Plymouth, IN (May 31, 2009) – Justin Alsip took advantage of his outside pole starting position to grab the early lead from pole sitter Charlie Hanna at the drop of the green flag for the Economy Auto Parts 75, Howe CRA Late Model Sportsman Series event Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway. Alsip was able to hold off the persistent Hanna to get the win, his first CRA win of the 2009 season.

"This one the crew won!" Alsip said.  "They had the transmission in and out of this car three times today.  Mark Lambert had a throw out bearing and let us have it so we could race tonight.  But thanks to the crew we got out there and with only four laps of practice and made it work."

Alsip totaled his primary series car in the series season opener on April 18^th at Anderson Speedway when he slammed the wall after breaking a suspension part. Then had handling problems last weekend at the Baer Field Speedway event resulting in a 14^th place finish. Alsip needed a good change in his luck.

"We really needed this one after our tough start to the season. I had decided if we didn’t finish well tonight I was probably just going to pick and choose events through out the rest of the season, but this win hopefully will get us back on track to make a run for the Championship. I appreciate Charlie (Hanna) racing me so clean, I would race side by side with him any day!

Hanna got the pole starting position for the third time this season in three series events when Fast Qualifier and new track record holder Keith Sterkowitz drew an eight for the events invert putting Hanna on the pole.

"I wanted the win, but I’ll take second," remarked Hanna. "I knew if I didn’t get a jump on him at the start that it would be tough to pass him. I could barely get under him, but just couldn’t make the pass, but it was a good night for us in points!"

Sterkowitz came from his eighth place starting position to pressure Hanna for second during the second half of the event, but Sterkowitz’s night would end on lap 70 with a broken rear end, dropping him to a 15^th place finish.

Series rookie contender Steve Stacy took full advantage of his experience at his home track to get a third place finish after starting sixth. Stacy is a former track Champion at Plymouth Speedway and a native of Plymouth, Indiana. Veteran South Bend racer Lou Stremme held on to an ill handling car to finish in forth. One of Stremme’s rear shocks was dragging the ground at the end of the event.

Kale Asztalos came from 10^th place to finish fifth, making several passes late in the event on the outside after the groove became greasy from several cars losing rear ends during the event. Derrick Griffin finished in sixth, he was the highest finisher with the Plymouth Speedway Sportsman division cars on hand to compete with the Howe CRA Late Model Sportsman Series cars.

There were a total of 33 cars signed in for Saturday night’s event. Mark Lambert was the Racing Electronics Hard Charger Award winner, he gained nine positions to finish ninth. Alsip won the Turn One High Performance Steering Lap Leader Award by leading all 75 laps of the event. Asztalos and Kevin Gunkel were winners of the 10 lap heat races. Mike Shewchuk was the winner of the 15 lap Last Chance race.

The next event for the Howe CRA Late Model Sportsman Series will be at Angola Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 20^th. More information on the series is available at www.craracing.net.

Official Results