Taken from A.R.C.A Racing.com
ROBBIE LOVING GRABS FIRST LATE MODEL WIN
FLAT
ROCK, MI, 7-28-01:A warm and sunny evening brought out a large crowd
to the Flat Rock Speedway for Pepsi Night to watch as 105 cars came out
to compete for top honors.Robbie Loving (Late Models), Randy
Casey (Street Stocks), and Jeremy Miller
(Figure 8’s) all picked up feature wins.Todd Sturgeon, Rich Abel, and Jim
Stocker also took feature wins in the Street Stock division.Nick Fazekas
of Pepsi presented the winners with well-earned trophies.Loving’s win now
makes it 11 different winners in 11 Late Model features at the track.
The
ARCA Allen Chevrolet-Cadillac/Cintas Late Model 35 lap feature had
the crowd cheering for their favorite driver, and they were treated to
another first time feature winner. Robbie Loving took the green flag and
was pressured from behind for the entire race, as he led from start to
finish.Ken Ahlgren, Steve Cronenwett and Dan Ford Jr. tried multiple times
to pass Loving, getting chances after a couple of yellow flags. The race
stayed nose to tail and went two wide in the closing laps throughout the
field, as Ford Jr. was on the move in the outside lane.A yellow with 7
laps to go put the cars in single file and Loving was able to hold on for
his first-ever Late Model victory.Ahlgren, Ford Jr., Cronenwett and Mike
Jaynes rounded out the top five, while Dennis Strickland, Rick Knowles,
Steve Bunge, Paul Pelletier and John Rowloff rounded out the top ten. Steve
Bunge, John Rowloff and Larry Roberts all picked up heat wins. Rick Knowles
won the Harwood Pontiac/Buick Pole Award by stopping the clock at 11.481
for the 25 car field.
The
ARCA Joe Lake Tire Street Stock 25 lap feature event was another
traditional door-to-door, fender-to-fender event for the class.Tom Phillips
took the green flag with Randy Casey on the
outside, determined not to let Phillips to get away.After a couple of cautions
in the opening laps neither driver was able to pull away from one another.
Both drivers battled back and forth door to door for the first ten laps.Casey
eventually was able to pull away followed by Terry Humphrey, Ken Knight,
Tristan Dupuis (subbing for Brian Norton) and Terry Lilley.This five-car
battle extended their lead over the rest of the field by 4 to 5 car lengths
in the closing laps.Randy Casey was able to
hold off Humphrey and company for the feature win , followed by Knight,
Dupuis, and Lilley.Randy DeMaggio, Ron Allen, Phillips, Mel Worley and
Tom Selmi finished in the top ten.
The
15 lap B-Main Todd Sturgeon Jr., with Larry Smouthers second,
Lonnie York third, James Rae fourth and Don Lane Jr. in fifth place.
The
10 lap C-Main Rich Abel followed by Eric Fitzpatrick.
The
10 lap D-Main Jim Stocker and Erick Hickman in second.
The
A-Dash Randy Casey,
B-Dash
Arnold Hall.
Heat
races went to Worley, Steve Chartrand, James Rae, Aram Zadigian,
Rich Abel and Jim Stocker.
The
fast qualifier wasKen Knight stopping the clock at 13.157 to top
the 64 car field.