Lofton's No. 6 Lofton Cattle Toyota led the field to the green flag after claiming the pole and went on to dominate the first 69 laps before making his mandatory pitstop. As Lofton led a string of lead lap cars down pitroad under caution, his ESR teammate Steve Arpin stayed on track, inheriting the lead.

Tim George's Ruby Tuesday car ended the night on the hitch

As the green flag waved for the restart, Lofton was battling current points leader Parker Kligerman for position but before the two could settle the score, teammate Tim George Jr. got caught up in a racing incident also involving Chris Buescher. George Jr.'s No. 2 Ruby Tuesday/Chrome Hearts Toyota suffered right side and rearend damage after contact with the outside retaining wall.

Within laps, Arpin dropped his No. 20 Toyota to the attention of his crew as pitstops continued to cycle through the field. As mandated by the ARCA RE/MAX Series officials, each team was to pit at least once during the 100-mile race.

Back under green, the field bunched up while vying for position. During the melee, the Joey Coulter machine turned Lofton's No. 6 Toyota. After a quick trip down pitroad under the caution flag, Lofton's crew changed out the left side Hoosier tires and looked over the fender damage. The restart fell on lap 97 and Lofton lined up at the tailend of the lead lap in 21st.

Craig Goess, Jr.

Just past the halfway mark in the race, Lofton maneuvered his machine through the field into the 11th spot following a caution flag on lap 120. As he worked on his comeback charge, his teammates were pulling away without him. Craig Goess, Jr., who competed at Mansfield last year in a Camping World East Series race, was challenging in fifth while Arpin ran eighth.

Goess continued his run up front, narrowly avoiding the spinning car of Patrick Sheltra in turn 3 on lap 173. By the time the race resumed green flag racing after that incident, it became evident that Lofton would soon be joining the ESR battle up front. On lap 183 while running ninth, Lofton's damaged Toyota began clicking off the fastest laps of the race.

With just 10 laps remaining, teammates Arpin and Goess got racy, battling over the fourth position. But Goess had troubles just three laps from the finish, spinning, causing front-end damage to his No. 81 machine, bringing out the 13th and final caution flag of the night.

Justin Lofton

The yellow forced a green-white-checkered flag finish, extending the race to 202 laps. A hungry Lofton dug in on the restart, picking up another spot to finish fourth.

"We had such a great car tonight. We led a lot of laps and the car was handling great," Lofton said.

"Once I got to about ninth, the car came alive again and we finished fourth. I think if I had another five or so laps I could have taken a shot at Parker (winner, Kligerman). Congrats to those guys -- they're having a good season, but we're not done winning races either. This is a really solid team. I had a blast tonight!"

Arpin followed in fifth, improving his career-best finish of eighth.

Steve Arpin: Best ARCA RE/MAX finish yet

"We had an awesome car tonight from the get-go. The car was a little tight but the guys tuned it and made it better and better all day," Arpin said after the race.

"This is a fun little racetrack. I think you are busier on this track than a quarter-mile dirt track. I was just along for the ride. The car was doing all of the work."

Despite his late race troubles, Goess held on to close out the top 10.

George Jr.'s troubles dropped him to 22nd at the finish.

The ARCA RE/MAX Series has a few weeks off before next taking to the track in Iowa on July 11th for the Prairie Meadows 200.

Back to the top...

ARCA RE/MAX SERIES TIM RICHMOND MEMORIAL 200 QUALIFYING
LOFTON CLAIMS POLE AT MANSFIELD!

Arpin, Goess, George to start: 7th, 11th, 13th

Back to the top...

ARCA RE/MAX SERIES TIM RICHMOND MEMORIAL 200 PRACTICE
LOFTON FASTEST IN PRACTICE

Arpin, Goess, George: 8th, 10th, 12th

Justin Lofton and Crew Chief Mark Rette

MANSFIELD, OH. (June 20, 2009) -Justin Lofton, in an Eddie Sharp Racing-prepared No. 6 Lofton Cattle Toyota, was quickest among 32 drivers during a 1.5 hour ARCA RE/MAX Series practice session at Mansfield Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon.

Lofton's ESR teammates Steve Arpin, Craig Goess and Tim George were 8th, 10th and 12th repectively, all posting times within 00.6 seconds of Lofton's.

"We had a great practice because the team made great changes during the practice session," said Lofton. "We kept picking it up every time we went out on the track. I am very glad that we get to qualify today since rain has been such a problem this year."

Steve Arpin

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 20, 2009) -When the green flag waves tonight in the ARCA RE/MAX Series battle at Mansfield, Ohio Steve Arpin will be gunning for his first career win on the tour. Arpin is presently ranked tenth in the seaon-long championship standings on the tour following a top-ten finish at Michigan International Speedway last weekend. The return to short track action tonight has Arpin enthusiastic based on the strong performance that the team experienced at the half-mile in Toledo, Ohio earlier this season prior to a mechanical problem ending their good run.

‘We are getting our program straightened out and definitely heading in the right direction,’ said Arpin. ‘I’m looking forward to improving our finishes every race from here on out and think we’ve got a shot at them this weekend in Ohio.’

