American Racing News Vol 1, Issue 2 Issue 6 | Page 16

can't. We'll be at the dirt track
(Springfield) though in a steel bodied 105 (inch wheel base) car."
Matt Kurzejewski survived the carnage and finished third in his No.
52 Ansell-Menards Toyota.
"We got lucky tonight," Kurzejewski said. "We didn't have a
third-place car, but we had a thirdplace team tonight and a third
place crew. They never give
up...just an amazing bunch of guys
here at Ken Schrader Racing.
Brought our Ansell-Menards Toyota home unscathed. There are a
lot here tonight that can't say that."
Kurzejewski was no doubt also
referring to an earlier incident on a
restart that took out several leaders
including Tom Hessert, John Wes
Townley, Quinnton Bear, Clayton
Weatherman and Landon Huffman.
The crash happened on lap 113
when Townley got into the left
rear corner of Hessert's machine
which sent both cars careening up
into the wall in turns one and two.
Once Townley and Hessert were
hooked, Bear, Weatherman and
Huffman, with nowhere to go,
piled in behind. Hessert, Weatherman and Bear were able to restart,
albeit with heavily-damaged cars.
Townley and Huffman were
through for the night.
As disappointing as it was for all
involved, it had to be especially
heart-wrenching for Hessert, who
dominated the front half of the race
in the No. 25 So Good! Entertainment-Relax Wraps Toyota, leading
the first 108 laps before the incident. Hessert also earned a new
one-lap track record earlier in the
day, winning his fourth career Menards Pole presented by Ansell.
Once the wreck was cleaned up,
Williams took control, leading 63

Hessert and Townly tangled on lap 114 collecting
Bear and others
laps before he and Briscoe locked
horns.
Bret Holmes finished a career-best
fourth in the No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet.
"We learned a lot tonight," Holmes
said. "This is a challenging track
and we came out with our best finish. We just need to keep our heads
up and keep going, and that first
win will come."
AJ Fike finished fifth in the No. 27
MatrixCare-Consonus HealthcareRD McMillen Ford.
"Stayed out of trouble and got a
good finish out of it. That's about
all you can say about this one tonight. We'll take it and go on to
Springfield."
Clair Zimmerman finished a career-best sixth in the No. 30 Hunti-

lar Ford, the last car on the lead
lap. Hessert battled back to finish
seventh. Thomas Praytor was
eighth in the No. 9 DK-LOK Ford.
Ed Pompa finished a career-best
ninth in the No. 10 Milwaukee
Crusher-Double H Ranch Chevrolet.
The next event for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is
the 54th running of the Central Illinois SuperChevyStores.com 100 at
the Illinois State Fairgrounds mile
dirt Sunday, August 21.