ARCA: Tight battle too close to call as series heads to Salem

The ARCA series is at Salem Speedway this weekend, with the championship battle becoming ever tenser as the season reaches its climax.

Salem, which will host its second series race of 2010 on Sunday, has been the venue of more ARCA events than any other facility throughout the series history, and comes just a week after Chris Buescher’s win at Toledo Speedway.


In a season that has seen 13 winners in 17 races and frequent changes at the top of the standings the Salem event will be difficult to predict. Patrick Sheltra heads to the Indiana track looking to extend the narrow points advantage he gained last time out in Toledo, but in such an unpredictable season Sheltra knows his lead is vulnerable.

But the Florida-born driver is looking forward to the coming weekend, having taken his maiden ARCA win at the Salem circuit last season.

"It's a great racetrack," said Sheltra. "It's where we got our first win in the series and I'm really looking forward to going back. We had a real good run there at the beginning of the year but had some misfortune during the race when me and Steve Arpin got together.

"It's a track where you can get real racy- run right against the wall. It's always two and three-wide racing here."

Sheltra's closest championship rival is Craig Goess, who enters the Salem weekend just five points shy of the leader. Having finished second last time out, one place ahead of Sheltra, the #81 driver will be looking to grind down his rival’s lead even more this weekend.

"I really enjoy the short track racing at Salem," said Goess. "The last race at Salem, in the spring, we finished second. In order for us to win this weekend, we are just going to need Lady Luck on our side and a fast race car.”

Having led much of last weekend's race Tom Hessert suffered a broken sway bar late on in Toledo, dropping him to seventh. That saw the man from New Jersey fall behind Goess in the title battle, but he's optimistic of a strong run this weekend

"Salem is a terrific, historic half-mile," said Hessert. "It’s definitely one of my favorite racetracks, and it’s got a lot of character to it. It’s very, very fast and demanding for the teams and drivers, but it's a very special place, and I'm looking forward to going back."

A troubled race in Toledo leaves nine-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel all but out of this season’s title race. The series legend is yet to reach victory lane in 2010, but believes he can break his duck at Salem- a circuit he's taken nine race victories on.

"I really look forward to going there," said Kimmel. We have a huge amount of fans that show up. I haven't won there in a couple years, so it's probably time to get back there."

Salem represents round 18 of ARCA’s 20-round schedule, with only two races to go- at Kansas (September 30) and Rockingham (October 9)- following Sunday’s race.

Watch ARCA highlights as part of Motors TV's winter programming.


James Weeks.