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PRESS
RELEASE
April
23, 2006
VENTURINI
WINS! HOLDS OFF SCHRADER TO CAPTURE 1st ARCA RE/MAX SERIES VICTORY
SALEM IN (4-23-06) It was a long time coming, but it finally came Sunday afternoon
at Salem Speedway where Billy Venturini, in his 134th career ARCA
RE/MAX Series start, steered the family-owned #25 Hamptons Luxury
Homes-Hawk Saw Blades Chevrolet to victory lane.
Venturini
in addition to leading 95 of 200 laps despite 11 lead changes,
held off veteran Ken Schrader's last lap charge to win the thrilling
Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 by Federated Auto Parts.
"This was
a long time coming," said Venturini. We were ahead of a lot of
wrecks and stayed out of trouble," said Venturini. "The car was
awesome on short runs. The teams great and did their job.
"The last
five times I've been to Salem we've finished well. I saw Schrader
coming at the end there. The car was great though. Win number
one! It was a great day. We just ran the hell out of it. We had
the race won easily and then lapped traffic wouldn't get out of
the way.
With five
laps remaining, Venturini had a 15-length lead before lapped traffic
erased it in less than two allowing Schrader to close the margin
to a few feet. With the white flag coming, Venturini scraped the
turn three and four wall and sparks flew as he attempted to pass
several lapped cars with Schrader in hot pursuit. With torn fenders
and a tire going down, Venturini still managed to hold off Schrader
for the well-earned victory.
Schrader,
competing in his fourth of five events of the weekend, settled
for second .217 seconds away from the winner's rear bumper in
his own Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet.
"Good
day," said Schrader. "Just not good enough. The competition just
keeps getting better and better in this ARCA series."
Series veteran
and four-time Daytona ARCA 200 winner Bobby Gerhart, in the Lucas
Oil Chevrolet, used pit strategy and heads-up driving to finish
third, pitting just once for fuel and tires on lap 60 of the 200
lap race.
"Our car
was no better on new tires than it was on old,†said
Gerhart, "We were tight on gas there at the end, but pitting for new tires
would have had no benefit to the handling of our race car. We
just didn't have a very good car so we'll have to get that taken
care of for Winchester and go get after them there. It's all about
survival at Salem, so we're happy with a finish."
The complexion
of the race changed drastically early on when the leaders stacked
up on a lap 23 restart. Many of the weekend's most promising entries,
including Pork Pole sitter Brad Coleman, who led the first 22
laps, ended their days early.
"I got hit
in the rear on the start," said Coleman. "We would have had a
good car."
The frontstretch
incident also involved frontrunners' Mario Gosselin, TJ Bell,
Dexter Bean, Brian Keselowski and Ken Weaver as well as seven-time
series champion Frank Kimmel.
"Not the finish
we were looking for," said Kimmel. "We got caught up in someone
else's wreck, which turned out to be a bigger problem for us.
The car was running good but this is not the points day we were
looking for."
There were
no injuries.
In all, there
were 11 lead changes among seven drivers. Nine cautions slowed
the event for 56 laps.
Phil Bozell,
driving for Hagans Racing, finished fourth. The Michigan-based
Late Model racer kept his no. 9 Eagle Creek Aviation-1st Wing
Management Chevrolet out of trouble all day.
"The car was
running good all day," said Bozell. "We were patient and kept
ourselves out of trouble. The car would get a little free on long
runs but still was pretty good.'
For finishing
fourth after starting 26th, Bozell earned the Hoosier Tire Hard
Charger honor.
Josh Allison,
who at 18-years-old was the youngest competitor in today's starting
lineup, finished fifth in the no. 64 Dave Allison Motorsports
Dodge. He was the highest finishing rookie in the race.
Billy Leslie,
Damon Lusk, Blake Bjorklund, Ryan Foster and Terry Jones rounded
out the top ten.
Venturini's
father, two-time ARCA RE/MAX Series national driving champion
Bill Venturini, earned the SK Hand Tool Crew Chief of the Race
award.
TOP TEN UNOFFICIAL
ARCA RE/MAX SERIES POINTS AFTER THE KENTUCKIANA FORD DEALERS 200
AT SALEM SPEEDWAY (4-23-06):
1. Bobby
Gerhart (645); 2. Billy Venturini (625); 3. Damon Lusk (620);
4. TJ Bell (550); 5. Frank Kimmel (540); 6. Mario Gosselin (445);
7. Brett Rowe (390); 7. Jason Hedlesky (390); 7. Norm Benning
(390); 10. Ken Weaver (375).
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