What makes this year so remarkable is the veteran ARCA team has been able to showcase its strength using an unprecedented 21 different drivers while fielding multiple cars in each of the first 17 ARCA events. With two races remaining in the ARCA season, Venturini has earned (6) Menards pole position awards, (2) victories, (10) top-5 finishes and (18) top-10 finishes.
Entering the final speedway race of the year Venturini will field 5 teams in Friday night’s ARCA Racing Series Kansas Lottery 98.9 event at Kansas Speedway. Returning to competition under the Venturini banner will be Scott Lagasse Jr., Max Gresham, Alex Bowman, John Blankenship and Tom Berte.
Scott Lagasse, Jr., who won the 2007 ARCA race at Kansas and the 2008 race at Chicago with Venturini Motorsports, will be in the No.20 car. Lagasse topped the charts during last month’s open test at Kansas Speedway with the best overall time of 31.837 seconds/169.614 mph. Lagasse last drove for Venturini during the spring Talladega race and finished 8th.
Newly crowned NASCAR K&N East Series champion, Max Gresham, will start in the No.25 car. Gresham has been solid running a limited ARCA schedule with Venturini, earning a pole position at Pocono and a season high second place finish at Michigan.
Alex Bowman, this year’s NASCAR K&N East Series Rookie of the Year will pilot the No.55 car for Venturini at Kansas. Bowman won earlier this year at Madison Int’l Speedway in his Venturini/ARCA Series debut.
Dirt late model driver, John Blankenship, will make his third series start for Venturini in the No.15 machine. Blankenship claimed a top-10 finish in June at Winchester Speedway in his first ever pavement race and series start.
Sixty-Eight year old Tom Berte will make his final appearance of the 2011 ARCA Season in the No.35 car. Berte has competed in the ARCA Series on a limited basis for the last 8 years and is enjoying his most successful season on the circuit.
Venturini Motorsports qualified 1-2 at last year’s Kansas race with Mikey Kile and Steve Arpin. Kile captured pole position and finished 4th while Arpin started and finished 2nd to Ty Dillon.
Practice on Kansas Speedway’s 1.5-mile oval will begin at 9 a.m. Central (10 Eastern) on October 7; the session will last for two hours and 15 minutes. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell will start at 5:35 p.m. Central, and the race will begin at 7:30 p.m. Central. SPEED will air live television coverage of the race, and ARCARacing.com will carry live timing and scoring coverage of the day’s entire schedule.
- Venturini Motorsports Press Release
