22 Chris Koslek - Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Chuck Gonzalez / C.G. Photo)Grand Rapids, Michigan (Wednesday, May 16th. 2012): Chris Koslek and Wes Griffith Jr., are two races into the 14-race schedule that make up the 2012 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts season. So far Koslek is sitting ninth in the season long point chase while Griffith Jr., has struggled in the first two outings.

Fewless Motorsports is hoping to rely on Griffith Jr’s experience at his home track will aid in their efforts for that coveted first JEGS/CRA win on Saturday, May 19th at the ½ (0.500) mile semi-banked paved oval of Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville, Indiana for the running of the Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com. The track is located just five minutes from Griffith Jr’s home in Crown Point, Indiana.

“We’re going to Illiana looking to win that race,” Koslek stated as he and his Fewless Motorsports Team continue preparations on both cars. I know Wes is excited to race in front of family and friends and I’m hoping I can rely on him for some information on the track and in turn, we can both run up front and hopefully one of us can pull into victory lane at the end of the night.” The Grand Rapids, Michigan driver added.

In the teams’ last race back on May 6th at the historic ½ (0.500) mile high-banked paved oval of the legendary Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana in the running of the Winchester 100 Presented by JEGS.com, Koslek came out of the legendary high-banks with solid 10th place finish while Griffith Jr., was involved in the huge 10-car pile-up in turns one and two on lap 65 and was shown 17th in the rundown.

“We didn't have the fastest car at Winchester, so we knew that if we stayed out of trouble we would be able to race at the end and that’s exactly what we did.” Koslek continued. A 10th place finish was a good points day for us. We’re looking at the bigger picture; get through some of these tracks we haven’t been too before and then do well at the places we have experience on.” The 25-year-old ended.

Griffith Jr., added; “I was really excited to run Winchester since it is one of my favorite race tracks and we had a solid race car with qualifying eighth and running in the top 10 before getting tangled up in the lap 65 accident.” The 44-year-old remarked. “It was a disappointing end to the day, but I really need to thank the guys at Fewless Motorsports for all of their hard work repairing the car from Plymouth back to 100% and I can’t wait to get to Illiana to fight for a win!” He ended.

Event to Have Halfway Break at Lap 50

Salem, IN (May 15, 2012) – The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts will head to Illiana Motor Speedway this Saturday, May 19th for the third event of the 2012 season for the crate motor late model series. The famed Chicagoland race track located in Schererville, Indiana is owned and promoted by local businessman Mike Mikuly, and is the last Indiana asphalt racetrack to have template Super Late Models competing weekly.

The Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com will feature a little different structure that was requested by the event’s sponsor, who has also put up some additional bonus money built around a lap 50 break. The teams will have a 10 minute break at lap 50 to work on their cars for the second 50 laps of the Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com. Teams will not be allowed to change any tires, but they can swap tires on the car to different positions and make setup changes. The teams will set up their pits on the backstretch of the quarter mile track inside the ½ mile oval so the fans attending the event will be able to watch pit stops during the event and watch the teams work on the cars at the break.

Lisa Thomas Salon will award a $200 cash bonus to the leader of lap 50 and a $100 cash bonus to the second place car at lap 50. Lisa Thomas Salon will also award a $200 cash bonus to the driver that advanced the most positions from their starting position during the entire race and a $100 cash bonus to the driver advancing the most positions in the second 50 laps of the race.

Lisa Thomas Salon will also be part of a special race that will determine the invert for Saturday night’s Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com. Six Lisa Thomas Salon girls will each be given a sealed envelope with a number of three to eight prior to a six lap race. The winner’s envelope will be opened after the six lap race and that number will be the invert for Saturday night’s race.

To date 29 teams have already entered the Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com, more are expected between now and race day. Topping that list is veteran Mid-west racer Eddie Hoffman who has won numerous events at Illiana Motor Speedway including last year’s JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts event. Hoffman comes into Saturday night’s event looking to improve upon a tough start to the 2012 season with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour with finishes of eighth at the season opener at Plymouth Speedway and seventh at the last series event at Winchester Speedway.

11 Josh Nelms - Lockport, Illinois. (Chuck Gonzalez / C.G. Photo)Lockport, Illinois (Tuesday, May 15th, 2012): When the 2012 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts 14-race schedule came out over the winter, Trgovich Racing and driver, Josh Nelms all had Saturday, May 19th marked and circled on their calendar. It may only be the third race of the 2012 JEGS/CRA season, but the team is more than ready for arguably their biggest race of the young season.

The Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com is at Trgovich Racing’s home track of Illiana Motor Speedway, located southeast of Gary in Schererville, Indiana. Nelms has enjoyed a vast amount of success at the ½ (0.500) mile semi-banked paved oval as the Lockport, Illinois driver picked up two Track Championships in the tracks old Mid-American Stock Cars division and he’s also won a Feature there in years past.

“We have some high hopes from testing there earlier this spring. The track has been good to me over the years. We’ve had a lot of success there and this really is a big show for us,” The 36-year-old remarked. “We’re looking to keep up with our good start to the season and a solid finish here will only help our cause. We want the JEGS/CRA championship and I honestly believe that we can win here and that will definitely give us some confidence going into the rest of the season.” He added.

So far in 2012, Nelms has recorded a fourth place finish and an eighth place showing with the latter coming in the tours’ last race at the famed ½ (0.500) mile high-banked paved oval of the legendary Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana back on May 6th for the tours’ second race, of 14; The Winchester 100 Presented by JEGS.com.

“Practice went great as we were fourth quick, but I was disappointed in Qualifying 10th. I thought we would be better than that,” He continued. “So we started on the outside of the fifth row and just rode around for the first half of the race. But then the handling just went away and you don’t want that there, so we pitted twice and the crew worked hard and got the car great at the end and was able to bring home a solid Top 10.”

