Special from Speed51.com – Saturday night’s ARCA/CRA Super Series race at Toledo Speedway saw one of the most dominating performances in Super Late Model racing in recent memory. Johnny VanDoorn nearly made it three-wide to take second from Kyle Crump on Lap 30, and then wrestled the lead away from Hunter Jack two laps later.
The Nunica, MI driver was untouchable the rest of the race, taking his second win in the CRA portion of the Glass City 200 in the last three years by half a lap. The official margin of victory was 8.335 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the ARCA/CRA Super Series in the last several years.
The win came as a birthday present to a key member of their team. His family was there to see he and younger brother Butch VanDoorn go to victory lane for the third time in CRA competition in 2019.
“You don’t get too many cars like that a year, it’s a lot of fun when you do have those,” VanDoorn told Speed51.com. “It’s a heck of a way to get my brother (Butch) his birthday present, my brother’s my crew chief and he put a heck of a setup on this thing tonight. He must’ve been saving it all year because this was really special.”
A series of yellow flags plagued the beginning of the race, which saw a red flag on Lap 1 and Chase contender Jack Dossey III’s night end after cutting a tire and collecting the wall on Lap 16. The race would go green to the end after the Lap 16 yellow. VanDoorn quickly worked his way from the tail end of the top ten to third in just nine laps, and found himself in the lead soon after. He had lapped the field up to fourth place by the time the checkered flag flew.
“Right out of the box tonight it was pretty new. You don’t get too many races where you can just go out there and cruise and not have to worry,” he said. “Fortunately the race pretty much went caution-free there at the end and that helped a ton. It’s a pretty good way to end the week.”
It was a repeat performance for the three-time ARCA/CRA Super Series champion, who won the inaugural CRA portion of the Glass City in 200 in 2017 before missing last year’s race due to an illness. In the 2017 edition, a 90-lap run to the finish saw him lap the field up to third place with Harold Fair Jr running close behind.
It is his fifth ARCA/CRA Super Series win and seventh win overall at what he considers his favorite track.
“Toledo’s my favorite track, it has been for a long time,” he said. “Anytime I can come down here and win it’s really special. I love this track, it’s one of those tracks that never loses grip and it’s fast every year, it doesn’t wear out. If you like going fast and staying in the gas, this is the place. And to have a car as good as we had tonight makes it all that much more special.”
Kyle Crump added his second runner-up of the night after also finishing second in the Outlaw Super Late Model portion of the Glass City 200. Defending series champion Josh Brock, former Glass City 200 winner Brian Campbell, and former series champion Cody Coughlin rounded out the top five.
The final race of the ARCA/CRA Super Series 2019 season will be in the Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway on Sunday, October 13. Josh Brock, Jack Dossey III, Greg Van Alst, and Hunter Jack are the four drivers competing in the race within the race, the race for the ARCA/CRA Super Series championship.
ARCA/CRA Super Series – Glass City 100 Results:
- Johnny VanDoorn
- Kyle Crump
- Josh Brock
- Brian Campbell
- Cody Coughlin
- Greg Van Alst
- Austin Kunert
- Shawn Amor
- Hunter Jack
- Albert Francis
- Jerry Artuso
- Dalton Zehr
- Hayden Sprague
- Brett Robinson
- Brandon Varney
- Travis Braden
- Jordan Pruitt
- Harold Fair Jr
- Scott Hantz
- Jack Dossey III
-Story by: Koty Geyer, Speed51.com State Editor (IN/MI) – Twitter: @kgeyer3
-Photo Credit: Speed51.com
