Full Throttle

Steve Wallace, son of NEXTEL Cup racing legend Rusty Wallace, held off a fellow 18-year-old Saturday to win the Harley-Davidson of Cincinnati 150 at Kentucky Speedway, his second career ARCA-RE/Max victory.

Wallace had the lead in the oft-delayed 100-lap race when a caution on the second-to-last lap prolonged it by three for a green-white checkered finish.

Brad Coleman, who hasn’t yet graduated from high school, made several attempts to pass Wallace on the final lap but couldn’t get by.

“Everything was just perfect,” said Wallace, of Mooresville, N.C.

Earlier in the day, Wallace earned the pole position with a record 177.509 mph qualifying lap. That time was 2.24 mph faster than the previous record set by David Keith on July 2, 2000.

Coleman got his second runner-up finish of the year, also taking second in Nashville. Matt McCall was third.

“Man, we were so close,” he said. “We’ll be there next time.”

Frank Kimmel, who won the Kentucky Speedway race last year and was coming off a victory last weekend at Winchester Speedway, started alongside Wallace on the front row after qualifying second.

Kimmel got an early lead but crashed into a wall after brushing Wallace while attempting to pull back in front on the 20th lap. The rear of Kimmel’s car sustained heavy damaged, and he had to pit several times, finishing in 28th.

“I went up to him and apologized like 100,000 times,” Wallace said. “He said it wasn’t my fault.”

Wallace won for the first time this year. His only other victory in five previous starts came last August at Michigan International Speedway, when he also won from the pole.

Scott Lagasse emerged as the top challenger to Wallace midway through the race and even spent some time in the lead, but his car spun coming out of turn two. Maintenance vehicles had to help remove the car from the track, and Lagasse was examined for injuries but released.

The race was delayed more than three hours by rain, then was stopped for nearly two more hours after 32 laps. The race went under caution six times.

ARCA, Automobile Racing Club of America, Kentucky Speedway, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle