BY KEN de la BASTIDE
KOKOMO TRIBUNE
WINCHESTER — Michigan driver John VanDoorn saw a big lead erased by a late caution and then held off Scott Hantz to win the Champion Racing Association Super Series event at Winchester Speedway on Monday.
VanDoorn was able to keep Hantz at bay despite having tires that were worn out while Hantz had saved his Hoosiers for a run at the end in the McGunegill Engine Performance 100, the traditional tune-up for the Winchester 400.
The early lead was taken by T.J. Reaid, driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, with VanDoorn glued to his rear bumper as the two drivers pulled away from the field.
Fast qualifier Donnie Wilson started seventh as a result of the invert and by lap 25 was running fourth. On lap 35, Wilson slowed and pulled into the pit area.
One circuit later, VanDoorn took advantage of lapped traffic to get outside of Reaid entering the third turn and from there was pulling away from the rest of the field.
The caution flag waved on lap 68 when J.R. Roahrig brushed the turn two wall which wiped out almost a straight-away length lead for VanDoorn over Reaid. On the restart, Scott Hantz got inside of Reaid coming off the fourth corner.
Reaid reclaimed the second spot on lap 83 with a power move inside of Hantz entering turn three as the two drivers were closing on VanDoorn. Reaid slowed on lap 93 with an engine problem and the third and final caution flag waved.
Hantz pressed VanDoorn on the restart and the two drivers ran side by side with five laps remaining for the lead. Hantz got get underneath VanDoorn, but wasn’t able to get enough bite to make the pass.
With VanDoorn’s tires worn, Hantz made a final inside move coming off the fourth corner, but came up .030-seconds short. Tommy St. John, Eddie Van Meter and Rick Turner rounded out the top five.
“It was a great race,” Hantz said. “I could get a run on the bottom, but not enough to get around him. I saved tires for the end, hoping for a late caution.”
For VanDoorn, it was his third win of the season. He said the Chevrolet had a hub break early in the race and the car developed a severe vibration.
“I kept waiting for the tire to come off,” he said. “The vibration kept getting worse. [Hantz] raced me hard the last five laps and I think we touched only once.”
Sulphur Springs driver Scott Neal got inside of Kale Astalos with 17 laps remaining to win the Howe CRA Late Model Sportsman event.
Astalos took the early lead chased by Mark Mason, Jason Atkinson, Keith Sterkowitz and Joe Beaver.
Neal started eighth in the feature and was on the move early in the race. He passed Sterkowitz on lap 16 to move into fourth. He then went outside Atkinson entering turn one on a restart on lap 17, moved inside of Mason on the front straight at the halfway mark.
Neal then used the inside line to pass Astalos entering turn one on lap 23 and Atkinson moved into the second spot in turn three.
Atkinson closed on Neal, but was never able to make the pass for the lead. Astalos finished third followed by Mason and Charlie Hanna.
