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Bridesmaids
No More: Clean Sweep for
Kitzmiller and Team at Motor Mile
Radford,
Virginia (September 12, 2021) – Riding in on the momentum of
four consecutive runner-up finishes, Jason Kitzmiller has been on
the verge of breaking through for a first career Super Cup Stock Car
Series victory for quite some time now.
On Friday evening at Motor Mile Speedway, the Maysville, West
Virginia driver ended that particular streak in a most favorable
way.
After being top of the board in the
lone practice session of the afternoon, next came qualifying for the
twin 50-lap races that were on the docket.
Kitzmiller was right in the thick of where he needed to be,
the No. 97 A.L.L. Construction / CR7 Motorsports Garage Chevrolet
only 0.029 seconds off the fastest time.
That mark was set by Ben Ebeling for his third pole award
this year and gained the Hickory, North Carolina competitor five
more bonus points toward his championship lead.
In fact, first back to third place, Mooresville, North
Carolina’s Bob Schacht, were separated by just over five
hundredths of a second, each of which breaking the SCSCS track
record from the August visit to the 0.416-mile oval.
Following a six-car redraw, Renick,
West Virginia’s Harvey Harrison started from the top spot.
The No. 51 John 3:16 / Southern Coal Corporation /
Harrison’s Motorsports Chevrolet broke out to the early advantage
to pace his first four circuits of 2021, but rapidly catching the
2016 series champion and making a relatively standard pass was third
place starter Kitzmiller.
Kitzmiller was far from home free
though as routine contenders Schacht and Ebeling were making moves 
and
closing in quick from their fourth and sixth starting positions,
respectively. The No. 44
Startown Carpet & Floor Coverings / Swanny's Auto Sales /
Wrenn’s Lawn Service / L & C Truck Repair / Battery Specialist
of Hickory / RE Suspension Ford was right on the leader’s tail
closing in on and after halfway nearly lap after lap.
As Kitzmiller began to slightly
stretch the margin, trouble struck when his teammate Samatha
Rohrbaugh from Petersburg, West Virginia went around in turn four;
initiating a yellow flag to bunch the field with only six laps
remaining. Ebeling
restarted to the outside and this time, unlike a restart during the
most recent race at Jennerstown Speedway Complex when he lost the
first position, Kitzmiller held on to the jubilation of his CR7
Motorsports crew.
“We
were good last time we were down here and just had a good feeling
all week,” Kitzmiller, who broke a more than four-year winning dry
spell for the team operated by former series winner and rookie of
the year Codie Rohrbaugh and family, indicated. “My
fiancé is out of town and I told her that we’re going to win this
weekend since you’re gone and here we are.
That’s just the way it works, but man we had a rocket ship
tonight.
“I said a few not so nice words
when that caution came out because I was like here we go again,
Jennerstown all over, and I was like we’re going to get this right
this time. It really
worked out. Again, we
had a super-fast car.”
Ebeling
finished second, one spot ahead of Schacht, while Harvey Harrison
pressed on for his best result of 2021 in fourth.
Harvey’s son Brian Harrison achieved fifth in the final
running order, the No. 15 Harrison’s Welding / Swearingen Bat
Company / Harrison’s Motorsports Chevrolet’s best performance
since 2017.
The night would come to a quick close
for Brian Harrison at the start of the second main event,
unfortunately. Although
unscathed himself, a blown oil line caused the Renick, West Virginia
native’s car to lose control coming out of turn two and nose the
outside backstretch wall. This
forced a complete start, which initially saw outside front row
starter Kitzmiller take the lead from the get go over Harvey
Harrison who had drawn the pole once again, since a lap had not been
completed.
The 30th different winner in SCSCS
history was on his game once again, setting the pace early on.
In this instance it was the No. 75 Engineered Components Co.
/ Bob Schacht Motorsports Chevrolet that marched to second and was
able to near the back bumper of the first main event winner.
