Billy VanMeter Wins Winchester 100, Chase Pinsonneault Claims CRA Pro Series Title

Billy VanMeter won the Turn One CRA Pro Series Winchester 100 at Winchester Speedway, while Chase Pinsonneault claimed the season championship with a runner-up finish.

VanMeter, Pinsonneault, Blake Rowe and J.P. Crabtree all factored in the fight to the finish in a thrilling battle on the treacherous high banks of the Indiana half-mile. VanMeter led 47 of the race's first 70 laps, but Crabtree stormed to the lead with 30 laps to go.

VanMeter chased Crabtree back down, battling side-by-side for the better part of four laps before VanMeter pulled back in front for good with 13 laps to go.

"Me and Crabtree know each other pretty well," said VanMeter in victory lane. "I think he timed my start pretty good to get me. Loosened up in one and two, he got me, and I fought my way back underneath and eventually got even. I can't thank the VanDoorn guys enough for giving me this rocket ship. More than likely, they're going to pull the motor out and use this as a Super for tomorrow."

Despite leading so many laps early in the race, VanMeter had no concerns that he had used too much of his No. 23 to compete for the win late.

"We did a long run early in practice, and the car was so stout. I just trusted the car, trusted Butch VanDoorn, trusted those guys."

VanMeter dedicated the win to longtime Winchester Speedway owner Charlie Shaw, who passed away in September.

"This one's definitely for Charlie Shaw. He watched me grow up here. I'm just sad he didn't get to watch me win this race for him."

Pinsonneault also worked his way around Crabtree to finish second, giving him a runner-up finish to conclude a championship season with the Turn One CRA Pro Series.

"Billy was really good," Pinsonneault said. "Congratulations to the whole 23 team, even the 71 and Crabtree as well. All of them ran a really good race. I saved a little bit for the long runs. There wasn't a bunch of long runs, but just priortized on my restarts. We really executed all night. Super proud of everybody, super thankful to be standing here. This means everything to me."

Rowe entered the night coming off back-to-back wins with the Turn One CRA Pro Series. Rowe confessed after his third-place finish that Winchester has never been his strongest track, but the close-quarters battling among the front runners on Friday helped him build confidence.

"I'll be honest, this is not my racetrack," Rowe explained. "It's a place that I've been timid at, to say the least. Today was a good step in the right direction, knowing the right level of aggression to go wheel-to-wheel with guys like Bill and JP and Chase. It was a riot, man. It was a lot of fun.

"One percent too timid, and you were 10th today. One percent too aggressive, and we're all parked out in the campsite. It's definitely a razor's edge, but Bill and I and JP, I feel like we were all right there and had the right level of aggression today to keep these race cars mostly clean and have a good show."

Crabtree faded to fourth in the closing laps after flirting with a Winchester victory.

"I decided to tighten it up because we've been really loose in the center with this car the last two times we've had it here. I wanted to fix that and I just over-adjusted and kind of took my chance away. When I took the lead, that was kind of my Hail Mary, let's see if we can get out there in some clean air."

Kevin Cremonesi finished fifth. Albert Francis, Cassten Everidge, Chase Burda, Evan Varney and Jon Beach rounded out the top 10.

-Photo credit: Champion Racing Association

Winchester 100 Unofficial Results