Salem, IN (July 28, 2019) – The ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS was back in action Saturday night for the Summit City 100 at Baer Field Motorsports Park were fans were treated to some great racing action through out the event between Josh Brock and Johnny VanDoorn. Brock was able to hold off VanDoorn to get his second victory of the season and third of his career with the ARCA/CRA Super Series.
“This is great”, remarked a jubilant Brock in victory lane. “We are just a bunch of good old Kentucky boys who love to race. We race with this series because we get to compete against the best late model drivers in the country and tonight, we beat one of the best to get this win. Hopefully this gives us some good momentum to finish the season on top and win a second Championship!”
Florida native Steve Dorer grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag from his outside pole starting position after he and pole sitter Austin Kunert battled side by side for the first lap, but his lead only lasted one lap as Josh Brock dived to the inside to grab the lead in turn three coming to complete lap two with VanDoorn following in his footsteps.
For the next 99 laps Brock would have to fight off VanDoorn on six restarts, which came after the field was slowed for five cautions and one red flag. On each start Brock was able to pull away from VanDoorn using the inside groove, while there was a torrid battle behind him for the rest of the top five positions, which VanDoorn would get the best of those and continue to hound Brock. The two made contact a few times but raced each other cleanly. VanDoorn would battle Hamke Race Cars/Rowdy Manufacturing Fast Qualifier Kyle Crump on several of the restarts for second, Crump was looking for his first series win. The three almost went three wide on one restart bringing the crowd to its feet.
On the final restart with six laps to go, Brock pulled away and got some distance between he and VanDoorn giving the series Championship Points leader enough room to grab the win over VanDoorn who was coming off a huge win in the Redbud 400 on July 15th. Brock picked up the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award for his winning pass on lap two of the event. With one event left until the series 2019 Chase for the Championship begins, Brock has a guaranteed spot in the Chase with his two series victories so far this season.
VanDoorn missed the first practice session of the day for the series, he was attending the service for his father Ken who passed away recently after a long battle with cancer. VanDoorn picked up the FLUIDYNE Cool Under Pressure Award for his touch battle with Brock.
“That was probably the funnest cat and mouse race for the lead with Josh that I’ve had in a long time,” remarked VanDoorn. “Congratulations to those guys, they did a great job, the fans should have really enjoyed that race!”
2017 series Champion Logan Runyan got a season best third place finish to end the streak of bad luck that has plagued him most of the 2019 season. Runyan’s crew put in the extra effort to give him a good car for the event, which earned them the PitBoxes.com Pit Crew of the Race Award.
Hunter Jack finished in fourth, adding to his second place in series Championship Points. Greg Van Alst came from his 13th place starting position to finish in fifth place, his best finish of the season, which earned him a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and the Progressive Racing Engines Hard Charger Award.
Crump would finish in sixth place after a tough battle with seventh place finisher Dorer. The two made contact on lap 94 battling for a top five position resulting in both cars spinning. The two were battling again side by side to the finish line at the end of the race for sixth place.
Jonathan Martin finished in eighth in his series debut. Illinois veteran racer John Nutley finished in ninth place in his first series start in many years. Nutley gained seven positions from his 16th place starting position to earn him a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award. Series Rookie Scotty Tomasik finished in 10th place and earned the Senneker Performance Rookie of the Race Award.
The red flag waved on lap 86 when Kyle Jones went off the back stretch of the track and made hard contact with the tire barrier flipping several times. Jones was okay but his car suffered major damage.
The ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS next event will be on Wednesday, August 7th at Kalamazoo Speedway, as part of the famed Kalamazoo Klash event. More information on the ARCA/CRA Super Series is available at www.cra-racing.com.