By Tom Gianinni

(CLERMONT, IN) The penultimate event of the Skeeber Flob’s Kettle Corn season saw a lot of action as a long winless streak was snapped and a championship was all but decided. As the field rolled into Lucas Oil Raceway Park the points lead was comfortable for Ty Hester who led Danny Rodgers by 10 points.

Hester’s night got off to a good start when Rodgers and his team could not make the trip out to Indianapolis Hester’s night was even better when he was able to win the pole with a time of 21.420. Hester was followed by Jared Mogard, Jonathan Holstein, Mitch Brown and Zachary Bozanich. Points contenders Jason Stewart and Tom Giannini started 14th and 15th respectively. Trouble would strike early for Stewart as his car found the wall on lap one. His race would be an uphill climb from there as he struggled all night to gain and maintain track position with his damage.

Track position was the name of the game from that point forward as even though there were 12 cautions for 61 laps, the leaders would not come down pit road once for tires or fuel. That would not matter to Hester and Mogard who led a combined 93 laps of the 100 lap event. Trouble would strike them late as Hester made contact with the left rear of Mogard in the closing laps. While the wreck ended Hester and Mogard’s chance for victory, the wreck was also a big blow for Giannini as he was collected in the incident. Hester would go on to finish 6th and Giannini 14th.

With that differential, Hester saw his points lead grow to 27 points over Jason Stewart and 29 points over Giannini with one race remaining. Jonathan Holstein was the biggest beneficiary of the incident as he used his strong run to capitalize on the leader’s woes and claim his first ASRS victory since 2012.

We caught up with Holstein in Victory Lane: “Wow, I still can’t believe we come out of there with a win tonight. It was great finally having a little luck on my side to go along with the speed. I believe my last win come in 2012 here at ASRS and it feels great to be back racing here full time and competing for wins driving for LA Simsport. I can’t thank all my teammates enough, we have worked hard to get better each week. The results are finally starting to come. Back to back weeks one of us has found victory lane. I really have no words to describe my emotions right now! Thanks to all my sponsors, especially Skeeber Flob’s Kettle Corn and Staples CAD Tech for believing in my driving talent! Now, lets all go enjoy a nice big bag of Skeeber Flob’s Kettle Corn! This win is Sweet and Salty!” The series finale is in Las Vegas next Wednesday as a champion will be crowned in Sin City.