Johnny VanDoorn doesn’t want to talk about the CRA Super Series championship but he looked the part on Saturday night in the Glass City 100 at Toledo Speedway.
VanDoorn led the final 70 laps as the last 80 went caution free and pulled away from Harold Fair Jr. to capture his third Super Late Model victory of the season. And while he downplays the importance of the championship, the win did clinch a spot into the CRA Championship Four next month in the Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway.
He will join Dalton Armstrong, Wes Griffith Jr. and Logan Runyon in racing for the championship on October 8.
“Man, I don’t even care about the championship right now,” VanDoorn said. “I just wanted to win at Toledo again. It’s my favorite track. It’s been awhile, the fans are good, and it’s such a cool place. It’s really important to me.”
It’s the third time VanDoorn has won a Super Late race at Toledo after accomplishing the feat in 2010 and 2013. But this was his most dominant.
Brian Campbell led the first 30 laps from the pole, but was trailed immediately by VanDoorn, whom remained affixed to his back bumper. That’s when something went amiss on the No. 47. Campbell fell off the pace and surrendered the point to VanDoorn.
That gave him 1.5 seconds over Fair and he managed it for the rest of the race.
“It wasn’t easy,” VanDoorn said. “It’s never easy. You’re always waiting for a caution or something to happen but I’m proud of this one. We did our jobs tonight.”
Doing his job means he will get to race for the championship. He’s already a three-time champion and a fourth would break a tie he shares with Scott Hantz.
But the 29-year-old has never won the Winchester 400 before and that is decidedly more important to him at this stage of his career.
“I feel like we’ve hit on some stuff lately, set-up wise. My brother and our guys do a great job setting these cars up. With that said, Winchester isn’t about speed. It’s about attrition and putting yourself in the right spot to win.
“We’ve had some really fast cars down there before and I’ve never won it. I’ve never won the 400. We’ve won the 100-lapper like five times, but we keep coming up short on the 400. So we need to get to the shop and make sure everything is bolted on and ready to go. I feel good about it.”
The only incident of the night occurred on Lap 10 when Winchester 100 winner (and Championship Four driver) Dalton Armstong tangled with Tristan Van Wieringen out of Turn 4. Both drove away and finished inside the top-10.
The complete results from the Glass City 100 can be viewed below.
- John VanDoorn
- Harold Fair Jr.
- Tyler Ankrum
- Hunter Jack
- Brett Robinson
- Logan Runyon
- Natalie Decker
- Dalton Armstong
- Tristan Van Wieringen
- Jordan Pruitt
- Hope Hornish
- Wes Griffith Jr.
- Raphael Lessard
- Terry Fisher Jr.
- Scott Hantz
- Kyle Crump
- Brian Campbell
- Howard Kelly
- Jon Beach
- Tommy O’Leary IV
- Cassten Everidge
- Brandon Varney
