Salem, IN (September 19, 2021) – Jason Atkinson took the lead in Saturday night’s Peterman Brothers Heating, Cooling & Plumbing 75 at Anderson Speedway for the Van Hoy Oil CRA Street Stocks Powered by JEGS by-passing Dalton Conner on lap 21 and bringing Allstar Performance Fast Qualifier Josh Poore with him.
Conner took the lead at the start chased by series rookie Dawson Phillips in second, Poore in third and Atkinson running fourth.
Atkinson and Poore worked their way to front of the field and Poore was able to stay in close contact with the leader.
There was a final restart with three laps remaining for a debris caution and Atkinson was able to maintain the point followed by Poore and Conner.
Phillips, the leading rookie of the year contender with the series, was passed by Andrew Teepe on the final lap for the fourth position. Teepe brought out the caution flag on the first lap and had to restart on the tail of the field. For his battle back to the front Teepe earned the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award.
Atkinson recorded two wins and a second at Anderson Speedway in CRA competition this year, with six overall wins with the series.
“Pretty good at Anderson,” remarked Atkinson. “Anytime you can beat Josh (Poore) at Anderson is makes it special.”
He said the car got a little tight in the corners at the finish, but he was able to hold off Poore. Atkinson was the series Regular Season Champion and is locked into the final four drivers who will race for the series 2021 Championship at Winchester Speedway on October 16th.
“The 73 (Atkinson) car is hard to beat,” Poore said. “We worked on the car all week to get it ready, just came up a little bit short.”
Conner was making his second start with the CRA Street Stocks and was pleased with his third place showing.
“The team gave me a really great race car,” he said. “To finish third behind those two cars is an accomplishment.”
For his third-place finish, Conner picked up the KRJ Race Products Sweet Move of the Race Award.
Connor was the only driver in the top five not in the series 2021 Chase for the Championship.
The Van Hoy Oil CRA Street Stocks next event will be part of the Allgaier Performance Parts Fall Brawl on Saturday, October 2 at Lucas Oil Raceway. More information on all the CRA series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
Photo – John Lund
Story – Ken de la Bastide