“This was one of few races my wife had to miss and we sure did miss her at the track. I’m glad she didn't go with all the wrecks that were happening.” Nelms offered. “I was very happy to avoid all of those crashes and that’s what we have to keep doing and with a little luck, we’ll be right there contending every week and hopefully get into victory lane before too long.” He ended.

6 Dave Gentile Jr. - Elwood, Illinois. (Goodwin Motorsports Photo)Joliet, Illinois (Tuesday, May 15th, 2012): After spending the last couple of seasons concentrating primarily on the weekly wars at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois, as well as limited appearances at Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville, Indiana, Dave Gentile Jr. is looking to get back into the traveling series frame of mind. What better place to do that than back at one of the tracks in his own backyard?

Gentile Jr. and his Goodwin Motorsports Team will head over to Illiana on Saturday, May 19th, but this time it’s not for the weekly Super Late Model action. The Joliet, Illinois driver will make his debut in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts in the running of the Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com.

“I am really looking forward to racing at Illiana this weekend. Not only will I get to see a lot of guys I used to race with, but I live only about 45 minutes from the track. I have a lot of family and friends that plan on coming out to the track Saturday night.” The 35-year-old stated. “We also have a lot of local sponsors that are nearby. It’s just a great overall deal for us to be close enough to home so everyone can come out to the race and cheer us on,” he added.

During the 2011 racing season, Gentile Jr., made limited appearances at Illiana while concentrating primarily on the points chase at Grundy County. He finished third in the season long points chase while collecting two Feature Wins, including the George Appleton Memorial. He also scored three trophy dash victories. In 2010, Gentile Jr. finished 13th in the points chase at Illiana, despite making limited appearances at the ½ (0.500) mile semi-banked paved oval.

Gentile Jr. was the 2008 Series Champion in the now defunct USPRO Late Models Series, a support tour to the old Varney Late Model Series. He also raced in the Varney series for three seasons, so he is no stranger to the traveling series wars.

For the remainder of the 2012 racing season, Gentile Jr., plans on making select appearances in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour. After Illiana, the team plans on making the tour races later in the season at Owosso Speedway in Ovid, Michigan, Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Indiana, and Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana. In addition to the JEGS/CRA events, the team will also continue to make limited appearances at both Grundy County and Illiana.

Berlin Speedway Media PR PhotoTony Davis, Ryan Hamm and Samantha Jansen also victorious

Marne, MI - The ARCA CRA Super Series returned to Berlin Raceway this Saturday and brought with them a whopping 43 car field. It was Brian Campbell who went home with the victory and also winners on the night were Ryan Hamm (Model Coverall Modified), Tony Davis (Kerkstra Services Sportsman) and Samantha Jansen (Vintage Racing Organization of America).

The ARCA CRA Super Series last chance races started the night off. Due to the high car count, two 15-lap last chance races were run and the drivers who advanced to the 125-lap feature were: Billy Leslie, Steve Dorer, Lee VanDyk and Mark Lambert. The rest of the cars would be lined up for a B-feature.

The ARCA CRA Consi was the first race up after the heat races with #26 Rick Turner and #7 Jason Dietsch on the front row for the 30-lap race. Turner had no problem keeping the lead, but it was Dietsch under fire from #2 of Kenny Tweedy. They raced side by side for a lap before Tweedy took the position on lap 2. The field then settled in to single-file racing until the first caution of the race came out on lap 6 for #94 Ryan Inman, he spun and hit the wall in between turns three and four. Tweedy took the lead on the restart and with ten laps in to the race, the top three ran nose to tail. Behind the leaders, #101 Lauren Bush was challenging #26 Chris Muyskens for fourth; she took it on lap 13 and then began reeling in the leaders. With ten laps to go, Bush muscled past Dietsch for third and then tried to fiend a line to get around Turner. Bush and Turner raced side by side for two laps before she got past him and then eyed the leader. With two laps to go, Bush pulled to the inside of Tweedy in turn 1, but she spun on the frontstretch bringing out the caution. This set up a green-white-checker; Turner grabbed the lead with one to go and held on for the win. The rest of the top five were Dietsch, Tweedy, Muyskens, #65 Johnny Jenkins, #99 Fred Hopkins.

The Model Coverall Modified were next, #68 Randy DeBoer and #7 Ryan Hamm led the field to the green flag of the 30-lap feature. Hamm took the lead, but the caution flew just after the first lap was completed for the #29 of Rob Shoemaker. After the restart, Hamm took off with #22 Billy Shotko on his tail. It wasn't long before Hamm started pulling away, but by lap ten, Shotko was catching back up. The lead was erased when the caution came out, #97 Kevin DeGood spun on the backstretch. On the restart, Shotko was trying to get around Hamm, he tried high and low, but Hamm kept besting him. Ten laps to go, they were still playing cat-and-mouse and with five to go, the #66 of Adam Chase joined the game. No one would get around Hamm, though, he got his second win of the season and the rest of the top ten were Shotko, Chase, #76 Ryan Gruppen, DeBoer, #67 Ben Welch, DeGood, #80 Samantha Jansen, Shoemaker, #20 Jeff Vrsek, #8 Billy Eppink and #21 Cal Castle.

Marne, MI (May 12, 2012) – Once he gets the lead at Berlin Raceway Brian Campbell knows the way to Victory Lane. A threat to win at any track where he races Campbell is dominating at Berlin, his home track. At the ARCA/CRA Super Series, Berlin 125 Campbell followed his game plan to perfection, keep the leader in his sights and then charge to the front as the laps wound down. Taking the lead from Caleb Bisacky who lead from the outside of the front row and held on to the lead for 87 laps, Campbell seemed to be ready to run away.