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Winchester, IN (September 5, 2006) – There were lots of winners at Winchester Speedway this past weekend in the Labor Day Weekend World Stock Car Festival Presented By Maple-Tarr Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Six different classes of over 100 racecars competed on the famous High Banks on both Sunday and Monday of Labor Day Weekend including the CRA Super Series late models, the CRA Street Stocks, the CRA Sportsman, the American Modifieds ThunderCars, Front Wheel Drive Minis.

Indianapolis, Indiana native Tommy St. John had led several CRA Super Series races, and finished second once, but he had never led the lap that counted until Monday afternoon at Winchester Speedway when he got his first series win in the McGunegill Engine Performance 100. St. John’s first win was not easy, with Winchester Speedway master Jeff Lane following closely most of the race, running side by side with St. John several times, he hung on to win by just over a ¼ of a second. Lane seemed to take the lead on the 57^th lap when St. John got caught trying to put a driver a lap down, but as Lane was starting to pass a caution, due to a car getting into the wall, caused the field to be frozen allowing St. John to maintain the lead. With two laps to go Lane pulled along side St. John on the inside, but holding the higher preferred line at Winchester, St. John was able to beat back this last challenge for the win.

Eddie Van Meter finished third moving up from his ninth starting spot despite losing his power steering. JR Roahrig finished fourth, Scott Hantz fifth, and Jim Crabtree, Jr., who started in the 19^th position, came home sixth in the 26-car event. Jason Shively had a spectacular crash on lap 58 slamming into the turn four pit wall and completely destroying the four water barrels protecting the beginning of the inside wall. Shively swerved to miss a car that was starting to spin, he bumped another car sending him into the end of the wall at race speed into the passenger side of the car. The impact bent the car severely, even bending the seat and safety bars around the foot box. Shively was not injured in the impact. The next event for the CRA Super Series at Winchester Speedway will be the 35^th Annual Winchester 400 on Sunday, October 15^th.

Rob Yelton took full advantage of his front row starting spot by leading all 40 laps of the American Modifieds Fire Bottle 40 Presented By Dippin Dots on Monday afternoon to get the victory. Jason Dietsch was on Yelton’s bumper through out the second half of the event but could never make the pass. Mike Carroll made repairs on his car from a crash in Sunday nights Dash to finish in third. Scott Tomasik held on to a very loose car to finish in fourth while Greg Stapleton finished in fifth in the 22-car event. Mark Timmerman took the victory in Sunday nights 10 lap Dash.

Craig Cookingham also took advantage of his front row starting position in getting the victory in the Maple-Tarr Chrysler Dodge Jeep 40 for the Max 93.5/96.7 CRA Street Stocks. Cookingham grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag and held off the challenges of several different competitors during the caution filled event to get the victory, his first ever victory with the Max 93.5/96.7 CRA Street Stocks. Cookingham was never able to get a big lead and had to endure several restarts to hold his lead, first fighting off Bubba Trinkle, then Chuck Cook and finally holding off veteran racer Steve Christman making his first ever start with the Max 93.5/96.7 CRA Street Stocks. Christman finished in second, Chuck Cook in third, point’s leader Joe Beaver finished in fourth with Rod Phipps in fifth. A total of 38 cars took the green flag for the Maple-Tarr Chrysler Dodge Jeep 40 on Monday afternoon. Heat race victories on Sunday night went to Tom Gossar, John Weisenaur, and Jeremy Baker.

Rick Rinehart capped off a great weekend by getting the victory in the CRA Sportsman Winchester 40 on Monday afternoon. On Sunday night Rinehart won the Late Model Championship at Angola Motor Speedway, then followed that up with his win on Monday, coming from the tail because he missed qualifying on Sunday. Rinehart got the victory in his first ever race at Winchester Speedway and first ever event with the CRA Sportsman. Rinehart survived an exciting last lap charge by Danny Trent to get his victory. Both cars all most spun after contact in turn four, both drivers made great saves with Rinehart able to just beat Trent to the checkers to get the victory. Billy Hutson finished in third, point’s leader Keith Sterkowitz came back through the field after having to pit to finish in fourth while Rick Tackman Jr. finished in fifth.

Early leader Al Cook Jr., who was looking for his second victory in a row on the High Banks, got in the oil of a blown motor causing him to spin and make some contact with the outside wall. Cook was able to fix the damage and continued in the event but was only able to get a 12^th place finish. Terry Fisher Jr, who came into the event second in points, was also involved in the same incident while running second to Cook, Fisher suffered race ending damage to the right front of the car after also making contact with the retaining wall. Heat race victories on Sunday night went to Al Cook Jr., and Rick Tackman Jr.

The Front Wheel Drive Mini’s saw a sweep by the same winners on both Sunday night and Monday afternoon’s feature events. Tim Haerr was the over all winner of both 20 lap features and was the winner in the two valve class while Bill Charles finished in second overall in both features and was the winner in the four valve class. Both features saw some of the most exciting racing of the weekend with three and four wide racing at times through out the field. Sunday night heat race victories went to Chip Haerr and Ron Sagers.

The ThunderCars made their Winchester Speedway debut on Sunday night with Mark Lightfoot getting the sweep by first winning the 6 lap heat race and then the 12 lap feature over Rob Wyman in second and Jake Owen in third. On Monday afternoon it was Rob Wyman getting the feature victory with Carl Nickel in second and Clifford Owens in third.

The next event at Winchester Speedway will be the Max 93.5/96.7 200 Presented By Pier-Mac Plastics for the Max 93.5/96.7 CRA Street Stocks. That 200-lap event could start up to 90 cars starting three wide with the winner getting $5000. There will also be racing action for the Front Wheel Drive Mini’s and ThunderCars.

Go to www.winchesterspeedway.com to purchase advanced tickets or for more information on upcoming events.