16-Year-Old Hunter Baize Celebrates Memorial Day Holiday Weekend With First Career JEGS/CRA Win
Agroscapes 100 Presented by SizzleMarine.com marks traditional stop at Columbus Motor Speedway
Columbus, Ohio (May 24, 2014) – The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet
Performance made their traditional Memorial Day Holiday Weekend trip to the Buckeye
State. The circular shaped 1/3 (0.333) mile semi-banked paved oval of Columbus Motor
Speedway in Columbus, Ohio served as hosts of the Agroscapes 100 Presented by
SizzleMarine.com on Saturday, May 24th. This was the series' fourth all-time appearance
in the state capital and just like in the three previous events, the action was non-stop and
the holiday weekend crowd loved every minute of it.
At the end of 100 laps, it would be 16-year-old Hunter Baize, a sophomore competitor in
the series, who prior to this event, had a career high finish of just a sixth showing in
JEGS/CRA competition, add his name to the series all-time winners list. The Bremen,
Kentucky teenager, who joined forces with VanDoorn Racing Development prior to the
start of the 2014 season, eclipsed his career high finish in a huge way; By passing
veteran, Josh Nelms with 15 laps to go to win the Agroscapes 100 Presented by
SizzleMaine.com.
"Picking up my first career win, and the first ever win in a VRD chassis is amazing. The
guys had us a fantastic car for the entire weekend." The elated driver of the #13
Kawasaki / VanDoorn Racing Development / Ford stated in victory lane. "We were P1 in
the only practice session, and qualified fourth, so we tried to just stay patient until about 20 to go and then it was time to go. We were able to get into the lead with 15 laps left, and held on for the win. I can't believe it, this is so great. God is so good." He jubilantly added.
Overall and Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year points leader 15-year-old J.J. Haley and second place in points coming into the night, Dan Leeck would bring the 28-car field to Chief Starter, Scott Menlen's green flag to begin the century distance event. Heading into turns three and four in an attempt to complete the first lap, they remained side by side when contact behind them caused a chain reaction accident involving nine cars. All but three machines were able to continue and a restart was in order.
On the restart it would be Haley who would get to the first corner to take the lead as the rest of the followed behind him. Nelms, who started fourth, climbed up to second and began stalking Haley for the lead. On lap 25, Nelms maneuvered his way by for the lead and started to increase his margin over Haley and the rest of the field, picking up the D.T.S. Drive Train Specialists Halfway Leader Awards in the process. As the laps continued to click off, Baize, who started in sixth position, began to pick cars off one by one and soon found himself on Haley's back bumper in third.
With 20 laps to go, Baize began his assault and quickly disposed of Haley for second and set his sights on the race leader, Nelms. With 15 laps to go, Baize made what would be the winning pass for the lead through lapped traffic, which turned out to be the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race. Nelms tried to keep pace with Baize in hopes of challenging for the lead one more time, but Baize was too strong and pulled away to score his first ever win in a Late Model and his first career checkered flag in JEGS/CRA competition.
"This whole team is just amazing. To have Johnny VanDoorn as my driver coach and Butch VanDoorn as my crew chief, it just doesn't get any better than this." The Blue Grass State driver continued. "I can't thank everyone involved with this team enough. I'll never forget this one, it's the first one." He ended. Along-with the trophy and paycheck, Baize also took home the VDL Fuel Systems Hot Lap of the Race award for turning the quickest lap of the race. He would also vault up the points standings as Baize went from 12th coming into the night to sixth at the end of it.
After leading for a total of 60 laps, Lockport, Illinois veteran, Josh Nelms would settle for a runner-up showing in his #0 LisaThomasSalon.com / Ford. The 38-year-old driver did move into a tie for second place in the early chase for the 2014 JEGS/CRA championship with his highest finish of the season. Nelms also the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure Award as well.
Haley, who led the first 24 laps of the race, completed the podium finishers with his third place finish. The 15-year-old rookie driver of the #99 Braun Ability / Chevrolet maintained his points leads in both the Overall and the Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year title chases. The Winamac, Indiana teenager picked up the Howe Racing Enterprises Rookie of the Race award for his efforts.
Reigning JEGS/CRA Champion, 18-year-old Cody Coughlin picked up a fourth place finish in his first start of the season. The driver of the #1 JEGS / Toyota who also races for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menard and is a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. One of the home track favorites from near-by Delaware, Ohio also collected the Five Star Racecar Bodies Hard-Charger Award and the first Great Lakes Tire / Hoosier Racing Tire Performance award after starting 16th. Leeck who started on the outside of the front row, never left the top five the entire race as the Birch Run, Michigan driver in his #12 Mr. Asphalt / Chevrolet completed the top five.
Chris Davidson recovered from the first lap incident to finish in sixth while two-time defending NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Track Champion in the tracks weekly Late Models division, Chad Pendleton scored a seventh place finish in his JEGS/CRA debut. Boyne Machine Company Fast Qualifier, Brandon Oakley would finish in eighth as 16-year-old Tristan Van Wieringen, another contender for the Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year title, picked up a career high ninth place finish. Veteran Mike Stacy, who started 22nd, earned both the Hedman Hedders Husler Award and the second Great Lakes Tire / Hoosier Racing Tire Performance award by completing the top 10.
During the afternoon in Boyne Machine Company Qualifying, Brandon Oakley picked up his first career award over the 28-car field as he turned in a 13.919. His lap measures out to 86.127mph. The track record for JEGS/CRA is held by Chad Finley who went a 13.642 back on May 25th. 2013. There was to be a 15-lap last chance race, but series and track officials got together after qualifying and made the decision to start all of the JEGS/CRA cars on the property.
After two races on consecutive weekends in different parts of the country, the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour teams will take a brief two-week vacation before returning to action in one of the biggest race weekends in the Midwest. The Salem, Indiana based template body / crate motor series will make its first ever appearance in the state of Wisconsin and take part in ARCA Fest at the famed one mile (1.000) semi-banked paved oval of the famed Milwaukee Mile. The historic facility is located within the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds and west of Milwaukee in West Allis, Wisconsin as the JEGS/CRA teams will make the trip on Friday-Sunday, June 6-8th.
On Sunday afternoon, June 8th, the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour will race in the JEGS.com 100, a special non-points event in support of the 4th annual Swiss Colony Howie Lettow Memorial 150 for the headlining ARCA Midwest Tour Presented by SCAG Power Equipment. The Mid-American Stock Car Series, Midwest Truck Tour and IMCA Vintage Stock Cars will also be a part of the three-day weekend of events on the famed mile oval. The weekend kicks off on Friday, June 6th with the "Budweiser Pole Party" at the Bud Pavilion located within the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. In addition, the Monster Truck Summer Nationals will also be a part of the weekend festivities on Saturday, June 7th.
For more information about all four touring series’ within Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS for the entire 2014 racing season, go to the series website at: www.cra-racing.com You can also follow CRA on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ChampionRacingAssociation and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CRAracing Finally for more information about ARCA Fest at the Milwaukee Mile, the hosts for this special non-points race for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, go to the event website located at: www.arcafest.com