Arpin’s crew chief, Jefferson Hodges, has a lot of experience at Mansfield in his career and that fact adds to the team’s positive outlook for this evening’s action. Arpin, a former multi-time champion of Open Wheel Modified action, will wheel the Lo-N-Bro Enterprises sponsored Toyota Camry into action for the Eddie Sharp Racing team in the event that can be heard and seen live via www.arcaracing.com, beginning with this afternoon’s qualifying rounds. Prior to entering his career in stock car competition Arpin was a seven-time champion for Team Polaris in snowmobile action as a kid.

‘Jefferson and the team have gotten us back to the basics in our chassis setup and we are really pumped up about our chances at Mansfield,’ stated Arpin. ‘We’ve been very close to the right combination this year, but right now I feel good about the direction of our team. I’ve got some very good people behind me and we are focused on bringing home a finish to remember for our friends at Lo-N-Bro Enterprises, Eddie Sharp and the other good folks who are continuing to help us out.’

The Inaugural ARCA RE/MAX Tim Richmond Memorial 200

The ARCA RE/MAX tour’s visit to Mansfield (OH) Motorsports Park gets underway with qualifying slated for 5:00 p.m. for Saturday night’s ‘Tim Richmond Memorial’ at the half-mile facility. The race is scheduled to take the green flag at 8:30 p.m. The event, named in honor of the late Tim Richmond, marks the first appearance of the 57-year-old ARCA RE/MAX Series tour at Mansfield. Richmond, who was born and raised in nearby Ashland, Ohio, won the 1981 Daytona ARCA 200 prior to launching his very successful NASCAR career. The ARCA Racing Network will be covering all the on-track activity for the ARCA RE/MAX Series from Mansfield. Listen and watch live streaming audio and video of practice, qualifying and the ‘Tim Richmond Memorial’ at ARCAracing.com inside the ARCA Nation. To contact Steve Arpin Racing, send an e-mail to teamesr@hotmail.com or visit Steve’s official site on the internet at www.stevearpin.net.

About Lo-N-Bro Enterprises, Inc. www.lonbro.com

Paul and Jon Leach, brothers and Sun River, Montana Natives, started the business in 1998 while only 21 and 18 years old respectively. In that first stage, the entire staff was made up by the two of them. In 2001 they took their “baby” to the next step and transitioned from being an LLC to becoming a formal corporation. One of their first major projects was to build a 10,000 square foot shop on their property in Sun River that formed the base for their operations. Since that time, they have grown into a company that employs over 85 people and generates revenue of over $5,000,000.00 annually.

Paul and Jon are always looking for ways to expand their business, while also filling a niche’ within the respective areas of contracting. One of the prominent areas that they give their employees credit for is how they have helped to build Lo-N-Bro into what it is today. The quality of people that are hired, as well as retained, reaches far beyond the industry standard. Paul and Jon genuinely value each and every individual employee and want the best for them as well as the best out of them. Employees are dynamic members of the family, and thus are offered incredibly competitive wages and benefits, as well as opportunities to advance within the company.

"I love short track racing. And it'll be fun to get up there and race Parker (Kligerman) again. We had a good battle going last week. I felt like we had the faster car until we had that problem. He's got the points lead. I want it back. The gloves are off now. We're going to give it all we've got." -Justin Lofton

Denver, NC (June 18, 2009) –Mechanical issues forced Justin Lofton and the Eddie Sharp Racing No. 6 team to have a rare off week at Michigan International Speedway last Friday. The result was a 30th place finish in addition to Lofton losing the points lead.

But that's old news.

Lofton is now looking ahead to this Saturday's Tim Richmond Memorial ARCA RE/MAX 200 at Mansfield Motorsports Park.

"I've been excited about Mansfield ever since I climbed out of the car at Michigan," Lofton said.

"I love short track racing. And it'll be fun to get up there and race Parker (Kligerman) again. We had a good battle going last week. I felt like we had the faster car until we had that problem. He's got the points lead. I want it back. The gloves are off now. We're going to give it all we've got."

After the mechanical gremlins took control of Lofton's No. 6 Toyota Camry last week, Kligerman went on to win the race and inherited the point lead. Lofton now trails by just 45 markers.

Added Lofton, "I feel like we're racing him every week now at the front – like the start of a friendly rivalry. We're making each other better every week."

Lofton and his Mark Rette-led crew head to Mansfield with a trusty hotrod and high expectations. Lofton has amassed runner-up finishes in the two previous short track races this season at Salem and Toledo. He also nabbed the pole award in Salem.

With a win on the superspeedway in Talladega, Lofton proved he has the ability to not just lead laps, but win races. He enters Mansfield as the Aaron's Lap Leader with 375 laps led spanning just the first seven races (including 39 last week in Michigan).

"It's good to be out front but it's even better to finish it off in victory lane," Lofton said. "We're going to Mansfield with nothing else in mind."

Lofton will first hit the track at Mansfield at 2:30 PM EST on Saturday for the first practice, followed by qualifying at 5 PM, an autograph session at 6 PM and 200 laps, 100 miles of racing at 8:30.

Action can be heard live on ARCARacing.com.

About Eddie Sharp Racing

Eddie Sharp set up shop in 2005 after several years of transforming young, talented drivers into ARCA championship contenders. Today, Eddie Sharp Racing has evolved into the rite of passage for any serious upcoming driver with an ambition for professional stock car racing. Located in Denver, North Carolina just north of Charlotte, Eddie Sharp Racing occupies a top-notch facility that closely resembles a five-star NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, both inside and out. The two ESR buildings each contain two teams where on any given day, championship contending cars are assembled, engines tuned and teams strategize to score the next race day victory.