VanDoorn Notches Second Champion Racing Association Win at Toledo
Johnny VanDoorn’s favorite race track on the Champion Racing Association schedule is the Toledo Speedway. VanDoorn likes the speed and the banking of the big half mile. On Friday the 13th, VanDoorn did not find any of the bad racing luck he’s found so far in the 2010 season. Instead, he found Victory Lane for the second time this season in his #61 CRA car and his fourth win overall.
VanDoorn’s day did not start off the way the 2009 CRA Champion had hoped. VanDoorn reported to the team after his first run during the hour long practice session that the car was not good at all. The team went to work to make adjustments to get the car handling to VanDoorn’s liking. After his next run, VanDoorn said they went the right direction with the changes but he felt they needed to go a little further to make the car better. The team made a couple more changes and bolted on a set of sticker tires for a mock qualifying run. VanDoorn came on the radio and said the car was the best it had been all day. With that, the team prepped the car for qualifying.
VanDoorn went out 16th out of the 25 cars to take time. Johnny ran a lap of 15.722 seconds, which was good enough for third. Johnny holds the track record for the CRA cars at Toledo and was not happy with timing in third. “The only bright side of qualifying third is they drew a three for the inversion, so we will start on the pole. Otherwise, I’m not real happy with that time. We still have some work to do for the race” VanDoorn said.
VanDoorn and Scott Hantz led the field to green and Johnny led the first two laps and then was past by fast qualifier Joey Miller. Johnny would settle into second spot before giving way to Scott Hantz. Johnny reported to the team that the car was bottoming out a bit and that once the air pressures built up, the car was better. Johnny rode in third spot right behind Hantz. When Hantz made his move on Joey Miller, VanDoorn followed right behind him taking over second place on lap 63. He would not stay there long has he got the nose of the #61 under Hantz on lap 65 and finally retook the lead. Johnny would open up a commanding lead working his way through traffic and went on to win by almost two seconds.
After the win, VanDoorn was happy with the end result. “We struggled earlier today. But we came together as a team and made the car better. It still was not that great of a car-it did not feel like the tires were in the track. It felt like I was skating around. But we needed this win. Wins like tonight and last week with the outlaw car are what we should be doing every week. I really feel that our team is getting stronger at the right time” VanDoorn said. And the heat of the day was another obstacle the team had to overcome. “As hot as it was today, I really have to thank my team for the work they put in. Not only today, but all week. We had a lot of work to do after wrecking on the last lap at Anderson. And we had some work to do today as well. That’s why this win feels so good-to reward all of us for the hard work we put into this deal” VanDoorn added.
VanDoorn and his Kaos Motorsports team will be traveling to the Columbus Speedway on August 28 for their next CRA race.
Unofficial Point Standings:
Johnny VanDoorn 644
Scott Hantz 583
Tommy St. John 564
Terry Fisher Jr. 554
Jason Dietsch 542
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