Needles Spoils Home Opener For Bozell in Intimidator 100

Needles Spoils Home Opener For Bozell in Intimidator 100

Tops 12-time Kalamazoo Champ To Win Intimidator 100

By Jason Christley, NASCAR via www.nascarhometracks.com

Andy Bozell put enough fast laps around Kalamazoo Speedway enough to accumulate 12 Outlaw Super Late Model Division track championships.

But Saturday night, he needed a few more laps.

The 48-year-old Bozell, of Portage, Mich., was edged by visiting Steve Needles as Kalamazoo kicked off its 62nd season with its annual extra-distance opener for its top division, the Intimidator 100.

Needles, 27, took the lead on a Lap 72 restart and held on to capture one of the premier short-track events in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series for the first time.

The Berrien Springs, Mich., driver has previously won the Kalamazoo Klash, the track’s 150-lap event scheduled this year for Aug. 15.

“Andy is such a good racer, especially here,” said Needles. “I just kept digging and digging and digging, and he was digging. It was just good, hard racing.”

JR Roahrig finished third, followed by Tom Thomas and defending track champion Phil Bozell, who was in and out of the pits all night.

Kalamazoo is a 3/8-mile oval with 14 degree banking, located two hours outside of Detroit. It’s been a NASCAR-sanctioned track since 1989 and Bozell’s 12 NASCAR track titles tie him for fourth all-time in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. Last year, he won the state championship and his son, Phil, won the track title.

“It’s a fast little joint,” said Andy Bozell. “Our Late Models are go karts on steroids – they’re just wicked. It’s a great field of race cars. We separate cars by the thousands of a second on a week-to-week basis, draw for inversion. You just have to have a good car to race with. It’s a tough little place.”

Saturday night, Needles started eighth and quickly moved to the front. Bozell, qualified second and started 15th after the inversion, took advantage of a long green-flag from Laps 36 to 72 to take the lead on Lap 56 and build a comfortable lead. But a caution on Lap 72 set up a crucial restart.

“We had a good car tonight,” Bozell said. “It got late in the race and I needed a long green-flag run. I was just better on the bottom. After three laps my car got going good and I knew the restart was going to be trouble.”


As the leader on the restart, Bozell had lane choice on the restart and took the bottom. Needles took advantage of it and shot into the lead. He was able to withstand Bozell’s challenge on a pair of ensuing restarts and then hold off on over the final 26-lap, green-flag run.

“I was really good for about 20 lap runs, and then I started tightening up quite a bit,” Needles said. “I knew if I took the bottom I wasn’t going to be able to get the drive off I needed to get him. So when he took the bottom, I knew I could get it wound up on the top. There was just a lot of grip up there.”

From there, Needles only had one thing on his mind in the closing laps.

“Getting in a groove,” Needles said. “Getting in a groove and not making any mistakes. Just make smooth, smart decisions.”

Other NASCAR winners on opening night included Brandon Lyons in the Div. II Super Stock feature, Lloyd Books in the Div. III Pro Stock feature, Bobby Stremme - brother of NASCAR national series driver David Stremme - in the Div. IV Mini Stock feature, and Jerry Jansen Jr. in the Div. V Cyber Stock feature.