300’s a Charm for Kimmel on DuQuoin’s “Magic Mile” Dirt

DUQUOIN IL (9-5-05) – Current ARCA RE/MAX Series point leader Frank Kimmel raced back from two unscheduled pit stops and survived epic late-race battles with a rookie and a veteran to win the thrilling Southern Illinois 100 Monday afternoon at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.

To make it even sweeter, Kimmel’s 64th RE/MAX Series win came in his 300th career start.

“It’s hard to believe we won that race,” said Kimmel. “The car was good in the end, but it took us all day to get the adjustments right. On the dirt, you only pit once, but we pitted three times today to get the car where it needed to be to win the race. What a great day for the Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford team. I had a ball racing with Justin (Allgaier) and Bob (Strait) there at the end.”

After swapping the lead back and forth with rookie Justin Allgaier in the late stages, Kimmel then had to fend off a hard charge from veteran Bob Strait on the final two rounds to secure his 10th career victory on dirt, and fourth on the “Magic Mile”. Between the Springfield mile-dirt and DuQuoin, Kimmel has now won an unprecedented nine of the last 12 races between the two Illinois fairgrounds tracks.

Strait got a run on Kimmel coming off turn four headed for the checkered flag but fell short by less than a length at the final stripe to finish second.

“We needed one or two more laps and I think we could have had him (Kimmel),” said Strait. “We seemed a little quicker than Frank in the end but we fell a little short. I had a great time today. Frank’s a great champion. We’ll get him next year.”

Seventeen-year-old Josh Allison finished a career-best third edging Allgaier by inches at the checkered flag. Allgaier finished fourth with Chad McCumbee trailing in fifth.

While Kimmel celebrated the sweetness of victory, Allgaier had to deal with the bitter disappointment of defeat. The Springfield, Illinois favorite led the most laps (41) and, with laps winding down, appeared to be well on his way to victory while Kimmel was far back mired in traffic after unscheduled pit stops sent him to the tail twice.

By the time Kimmel raced his way back into the top-10, Allgaier was long gone until a late-race caution bunched up the field for a restart just outside of 30 laps to go. Then Kimmel quickly raced his way up to challenge Allgaier for the lead. Kimmel finally got by Allgaier to lead the 80th lap, but couldn’t shake Allgaier, who charged right back to challenge. Allgaier passed Kimmel on lap 85 only to lose the lead again when the eventual winner made his winning pass just 11 laps from the finish. Doing all he could to stay with Kimmel, Allgaier got loose in turn three and brushed the wall damaging the rear of his car.

Then a late-race caution set up a four-lap dash to the checkers with Kimmel, Allgaier, Strait, Allison and McCumbee lined up for the restart. Back under green, Strait quickly swept past Allgaier for second and zeroed in on Kimmel. The two veterans raced inches apart in the closing laps keeping the fans on their feet until the checkered flag fell.

Open-wheel standout Brian Tyler broke Tony Stewart’s one-lap track record by nearly two miles per hour with a new mark of 108.196 mph. However, Tyler’s day ended with mechanical woes after completing just 63 laps.

Joey Miller finished sixth. Mark Gibson, also making his 300th career start, finished seventh ahead of Billy Venturini in eighth. Bill Baird was ninth. David Ragan, making his first-ever dirt-track start, finished 10th.

Six drivers exchanged the lead nine times while four cautions for minor incidents slowed the field for 19 laps.