Salem, IN (December 21, 2017) – Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS officials have announced the first group of entries that have arrived for the upcoming CRA SpeedFest 2018, which will be held on Saturday, January 27th and Sunday, January 28th at Crisp Motorsports Park – Home of the Watermelon Capital Speedway located in Cordele, Georgia. As is tradition, this event is held the weekend prior to the Super Bowl every year.
2018 will be the 14th SpeedFest event for ARCA/CRA Super Series Super Late Models, past winners include: 2005 Charlie Menard, 2006 Mike Fritts, 2007 Eddie Hoffman, 2008 and 2013 Jeff Choquette, 2009, 2010 and 2012 Kyle Busch, 2011, 2014 and 2015 Chase Elliott, 2016 Bubba Pollard and 2017’s winner Harrison Burton.
2018 will be the seventh SpeedFest event for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Pro Late Models, past winners include: 2012 and 2013 Chase Elliott, 2014, 2015 and 2016 John Hunter Nemechek and 2017’s winner Casey Roderick.
CRA SpeedFest 2018 will consist of a $10,000 to win 200 lap ARCA/CRA Super Series Super Late Model special non-points event and a $5000 to win 125 lap JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Pro Late Model special non-points event. The 200 ARCA/CRA Super Series event will be an eight tire max event that will count yellow flag laps up to lap 175 with Controlled Cautions. The 125 lap JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event will be a four tire only event that will count yellow flag laps up to lap 100. In addition, CRA SpeedFest 2018 will also feature a 20 lap Legend feature and a 15 lap Bandolero feature.
Defending ARCA/CRA Super Series SpeedFest 200 event winner Harrison Burton, son of former NASCAR great and current NBC TV analyst Jeff Burton, is entered to defend last season’s win in the Super Late Model event. The North Carolina teenager was the 2017 NASCAR K & N Pro Series East Champion, winning five events during the 2017 season, never finishing outside the top ten and only finishing out of the top five in two races. Burton picked up an ARCA Racing Series win in 2017 at Toledo Speedway and competed in six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events for Kyle Busch Motorsports with one top five finish. Burton finished a close second in SpeedFest 2016 to event winner Bubba Pollard.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competitor Corey LaJoie, son of two time NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion Randy LaJoie, is entered to compete in his first CRA SpeedFest event. The North Carolina native was a Rookie of the Year candidate in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2017 for BK Racing. LaJoie is a six time winner in the NASCAR K & N Pro Series and a three time winner in the ARCA Racing Series.
Florida native Steve Dorer is entered to compete in both CRA SpeedFest 2018 events. Dorer has multiple CRA wins in his career including a victory in the 2011 Redbud 300 at Anderson Speedway in Anderson, Indiana. Dorer was a multi time Super Late Model winner during the 2017 season in his home state of Florida.
2017 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Champion Jack Dossey III from Indiana is also entered to compete in both CRA SpeedFest 2018 events. 2017 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Rookie of the Year and three time event winner Carson Hocevar from Michigan is entered to compete in the ARCA/CRA Super Series SpeedFest event.
NASCAR K & N Pro Series East competitor Chase Purdy from North Carolina and Southern Super Series Competitor Connor Okrzesik from Alabama are both entered for the ARCA/CRA Super Series SpeedFest event. The Florida based John Coffman Racing Team has three cars entered for the ARCA/CRA Super Series SpeedFest event, for Coffman, Jeff Firestine and former Watermelon Capital Speedway Late Model Champion Stuart Dutton.
Former Watermelon Capital Speedway Late Model Champion Chris Dilbeck is entered for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event, he finished second in that event in 2016. Alabama’s Justin South, a former JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event winner and Michigan’s Chris Koslek, a part time CRA and full-time Berlin Raceway competitor, are both entered for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event.
Additional entries for both events are expected to continue to arrive over the next month leading up to the event. CRA would like to remind any driver not entered yet that the advance entry deadline for CRA SpeedFest 2018 is January 14th, after that date teams will have to pay an additional $50 late fee to enter.
Track and CRA SpeedFest 2018 information, including purchasing advance tickets, can be found at www.crispmotorsportspark.com.
All information on CRA, including rules, license forms and the entry forms for both CRA SpeedFest 2018 events, can be found at www.cra-racing.com.
Photo By: Rich Corbett
