Big crash ends ARCA feature race on Springfield Mile at Illinois State Fairgrounds

There wasn’t much that went right surrounding the ARCA Racing Series annual feature Sunday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

Weekend rains, which washed out Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown Tony Bettenhausen 100, resumed Saturday evening and returned Sunday morning. The weather pushed back the start of the ARCA Atlas 100, canceled practice and wiped out qualifying.

With Sammy Hagar set for a Sunday night concert, the pushed-back ARCA race was forced to end the event at 4 p.m. It ended a minute shy when Buddy Kofoid slammed into the back of Bryce Haugeberg on the front straightaway in front of the grandstand and stage to give the race win to Jesse Love.

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“It was obviously not how you want to win those — to see somebody in jeopardy — but I’m just glad that Buddy’s all right,” said the 17-year-old Love, from Menlo Park, California. “Buddy’s going for it, I’m going for it and my spotter did a great job of helping me block. At a place like this, (clean) air is a big deal whether you think it is but it’s huge. This was about as technical as it gets and this (dirt) is Buddy’s wheelhouse but today I had to make it my wheelhouse.”

The wreck happened as the white flag came out to indicate the race was entering its final lap. The white flag was scheduled to fly at 3:59 p.m. Haugeberg, who was three laps down, made contact with the outer wall and was nearly stopped when Kofoid ran into Haugeberg as he and Love were racing for the win. Kofoid’s front end was demolished and Haugeberg’s car came to rest on its side. Both drivers walked away and Kofoid was awarded second place. ARCA race officials said the wreck instantly brought out the red flag and made the race official from that moment.

El Paso’s Ryan Unzicker, one of two central Illinois drivers in the Springfield Mile on Sunday, finished third. Love, Kofoid and Unzicker were the only ones in the 21-car field to finish on the lead lap.

“We were really good out of the gate,” he said. “Anytime you start that far back, you take the chance of tearing things up. Staying out of trouble is one of the biggest things; we were able to do that for the most part.”

Unzicker spun coming onto the front straightaway on lap 17 to bring out the second caution. That dropped him from third, but he was able to recover and get back into the top-three following the restart on lap 41.

Springfield’s Kelly Kovski had trouble after the restart on lap 41 and finished 15th. He only completed 42 of the 74 laps but had climbed from the last spot in the field to fifth before the caution on lap 37.

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“We’ve been working on that (car) every time we come,” Kovski said. “With (NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and Riverton native) Justin (Allgaier) running our car last year, he gave me a little more input on what we needed and we made some adjustments.

“I thought it was really good to tell with the way the track was, but we came from 21st, got up there to fifth and were really cruising.”

Kovski said the decision to cut the race from 100 laps and cap it to a 4 p.m. finish added to the intensity.

“ARCA decided they were going to stop at 4 o’clock, they announced that and it was like everybody lost their mind because they started driving like a wild man,” Kovski said. “Going into (turn) one on the restart and (Rajah Caruth) blasted me just past one there. I’m assuming the car came out of gear, but I definitely over-revved it, hurt the valve train and probably hurt the motor pretty bad.

“The groove was out more than normal and it left the bottom open and guys weren’t going down there because it was too rough. On the restart, he decided he was going down there and he blasted us out of the way.”

Kovski doesn’t know if he will be able to race the car at the Southern Illinois 100 at the Du Quoin State Fair on Sept. 4.

While track officials worked for hours to get the track in racing condition, the amount of rain plus the limited time due to the Red Rocker’s concert that night meant the race had to continue with a less-than-ideal track surface. The Illinois State Fair uses Track Enterprises — which owns the short dirt tracks in Lincoln and Macon — for track prep.

It was the second win for Love in his three-year ARCA career. He won his first race last year at Salem Speedway in Indiana.

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: ARCA race at Springfield Mile at Illinois State Fair ends with wreck