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 LAKEVILLE,
IN -- Two-time defending ARCA Series Champion Frank Kimmel added to
his current points lead after winning the GoldenPalace.com 200 on
Saturday night at Indiana's Winchester Speedway and then fought off
the challenges of Winston Cup star Tony Stewart to capture the
Federated Auto Parts 100 Monday afternoon at the Duquoin State
Fairgrounds in Illinois. The pair of wins increased the veteran's lead
to 280 points over rookie Chad Blount in the ARCA RE/MAX Series
standings.
WINCHESTER, IN (August 31) -- Thirty-four cars
took the green flag at Winchester Speedway on Saturday evening. The
front row starting grid mirrored the season long battle between the
cagey veteran Frank Kimmel and the young rookie hot shoe Chad Blount.
Kimmel won the pole with a 16.488 second lap (109.170 mph) on the high
banks of Winchester Speedway's 1/2-mile oval with Blount settling for
the outside pole with his lap of 16.769 seconds (107.341 mph).
The race had Kimmel leading three times for 166 of the
race's 200 laps. Other race leaders were Chad Blount (laps 34-36),
Jason Jarrett (laps 116-128), and 17-year-old rookie Shelby Howard
(laps 129-146).
The race was slowed by 10 cautions for a total of 61
laps. Only two of the 34 race starters finished the event on the lead
lap. Finishing runner-up to Kimmel was the teenager Shelby Howard. It
was Howard's career-best finish in the series.
Rounding out the top five was Doug Stevens making only
his third series start finishing third, Mark Gibson fourth and Randy
VanZant fifth. Chad Blount finished a disappointing 17th.
Chuck Weber earned the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award
for finishing 13th after starting 28th.
DUQUOIN, IL (September 2) -- Where else would
you find Tony Stewart on a day when he wasn't racing in the NASCAR
Winston Cup Series--where else but at a local track competing against
other drivers who love racing as much as the Indiana native. Stewart,
driving Andy Petree's Monaco Coach Chevrolet, was on the pole for the
Federated Auto Parts 100 after the Rushville, Indiana native broke his
own track record set last year with a lap of 106.440 seconds around
the 1-mile dirt oval.
Forty drivers started the event that had Stewart
leading the first 22 circuits before giving way to outside pole-sitter
Doug Keller. Keller led 11 laps before Frank Kimmel took over the race
lead on lap 34. Kimmel would lead the remainder of the way, but not
without a challenge from Stewart. The difference in the race came on
what should have been Stewart's only pit stop. But Stewart made
contact with Ron Cox which caused him to have to pit the following lap
to repair damage to his right front fender. The extra stop caused him
to loose track position to Kimmel which he was never able to fully
make up.
Although Stewart charged his way back through the
field to catch Kimmel, he was never able to find a way around the
defending series champion. And just as last year's race ended, Frank
Kimmel took the checkered flag with Tony Stewart a close second. The
margin of victory was a scant .363 seconds or about one car length.
Finishing in third was another insatiable race and
fellow Winston Cup competitor Ken Schrader. Red Farmer, Joe Cooksey
and Doug Keller rounded out fourth through sixth and completed the
list of lead-lap finishers.
The race had nine cautions for a total of 45 laps. Tim
Burrell won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award with his 12th place finish
after starting 31st. Also of note, Justin Allgaier, the 16-year-old
son of Hoosier Tire Midwest owner Mike Allgaier, finished 11th in only
his second ARCA Series start.
Hoosier ARCA Product manager Jeff Speer commented
after the event, "The competitors could not stop complimenting the Hoosier short track
asphalt and dirt tires for both events. The asphalt tread compounds have not changed for several years and have proven successful throughout the 2002 season."
Speer continued, "Many of the lower budgeted teams are able to use the same set of tires to practice and race on at the next short track event. On rare
occurrences, a competitor will have a tire failure, but most often the cause was a fender cutting the tire or debris on the track."
Speer concluded, "Our dirt tires have been designed with deep grooves,
a tough tread compound and stiff sidewalls to carry the 3400 pound ARCA cars through the wide, high speed turns at Duquoin and
Springfield and teams rarely change tires for the 100-lap dirt events."
The win was Kimmel's ninth win of the season in 18
events with just four races remaining. Kimmel leads the point chase
with 4225 points followed by Chad Blount (3945) who finished 25th.
Jason Jarrett is in third with 3520 markers. Chase Montgomery (3425)
and Billy Venturini (3300) round out the top five.
The series now travels to Joliet, IL for Saturday's
race at Chicagoland Speedway.
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