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STEADY STEELE HOLDS OFF ROOKIES FOR POCONO PAY

LONG POND PA, - Equipped with the knowledge of seven previous Pocono wins, ARCA RE/MAX Series veteran Tim Steele held off rookies’ Josh Richeson and Stuart Kirby to win the anticlimactic, yet thrilling Pocono ARCA 200 Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.

Just as Richeson, less than a length away, was ready to strike the leader with less than five laps remaining, rain started pelting the Pocono triangle bringing out the final caution. From there, Richeson, a nephew of Winston Cup driver Brett Bodine, could only watch as Steele, still under caution, coasted his HS Die-Softech Ford under the checkered flag to secure his eighth victory on the 2.5-mile superspeedway and 39th RE/MAX Series win of his career. Richeson, in only his second start, got credit for second with Kirby, in Bob Schacht’s Athens Mobil Speed Park Ford, trailing in third. It was Kirby’s fourth top-five superspeedway finish in just five starts. Mike Swaim, Jr, in his back-up car, charged from the tail-end to finish fourth ahead of Frank Kimmel who finished fifth.

“We went down into one and my windshield got wet, so I checked up a little bit,” Steele said. “Then when we got off one, it wasn’t raining so I took off and ran it hard down into the tunnel turn. But you get a little nervous when you see the raindrops there, but it worked out for us. My hats off to the whole crew; they’ve come a long way since Daytona. They’ve been practicing a lot and getting up to speed where they need to be. I’d rather be lucky than good any day, but you have to be in position to win, and we kept ourselves there all day long.”

However Steele’s win wasn’t purely luck as the Coopersville, Michigan driver led five times for 50 laps during the 80-lap event. And while the final caution undoubtedly snuffed away what was building up to be an exciting finish, 14 prior lead changes among seven drivers kept things plenty interesting for the fans throughout the 200-mile race. In addition, six cautions, mostly for minor incidents, slowed the event for 29 laps; the most serious of which involved Malcolm Bennett and Tim Mitchell who made contact in turn one. Mitchell checked out okay while Bennett was transported, conscious and alert, to the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center where the Worcester, Pennsylvania driver was diagnosed with a fractured right shoulder blade and later released that afternoon.

At the onset, outside polesitter David Keith, in Ted Campbell’s CLR Ford, beat Old Milwaukee polesitter and new track record holder Kirby down into turn one. Keith quickly stretched his advantage to five lengths before Steele, who also got by Kirby on the start, tracked down Keith in time to take the lead on lap seven. Steele led up through lap 22 before Keith snatched it back on lap 23. However, Keith’s lead would become short-lived when Steele charged back around to lead the next 14 laps. Then after a flurry of pit stops, both Jason Jarrett and Andy Belmont spent their turns leading just before Keith overhauled both. But Keith led just one lap before Steele took over for two laps while current point leader Kimmel raced Richeson and Kirby for the remaining top-five positions.

Then Kimmel, who had to start at the tail-end because of a motor change, charged ahead to lead lap 46. One lap out front would be all Kimmel would get before Steele maneuvered back into the lead for three circuits before Keith overhauled the eventual winner to lead the 50th lap. Once Keith finally shook his closest challengers, the Mooresville, North Carolina resident stretched his lead to ten lengths until engine trouble cut his day short 18 laps shy of the finish. With Keith gone from the equation, Steele was left squarely in control with Richeson and Kirby trailing five lengths back. With laps winding down, Richeson, with Kirby in tow, got within inches of Steele’s back bumper before the final caution eliminated any chance for the win.

“I learned a heck of a lot,” said Richeson, “which I’m sure I can file away and use later. We just tried to keep our cool and not make any mistakes. I felt like we could have gained a little more on him (Steele) had it not been for the rain but I don’t know if we could have got around him or not.“

Local favorite Bobby Gerhart, who led three laps, finished sixth in the Garden Spot Auto Auction Chevrolet with veteran Ed Berrier in seventh in the Target Saws & Blades Chevy. Hesston, Pennsylvania driver Tom Eriksen posted his career-best RE/MAX Series finish in eighth while Blaise Alexander, with sponsorship from Pennsylvania-based Middleswarth Potato Chip maker, finished ninth. Belmont finished tenth in the AOL-Racecakes Ford while rookie Richard Mitchell, in only his third start, finished 11th in the Coach USA-Forest River Pontiac.

RE/MAX Series regular Ron Cox won the Thermo-Tec Cool Drive honors as well as the Hoosier Tire Performance Hard Charger award for advancing the most positions, from 28th to 12th in the final running order. Steele, in addition to the winner’s purse, picked up the Loctite Halfway Leader award.

Official Results, Pocono ARCA RE/MAX 200

1 3 16 Tim Steele
2 6 14 Josh Richeson
3 1 75 Stuart Kirby
4 5 22 Mike Swaim Jr
5 4 46 Frank Kimmel
6 16 5 Bobby Gerhart
7 9 19 Ed Berrier
8 15 38 Tom Eriksen
9 7 91 Blaise Alexander
10 11 1 Andy Belmont
11 13 54 Richard Mitchell
12 28 23 Ron Cox
13 21 21 Todd Bowsher
14 17 15 Larry Hollenbeck
15 29 24 Chuck Weber
16 20 48 Donny Morelock
17 24 4 Scott Ritter
18 22 11 Malcolm Bennett
19 2 57 David Keith
20 26 6 Tim Mitchell
21 19 7 Jerry Hill
22 10 67 Jason Jarrett
23 30 84 Norm Benning
24 34 26 Brad Smith
25 32 34 Darrell Basham
26 8 25 Skip Smith
27 14 17 AJ Henriksen
28 25 9 Michael Zazula
29 18 94 Dion Ciccarelli
30 23 60 Matt Hummel
31 27 39 Dick Tracey
32 35 64 Todd Antrican
33 33 56 Eric Martin
34 12 53 Robert Burroughs
35 31 51 Kevin Belmont

MITCHELL FINISHES 11TH IN POCONO DEBUT

LONG POND, PA (June 16) … Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) RE/MAX driver Richard Mitchell finished a strong 11th Saturday afternoon following 200 torrid miles around the 2.5 mile Pocono tri-oval.

But you can't fault the Bruceton Mills, West Virginia driver for what might have been had mechanical gremlins not invaded the electrical system of his Coach USA/ Forest River Motorhomes, Pontiac Grand Prix.

“That makes two races in a row that mechanical problems robbed us of top-ten finishes,” Mitchell lamented following the Pocono event.“ At Michigan, we lost third gear in the transmission. Today, something malfunctioned in the electrical system."

“I could go into the turns hard,” said Mitchell, a two-time NASCAR Northeast Regional champion, but when I got on the gas in the middle of the corners, the motor would lose power…if felt like it was running on seven cylinders at times. The problem started on the 20th lap and became worse as the afternoon wore on."

Mitchell's next ARCA RE/MAX race will take place at the Michigan International Speedway on July 22nd.