Campbell Dominates in JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Victory at Berlin Raceway
Salem, IN. (August 12, 2018) – Brian Campbell showed once again why he is one of the most successful drivers ever at Berlin Raceway in a dominating win in Saturday night’s JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance Hall of Fame 100 at Berlin Raceway.
The win was his third series win of the season and his eighth overall with the series, putting him in a tie for all-time series wins with NASCAR Xfinity driver Daniel Hemric, the 2012 series Champion. Campbell has won his eight events in 12 attempts, which is an astonishing 66% winning percentage. His first series win came in the series inaugural event at Toledo Speedway in 2011.
Things got exciting first in Lisa Thomas Salon qualifying, when cloud cover produced a very fast race track, resulting is five drivers breaking Carson Hocevar’s previous track record, including Hocevar. Three time ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion Johnny VanDoorn was the last driver to break the record and claimed the Lisa Thomas Salon Fast Qualifier Award and the new track record.
The first green flag for the event did not result in a scored lap as the yellow, then red flag flew after VanDoorn got two tires off the track on the back-stretch, then crashed hard into the tie barrier at the end of the back-stretch destroying his car. VanDoorn walked away unhurt, but his race car was done for the night.
On the second attempt to start the event outside pole sitter Garrett Schwartz took the lead from his outside pole starting position thanks to VanDoorn drawing a 10 for the events inverted start. That lead lasted only one lap when local racer Jordan Dahlke passed Schwartz on the outside to grab the lead on lap two.
Campbell quickly climbed from his ninth place starting position to Dahlke’s tail, before making the pass for the lead on lap 12. The event’s third yellow came out on lap 17 when Schwartz lost control on the front stretch and crossed the track right into 2017 series Champion Jack Dossey III’s path resulting in a hard hit that also collected local racer Lauren Bush. Dossey and Bush walked away from the incident, but both cars suffered heavy damage.
Schwartz’s team was able to make repairs and keep his car on the track for the next restart, but Schwartz was the events final caution on lap 22 when his right front tire blew from a tire rub resulting in Schwartz making hard contact with the turn three wall ending his night.
Campbell would keep the lead on the lap 23 restart and never looked back, winning by over eight seconds.
“It always feels good to come back here and get a win,” remarked Campbell in victory lane. “We don’t race here all the time any more, a lot of these guys do, so we have to keep up on the race track and the way it changes all the time. The car was fast right out of the trailer. We thought we’d have a tougher fight for the win with VanDoorn and Hocevar, but I don’t think anyone was going to catch us tonight, the car was just that good!”
Campbell added,” we won the very first JEGS Tour race in 2011, and then didn’t start running anymore until recently. This season was the most we’ve raced with this series and it’s been a lot of fun. It’s pretty cool to tie Hemric for the most wins, we have a couple of chances to break his record coming up this this season.”
Besides the first place payoff, Campbell picked up his second JAS Expedited Trucking winners bonus of the season, his first came in the series season opener at Birch Run Speedway. Campbell also picked up a Great Lakes Tire Performance Award.
15 year old Evan Shotko finished a series best of second after a heated battle with Hocevar for the position. After racing side by side for several laps with Hocevar, Shotko made the move to get second place, that pass earned him the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award.
Hocevar finished in third place and earned the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure Award. Local racer Chris Koslek finished in fourth place. Michael Clancy Jr. got his third straight top five finish with the series with his fifth place finish.
Dahlke made a pit stop under red on lap 17, and then came back through the field to finish in sixth place. Dahlke’s crew picked up the Pit Boxes.com Pit Crew of the Race Award for their efforts to make Dahlke’s car better to get through he field.
Ben Welch finished in seventh. Anthony Danta came from his 19th place starting position to finish in eighth and picked up a Great Lakes Tire Performance Award and the Racing Electronics Hardcharger Award for his efforts.
Mandy Chick finished in ninth place and Ken Wobma finished in tenth. Tyler Hufford finished in eleventh and earned the DGR-Crosley Rookie of the Race Award.
The Hall of Fame 100 was the last regular season points event for the series, the series will begin its four race Chase for the Championship on August 25th at Owosso Speedway. The drivers earning the right to compete over the next three point events to be in the final four drivers to compete for the series Championship on Winchester 400 weekend include Campbell, Dossey III, Mason Keller, Chick, Clancy Jr., Hufford, and Trever McCoy.
The series next event will be the Big O Classic 100 at Owosso Speedway on Saturday, August 25th. More information on the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance is available at www.cra-racing.com.
