Lofton, with New Game Plan, Wins at Berlin
MARNE MI (7-25-09) - Justin Lofton, who had gradually fallen behind ARCA
RE/MAX Series point leader Parker Kligerman in the championship chase,
came to Berlin Raceway with a newly-announced game plan in place; and it
worked.
The Westmorland, California driver also held off the lead-lap pack during
a green-white-checker finish to win the Wolverine Power Systems 200
Saturday night at the legendary Marne, Michigan short track.
"What an incredible night," said Lofton. "My guys were perfect tonight.
We had the best car and it certainly showed. This is my favorite car. We
went off a different pit strategy and it worked. I really have to hand it
to my guys for making the call. This win feels every bit as good as the
one at Talladega."
Lofton, who pitted just once out of sequence with the leaders, drove back
to the front and stayed there for the remainder of the race to earn his
third career series victory. He also closed to within 100 points of
Kligerman headed to Pocono Raceway for the next event on tour.
Through it all, it was a banner night for Lofton, who, not only won the
Menards Pole Award with a new one-lap track record, led 171 of 207 laps.
Lofton also snapped Kligerman's four-race win streak after proclaiming
earlier in the week that was racing for wins alone from here on out
rather than racing for points.
Matt Merrell got to within a half-length of Lofton on the final lap in
turn three but washed up the track as Lofton sailed off the bottom end of
turn four toward the checkered flag. Merrell finished a career-best
second, three lengths away in the ColinsHope.org-Red Line Oil Dodge.
"I thought I had a chance to get by Justin Lofton but I just couldn't
keep up with him at the end of the race," said Merrell. "He was getting
some really good runs. I don't think the 6 car was necessarily better; we
were pretty even-but this track really eats up tires and that's what got
us at the end."
Seventeen-year-old Chad Finley, in the Auto Value Service
Centers-AutoParts2020.com Chevrolet, finished a career-best third, but
not before causing some controversy resulting from an altercation with
series veteran Frank Kimmel.
"Everybody comes in to this place and dives up the track," said Finley.
"I probably should have been more patient with him [Frank Kimmel]
especially with as much experience as he has here and as good as he has
been here, so I apologize for that. It feels good, but it's not all me.
It's everyone over at BKR Racing; especially my crew chief [Wayne
Setterington]. He's just awesome and we work really well together."
Finley, who was battling Kimmel for third under five laps to go, turned
Kimmel off turn four. That left Kimmel sideways on the frontstretch and
an open target for Michel Disdier, who plowed into Kimmel's left-front
corner on the way by. Kimmel then crawled back to pit road in a shower of
sparks before returning in time to finish a disappointing 12th.
"What a night," said Kimmel. "We had a great car all day - from practice
to qualifying and on into tonight. Overall, though, it was great to
battle for the lead, even if we had somewhat of a disappointing finish.
We were definitely a factor until the 29 car turned us and we just flat
got ran over. That was really frustrating. It would have been great to
not only have the finish we deserved but to have reached that 10,000 laps
led mark. Either way, we still accomplished another goal here by leading
our first laps of the season, which is a great thing for this team
because they've worked hard all year long."
Kimmel, after leading 36 laps, inched closer to yet another milestone.
The Clarksville, Indiana stock car legend is now just 6 laps shy of
leading 10,000 laps in ARCA RE/MAX Series competition.
Pete Shepherd finished fourth in the Venturini Motorsports-National
Exhaust Systems Chevrolet. Joey Coulter was fifth in the Darrell Gwynn
Foundation-Tempest Cycles Chevrolet.
Lofton led the first 108 laps before finally making his one and only pit
stop for new tires and fuel, long after every other lead lap driver had
pitted. Kimmel took control of the top-spot from there until the eventual
winner, who rejoined the field in eighth, quickly charged back through
the pack to take the lead for good and lap 145.
Kligerman, suffering from the flu, ended up finishing sixth in the
Cunningham Motorsports Dodge.
"That's what championships are made of," said Kligerman. "They are made
of making the best out of your bad days, and that's what we had today-a
bad day. I'm feeling sicker and sicker as the adrenaline wears off. It
was a rough day out there. No one seemed to have any room for us. Funny
how that works out. We'll go to Pocono and make up for it, hopefully with
a win."
Craig Goess was seventh in the Greenville of North Carolina Toyota in
front of Justin Lloyd, who finished eighth in his career-first start on
the LNCS-Calero Investments-RM Technology Chevrolet.
Bryan Silas fought his way back onto the lead lap after getting spun
early in the race to finish a solid ninth in the Rockingham
Speedway-Holland Pumps Chevrolet. Tom Hessert finished 10th in the Cherry
Hill Classic Cars Ford.
The ARCA RE/MAX Series travel next to Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania
ARCA 200 Saturday, August 1st, live on SPEED at 1:00 PM ET. The ARCA
Racing Network will also carry live streaming audio of all the on-track
activity at ARCAracing.com
-credit: arca
