Columbus, Ohio (Saturday, May 25th, 2013): The CoughlinCars.com 100 Presented by JEGS.com, the second race of the 2013 racing season for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance was at the tricky 1/3 (0.333) mile semi-banked circular shaped paved oval of Columbus Motor Speedway in Columbus, Ohio and for the second year in a row, Chad Finley was standing in victory lane as the DeWitt, Michigan driver, who earlier in the evening broke the Track Record in Boyne Machine Qualifying, took the lead on lap two and dominated en route to the convincing win.
“This car was just awesome tonight, but at the end of the race, the motor began laying down. I’m not sure if we blew it up or not.” The happy driver of the #42 G-Oil / Ford stated in victory lane. “I was flat footing it around the track for the most part. I just couldn’t ask for a better night though for this whole team. So happy to get another one of these trophies,” he added.
Earlier in the afternoon, Finley began his sweep of the program by breaking the Track Record in Boyne Machine Qualifying and then drew the minimum inversion of a three, which placed a pair of hometown favorites in 17-year-old Cody Coughlin from near-by Delaware, Ohio and veteran Columbus native, Robbie Pyle on the front row for the 100-lap main and it would be Pyle beating Coughlin to the first corner to take the early lead.
A quick caution one lap into the race bunched the field back up and prior to the yellow flag, Finley had also gotten by the pole-sitter Coughlin for second. On the restart, Finley used the inside lane to his advantage and would take over the lead from the former ASA National Tour star and proceed to pull away from the rest of the field. Despite nine more cautions that slowed the pace down, Finley was up to the task on each restart and would pull away time and time again.
One last restart on lap 98 set up a green-white-checkered finish, but again, Finley was able to get a good jump on the second place car of Brandon Oakley, a former winner at Columbus in Weekly Late Models competition, and pull away one more time to take the checkered flag for the second year in a row in this event, this time in convincing fashion and he also takes over the early season Points Lead in the process.
“This Port City Racecars ride is just awesome. My little team can fight that’s for sure. We’ve got almost an entirely new crew this year and I’m just so proud of everyone,” The 21-year-old continued. “We hadn’t planned on running the entire JEGS/CRA schedule, but we’re leading points now, so maybe we’ll have to go to all of them. We’ll see though. We’ve got the next two on our schedule back home at Dixie and Berlin, so we’ll see where we’re at after those races.” He ended.
A 2013 Rookie of the Year title contender in the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS, Brandon Oakley brought out a new car for this event and the 18-year-old wheeled his #51 Oakley Blacktop / Chevrolet to a career high second place showing. “The car was really good, but I was getting killed on the restarts.” The Beavercreek, Ohio driver explained. “This is a great night for us, we’ve struggled this season in ARCA/CRA and this finish really boosts the confidence of me and this entire team.” He added.
“The car was good and we were certainly moving up through there, just didn’t have nothing for the top two guys,” Stated third place finisher Josh Nelms after he climbed from his #11 Ray Szarmach Attorney-At-Law / Ford. With the podium finish, Nelms climbs to third in points and also picked up the first Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award for his efforts.
David McManus would bring home a fourth place effort with Coughlin completing the top five. Jerrod Foley recovered from two separate caution flags he was involved in to post a sixth place effort as Landon Cling from 19th, Last Chance Race Winner Jimmy Novak, who also earned the second Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and the Five Star Racecar Bodies Hard-Charger Award for his 23rd to eighth place run. Dan Leeck and Colin Nickolai rounded out the top 10.
Finley’s New Track Record and first Boyne Machine Fast Qualifier Award of the season was a 13.642 which was a 13.796 set by 2011 Tour Champion, Erik Jones by 0.154 seconds with a new mark of a 13.642 that measures out to 87.876mph. Novak won the Last Chance Race over Mike Mazzagatti as both drivers transferred to the main.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance will head north for the third race of the season as the 4/10s (0.400) mile progressively banked paved oval of Dixie Motor Speedway, located north of Flint and south of Saginaw in Birch Run, Michigan will host the running of the Dixie 100 Presented by JEGS.com.
For more information about all four touring series’ within Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS, go to the website located at: www.cra-racing.com You can also follow CRA on Facebook by going to www.facebook.com and search for “Champion Racing Association” and also on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CRAracing Also for more information about Columbus Motor Speedway, the host facility for race #2 of 2013 for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance, go to the track website at: www.dixiemotorpeedway.com