Salem, IN (April 23, 2017) – Wyoming, Michigan driver Brian Campbell did not have the fastest car in practice and only managed to qualify eighth for Saturday’s ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS event at Toledo Speedway, but when it came down to the end, Campbell was sitting in victory lane again, his third time in the past four Spring 200 events at Toledo.
“I love coming to Toledo, this is one of my favorite tracks, remarked Campbell in victory lane. “My team’s persistence really paid off, we didn’t qualify well, we decided to come in on the lap 10 red flag to make some adjustments and they worked, the car was a rocket ship after that!”
Martin Latulippe took the early lead from his pole starting position after EDCO Welding Fast Qualifier Josh Brock drew a six for the events inverted start, but former event winner and three time series Champion Johnny VanDoorn quickly came from his third place starting position to grab the lead on lap two. Things came to halt quickly on lap 10 when contact from a spinning Latulippe after contact from another car sent Joey Miller hard into the backstretch wall collecting Latulippe and Dalton Armstrong. Miller was okay after the hard hit but he and Latulippe were done for the day.
VanDoorn took the green on the restart and quickly pulled out to a big lead over the rest of the field. With the restart Campbell quickly started working his way through the field and was able to erase VanDoorn’s lead and make the winning pass underneath VanDoorn on lap 77 to go on and get the victory, his 22nd all-time victory with the series, putting him now just one behind second in all-time series victories Brian Ross.
“I knew we were catching Johnny, added Campbell. “Terry Senneker was calling off our times and I could see we were going to catch him. I always like racing with Johnny, he’s a tough racer. This was a great field of cars, my crew’s hard work is what made the difference for us today!”
For his winning pass Campbell received the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award and his crew’s hard work and adjustments on lap 10 earned them the PitBoxes.com Pit Crew of the Race Award. With the win, Campbell is the first series member to be locked into the new Chase Championship format if he competes in at least 75% of the races leading up to the final four Chase events.
VanDoorn picked up the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure Award for his great run at the front in getting his second place finish and picked up the Fury Race Cars Halfway Leader Bonus for leading lap 50.
“We had a great car all weekend, but them it just went dead tight with about 25 to go and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold off Brian,” commented VanDoorn. “This weekend was definitely a step in the right direction for us with the red car, I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel again at the next race!”
The crowd was on its feet for the last two laps of the event, but it wasn’t the first and second place cars they were watching, it was the heated battle for third between Steve Wallace and Chad Finley that brought them to their feet. The two exchanged the lead several times, with each making contact with the other, but in the end it was Finley who earned the third place finish with Wallace right behind in fourth place.
California teenager Tyler Ankrum came from his fifteenth place starting position to get a fifth place finish and picked up a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and the Hamner Racing Engines Hardcharger Award. Christian Eckes held on to get a sixth place finish. Dalton Armstrong came back from being on the tail of the field twice to get a seventh place finish, earning a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and for recovering from being sick all morning to being able to race earned him the Sweet Manufacturing Sweet Move of the Race Award.
Former JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour competitor Cole Rouse got an eighth place finish for the Kyle Busch Motorsports team. Josh Brock picked up his second straight Senneker Performance Rookie of the Race Award with a ninth place finish, right in front of fellow rookie Kyle Crump who got a tenth place finish in his series debut and his first race with veteran car owner Stan Rosen.
The next ARCA/CRA Super Series event will be the $5000 to win Koorsen Fire & Security 125 on May 6th at Anderson Speedway. For more information on the ARCA/CRA Super Series visit www.cra-racing.com.
ARCA/CRA Super Series – Race Results
Photo By: Rand Thompson
