Mitch Calvert
Fort Frances native Steve Arpin wheeled to his second-straight top-five finish on the ARCA RE/MAX Series on Sunday afternoon in the Allen Crowe 100 at the Springfield Mile on the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Since making the switch to Venturini Motorsports from Eddie Sharp Racing two races ago, Arpin has posted fourth- and fifth-place finishes, respectively.
“That was a fun race with a good result for the team,” Arpin said in a release.
“We gave up a bunch in qualifying as we were the second car out and didn’t know how much grip came into the track, but we made up for a lot of it in the race.
“This race team is on the move and we’re not done yet,” Arpin vowed.
Series rookie Parker Kligerman padded his points lead with the victory.
Kligerman, 19, became the youngest-ever driver to capture the Allen Crowe 100—surpassing Justin Allgaier, who was 20 when he won it.
Eight cautions for a variety of spins and bang-ups slowed the race for 42 laps, including a late caution that lengthened it to 103 laps to accommodate a green-flag finish.
Arpin started the race in ninth place after qualifying, but quickly made up ground early to join a four-car battle for third until spinning out on Lap 20.
He avoided a full-out crash and re-started in 14th position after a caution.
“We were starting to get real good and then I just rolled into turn one a little too high in lapped traffic and lost it,” Arpin recalled.
“Fortunately, I didn’t hit anything and only lost a couple of spots, but it killed my right rear tire,” he added.
Despite the hiccup, Arpin quickly made his way back through the pack—moving into the top 10 by Lap 48.
When the green flag waved on Lap 77 following the fifth caution of the day, Arpin restarted in 19th position following a pit stop.
The yellow flag would go up on three more times but Arpin had made his way into 11th spot with 12 laps to go.
Arpin continued to make headway despite the delays, and eventually battled past Justin Lofton for fifth place down the final stretch en route to his third career top-five finish on just his first year on the circuit.
“It’s just too bad we had so many late cautions,” he lamented. “It took me a lap to get going good and I think we might have finished even better with a longer green flag run at the end.”
Seven stops remain on the ARCA schedule to decide the title, with Kligerman leading the pack with 3,425 points to date, followed by Lofton (3,390), Frank Kimmel (3,095), Joey Coulter (2,890), and Arpin (2,880).
The next race comes this Friday with the Ansell Cut Protection 150 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (it can be seen live on Speed TV at 5:30 p.m.)
“Our Chicago test was great,” Arpin enthused. “We tested a lot of different things Billy and the guys wanted to try, and we left there with a real good driving, fast car.
“I have a couple things to improve on for me, and a little in the car, too, so we should be in good shape [this] week and hope to bring the home team a great run for all of the Venturini fans in Chicago,” he added.
Following Friday’s race, Arpin will head to Ohio for a second visit to the Toledo Speedway for the ARCA RE/MAX 200 on Sept. 4.
Then the team re-groups for the second dirt track event of the season at the Southern Illinois 100 in DuQuoin, Ill. on Labour Day (Sept. 7).
This marks Arpin’s first full year of asphalt racing after several successful seasons on dirt.
He claimed the USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year award last season.
