It looked like an easy second place finish for Kevin Gunkel past the halfway point in Sunday’s Plymouth 100 for the CRA Street Stocks at the newly reopened Plymouth Speedway in Plymouth, Indiana. After fluid on the track sent the leaders spinning through turn one, the North Webster, Indiana driver found himself in the second position behind fast qualifier Rodney Spencer, from his eleventh starting position.

Spencer appeared to have the strongest car all night, and looked to be in position to finish that way. However, when lap 84 rolled around, he made contact with the retaining wall on the front stretch after a flat tire, apparently doing damage to his machine. Those suspicions were confirmed on the next lap, when headed into turn one, Spencer’s car took a hard right into the outside wall due to a right front tire problem, doing major damage to the number 13 car. Spencer was shaken up and was taken to the ambulance, but was later released.

Spencer’s issues created a golden opportunity for Gunkel to score the victory, and that’s exactly what he did. With Spencer out of the race, Gunkel was by far the class of the remaining field, and showed that muscle by pulling out to a 6.318 second margin of victory in a race that was very competitive until that point, with nine total lead changes among seven drivers. The rest of the top five were Rich Boyer, who started 28^th in the 40 car field, CRA Street Stock points leader Joe Beaver, Dave Mannia, and Mike Riddle Jr. A total of six cautions slowed the event.

The CRA Street Stocks hit the track next on Sunday, August 13 at the Winchester Speedway for a 40-lap event. More information is available at www.craracing.net.