NEWTON IA (6-2-07) ? ARCA RE/MAX Series veteran Frank Kimmel, in the TransAmerica-Fort Dodge Animal Health-Pork Ford, held off a late-race charge from rookie Michael McDowell to win the Prairie Meadows 250 Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.
The win marked Kimmel?s 69th career series victory in his 335th series start. The victory also marked the ninth different winner in as many events in 2007.
?It was a great race,? said Kimmel. ?We had some issues. We had a few mishaps on a pit stop. This is a very good racetrack. This series is so competitive anymore; it?s unreal. Bill (Kimmel/crew chief) and the guys worked really hard on the car.
?I knew Michael (McDowell) was coming; he was really charging hard. But he raced us clean and we both came out with great finishes. I had a ball today. There was some serious, clean racing going on out there.?
McDowell, after erasing Kimmel?s 10-length lead inside of five laps remaining, caught Kimmel on the final lap and drew up alongside the eventual winner coming to the checkered flag. McDowell, in the Z Line-Make A Wish-Beck Dodge, fell a half-length short at the final stripe.
?It was a good race,? said McDowell. ?Unfortunately we came down for a green flag stop and ended up a victim of a caution. For a few laps there I was overdriving. Once I calmed down it was fine. It?s hard because we were chasing down our first victory and we should have won a few times already. It makes you very anxious.?
Rookie Michael Annett, after earning the SIM Factory Pole Award in his career-first attempt, finished third in the TMC Dodge.
?I?ve watched a lot of races on television where they talked about how important track position was, but I never really understood it until today,? said Annett. ?If you get stuck in the back sometimes it doesn?t matter how good your car is, you will never be able to make it up to the front. We definitely had a car that could have won. I can?t say enough about the guys at Country Joe Racing.?
Phillip McGilton, in the SI Performance Ford, finished fourth with Bryan Clauson, in the Memorex Dodge, trailing in fifth.
In all, six drivers exchanged the lead 11 times throughout the 250-lap event while nine cautions for 49 laps, all for minor incidents, slowed the field nine times. There were no injuries.
Kimmel led the most laps with 94 over McDowell?s 74 laps-led.
Bobby Gerhart finished sixth in the Lucas Oil Chevrolet.
Justin Allgaier was a major player most of the way, leading three times for 47 laps. However, Allgaier scraped the wall in turn two in an effort to avoid an accident and had to pit for tires and fender repair late in the race. Allgaier, in the AG Tech Chevrolet, battled back to finish seventh.
Justin South finished eighth in the HD Supply Dodge in front of Josh Krug, who finished a career-best ninth in the Bigford Enterprises Chevrolet, the last car on the lead lap. Krug, who started 23rd, also earned the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions.
Jason Hedlesky finished 10th in the Hardcore Motorsports Ford.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series travels next to Pocono Raceway for the 44th Pocono 200 Saturday, June 9th. The race will air same-day on SPEED at 8 pm ET.
Top-10 ARCA RE/MAX Series Points after Iowa Speedway (6-2-07)
1) Frank Kimmel 1955; 2) Justin Allgaier 1845; 3) Bobby Gerhart 1830; 4) Dexter Bean 1760; 5) Michael McDowell 1690; 5) Phillip McGilton 1690; 7) Justin South 1680; 8) Justin Marks 1540; 9) Patrick Sheltra 1440; 10) Bryan Silas 1410.
Official Finish, Prairie Meadows 250, Iowa Speedway
FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS 1 4 46 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN TransAmerica-Fort Dodge Animal Health-Pork Ford 250 Running 2 7 2 Michael McDowell/Phoenix AZ Z Line-Make A Wish-Beck-Beck Dodge 250 Running 3 1 32 Michael Annett/W. Des Moines IA TMC Dodge 250 Running 4 2 47 Phillip McGilton/Marion IL SI Performance Ford 250 Running 5 11 4 Bryan Clauson/Noblesville IN Memorex Dodge 250 Running 6 6 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA Lucas Oil Chevrolet 250 Running 7 5 16 Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL AG Tech Chevrolet 250 Running 8 14 59 Justin South/Hueytown AL HD Supply Lumber & Building Materials Dodge 250 Running 9 23 23 Josh Krug/Omaha NE Bigford Enterprises-ARCASimRacing.com Chevrolet 250 Running 10 10 08 Jason Hedlesky/Clinton MI Hardcore Motorsports Ford 249 Running 11 17 6 Dexter Bean/Westby WI Five Star Telecom Chevrolet 248 Running 12 3 66 Bryan Reffner/Stevens Point WI RaceTeamGear.com-GeoVax Laboratories Chevrolet 248 Running 13 8 11 Bryan Silas/Stuart FL Nortrax-Holland Pump Chevrolet 247 Running 14 20 90 Gabi DiCarlo/Phoenix AZ Great Clips Ford 246 Running 15 18 93 Marc Mitchell/Tallahassee FL Ergon Chevrolet 246 Running 16 19 1 Dominick Casola/Holmdel NJ A. Casola Farms Ford 245 Running 17 22 38 Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL Evoshield Chevrolet 245 Running 18 16 65 Justin Marks/Rocklin CA Crocs Dodge 244 Running 19 26 25 Tom Berte/New Berlin WI CGS Premier Chevrolet 241 Running 20 15 60 Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL FloraGanics-Brady Ranch Chevrolet 241 Running 21 25 48 Dan Brode/Mocksville NC FreeFeds.org Dodge 239 Running 22 13 22 Ken Butler III/Sherrills Ford NC ESR Development Team Dodge 238 Running 23 29 84 Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA Mark Peri Int’l-3KRF.com Chevrolet 236 Running 24 37 07 Billy Tanner/Newtown PA CheapCaribbean.com Chevrolet 233 Running 25 21 21 Jeremy Petty/Smolan KS Ground Round-Billet Race Products Dodge 198 Accident 26 24 40 Troy Wangerin/Jordan MN N. Davidson Veterinary-Far North Auto Dodge 191 Rear End 27 28 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN Anti Monkey Butt Powder Chevrolet 138 Overhtng 28 12 18 Billy Leslie/Algonac MI Titan Tire Ford 106 Brakes 29 31 26 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI Koolmat Ford 104 Engine 30 30 06 Tim Mitchell/Fayetteville TN Star Wheels Skate Center Ford 84 Oil Leak 31 9 39 Todd Hansen/Minneapolis MN Hansen Motorsports Chevrolet 83 Accident 32 27 62 Adam Edwards/Christiansburg VA Vander Haag’s, Inc Ford 58 Engine 33 32 79 Mike Koch/Mountain Home AR K&K Racing-Karl’s Plumbing Chevrolet 6 Brakes 34 34 94 Dugan Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Pontiac 5 Handling 35 35 0 Wayne Peterson/Pulaski TN Wayne Peterson Racing Chevrolet 2 Rear End 36 36 56 Amber Koch/Mountain Home AR K&K Racing-Karl’s Plumbing Pontiac 2 Handling 37 33 8 Greg Seevers/West Milton OH Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet 1 Handling
30 Terry Jones/Amherstburg ON Jones Group Dodge
SIM FACTORY POLE AWARD: Michael Annett 23.471 (134.208 mph) MRGN OF VICT: .078 seconds CAUTIONS: 9 for 49 laps TIME OF RACE: 2:08:04 AVG SPEED: 102.486 mph LAP LEADERS: Annett 1-4, 81-84 (8); Allgaier 5-20, 71-80, 188-208 (47); Kimmel 21-70; 181-187,
214-250 (94); McDowell 85-152, 175-180 (74); Clauson 153-174 (22); McGilton 209-213 (5)
