Venturini Holds Off Schrader At Salem For Career First ARCA RE/MAX Series Triumph

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).

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 team’s 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):

CONTACTS: ARCA PR/Media, office (734) 847-6726 Don Radebaugh, cell (419) 450-0611 Jackie L. Franzil, cell (419) 574-2685

Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 Salem Speedway 4-23-06 Race Results

FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS 1 4 25 Billy Venturini/Chicago IL Hamptons Luxury Homes-Hawk Saw Blades Chevrolet 200 Running 2 3 99 Ken Schrader/Fenton MO Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet 200 Running 3 25 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA Lucas Oil Chevrolet 200 Running 4 26 9 Phil Bozell/Portage MI Eagle Creek Aviation-1st Wing Management Chevrolet 200 Running 5 10 64 Josh Allison/Martinsville IN Dave Allison Motorsports Dodge 200 Running 6 22 2 Billy Leslie/Algonac MI Leslie Tire-Hercules Tire Ford 200 Running 7 21 65 Damon Lusk/Kennewick WA Construct Corps Dodge 199 Running 8 15 32 Blake Bjorklund/Isanti MN Red Line Synthetic Oil Dodge 199 Running 9 13 47 Ryan Foster/Lowell AR Frank Kimmel Racing Ford 199 Running 10 12 30 Terry Jones/Amherstburg Ont Jones Group Dodge 196 Running 11 31 59 Ryan Howard/Tipp City OH Williams Bros Lumber Chevrolet 195 Running 12 34 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN National Distributers Leasing Chevrolet 195 Running 13 16 78 Justin South/Hueytown AL Alabama Brick Chevrolet 193 Running 14 17 4 Kevin Swindell/Germantown TN Dodge Motorsports Dodge 191 Running 15 24 84 Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA 3KRF Chevrolet 189 Running 16 32 38 Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL Bert Oostlander Racing Chevrolet 189 Running 17 28 23 Ricky Sanders/Stockbridge GA RaceTrailerSales.com Pontiac 186 Running 18 2 16 Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL Hoosier Tire Midwest-AG Tech-Trashman-USAF Pontiac 185 Running 19 19 21 Todd Bowsher/Springfield OH Safe Auto Insurance Ford 183 Accident 20 35 26 Brad Smith/Belleville MI Koolmat Ford 173 Running 21 7 50 TJ Bell/Sparks NV IbidMotors.com-Bobby Jones Racing Dodge 169 Accident 22 23 08 Jason Hedlesky/Clinton MI Hardcore Motorsports Chevrolet 159 Overhtng 23 29 90 Brett Rowe/Barboursville WV Imperial Bedding Chevrolet 154 Electrical 24 11 96 Brandon Knupp/Sidney OH Townsend Engineering Ford 117 Accident 25 14 46 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Pork The Other White Meat Ford 113 Overhtng 26 9 20 Ken Weaver/Dallas TX Phoneco Dodge 110 Running 27 33 13 Johnny Leonard/Cape Coral FL Affordable Roofing Chevrolet 64 Accident 28 18 45 Michael Simko/Clarkston MI Diamond Racing-Mound Steel Chevrolet 28 Accident 29 20 12 Mario Gosselin/Lake Wales FL Drawdy Bros Construction Chevrolet 27 Oil Prssr 30 8 1 Andy Belmont/Penndel PA Year One Ford 23 Oil Line 31 5 29 Brian Keselowski/Rochester Hills MI Holloway Construction Ford 22 Accident 32 1 62 Brad Coleman/Houston TX Federated Car Care Ford 22 Accident 33 6 6 Dexter Bean/Westby WI Five Star Telecom Chevrolet 22 Accident 34 27 24 Chuck Weber/Mesquite TX Cardinal Tool Company Ford 13 Overhtng 35 30 11 Dave McClure/Gorham ME Fast Track High Performance Driving School Chevy 1 Handling

PORK POLE AWARD: Brad Coleman 17.756 (112.525 mph) MRGN OF VICT: .217 seconds CAUTIONS: 9 for 56 laps TIME OF RACE: 1:40:28 AVG SPEED: 66.291 mph LAP LEADERS: Coleman 1-22 (22); Venturini 23-46, 72-103, 135-150, 178-200 (95); South 47-65 (19); Benning 66-71 (6); Lusk 104-134 (31); Gerhart 151-160, 162-177 (26); Bowsher 161 (1)