Salem, IN (April 18, 2021) Veteran Indiana racer Jeff Marcum did not waste any time in getting his first win of the 2021 season in leading 74 laps of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 75 lap season opening feature for the Vore’s Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman Powered by JEGS Saturday night at Anderson Speedway. Paige Rogers led the opening lap of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 75 with Marcum taking the point with a traditional inside pass entering turn three. Marcum had to hold off challengers Ronnie Rose, Tommy Cook and James Kirby through eight restarts to get his eighth win with the Vore’s Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman, seven of those have been at Anderson Speedway.
“When the race was over, I said it can’t be, I want to go back for one more restart at least,” Marcum said. “Gee whiz, how many could we have? That was a lot of fun. Eighteen cars in this field, it’s a blast to race with all those guys, a real good class of drivers.”
Marcum added, “Tommy Cook and Billy Hutson and those guys, and of course Ronnie (Rose), they always run so good, and they bring so much speed. I have got to thank my guys, when we unloaded, we weren’t so good, but they worked on it all the way up until race time and they found out what our gremlin was. They really made this car fast.”
Marcum got to start in the third position after Allstar Performance Fast Qualifier Billy Hutson drew an eight for the inverted start placing Paige on the pole. Paige got to just lead one lap before Marcum took the lead and eventually the win. Marcum picked up the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award for his pass and holding off challengers for eight restarts.
Former Van Hoy Oil CRA Street Stock Champion Kirby finished in second. Rose would finish in third place. 2020 series season opener winner at Anderson Cook finished in fourth place. 2020 series Champion Hutson finished in fifth place. Cassten Everidge came from his 11th place starting position to finish in sixth and pick up the KRJ Race Products Sweet Move of the Race Award. J.P Crabtree finished in seventh, after having to go to the tail after being involved in one of the cautions. Jason Timmerman finished eighth, Rogers in ninth and Michigan racer Kyle Worley in tenth in his series debut.
The next Vore’s Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman event will be on Sunday, May 23rd at Mt. Lawn Speedway. More event information and information on all the CRA Series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
