Buescher's Win the 30th for Roulo Brothers Racing
For Immediate Release: Monday, August 13, 2012 ARCA Racing Series News & Notes from Berlin Raceway (TOLEDO, Ohio) - When Chris Buescher took the lead from Erik Jones on Lap 184 of 200 in Saturday's Berlin ARCA 200 presented by Hantz Group at Berlin Raceway, he placed Roulo Brothers Racing on the fast track to a milestone reached by few ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards teams. |
Buescher's (No. 17 Roulo Brothers Racing Ford) win - his third of the 2012 season - was the 30th for the Midlothian, Ill.-based Roulo team, which has fielded ARCA cars since the mid-1980s. With the victory, Buescher took another step toward becoming the team's all-time winningest driver, tying Dave Weltmeyer at eight. Those two trail Bob Strait, who won nine for the team. The win was the team's first at Berlin but fifth in the state of Michigan, coming after three at Flat Rock Speedway between 1994 and 1996 and one at Michigan International Speedway this June. "We were pretty good there at the beginning, and even in the long run we were staying right there with those two guys in third place," said Buescher. "I knew we had a good piece and the Roulo Brothers did a real nice job. We threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at it in practice to get it where we needed it to be. It really worked out there in the race." If there's any question that Buescher can tie Strait on the all-time Roulo win list in short order, the schedule puts it to rest. Two of the series' remaining five races are on dirt, and Buescher won at DuQuoin, Ill. last season. The other three - Madison, Salem, and Kansas - are tracks where Buescher has either a win or a runner-up finish in the last year. Sunday, the ARCA Racing Series will race in the Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill., where Buescher finished eighth last year. "We're sitting good right now, but it by no means is over," he said. "We've got some tough races coming up. Dirt races were two that I enjoyed last year so I'm looking forward to getting back to those. Hopefully, we can pick up where we left off and get another win. We're going to do everything we can. We can't relax. They're right there, and they're going to stay there until the end of the season. It's just a really nice job by all of our guys with not one sponsor on the car; solid white. We're looking, and days like this can only help." After Buescher's 40 laps led, Roulo Brothers Racing has led 3904 laps in ARCA Racing Series competition. He finished the race in one hour, nine minutes, and 45 seconds, establishing a new Berlin race record of 75.269 mph. Points Lead Back to Buescher: In addition to the race record and his team's latest wins milestone, Chris Buescher turned a 15-point deficit to first place entering Saturday's race into the unofficial points lead over former leader Brennan Poole (No. 25 Adcetera.com/Midas Chevrolet). Buescher qualified third to earn five bonus points, and earned another five points for leading laps. Then, he finished eight spots ahead of Poole in the race to leave with a 35-point lead, 3795-3760. Frank Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota) used a runner-up finish to move to within 70 points of the series lead with five races to go. Alex Bowman (No. 22 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Dodge) is fourth, ahead of Chad Hackenbracht (No. 58 CGH Motorsports Chevrolet). Matt Lofton (No. 16 Strutmasters.com Chevrolet) stayed sixth, but the positions below him shuffled. Saturday's race was the 15th of the season, signifying the end to another five-race leg and marking the awarding of ARCA's traditional 250-point bonuses. Spencer Gallagher (No. 23 Allegiant Air Chevrolet) moved up to seventh and Nelson Canache (No. 66 Venezuela Tourism Toyota) improved to seventh and eighth, respectively, having both earned the 250 points for entering and competing in each of the leg's five races. Tom Hessert (No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet) dropped to ninth, and Ryan Reed dropped to 10th. Neither earned the bonus. The full and official ARCA Racing Series standings will be released Tuesday. Long Green Run a Record: In completing 160 laps without a caution flag to start Saturday's Berlin ARCA 200 presented by Hantz Group, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards field set a record for most consecutive green flag laps contested on a short track. Kimmel Dominant but Falls Short: Frank Kimmel led 110 laps in Saturday's Berlin ARCA 200 to take the Aaron's Lap Leader Award for the race, but the long green flag run and a tight car in the waning laps kept him from catching Chris Buescher for his 76th career victory. Kimmel said shortly after climbing out of his car that he could have used the Lap 161 caution about "50 laps" earlier, as trailing cars were driving to pit road and putting on fresh tires to advance positions. "It was a great car," Kimmel said. "Wow, what a neat deal to have a car run that good. When you're leading the race, you can't pit under green at a short track. About halfway, we had all but a few cars a lap down. It was really good, but it wasn't meant to be tonight. When we changed those four tires, the car got really tight. They were scuff tires from practice, and the car wouldn't turn very good, so we just held on. It's cool to have that good of a car." His 12th top-10 of the season placed him within striking distance of the points lead and his 10th ARCA championship, and Kimmel is excited about the chance to drive on the dirt Sunday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, where he won seven times between 2000 and 2008 and has 13 top-fives in 20 races. "I can't wait," he said. "It's exciting to go to every race track now because we've got cars that can run up front and win. We showed it tonight; that's the first dominant race car we've had in a while. I can't wait to go to the dirt. We'll see how it does there." Jones Earns Fourth Top-10, Leads More Laps: Sixteen-year-old Erik Jones (No. 55 Paragon Corvette Reproductions/CG Financial Services Chevrolet) continues to impress in the ARCA Racing Series after earning his fourth top-10 finish and leading 28 laps at