Only one more caution period took
place and yet again it was down the stretch of the distance.
Some light brotherly contact took place racing for position
in turn two between York, Pennsylvania’s Landon Brothers and
Hayden Brothers that resulted in Landon spinning right in front of
the leader. Kitzmiller
chose to restart on the inside but so did Schacht, allowing third
place Ebeling to choose the outside front row.
There was no match for Kitzmiller on
this night though and a clean sweep was accomplished.
“I thought maybe tonight’s the
night, but nobody thinks you’re going to come and sweep,” the
now two-time SCSCS winner commented.
“I’m just tickled to death and couldn’t be happier.
We had a heck of a car tonight.
I knew (Schacht) was in my mirror and I wasn't trying to run
one hundred percent because I didn’t want to burn the tires up
since the car got tight in the first race toward the end.
And if you make one mistake, he’s had thousands and
thousands of laps and he’s going to clean you up.
“We just concentrated on hitting my
marks, brake points, and all that and we were able to hold him off.
(Crew chief) Todd (Myers) kept telling me my lap times on the
radio and we tried to stay consistent.”
The best that Kitzmiller can
potentially do in the final overall standings is third, but he
remains eligible for the Mid-Atlantic regional title that will be
among the accolades settled at the conclusion of the first of twin
races in three weeks. No
matter the final result, the racer in his first full season added
that he is enjoying every moment.
“It’s a tremendous amount of fun.
We really enjoy the family atmosphere and CR7 Motorsports.
Everyone does a great job and it’s a family run deal.
I couldn’t be happier.”
Ebeling was able to clear Schacht on
the final restart for another runner-up run and somewhat padded his
points lead further. Nevertheless,
there was more than met the eye regarding both of the evening’s
outcomes due to a myriad of problems that ultimately left him
feeling like they lucked out to simply see the checkered flag in the
end.
“We had brake problems in the first
race and then a spark plug wire burned through in the second race
and we were running on seven cylinders,” Ebeling explained.
“The very first start of the race it just would not go.
I told the guys I don’t know what happened to the car when
I revved it up and I could tell something was wrong.
We went back going and I started second, tried to keep the
RPMs up, so we were able to keep our momentum going but I was
flatfooting it in the corner. Our
bad luck strikes and we finish with two seconds; I’m very blessed
to have that happen. I
can’t complain at all about that.”
Petersburg, West Virginia’s Brent
Nelson, who uncharacteristically qualified ninth and moved up to
sixth in the first race to earn hard charger honors, was also able
to get by Schacht late in the going to rally for third with the No.
80 Precision Auto Collision / Airtek Inc. / RAM Trucking / Snap-On
Tools / Atkinson Welding / QH Design / JEBCO / Nelson Motorsports
Chevrolet.
Schacht’s fourth place result left
the driver and team rather puzzled.
“I don’t know what’s going on
with this thing,” the 2018 series champion described.
“It runs good for about 20 or 25 laps and then it gets to
where I can’t use the gas pedal and then it starts going up the
racetrack. It was just a
struggle all night long, but hey, it’s in one piece and we’ll go
to Dominion and see what happens.”
Rohrbaugh rounded out the top five in
her No. 7 Grant County Mulch / In Loving Memory of Mark Huff / CR7
Motorsports Garage Chevrolet, picking up her fourth hard charger
award of 2021.
Schacht will essentially need to
solely focus on winning and collecting bonus points in order to have
any realistic shot at the overall championship coming up at the
season finale weekend on Saturday, October 2nd.
Luckily, Thornburg, Virginia’s Dominion Raceway is a
facility in which he has done so before on five different occasions,
including the season opener back in May.
The stock car racing veteran did hint
at one additional item that is in the works.
“I’m going to bring another car
so hopefully that one will be better.”
More details and continued updates
regarding the upcoming event that closes out the year of Super Cup
Stock Car Series racing will be available at the official web site supercupstockcarseries.com
as well as the series Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram
pages.
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