Allgaier Cleans House at Cayuga From ARCA PR
Wins Inaugural Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250
Justin Allgaier, in his father Mike Allgaier's no. 16 Zoller & Bergfield Farming-AG Tech Chevrolet, recovered from a mid-race spin, raced his way back into the lead, survived two late-race restarts, and then drove away from Frank Kimmel and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. to win the inaugural Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250 Sunday afternoon at Cayuga Motor Speedway.
"This racetrack was really cool and it means a lot to me to win here," said Allgaier in victory lane. "We got turned around and everything and tried to come back from that. We had to check up a little bit there and he (Stenhouse) got into us; no hard feelings there."
Allgaier was leading Stenhouse midway through the race when Stenhouse gave Allgaier a nudge that sent the eventual winner spinning off turn four. Allgaier made two consecutive pit stops for new tires and adjustments before returning to rejoin the field at the tail-end. From there, Allgaier raced his way forward and caught Stenhouse inside of 50 laps from the finish to contend for the win. Allgaier found the opening he was looking for down the backstretch and muscled inside of Stenhouse for the lead in turn three on lap 215 of the 257-lap event. Allgaier completed the pass off turn four, and was never seriously challenged from there.
"This track is tight and unfortunately this car doesn't look as good as it should but we're happy to have four wheels on it," added Allgaier. "There are quite a few donuts along
both sides of the Zoller & Bergfield Farming-AG Tech Chevrolet. It's tight racing and it's a lot of fun."
Allgaier, with 13 lead-lap machines lined up directly behind, also held off the pack during two green-white-checker finishes in order for the race to finish under green, as mandated by ARCA officials. As a result, the race went seven laps beyond the scheduled 250-laps to accommodate the finish.
allgaierkimmelcayuga08.jpgKimmel, in his own Ford Drive One-Engineered Components Ford, also got by Stenhouse and finished second, 10 lengths behind Allgaier.
"It was a pretty good day," said Kimmel. "This is a tough little racetrack. You couldn't be cautious at all; you had to race hard all day. We weren't the best car overall but we were consistent all day and we kept it up front."
Stenhouse, who led the most laps (101), earned the Aaron's Lap Leader Award and finished
third in the Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Stenhouse was also the Klotz Halfway Leader and the
SunTrust Highest Finishing Rookie.
"The guys worked real hard getting this car back together after we had a mishap during practice,"
said Stenhouse. "We did a lot more passing than we thought we were going to do. It was good
hard racing and I hope the fans enjoyed it. Really glad to be leaving here with the points lead."
Dexter Bean, in the Glock Chevrolet, also recovered from a spin to finish fourth. Bean also
earned the Accel Fastest Lap of the Race with a top average speed of 107.138 mph. Bean's
crew chief Jeff Spraker was the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race.
"It was just good short track racing here," said Bean. "I came from Wisconsin where they have
good short track racing; it takes a driver to run these short tracks, and I hope they enjoyed it.
Hopefully the Team Glock Chevy dropped into the top ten in points here."
Brampton, Ontario favorite Pete Shepherd, in the Roulo Brothers National Exhaust-Cherry
Bomb-Zardo-BeavEx Ford, finished fifth.
SIM Factory Pole Award winner Justin Lofton led the first 28 laps before engine troubles
sidelined the Westmorland, California driver for good on lap 38. Then James Buescher took
control of the top-spot for the next 53 laps before scheduled pit stops mixed up the order,
handing the lead to Stenhouse. Stenhouse led for eight laps before pitting for fuel and tires
under caution, which gave the lead to Patrick Sheltra, who had already pitted several laps earlier.
Sheltra led for 11 laps until getting a tap from Tom Hessert III, which sent Sheltra spinning off
turn four. Hessert led for seven laps before Allgaier took control of the top spot on lap 108. Allgaier, with Stenhouse in tow, led up through lap 122 before the contact from Stenhouse sent Allgaier spinning off into the infield grass. Stenhouse then led the way up through lap 215 before Allgaier made his winning move.
Matt Carter finished sixth in the Stine Seed-Hantz Group Ford in front of Hessert, who finished seventh in the Maaco Auto Painting Ford.
Scott Speed, in the Red Bull Toyota, put a show on all his own coming from five laps down to finish eighth on the lead lap.
John Wes Townley was ninth in the Zaxby's-SPS-BB&T-Saxon Group Ford. Mike Harmon finished 10th from the 27th starting position in his own Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet. Harmon, who missed practice and qualifying the day before, also earned the Casite Hard Charger Award for advancing the most positions.
Top-10 ARCA RE/MAX Series Points After the Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Cayuga Motor Speedway (6-29-08); 1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2490; 2) Scott Speed 2360; 3) Matt Carter 2340; 4) Frank Kimmel 2315; 5) John Wes Townley 2200; 6) Justin Allgaier 2160; 7) Tom Hessert III 2120; 8) Tayler Malsam 2085; 9) Patrick Sheltra 2070; 10) Dexter Bean 2045.
Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series: Kentucky Speedway
From short track racing at Cayuga, the ARCA RE/MAX Series is preparing for superspeedway style action at Kentucky Speedway with the ARCA RE/MAX 150 Friday night, July 18th. Arcaracing.com will feature live-to-web timing and scoring for all ARCA RE/MAX Series on-track activities at Kentucky, including a practice session from 11:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m., SIM Factory Pole Qualifying at 4:30 p.m. and the ARCA RE/MAX 150, which is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Eastern. SPEED will air ARCA RE/MAX Series qualifying from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and the ARCA RE/MAX 150 beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Justin Allgaier takes the checkers at Cayuga. (ARCA / Bob Costanzo Photo)
Allgaier in victory lane.
