race was under the direction of
ARCA RE/MAX Series Track Service Manager Doug Barnes. Barnes was assisted by
Rick Tostevin, Dave Wroblewski, Chad Wright, Larry Merrill, Derrik Duszynski,
Fred Awald and Aric Ott.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series will again pull double-duty this holiday
weekend. First, the series races at the 1/2-mile asphalt oval of Toledo (OH)
Speedway on Friday before traveling to the 1-mile clay track at the DuQuoin
State Fairgrounds on Labor Day (Monday). Both events will use the same Hoosier
bias-ply tires used in the Milwaukee event.
For complete race results and more information about the ARCA RE/MAX Series
visit their website at www.arcaracing.com.
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