It's Official: Johnny Vandoorn 2009 CRA Champion

Johnny VanDoorn, Jimmy TenBrink and CRA Official (Photos Courtesy of Dirk Redder)

Dirk Redder , former Winston Speedway racers Jimmy Tenbrink, Johnny VanDoorn, Dean Huizenga and Adam Chase

Kyle Busch Wins 38th Annual Winchester 400

Van Doorn and Other CRA Champions Are Also Decided

CRA PR Report
Kyle Busch had chances to win the Winchester 400 on a couple of occasions before, finishing second in 2008, and running for the lead with only a few laps to go a few years before only to have a wheel come off. The 2009 CRA Super Series 2009 Winchester 400 trophy, the coveted Winchester Rifle, went home with him as he raced out to the lead and stayed there. Brian Rievley was second, Terry Fisher, Jr. third, Jason Dietsch fourth and Chuck Barnes, Jr. fifth on Sunday afternoon.

"It's awesome, a great honor to win. I have been trying for this for a few years, and we have now won it." An obviously elated Busch stated. "We had a scare late, but we got it handled. The 17 (Gabehart) was fast and the 67 (Fultz) was fast but we knew it was the car that got to the end with tires left that would win."

Chris Gabehart took the early lead and ran out to a strong lead before Busch started to reel him in and took the lead on the 61st lap. From there Busch only gave up the lead once under green. Gabehart was a strong challenger until hitting debris and damaging a spindle. Jeff Fultz, the only driver to take the lead from Busch under green had his day end when his transmission went out on a restart on lap 288.

Chris Gabehart set a new track record with a time of 14.935 seconds, the first CRA Super Series driver to turn a lap at Winchester Speedway under 15.000 seconds, to win the EDCO Welding Fast Qualifier Award. Johnny VanDoorn bounced back from near disaster with a failed engine in practice to change his engine and set second fast time at 15.106 seconds. Danny Jackson was third, Chuck Barnes, Jr. fourth, and Boris Jurkovic fifth.

Kyle Busch and Jim Crabtree, Jr. took the Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Awards. Robert Maynor earned the Lane Automotive/ISKY Racing Cams Hard Charger Award moving up 21 spots to finish 11th. Jeff Fultz was the Kingen Interstate Express Halfway Leader Award. The K&N Filters Rookie of the Race Award went to Nick Lay as the highest finishing rookie.

Kenny Tweedy received the EMF Corp. “That’s Racing Award” for the hit he took after spinning in a tangle with a lapped car. The Safety Solutions Tough Luck Award went to Danny Jackson. The ARP Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award went to Chuck Barnes, Jr. after he raced the last 300 laps of the race without power steering.

Johnny VanDoorn started the day 42 points ahead of Scott Hantz, always a favorite to run well at Winchester, in the race for the CRA Super Series Season Championship. Hantz dropped out on the 94th lap when he started to slide coming out of turn four and bumped a car he was passing. He spun into the inside front stretch wall and was out of the race on the 94th lap.

VanDoorn was in second place when he came in on a red flag due to falling oil pressure. His crew found an oil line holder had snapped allowing the oil line to fall onto to the header and it had a hole burnt in it. They did not have the hose available, and he was forced to retire, in 23rd place on lap 131, but had enough lead to win the 2009 series Championship for his Kaos Motorsports team.

On Friday and Saturday, VanDoorn was the fastest in practice. Then his engine gave up just as the first practice ended Saturday. His crew with help from a different engine builder and the Hantz team changed the engine on pit road, and he got back out to qualify.

Afterward he said. "I am really upset about today, we had a great car and it was just coming in and we were looking great for the rest of the race. This was a pretty good year. As a new team we made some rookie mistakes, we learned some things that worked and we are getting ready for the future. I cannot thank everybody who helped enough, my sponsors, the crew, Dirk, Butch, Dean, Adam, and anyone else that has laid a hand on the car this year. I also have to say a special thank you to DeWayne and Brett McGunegill they really helped us out yesterday when we had to change an engine."

Tyler Roahrig is the 2009 CRA Super Series K&N Filters Rookie of the Year. “I need to thank several people, my Dad, Grandpa, Jim, Hooven, Andrew and Matt. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I learned a lot this year, it has made me a better racer when I race at home.”

The next event for the CRA Super Series is the Nashville All-American Weekend a 250 lap non-points event at the Fairgrounds Speedway at Nashville, TN on November 1. Practice on Friday, October 30, then practice and qualifying on October 31. The CRA Street Stocks and Howe CRA Late Model Sportsman will have special 50 lap non-points races on Saturday also. On Sunday the CRA Super Series will once again be part of this special weekend in $10,000 to win race.



More event information is available at www.fairgroundsspeedwayatnashville.com. Rules and entry forms and more information for the CRA Divisions are available at www.craracing.net.