ARCA SERIES
ESR ARCA RE/MAX Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA, June 5, 2010 |
| POS |
CAR |
DRIVER |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| WIN! |
81 |
Goess |
80/80 |
Running |
POCONO
GOESS WINS AT POCONO!!
ESR Driver takes career-first win.
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Eddie Sharp & Craig Goess in Victory Lane |
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Long Pond, Penn. (June 5, 2010) - Craig Goess tamed the "Tricky Triangle" Saturday in the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 at Pocono Raceway, by running away from the field for his first career ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards victory.
The weekend started off solid for the No. 81 Greenville Toyota of NC. During the lone practice session of the weekend, the No. 81 made 20 laps, with the second-best lap time of 54.262 seconds (165.862 mph).
Goess gained confidence from his successful practice going into qualifying Friday afternoon, laying down a lap time of 54.737 seconds (164.423 mph). He would line up third for the race.
With a breeze and cloud cover over the Long Pond, Penn., track, the No. 81 lined up inside the second row in the third position for the 50thARCA Racing Series race at Pocono Raceway. The Greenville Toyota Camry started behind Frank Kimmel and pole winner Mikey Kile, two of the biggest competitors in the race, and was ready to compete for a victory.
When the green flag dropped on the triangular track, Goess did not waste any time moving toward his goal of pulling into victory lane. Goess immediately passed Kimmel on lap one to take over the second position, and he entered the quest to catch Kile for first. "You are tracking him down," encouraged crew chief Johnny Allen. "Keep doing what you are doing. You will get him."
By lap 20, Goess continued to hold steady in the second position behind Kile and radioed feedback to his crew in anticipation of their first pit stop of the day. The No. 81 came in for their first stop on lap 28, as the crew put on four tires, added fuel and changed the air pressure. The successful green-flag pit stopped put the No. 81 back on the track in the fourth place.
The first caution came out on lap 34, as the team discussed strategy to get to the head of the pack. The green flag dropped four laps later, with only three cars on the lead lap and Goess guiding the field around the tricky triangle. Kile worked passed Goess, as they battled in what seemed to be a two-car race.
In a Kile-dominated race, the No. 25 led 67 of 80 laps, but Goess refused to back off the tail of the Venturini Motorsports car. He relentlessly stayed with the No. 25, aiming for victory. Goess radioed to the crew that he thought the engine sounded strange. "It sounds like a diesel engine," said Goess. "I don't know what is wrong, but it feels a bit flat."
The crew avidly listened as the No. 81 drove past the ESR pit box. Crew chief Allen assured Goess that he did not hear anything that would cause for stress, the car was not slowing down and that it was most likely a cracked header. |
VIDEO CLIPS |
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Eddie Sharp on the victory at Pocono |
Crew Chief Johnny Allen on Goess' First Victory |
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81 car takes an extra lap at Pocono |
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The No. 81 came in for the last scheduled pit stop on lap 68,putting on four tires, filling the car with fuel, and adjusting the track bar. As the No. 81 left the pit box, the caution flag came out--a strike of luck for the team. The leaders came down pit road during the caution, putting the No. 81 out in the first position.
By lap 75, the green flag flew, and Goess was focused on one thing--the checkered flag. Getting a jump on the restart, Goess led Kile coming off the front straightaway. Going into turn one, Kile gained on Goess and looked to pass him. As they came off the turn, Kile got a little loose and settled in behind the No. 81 Toyota Camry. Goess increased his lead over Kile throughout the last five laps, as he came to the start-finish line for his first career victory, beating the No. 25 by 1.035 seconds.
Goess competed at Pocono Raceway twice last year finishing in the ninth and third positions. He utilized that experience to capture his first ARCA Racing Series careen win, moving him up two spots into the fifth position in the ARCA Racing Series point standings.
"This win keeps our momentum rolling," Goess said. "We've had some good finishes the last few races. If we can avoid bad luck, it will do a lot for us in the standings. At this point, it's really too early to speculate on that. We're going to go out and run every lap as hard as we can, just like we did today, and hope for the best."
Goess and the No. 81 ESR Greenville Toyota of N.C. team hope to ride the momentum from their victory, when the ARCA Racing Series returns to action Friday, June 11 at Michigan International Speedway. The Racing for Wildlife 200 will be broadcast live on SPEED at 5 p.m. EST with live scoring, timing and audio broadcast on ARCARacing.com.
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PRACTICE & QUALIFYING
Craig Goess Second in Practice; Starts Third
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Craig Goess |
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Long Pond, PA (June 4, 2010) - Craig Goess drove the No. 81 Greenville Toyota of N.C. Toyota to the third position with a lap of 54.737 seconds (164.423 mph) after finishing second in practice. Goess was pleased with his lap, especially when considering what could have been.
