CRA: Winchester preview

HOWE CRA SPORTSMAN AND CRA STREET STOCKS BACK TO THE HIGH BANKS OF WINCHESTER SPEEDWAY THIS SUNDAY

Salem, IN (July 18, 2007) -- The Howe CRA Sportsman and CRA Street Stocks will return to racing action at the High Banks of Winchester Speedway in support of the Third Annual King Of The Wings, Winged Sprint Car Challenge Presented By Pier-Mac Plastics this Sunday, July 22nd. Both series were last at Winchester Speedway on June 10th when both groups put on a great show in their heats and feature events.

The Howe CRA Sportsman return to Winchester Speedway with Billy Hutson as the series points leader and the winner of the series last event at Winchester Speedway on Sunday, June 10th. Veteran area racer Steve Blair got a hard fought victory in the series event this past Saturday night at Anderson Speedway. Blair got by Rick Rinehart with some contact on a restart with 20 laps to go in the 75-lap event. Rinehart held on to finish in second with Charlie Hanna in third. Sunday will be the fifth event of the season so far for the Howe CRA Sportsman, other winners so far this season besides Blair and Hutson were Stuart Quakenbush at the season opener on at Winchester Speedway while Chad Richardson got the win at Baer Field Speedway.

Hutson got an 8th place finish Saturday night at Anderson Speedway and retains a 39-point lead over Rookie competitor Gabe Cerny in second. Rookie competitor Tim Greene is now in third, seven points behind Cerny. Rick Rinehart and Rick Tackman Jr. are tied for fourth with 351 points, seven points behind Greene. Terry Fisher Jr. is in sixth, Fisher Jr.'s car suffered heavy damage in a lap 54 wreck Saturday night with Tackman Jr. Bubba Trinkle is in seventh place in points followed by Charlie Hanna in eighth, Eric Barkus in ninth and the number 20 car owned by Chad Gaskill in 10th. Gaskill drove the car this past Saturday night to a ninth place finish. Jeff Ellis and Steve Blair have also driven that car during the 2007 season.

The CRA Street Stock point's battle saw some big changes after this past Saturday night's wild event at Anderson Speedway. Shawn Bonar came into Saturday as the series points leader, but a fuel leak ended his night on lap 23 giving him a 29th place finish. Rich Boyer came into the event second in points, his car was involved in a huge 10 car pile-up in the first heat after the motor of Bubba Trinkle let go while leading the event. Boyer jumped into another competitor's car for the feature and managed a 16th place finish. Joe Beaver was third in points coming into Saturday's event, but his night ended on lap 15 after a flat left rear tire forced him to the pits resulting in a 32nd place finish.

The number 21 Steve Davis owned team went from fourth in points prior to Saturday to the points lead after Saturday nights event with 434 points. Calvin Parham has been the main driver of the 21 car except at the Baer Field Speedway event, were veteran Ft. Wayne racer Steve Christman took the 21 car to victory lane. Parham finished fifth in Saturday night's event, that finish combined with everyone else's bad luck gives the CRA Street Stock Series its first ever multi-driver team in the points lead.

Jacob Owens is now second in points with 413 points after a second place finish Saturday night. Owen was eighth in points going into Saturday night. Rich Boyer drops to third place with 411 points, Shawn Bonar drops to fourth with 408 points, with Joe Beaver dropping into a fifth place tie with John Weisenauer with 401 points. Rookie Phil Evans is now seventh with 399 points and is the leading rookie driver in points. Going into Sunday's event there are only 14 points separating second place from seventh place. Rookie Larry Matillo is in eighth, Beau Mitchell is ninth and rookie Josh Burton is tenth.

To date there have been five different winners in the series first five events. 2006 series Champion Joe Beaver and Frank Kimmel II got victories in the series first two events at Winchester Speedway, while Christman won the event at Baer Field Speedway. Bubba Trinkle fought off Dean Baker to get his first series win at the June 10th event at Winchester Speedway. Bret Miles Jr. got the victory Saturday night in his first start of the season with the CRA Street Stocks. Miles Jr. passed Owens on lap 41 for the lead and went on to claim his first ever CRA Street Stock victory.

Pit gates open Sunday at 8am, spectator gates open at 10am with practice beginning at 10:30am and qualifying at 12:30pm. The race program begins at 2pm and will include heat races and 40 lap features for the Howe CRA Sportsman and CRA Street Stocks. For more information on Winchester Speedway visit winchesterspeedway.com.

-credit: craracing.net.