XENIA — He’d claimed the most recent ARCA/CRA Super Series race back on July 21 in Indianapolis, and then Wheeling, W. Va. driver Travis Braden made it two series wins in a row, Sunday July 30, by winning the Rapid Fire Pizza 125, presented by Hot Head Burritos stock car race at Kil-Kare Raceway.
Braden was a regular at Kil-Kare four years ago, before the track temporarily shut down. He’d won the inaugural Super Series, powered by JEGS race in 2013. So Sunday’s win was a nice homecoming of sorts.
“Two wins in a row. I think we should have had three or four wins this season already, so I think the rest of this season is going to be pretty sweet,” Braden said. “… Not everybody gets to come see us. So for the people who follow this team and my races, this place is always kinda special. At this level, you don’t always get to have as much of a following, so this was nice to have all this support. … This is one of my home tracks, it always feels good to get to victory lane here. We expect to perform well when we race here, and that’s what happened today.”
Local Kil-Kare racer David Carter, Jr. of Columbus finished second, Cambridge’s Logan Runyon was third, Kil-Kare’s current late model points leader Drew Charlson of New Bremen finished fourth and pole sitter Justin Alsip of Germantown was fifth in the 20-car field. Josh Brock and Hunter Jack, the series’ co-leaders heading into Sunday’s race, finished seventh and twelfth respectively.
Cody Robinson, of Kettering, brought out a red flag on lap 71 when the engine of his car caught fire. Robinson was unharmed, finishing 13th.
In local features, Beavercreek’s Jack Jones held off Xenia’s Ryan Fleming to claim the 35-lap E-Modified division win. Fleming briefly had passed for the lead on lap 32, but the points leading Jones was able to fend off the attack to claim his third win of the inaugural Gem City Auto Racing season.
A battle of Columbus drivers erupted in the Street Stock feature, with Jacob Muncy making an inside pass on lap 16 of the 25-lap feature to claim the win over Phil Gussler, Jr., who was the points leader just ahead of Muncy prior to Sunday’s race. Muncy’s win was his fourth of the season, the most for a single GCAR driver in any division.
And in the Compact Division, Riverside racer Bo Hoelscher started last in the inverted 11-car field and passed Columbus’s Dusty Harding, the division points leader, with five laps to go to claim the 20-lap feature win.
The Gem City Auto Racing series returns to Kil-Kare on Aug. 13 for Kids Day at the races. All kids get in free, and they’ll receive a free raffle ticket for a chance to win bicycles, backpacks, hair cuts and other prizes. Kids can get a chance to ride in a real race car and get their photo taken with their favorite drivers. Grand stands open at 11:30 a.m. Practice starts at 12:30 p.m., qualifying usually goes off by 1:30 p.m. with heat races and features to follow.
