After the final caution flag, the CRA Super Series race wasn’t just about who could keep the lead in the final two laps. It became a duel of sorts between Brian Campbell and his good friend.
In Sunday’s season-opening races at Toledo Speedway, Campbell captured the CRA Super Series title by holding off Boris Jurkovic and Johnny VanDoorn at the end of the 100-lap race.
“I had to fight him off,” Cambpell said of VanDoorn. “We were much better on longer runs, and it was just a fight. Beating, banging, and good, clean short-track racing.”
Campbell was one of two winning drivers on the half-mile oval; Terry Senneker won the 100-lap Gold Cup race in the second half of the doubleheader, maintaining his lead through more than 75 laps and holding off a push in the final 14 laps by Steve Needles to secure the win.
“I raced here 4-5 times and the first two times here, we totaled cars,” Senneker said. “The third or fourth times here, we won. Kind of fell into it. But this is the most dominant performance we’ve had here.”
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While Senneker had room to drive in the Gold Cup race, the CRA Super Series race was a tight squeeze for Campbell and VanDoorn. They raced 1-2 for all the first seven laps on the half-mile oval despite the fact that the race was interrupted by nine caution flags, including seven in its final 25 laps.
“We needed long, green-flag runs, and that was the only thing I could worry about,” Campbell said. “If the yellow flag would come out too early, or something, he got his tires cooled down and could blast off for like two or three laps. If this thing goes green for 50 laps, we win. The half-track is phenomenal on a green-flag run. It’s just a hard time re-planning on yellow.”
In the CRA Super Series race, VanDoorn took his first lead on the 12th lap and jockeyed with Campbell between first and second place through 60 laps. After the fourth caution flag and on the 63rd lap, Campbell took the lead away from VanDoorn for his first lead since the 15th lap of the race.
A 10-car pileup at the restart after the sixth caution delayed racing and left 19 cars on the track (including a handful with visible damage) after crews cleaned up the wreckage, and Campbell led the final 11 laps, before Jurkovic overtook VanDoorn to finish second.
“Really, we did most of our moving in the first half of the race,” said Becca Kasten, who finished fifth. “Once we got up to the top 5, we didn’t really go anywhere. It was really hard with all the cautions and all the restarts, and really, we were just hanging on with every restart.”
Past the 30th lap of the Gold Cup race, Senneker created a wide berth between his car and Mike Luberda, who ran in second until the 48th lap, when he was one of five drivers who wiped out on the backstretch. Out came the caution flag — the second of the day after the field was restarted, following Ron Allen’s spin-out just past the starting flag — and Senneker continued to hold onto his lead.
Was the race any different for Senneker after the caution flag?
“A little bit,” Senneker said. “I just had a great car and a long run, and any time we had a caution, I did struggle a little bit to keep any distance between me and the other guys. I knew if it came down to a late race caution, it was going to be trouble because at that point, it’s just bump and run. But on the long run, we knew we were very strong.”
After the caution, only Needles made a charge in the final laps, but not enough as Senneker held on for the win.
“The beginning of the race, we were just looking to stay out of trouble,” Needles said. “We just kind of picked our way to the front. We knew we’d have a good car in the long run, but weren’t sure how it would go on short runs. I got up front and we didn’t have enough for Terry, but I’m good enough for second place.
“The car just kind of came to me. All of the sudden, it started turning really well and it took off. “
Contact Rachel Lenzi at: rlenzi@theblade.com, 419-724-6510 or on Twitter @RLenziBlade.
First Published April 30, 2012, 4:30 a.m.