"I thought we were going to have a better lap than that. We went into Turn 1 and it was just extremely loose and we had to chase the car and really pedal the throttle to get back on it," Goess said. "When we came in, we had equalized (experienced an unusual difference of pressure in) an inner liner in the right rear tire, and luckily we didn't wreck the car. The tire was about six pounds of pressure higher than it should have been. All that considered, it really wasn't a bad lap, running with a tire like that." |
ESR ARCA RE/MAX Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200
STARTING POSITIONS
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA, June 4, 2010 |
| POS |
CAR |
DRIVER |
TIME |
SPEED |
| 3 |
81 |
Goess |
54.737 |
164.423 |
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PRACTICE RESULTS
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA, June 4, 2010
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| POS |
CAR |
DRIVER |
TIME |
SPEED |
| 2 |
81 |
Goess |
54.262 |
165.862 |
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POCONO RACEWAY PREVIEW
Craig Goess ARCA Racing Series Advance
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Craig Goess |
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Long Pond, PA (June 1, 2010) Craig Goess and the Eddie Sharp Racing No. 81 Greenville Toyota of N.C. Toyota will take the track in the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, June 5, 2010.
Last Race: Toledo: Goess qualifying sixth in the last ARCA Racing Series event on May 23, 2010 at Toledo Speedway, and he was ready to continue his streak of three top-five finishes in three races. On lap 98 of 200, the No. 81 got caught up in a wreck with Patrick Sheltra, Tim George Jr., Robb Brent and A.J. Frank. The accident brought out the red flag, but the No. 81 crew was able to strategically plan how to continue to compete despite visible damage. Although two laps down, Goess finished 14th in the race.
Quick Test at MIS: Goess topped the charts last week in the morning session of the ARCA Racing Series open test at Michigan International Speedway. The No. 81 led the field of 28 participating cars, turning the 2-mile track in 39.475 seconds (182.394 mph). He completed the test in the afternoon session, finishing with the third-quickest overall time behind Mikey Kile and current ARCA point leader Patrick Sheltra.
Success at Pocono: In Goess' only two starts at Pocono, he finished in the top-five and top-10. ESR has also found success at Pocono Raceway, as Goess' former ESR teammate Justin Lofton won the August 2009 Pocono race from the pole.
In the Points: Goess dropped one spot in the ARCA Racing Series point standings to the seventh position. He is now 10 points behind Frank Kimmel in the sixth position and 165 points out of the lead.
50th Race at Pocono: This weekend marks the 50th race at Pocono Raceway for the ARCA Racing Series. The series began racing at the triangular course in 1983, and Goess hopes to race his way to victory during the historic race.
SPEED Broadcast: The Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 will be the fourth of 10 races on the ARCA Racing Series schedule to be broadcast on the SPEED Channel. The race coverage begins at 4 p.m. Live streaming audio will be featured on the ARCA Racing Network at www.arcaracing.com when the green flag drops at 1 p.m.
QUOTES:
No. 81 Greenville Toyota of N.C. Toyota
"I'm looking forward to heading back to Pocono Raceway. I enjoy racing at the larger tracks like the Pocono. In my first two races at Pocono, I had good runs. In the fall race, I finished third, and I hope we can capitalize on that experience this weekend."
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POCONO RACEWAY PREVIEW
| Craig Goess ARCA Racing Series Pocono History |
| No. |
Track |
Year |
Start |
Finish |
Laps |
Notes |
| 81 |
Pocono |
2009-June |
9 |
9 |
80/80 |
Running |
| 81 |
Pocono |
2009-Aug. |
6 |
3 |
82/82 |
Running |
ARCA Returns to the Tricky Triangle
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Pocono Raceway |
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Known as the tricky triangle, Pocono's unique three-cornered racetrack is different than any other on the 21-race schedule. The Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200, the seventh of 20th events in 2010, marks the 50th ARCA Racing Series race at Pocono since 1983. However, the first ARCA race at Pocono was in 1969 on the now defunct æ-mile oval won by Bobby Watson in a Dodge. Watson held off Benny Parsons to pick of the victory.
| TRACK FACTS |
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| POCONO RACEWAY |
| Location |
Long Pond, Pennsylvania |
Address |
Long Pond Rd, Long Pond, PA |
| Phone: |
(570) 646-230 |
Length |
2.5-mile paved triangle |
Banking |
6-18 degrees banking |
| First ARCA Race |
1983 |
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| EVENT SCHEDULE |
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| FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd |
10:15-11:55 AM: |
ARCA RE/MAX Series Practice |
1:45 PM: |
Pole Qualifying (All Positions / 1 lap) |
| SATURDAY, JUNE 4th |
1:00 PM: |
Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200
(80 laps / 200 miles) |
Live Timing and Scoring with Live Streaming Audio on ARCANation.com
TV Coverage on SPEED: 4 p.m. |
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