(R&S Racing Photos)
Qualifying Results – OFFICIAL Race Results
Winchester 100 during 44th Running of the Winchester 400 Weekend to decide 2015 Tour Championship
Brownsburg, Indiana (Sunday, September 27, 2015): The first of two major season ending special events to cap off the 2015 season was next to wrap up the fifth anniversary campaign for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance. On Saturday-Sunday, September 26-27th, the 10th race of the year was at the immaculate 0.686 mile semi-banked paved oval of Lucas Oil Raceway. The 2015 McGunegill Engine Performance CRA Fall Brawl saw the JEGS/CRA contingent race in the Stacked Pickle 100 Presented by Advanced Racing Suspensions at the famed Brownsburg, Indiana speed plant located west of Indianapolis.
In the seventh overall appearance in the Circle City, none of the previous victors were in the starting field which guaranteed a new winner at LOR. At the end of 100 laps, former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, Jack Smith passed 17-year-old Tristan Van Wieringen with three laps to go and hung on for his second victory in the last three events and first win since the New Haven, Indiana veteran had hand surgery. Just two days before his surgery, the 42-year-old went to victory lane for the first time in JEGS/CRA competition at Winchester Speedway (IN).
“This right here proves that we’re here, we’re contenders and we’re not going anywhere for a long time.” The elated driver of the #28 Urbine Machine / The Brake Man / Ford stated after climbing out of the car following his triumphant victory. “This whole team has been through so much over the years. Me personally, there’s so much that has happened and there were times when I really thought about throwing in the towel. But we never gave up, we kept moving forward and after we built this new car this year, we just hit on something and we’ve been so strong ever since.” He added.
After Smith won the Boyne Machine Company Fast Qualifier award the previous afternoon, he then drew a six and would start on the outside of the third row. Jeff Cannon and Van Wieringen brought the stacked 26-car field to Chief Starter, Scott Menlen’s green flag and it would be Cannon who would beat Van Wieringen and the rest of the field to the first corner to take the early lead. As Cannon paced the field, Van Wieringen never left his back bumper and would be joined by 18-year-old Trey Craig and eventually Smith, who made it a quartet of cars battling for the lead.
Cannon’s lead lasted until lap 59 when Smith slid past for the top spot. Van Wieringen followed Smith by and the two drivers would battle amongst themselves for the position. Van Wieringen would skate past Smith on lap 74 to take the lead, earning the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race award. The Canadian teenager tried in vain to hold off the advances of a determined Smith who would then pass Van Wieringen back with just three laps to go and hold him off for his second victory of the 2015 racing season.
Smith also scored the first Great Lakes Tire / Hoosier Racing Tire Performance award for his efforts. Van Wieringen, the 17-year-old from Amherstburg, Ontario picked up a career high second place finish in his #81 DuroByte Incorporated / Ford. After spending the 2015 racing season with the ICAR Top Speed Modified Tour Northern Division where he finished sixth in the final points standings within the open-wheeled Modified tour, the young Canadian has raced with JEGS/CRA the past four events and was rewarded with a career high showing.
Quinnton Bear, the Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year point’s leader, merely needs to show up at the final race of the season at Winchester Speedway (IN) on October 9th and the Avon, Indiana teenager will officially clinch the coveted freshman title. The 19-year-old driver of the #94 Sparco / Chevrolet scored his fifth top five of the season in finishing third. Bear would also collect his sixth VanDoorn Racing Development Rookie of the Race award and is within three points of second overall in the driver’s point’s standings with just one race remaining.
JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Drivers Points Leader, Dalton Armstrong also gave his Car Owner, Scott Neal Racing, the Owners Points Standings lead by just four markers going into the final event of the year with a fourth place finish at LOR. The New Castle, Indiana driver in his #4 Winfield Solutions / Ford merely needs to start at Winchester on October 9th and the Drivers Championship is his. The 21-year-old also scored the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure award as he continues his and his teams’ quests for both Drivers and Owners Championships. Armstrong needs to simply stay within one position of the #26 Bill Burba Motorsports entry in the last race to secure Neal’s second title.
Cannon completed the top five in his #33 Govert Auto Body / Chevrolet. The Kouts, Indiana veteran led the first 58 laps of the race, picking up the D.T.S. Drive Train Specialists Halfway Leader award in the process. The 36-year-old driver fell out of the top five briefly before regrouping and surging his way back to a fifth place effort when the checkered flag fell on the race.
Scott Tomasik started 16th and charged his way to a sixth place finish as Kyle Hayden started 14th and would cross the line in seventh. Craig fell back to eighth in the final rundown after battling for the lead early in the race while Travis Braden earned the Five Star Racecar Bodies Hard-Charger award and the second Great Lakes Tire / Hoosier Racing Tire Performance award with his 20th to ninth place run. Chad Pendleton completed the top 10. Chris Koslek finished 11th after making a pit stop under an earlier caution flag and grabbed the Hedman Hedders Husler award for his efforts.
Just 24 hours before in Boyne Machine Company Qualifying, Smith won his second Fast Qualifier award of the season with a 21.972. The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Track Record remains in the possession of the inaugural Tour Champion from the 2011 season, Erik Jones, now a star in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and current points leader in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, hangs on to the record he set back on October 1st, 2011 when he turned a 21.756 which measures out to 113.514mph.
The fifth anniversary 2015 racing season for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour will reach its conclusion with the crowning of the 2015 Tour Champion as well as the 2015 Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year on Friday, October 9th. In what has become tradition, the Winchester 100 Presented by JEGS.com for the premier template bodied / crate motored tour in the country will officially kick off the 44th Running of the Winchester 400 Race Weekend at the legendary 1/2 (0.500) mile high-banked paved oval of Winchester Speedway (IN) in Winchester, Indiana.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour has visited Winchester the most of any other track in the five-year history of the Tour with nine total races. Jack Smith is the most recent winner having gone to victory lane in the Labor Day Holiday Weekend World Stock Car Festival on September 6th. Travis Braden is the defending race winner of the Winchester 400 Weekend portion for JEGS/CRA as the reigning Two-Time ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion is also tied with 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion, Chase Elliott and Trent Snyder who all have two victories apiece. Kyle Benjamin and Corey Deuser also have single wins at the track located east of Muncie and west of the Indiana / Ohio state line.
For more information about the rest of the 2015 racing season within all four touring series’ of Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS, go to the series website at: www.cra-racing.com You can also follow along on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ChampionRacingAssociation and on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/CRAracing Finally for more information about Winchester Speedway, the host track for the 11th and final race of the fifth anniversary 2015 racing season within the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, go to the track website at: www.winchesterspeedway.com.
