Cannon Scores First JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Win at Lucas Oil Raceway
Salem, IN. (September 26, 2016) – Former Illiana Motor Speedway Champion Jeff Cannon has been racing part-time in both the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance and the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS for several years, he finally got his first CRA win on Sunday afternoon, leading the last 85 laps of the Stacked Pickle 100 Presented by JEGS.com with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour in the Wish For Our Heroes CRA Fall Brawl 2016 at Lucas Oil Raceway.
2015 event winner Jack Smith jumped to the early lead from his pole starting position, but was passed by outside pole sitter Chris Koslek on the second lap. Koslek would continue to lead until Cannon was able to get by on lap 16 coming from his fifth place starting position in a hurry. Trey Craig would also get to the front from his eighth place starting position and get to second behind Cannon after a lap 17 caution when Smith and Koslek made contact running second and third. Boyne Machine Company Fast Qualifier Tristan Van Wieringen was also caught up in the wreck that ended the day for all three cars.
Cannon would continue to lead holding off the hard charging Craig, who tried both the high line and low line to get around Cannon. Craig would get close but could not make the pass, even on several restarts. Current series points leader Cody Coughlin worked his way into contention and was the one battling Cannon on several late restarts, Coughlin would get close but Cannon was able to pull away to get the win on the last restart with 10 laps to go.
“We’ve been trying to get a CRA win for several years, we have come close, I’m just glad we were able to have everything come together to finally get one!”, remarked Cannon in victory lane. “We had a great battle with the 15 of Craig for a lot of laps. I knew Coughlin was coming through the field, he’s been one of the best all year in this series, but we were able to hold him off and get the win. The crowd should have enjoyed it, there was some great racing out there today.”
Cannon picked up the AR Bodies Cool Move of the race Award for holding off all challengers on several restarts to get the win, he also picked up the DTS Drive Train Specialist Halfway Award Leader.
Cannon added,” I’ve seen the victory lane pictures with the boxing gloves for this event and thought it would be neat to win one of these races and get those. I have to thank my car owner Wayne Govert and our whole crew for all their hard work!”
Coughlin came from his 28th starting position, tail of the field, after missing qualifying on Saturday because he was racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at New Hampshire Speedway. Coughlin made an early pit stop for some adjustments, then started his charge through the field to be able to challenge Cannon on a couple late restarts. With nine laps to go Coughlin dove under Cannon and slid up in front, but Cannon was able to make a cross over move to get back by Coughlin and go on to get the win.
For gaining 27 positions in the race, Coughlin earned Hardcharger Awards from T & K Trucking, Racing Electronics plus a Great Lakes Tire/Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award. With his second place finish, Coughlin only needs to start the series Season Championship event on October 7th at Winchester Speedway to pick up his second JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Season Championship.
Former Columbus Motor Speedway Champion Chad Pendleton came from his 15th place starting position to finish in third. For using the high line to keep his car in contention late in the event, Pendleton earned the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure Award. Berlin Raceway regular Nate Walton came from his 20th place starting position to finish in fourth and earned the Sweet Move of the Race Award for some nifty late event passes to get his second series top five finish of the season.
Phil Bozell made several pit stops so his crew could make adjustments on his car, Bozell then battled through the field late in the event to get a fifth place finish. Bozell’s crew earned the PitBoxes.com Pit Crew of the Race Award for their efforts. Joshua James earned a second straight Great Lakes Tire/Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award after coming from his 19th starting position, then going to the tail after being involved in a yellow, to get a 10th place finish. James was also the VanDoorn Racing Development Rookie of the Race Award winner.
The next the series JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event will be the Season Championship event on Friday, October 7th at Winchester Speedway, kicking off the 45th Annual Winchester 400 Weekend. More event information and information on all the CRA series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
Photo By: R&S Racing Photos
