Reaves draws crowd's ire, Boschele's anger to win ARCA Allen Crowe 100

With three laps led, Gavan Boschele was determined to give fans an exciting finish.  

Max Reaves, however, wanted the checkered flag all to himself.  

On the 97th lap of the ARCA Racing Series Allen Crowe/Calypso 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds’ Springfield Mile, Reaves, a 16-year-old driver, appeared to spin out Boschele in turn one. Boschele remarkably saved his car from too much damage and held on for fifth place. When Reaves was readying to exit his car on Victory Lane, he was met with a loud, seemingly unanimous chorus of boos from the crowd.  

On the cool-down lap, Boschele pulled up next to his fellow Toyota driver and gave him a one-finger salute. Then, in Victory Lane, Boschele bitterly tried to charge Reaves before race officials held him back. ARCA officials escorted Boschele from the track surface to the garage area. Boschele was not available for comment when The State Journal-Register asked a member of his pit crew for an interview.  

Reaves, however, was undaunted and happy to celebrate his win, his sixth in ARCA over the last two seasons.  

“This win just shows how much I’ve grown with this team, comparing it from last year, same weekend, it was pretty miserable, we were not good at all — the car was good, I was not good,” Reaves said of his six-place finish here in 2025.  

“We come back this year, we’re best in practice, best in qualifying, best during the race. It just shows how much I’ve grown with this team and how much we’ve learned together.”

Isaac Kitzmiller, who finished second, had earlier challenged Reaves for the lead and briefly went in front after starting 13th. 

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“Early in the race, I was not holding back. I didn’t have any time,” Kitzmiller said. “I couldn’t fall back too much, because I know these races are really, really short. With it only being 100 laps and you can’t pass very well, I knew I had to go.  

“Once I got into second about halfway, I tried to maintain and not burn my stuff up very much because I knew we’d have a late-race caution — somebody’s car would fall apart or spin out.” 

Boschele passed Kitzmiller with five laps to go before Boschele caught up to Reaves, who struggled to pass a lapped car.  

“(Boschele) got around us, unfortunately, but they got wrecked by the 18 (Reaves),” Kitzmiller said.

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If you can’t beat em wreck em, I’ll see everyone at DuQuoin.. That’s gonna be some fun I’ll tell you that🐕 pic.twitter.com/vHerkNt5Xt

Kitzmiller had a vantage point of the action in front of him. With three laps left, Boschele split Reaves and the lapped car and forced his way between on the frontstretch before Reaves and Boschele made contact twice while riding side-by-side. As the two cars headed into the first turn, it wasn’t clear if Reaves made contact with Boschele’s rear bumper, or at least disrupted the airflow, but Boschele spun out regardless and hit the inside wall with the front driver’s side.  

Was that just racing, or something more? 

“I don’t think so,” Kitzmiller said. “I think that was just getting dumped. 

“When I got to (Reaves) on the outside on the restart, he tried to put me in the dirty stuff, and I didn’t let that happen.” 

Reaves recalled that battle with Kitzmiller.  

“Dominant car all day, definitely. I’ve got to give it up to my guys for such a good car,” Reaves said. “(Kitzmiller) got around me at one point — driver-error, here — and (Kitzmiller) made the same exact mistake in the corner, so got back around him. And then it was just, 25 (Boschele) got around us right here and we got back around him.  

“After that, it was just smooth sailing.” 

How does a 16-year-old react to being the crowd’s villain?  

“I embrace it; I like it,” Reaves said.  

Kelly Kovski, Springfield’s 45-year-old driver with 40 ARCA starts in his career, said Sunday’s seventh-place finish in his Brandt/Allgaier No. 16 Chevrolet is his last in Springfield.  

“It was a rollercoaster of a day,” Kovski said. “For the most part, our car was — sad to say — pretty good. Just needed track position: everybody is so close now, track position means a lot. Without having pit stops to advance yourself, you’re kind of stuck.

“The lapped cars are terrible. I don’t understand what their deal is, but they don’t give no respect to the leaders. You’re running fourth or third, you run into a lapped car and you might be running ninth just because they don’t understand to stay down. They’re 30 mph off the pace and they just run right in the middle.”

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His final ARCA race will be in two weeks at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds on Sept. 6.  

Kovski, who finished third in Springfield in 2015 and 2025, made 20 starts on the mile dirt and has six top-five finishes.  

“I don’t really have anything to hang my head about, just disappointed because how many people supported me over the years,” Kovski said. “I was going to make Springfield my last one, just because it’s home, but my first ever race was at Du Quoin, so I figured I might as well make it the two-race deal and call Du Quoin the last one."

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

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Reaves draws crowd's ire, Boschele's anger to win ARCA Allen Crowe 100