Berlin Raceway Saturday. In eight races, Jones has led in three for a total of 98 laps at the front. He started fifth and finished third Saturday - tying his career high - after losing the lead to Chris Buescher with 16 laps remaining. "It was fun to come back to Berlin," said the Byron, Mich. driver, who raced at the track in his home state for the fourth time in 2012. "It's one of my favorite tracks to go to and I was really looking forward to it on the ARCA schedule. To come back here and have a good car and a good run is fun, but it hurts to be that close to it and not come away with it. We're just going to keep digging and we'll get one of these last two that we're going to here. We had a good day to build on, all in all, and it's something to build on for the last two." Jones will also compete in the August 26 race at Madison International Speedway and the September 15 race at Salem Speedway. Hessert Recovers from Motor Change: Tom Hessert's Ken Schrader Racing team had to change his motor early Saturday, leaving the ARCA veteran to start 27th in his 96th ARCA race. Hessert recovered, though, finishing the Berlin ARCA 200 fourth. The 160-lap green flag run to start Saturday night's event did not surprise Hessert. "The last two years, we've had long green runs here," he said. "I think it's awesome. It's hard on the cars and it's hard on the teams trying to figure out strategy but we were able to pit, run back up and get in the Lucky Dog position, and luckily got back on the lead lap. Our car was better on the long run than on the short run. I knew that with 24 to go, we weren't going to have too much for them, but I'm really happy with the guys' effort today." Two Top-Fives in a Row for Mitchell: Just 18 years old, Mason Mitchell (No. 6 J&S Ag Services/Make-A-Wish Chevrolet) turned heads again in Saturday's race at Berlin Raceway. Driving for Eddie Sharp Racing, Mitchell finished fifth, matching his Lucas Oil Raceway result from July. Mitchell now has two top-fives and three top-10s in just three ARCA starts. Asked whether his success and development have surprised him, Mitchell pointed out one area in which he could improve. "I'm starting to get used to it more now," said the Iowan. "Tonight was pretty cool, running up there all night. I think we had the fastest car. I couldn't get the restarts down, just like Indy. I'm really looking forward to it if we can get a full season next year and I think we'll be tough to beat. It's awesome running up front." King Strong Again: Clint King (No. 15 Speedrack Products Group Toyota) finished sixth in the Berlin ARCA 200, his fourth top-10 in five ARCA starts this season and the sixth top-10 of his young career. King will turn 17 in 13 days. Unlike Tom Hessert, King was surprised by such a long green flag run to start the race. "I knew we'd go quite a few laps, but not that long," he said. "Unfortunately, we might have waited just a little too long to pit. When we did pit, we came back out and made two laps up under green and we were about two laps away from being in the Lucky Dog spot when the first caution came out. It'd have been a different outcome if we'd had the first Lucky Dog instead of the last one. This was a great effort by the 15 guys, though. We just came up short but didn't catch the breaks we needed. We're right on the threshold of getting a win and we're knocking on the door." King hopes to be able to race at Madison International Speedway in Wisconsin on August 26, his 17th birthday. King won the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell in his series debut there last season. Seventh "Fun" for Elliott: Chase Elliott (No. 9 Aaron's Dream Machine/Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet) finished seventh in Saturday's Berlin ARCA 200, his fourth top-10 in four ARCA Racing Series starts. Though the result was only his third best in those races, trailing a runner-up finish at New Jersey Motorsports Park and fourth place at Salem Speedway, Elliott still came away smiling. "It was definitely the most fun I've ever had to finish seventh," he said. "On that first run, we just got extremely tight and wore the right front (tire) down to the cords. We all just thought we were done. We came in and (crew chief) Lance (McGrew) said, 'Throw on four,' so we threw on four tires and went back out and our car made up three laps under green. I don't really know how, or whatever. It was a lot of fun. I appreciate everybody not giving up on me. It was looking like it would be an ugly night. We didn't even get a top-five finish but I feel like I'm pleased with the way everything went and the effort by everybody." Indeed, after being three laps down, Elliott drove back to the lead, passing Frank Kimmel for the lead on Lap 159. He led 14 laps. Drivers Earn Career Highs: In addition to Erik Jones and Mason Mitchell tying career-high results in the Berlin ARCA 200, two other drivers performed their best within the top 20 at Berlin Raceway Saturday. Ricky Ehrgott (No. 10 Fast Track Driving School Chevrolet) crashed on the final lap but finished 16th in his series debut. Tim Walter (No. 3 MPBToday.com/racersfoot Dodge) finished 20th. Springfield in Six Days: Dirt racing is up next for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, with the Allen Crowe 100 taking place next Sunday, August 19, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill. The race will be the first of two dirt events this year - preceding the September 3 race in DuQuoin, Ill. Practice will begin at 9 a.m. and last for one hour, with Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell starting at 11. The 100-lap, 100-mile race will take place at 1 p.m. All times are Central. ARCARacing.com will feature live timing and scoring coverage throughout the day, and ARCA Racing Network hosts Charlie Krall and Tim Clagg will deliver a live audio call for the race on the site. 2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com. The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota's Elko Speedway for the first time. Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local weekly events. CONTACT: Griffin Hickman, ARCA Don Radebaugh, ARCA |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment