by Zach Hiser | MARCNews.org
Owosso, MI – The 2026 season is officially underway for the Turn One CRA Pro Series Presented by Chevrolet Performance after Saturday night’s Big ‘O Classic 100. The $10,000 to win affair drew 29 cars to the Mid-Michigan facility and offered Canada’s Treyten Lapcevich the opportunity to earn his first career CRA Pro Series win.
Evan Shotko led the field to the green alongside former two-time CRA Pro Series Champion, Dan Leek. Shotko used the outside of the race track to grab the early lead down the backstretch. In the early parts of the race, the top five didn’t change much, other than when sixth place starting Lapcevich began making his way to the front.
A lap 34 restart gave Lapcevich the opportunity he needed to take the lead from Shotko. Lapcevich’s night was far from over, however, with 2024 CRA Pro Series Champion, Blake Rowe on the charge. Four additional caution flags gave Rowe several chances to try and take the lead from the Grimsby, Ontario, Canada native.
A lap 61 restart was the closest Rowe came to taking the lead from Lapcevich. Rowe’s No.71 kept pace with Lapcevich through turns one and two, and had the run going into turn three. Slight contact at the exit of corner number four kicked Rowe’s car sideways giving Lapcevich a chance to pull back out front. Behind them, Rowe made more contact with a challenging Evan Shotko to hold on to the second spot.
In heavy lapped traffic, Rowe was able to close the gap down to just over one second, but couldn’t find the speed he needed to challenge Lapcevich for the win.
“I’m a big fan of Owosso Speedway,” Lapcevich said in victory lane. “There’s so much fun here, being able to run two lanes. Hats off to the Rette Jones Racing guys, Port City Racecars. They built an awesome car, and we showed it here tonight.”
“Blake [Rowe] and Evan [Shotko], really quick, ran a great race there. Just trying to save what I could while also pushing Blake. He wasn’t making it easy there. I had to definitely be on the loud pedal there at the end. These guys just build such a race that could last the whole race, and it made it a lot easier on me.”
Rowe and Shotko rounded out the podium while Tyler Lupton, from 10th, finished fourth, and Chase Pinsonneault finished fifth. Mandy Chick was the evening’s Hard Charger, finishing 10th from the 22nd starting spot.
The next event for the Turn One CRA Pro Series Presented by Chevrolet Performance is Saturday, June 6th at Flat Rock Speedway alongside Outlaw Super Late Models. Advanced tickets are available at FlatRockSpeedway.com.
For more information on the Turn One CRA Pro Series Presented by Chevrolet Performance, visit CRA-Racing.com. Find CRA: Champion Racing Association on Facebook and @CRARacing on X. Catch all this season’s events LIVE on TrackTv.com and RacingAmerica.TV.