Thrilling Victory Comes in his Home State

Cordele, Georgia (Saturday, October 27th, 2012): For 2012 Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year Presented by Howe Racing Enterprises, 15-year-old Anderson Bowen, the 2012 racing season within the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance was a very successful rookie campaign for the Suwanee, Georgia driver as he finished an impressive third in the final points standings despite not garnering that elusive first win in the series during the points chasing segment of the season.

Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia hosted the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour in a special non-points race; the Watermelon 100 which served as the first half of the Watermelon Twin 100s with the ARCA/CRA Super Series Southern Tour. With no points chasing to worry about, is was all about the race itself for the driver of the #29 Copper Creek Hardware / Chevrolet and the Peach State teenager made the most of the opportunity be scoring his first career JEGS/CRA triumph.

“Finally! We’ve all worked so hard for this and we’re finally here. This feels great. Just wish my car was here too!” Bowen laughed as he conducted his post-race interview minus his car which was being towed to the tech area after colliding with another car that was stopped in turn two after the checkered flag flew. “I really need to thank Scotty (Ellis) for racing me clean the whole time. I don’t think we even touched once the whole race.” He added.

Bowen took the lead from Alex Roberts on lap 12 and brought JEGS.com Fast Qualifier, Scotty Ellis with him and for the next 88 laps, the two Georgia based drivers stayed glued to each other for the remainder of the race. Several times, Ellis would pull up next to Bowen and the two drivers battled side by side all around the fast 4/10s (0.400) mile semi-banked paved oval throughout the remainder of the race. Ellis utilized the inside lane while Bowen continued to work the top groove.

In the end, Bowen would be able to fight off the fellow Georgian and would take the checkered flag en route to his first career JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance victory. “This is such a great series to run in. It was well worth it for this team to travel north just about every weekend and race against the JEGS/CRA drivers. Now we know we can win in this series and I hope this gives us some good momentum for the last few races this season and into next year.” He ended.

Ellis finished a JEGS/CRA career high of second after winning his first career JEGS.com Fast Qualifier Award in his #83 M&E Construction / Chevrolet. “We gave Anderson (Bowen) all he could handle but we just came up a little short.” The Forsyth, Georgia driver remarked after the race. “That kid is going to be something special. It was a lot of fun to race with him side by side for so long, we never touched once and he kept his composure throughout the night and he earned this one.” Ellis added.

Coming home in third after an early race incident was Williamsburg, Kentucky driver, Jerrod Foley who tied his JEGS/CRA career high finish in Cordele, Georgia. On lap 12, Foley and veteran Mike Garvey made contact going into turn one sending Garvey into the turn one wall. He also collected Dalton Grindle in the process and both drivers were done for the night. After Foley was sent to the rear of the field for his role in the incident, the 20-year-old in his Quality Care Auto / Chevrolet rallied back for a podium finish.

“We had an awesome run tonight. We started eighth and got up into the top five pretty early when the mishap with Garvey happened.” Explained the Blue Grass State driver; “We had to go to the rear of the field, but we were able to fight our way all the way back up to the third position. We then just settled down and turned on the cruise control for the rest of the race. We didn’t have anything for the top two cars, but we’re very happy with the run.” He added.

Brandon Brilliant earned the Five Star Racecar Bodies Hard-Charger Award with his 12th to fourth place run while Matthew Wragg finished off the top five. 18-year-old Gus Dean was sixth as R.S. Senter, Eric Gerchak, Rodney Benefield, and 2012 Rookie of the Year Runner-Up, 19-year-old Brandon Hermiller completed the final top 10. Earlier in the day, Ellis win his first career JEGS.com Fast Qualifier Award as he went around the 4/10s mile at a 15.964, average speed; 90.203mph.

For more information about the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance and the fast approaching 2013 racing season, please go to the Champion Racing Association website located at: www.craracing.net.