Travis Braden took the lead from Brandon Oakley on Lap 65 and never looked back to win the CRA Super Series Rapid Fire Pizza 125 on Sunday at Kil Kare Speedway in Xenia, Ohio.
The two-time CRA champion qualified second in time trials but an eight car invert meant Braden spent the first half of the race methodically working his way towards the front of the field. It took 40 laps for Braden to make it to second at which point he slowly reeled in Oakley for the top spot.
The pass for the lead occurred when Oakley got trapped behind lap down Hunter Jack, allowing Braden to swing by on the outside.
Braden held off Oakley and David Carter through two mid-race cautions and restarts to cruise to his second consecutive CRA victory in a row. He won last week’s Circle City 100 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indiana.
But most surprising to Braden is that he won the 2017 race with an open motor after finishing second the last time the CRA visited the circular track back in 2014.
“This is cool because the last two times we raced here at Kil Kare with the CRA, we finished second but had a race winning car,” Braden said in Victory Lane over the public address system, but forgetting his 2013 triumph. “Certain things just happened and breaks don’t go your way.
“We usually bring a crate motor here because I believe the crate works better here, but this is actually a super and it actually worked. It goes to show you how good everyone on this team is. Two in a row. We probably should have three or four overall this season, but Team Platinum is getting it done right now.”
In fact, Braden and crew actually brought two cars to practice on Saturday, one equipped with a super motor and the other with his pro engine.
“That was hard for me to decide after testing on new tires, and the Pro was actually a tick faster,” Braden said. “It’s really cool to be with a team that can bring two cars to give us that kind of hard choice.”
Carter finished 4.4 seconds behind Braden but was generally pleased with the effort.
“We’re pretty proud of the effort,” Carter said. “We had a good car just not enough for Travis. It was hard to maintain on a track this tight. We just got beat by a better car.”
Logan Runyon. Drew Charlson and Justin Alsip completed the top-5.
Oakley fell back to eighth after the leading seven of the first 65 laps.
The complete results can be found below.
- Travis Braden
- David Carter
- Logan Runyon
- Drew Charlson
- Justin Alsip
- Donnie Hill
- Josh Brock
- Brandon Oakley
- Chad Pendleton
- Greg Stapleton
- Mike Holland
- Hunter Jack
- Cody Robinson
- Ryan Fleming
- Dalton Armstrong
- Bobby Justus
- Bill Cantley
- Jim Hursey
- Bobby Grubaugh
- Burgess White
Note: Short Track Scene was not at this event but watched online via the Speed 51 Pay-Per-View broadcast
