The Coopersville stock car driver clinched his second consecutive CRA Super Series championship Sunday with a second-place finish in the season finale at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Ind.
VanDoorn, 22, became the first driver to win two consecutive CRA titles, and he now seeks a jump up in the racing world in 2011.
VanDoorn, who got his start
racing go-karts at area tracks such as Ravenna Motor Park,
plans to knock on plenty of doors this winter looking for an
opportunity."I am very grateful with everything I have been blessed with," he said. "I am with a great team and it has been an awesome couple of years. I am trying to move up to ARCA or (NASCAR Camping World) Trucks, but if you don't bring a lot of money with you, it's hard to do, so we will see.
"If it comes down to it, I would be more than happy to come back and race CRA for a third championship. But I feel that I have accomplished what I need to accomplish at this level and it's time to move up."
CRA is a 12-race traveling series that makes stops in Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio, as well as Berlin Raceway in Marne.
NASCAR
superstar Kyle Busch has competed in a handful of races, and
Chase Elliott, the teenage son of 1988 Sprint Cup champion
Bill Elliott, won Sunday's Winchester race.
In addition to VanDoorn's CRA championship, Brian Campbell
of Wyoming finished second and Jay Niewiek of Dorr was 11th
in the season standings.
Niewiek,
a
South Christian High School senior, finished a strong rookie
season despite missing the first two races. He finished
ninth Sunday at Winchester.
"I was quite surprised by how I was able to do," Niewiek
said. "I have to thank our crew chief, Tom Blouw, and my
parents for giving me the opportunity to race and all the
people who have helped us."
VanDoorn races for car owner Jimmy TenBrink's Muskegon-based
Kaos Motorsports team, and his brother, Ben VanDoorn, a
senior at Coopersville High School, serves as his crew chief
on the No. 61 Impala.
VanDoorn won three races this season, including the
season-opening event at Anderson, Ind. He then heated up in
August, winning two of three races, at Toledo and
Winchester.
TenBrink said VanDoorn would be welcomed back to his team if
he decides to stay in CRA.
"It's fun being the first team to win two championships in a
row because we aren't running against slouches," TenBrink
said. "The team that beat us (Sunday at Winchester) has
backing from Ford. Only two cars finished on the lead lap.
"I have known Johnny since he was 13 and he is a good
driver. He and his brother, Ben, work so well together, and
that makes it a lot easier."
