by Zach Hiser, Michael Brewer
De Graff, OH – Coming into the weekend at Shadybowl Speedway, Andrew Teepe had four wins to his credit with the CRA Street Stocks Powered by JEGS – but his last came in the 2022 season. On Saturday, during the CRA Five Crown Series penultimate race, Teepe not only returned to CRA Victory Lane but did so in dominating fashion.
The Indianapolis, IN native wasted no time taking the point of the field on Saturday afternoon thanks to the invert of five after qualifying. A caution just ten laps into the event reorganized the field after Danny Smith lost an engine.
When the race resumed, Teepe had one driver to deal with for the top spot – defending CRA Street Stocks’ Champion, Dalton Connor. The pair raced hard throughout the first quarter of the 150-lap affair with Connor even officially leading laps in his No.20. But as traffic became a factor, Teepe returned to setting the pace for the field while Ryan Amonett, Buck Purtee, and Colby Lane battle for the top five spots. Lane’s night came to and end at the halfway break as the No.73 went up in smoke coming to the caution.
Teepe still maintained the top spot with Connor and Amonett searching for a way to overthrow the No.84 after the break. Then, disaster struck Amonett as he was battling with Connor for the second spot; smoke poured out the side of his No.1 machine coming down the front stretch ending his day with an apparent engine failure.
That opened the door for Josh Sage, Shadybowl regular and fast qualifier earlier in the day, to challenge for the lead in his No.89. Sage put a charge into his efforts and challenged for the runner-up spot, bringing Blaine Akin with him, displacing Conner outside of the top four at one point in the run. Conner quickly regrouped and made short work of Akin and Sage on his way back to P2. The third caution of the night came at lap 113 when Jamie Sites spun down the front stretch, bringing the field back tight to Teepe once again. Teepe was challenged but didn’t falter on the restart and held on to collect his first win since 2022. Connor held on for second, Buck Purtee third, Sage fourth, and Mark, Eads, Jr fifth.
The next event for the CRA Street Stocks Powered by JEGS is the CRA Five Crown Championship at Anderson Speedway on Saturday, August 10th. For more information on Champion Racing Association or the CRA Street Stocks, log onto CRA-Racing.com, find CRA: Champion Racing Association on Facebook and follow @CRARacing on X.
