Bud St. Amant Memorial 125 this Saturday for the ARCA/CRA Super Series at Columbus Motor Speedway
Salem, IN (June 22, 2016) – The ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS will be back in action this Saturday, returning to Columbus Motor Speedway, located in Columbus, Ohio for the Bud St. Amant Memorial 125 Presented by Oakley Blacktop and Sizzle Marine. This event promoted by JVM Racing, will once again honor local racing legend Bud St. Amant, who passed away in January, 2014 after a long bout with cancer. The event will be the 11th and final appearance for the ARCA/CRA Super Series at Columbus, as the track has been sold and will close for good at the end of this season, its 71st season of competition. The ARCA/CRA Super Series is celebrating its 20th season of competition in 2016, the series had its first ever event on Saturday, April 26, 1997.
Brian Campbell won last year’s Bud St. Amant Memorial on his way to getting a series season high four wins. 2013 and 2014 ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion Travis Braden won the first Bud St. Amant Memorial during the 2014 season with Bud’s son Gary as his Crew Chief. Campbell and Braden top the list of entries for Saturday’s third addition of the Bud St. Amant Memorial, each one is looking to get their first ARCA/CRA Super Series win of the 2016 season.
Current series point’s leader Cody Coughlin, from nearby Delaware, Ohio, is also entered. Coughlin has won three straight series points events including a win at Toledo Speedway on April 16th, a win at Anderson Speedway on May 7th and a win in the series last points event at Baer Field Speedway on May 21st. Second in points Dalton Armstrong is also entered, the Senneker Performance Rookie of the Year points leader won the series season point’s opener at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville on April 9th and has finished second to Coughlin at Anderson and Baer Field and only trails Coughlin by 15 points heading into Saturday’s race.
Other top CRA drivers entered for Saturday’s race include three time ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion Johnny Van Doorn, 2014 Rookie of the Year Wes Griffith Jr., Thomas Woodin, Chris Koslek, John Neal is entered to make his first series points start as is JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour rookie competitor Travis Eddy, son of former ASA National Touring Series great Mike Eddy, driving for local car owner Jeff Miller. Florida late model racer Steve Dorer is entered for Saturday’s race, the multi-time CRA winner has become a CRA regular the past several years during the summer months. Former NASCAR competitor Erik Darnell is also entered for Saturday’s event.
There are several local drivers entered for Saturday night’s event including 2015 Columbus Late Model Champion Kyle Jones, who finished second to Campbell in this event last year. David Carter, a two time Late Model Feature winner at Columbus Motor Speedway this season, including winning last Saturday nights feature, is entered in a team car to Eddy for Jeff Miller. Other top local drivers entered include Chad Pendleton, Mike Rush, Greg Stapleton, Josh Cahill and Tyler Nuckles, who led the first 95 laps of the ARCA/CRA Super Series event at Columbus in 2010, before contact from another racer caused him to spin and give up the lead to Campbell, who went on to get the win in that event.
The Bud St. Amant Memorial event on Saturday will also feature the Columbus Modifieds in the Howe 50 Presented by One Call Lawn Care $1000 to win event, as well as the Columbus Compacts in the Top Dawg Painting 40 Presented by Hilary’s Beauty Salon $500 to win event. There is a $1000 bonus being offered if the Bud St. Amant Memorial 125 winner has never finished in the top five of any CRA race at Columbus Motor Speedway.
There is an open practice on Friday, pit gates open at 4pm, open practice will go from 5 to 8pm. On Saturday pit gates will open at 1:30pm, Modified and Compacts practice will begin at 3pm, Modified qualifying will follow at 4pm. The ARCA/CRA Super Series will have a one hour practice session starting at 4:30pm followed by their qualifying at 6:30pm. The race program will begin at 7pm with the Compacts and Modified features. The ARCA/CRA Super Series cars will then roll to the front-stretch with a 30 minute autograph session open to all the fans attending the event. The Bud St. Amant Memorial 125 Presented by Oakley Blacktop and Sizzle Marine will follow after the starting line-up is introduced. The rain date if needed is this Sunday, June 26th.
More event and track information is available at www.columbusspeedway.com. More information on the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS is available at www.cra-racing.com.
