Ronnie Osmer, the second youngest starter in ARCA history, has successful run at Mobile - Speedway Digest

Ronnie Osmer (Pearl River, Louisiana), the second youngest starter in ARCA Racing Series history, brought home his No. 40 Jubilee Foods – Ride to Give Dodge home with a 17th place finish in the ARCA Mobile 200.

“Ronnie Osmer, at 15-years-old ran with Bobby (Hamilton) Jr. for over half the race,” team owner Roger Carter said of Osmer’s run. ”The kid is the real deal. He had a mid-race altercation, where we received some minor damage. We are very proud of him and the No. 40 team.”

Osmer, being only 15 years old, was anxious to get on track, which was delayed by a day, due to the torrential rain that fell on the speedway throughout Friday.

On Saturday, he finally got a chance to practice his No. 40 Jubilee Foods – Ride to Give Dodge, as he clocked a lap of 24.742 seconds, the 22nd fastest lap out of the field. Because of the rain the day before, he did not want to push the race car, due to there being no rubber on the racing surface.

As the green flag drew closer, Osmer grew very excited to be making his first ARCA Racing Series start and inching closer to writing his name in the ARCA Record Books.

At the drop of the green flag, Osmer kept pace with teammate, Bobby Hamilton Jr., as they worked together to stay out of trouble. After weathering multiple cautions, Osmer had made his way up to the 5th position and was running well, until his run was interrupted by a blown left rear tire. This forced him to come in and change tires.

After getting back out on track, Osmer found himself a few laps down, but continued to charge and try and get those laps back. He had gained one lap back, and was continuing to run well, until with 2 laps to go, he made contact with Brian Finney, which caused the two to spin off track.

Osmer continued on from the incident, but received significant damage to the left front of his race car. Despite the damage, he was able to nurse his racing machine home with a 17th place finish.

“I had a great race today for my first career ARCA Series start,” the Louisiana native said of his run. “I started 16th and after a few dents and scratches I finished 17th with a whole car. Just like to thank Carter 2 Motorsports for the opportunity to race for them, my sponsors for the support, and my amazing parents for their sacrifices so I could do what I love to do.”

The ARCA Racing Series takes nearly a month off before heading to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, on April 11th for the Nashville ARCA 200. The one-day event will have no national television coverage, but ARCARacing.com will provide Line Timing & Scoring throughout the event.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.