In his first outing this season in his new number 35 Sportsman class car, Stremme raced his way into Sunday’s race with a win in the last chance qualifying race to earn a start in 21st. After several stall-outs and numerous caution flags, the former Sprint Cup and current Nationwide Series driver managed to manuever himself into the top 10 at the 3/8 mile track.
When Jason Shively of Fort Wayne stalled out on turn 4 in lap 123, Stremme capitalized by moving into fifth place. He got into as high as third for a short stint with as few as 31 laps to go, but eventually placed fifth behind race winner Boris Jurkovic, runner-up Aaron Pierce, Eddie Hoffman in third and Jack Landis in fourth overall.
“We started about in 20th, and we got up to third, but we ended up fifth,” Stremme said. “I was happy with what we did. We did what we needed to do, and the car’s still in one piece so we’ll make some adjustments. And I got to see a lot of friends.”
After the race, Stremme talked and shook hands with fans as he walked through the pit area. He even auctioned off a lap around the track for charity.
“My friend Bobby Blount owns the track here, so I came to help out,” said Stremme. “The thing is, a lot of these people are friends of mine. I think it’s really important for people to come out and support the track... It’s a good entertainment sport.”
Meanwhile in the Mid-Summer 200 another local favorite, Mike Thayer of Argos, led the field for an extended period early on after starting the race in fourth place, but was unfortanely sidelined when a wiring problem stalled Thayer out in lap 24.
Thayer was still pleased with his performance in his CRA debut, however, saying that leading such a strong field gave him the confidence to know he can compete in the series.
“It felt good for my first CRA race,” he said. “It felt good running with the guys up front — they have a lot of experience.
“It feels good, it’s just disappointing,” he added. But we’ll fix it and get vack out. It just sucks because we could have probably been in the top five or won.”
In the other CRA feature of the night, Tim Dilg of Sharonville, Ohio, won the Front Wheel Drive Compact division race. It was Dilg’s first outing at the Plymouth track and his first win in CRA.
“It’s a great track, a nice smooth track,” Dilg said. “It’s an A-1 track. I’ve raced in some dumps. It’s nice to race someplace where the stands were full.”