By: Kevin Ramsell
Oregon, WI – It has been a tough year for Chester Ace as he has been battling through some personal health issues and losing some family members, including his mother.
But on Friday night, he got some good therapy and a prescription of the checkered flag by winning the Midwest Truck Series Howie Lettow 30 at Madison International Speedway.
Brady Bill and Blake Brown battled in the early going of the 30-lap event.
Brandon Reichenberger put the pressure on Bill for the lead as they came out of turn two on lap five. The two-time defending Midwest Truck Series champion took over the top.
Reichenberger led with Tristan Swanson, who won the Midwest Truck Series at Madison earlier this year, right behind him.
With 10 laps complete, Swanson got to the inside of Reichenberger going into three, and the battle was on for the top spot with Chester Ace and Gregorich watching the battle in front of them.
On lap 16, Swanson appeared to get loose off of two, allowing Reichenberger to take back the lead with Ace grabbing second. A lap later, Ace would go to the inside of Reichenberger to go for the lead.
With 13 laps to go, Ace was able to clear Reichenberger for the top spot.
Ace was pulling away from Reichenberger while behind the top two. Grant Griesbach made a daring three-wide move off of four to get third from Swanson and Gregorich.
The first caution flew with four laps to go when Gregorich and Brown made contact while trying to pass the lap truck of Ryan Schroeder, causing Gregorich to spin.
Midwest Truck Series officials made the decision that the lap car was the cause and gave Gregorich and Brown their spots back in fourth and fifth.
On the restart, Nick Quinnell would spin in turn to cause another caution flag to fly with still four laps to go in the 30-lap contest.
Reichenberger and Ace battled side-by-side until Ace took over the lead with two laps to go. Griesbach jumped to the inside of Reichenberger for the second spot.
At the finish, it was Ace getting the win with Reichenberger beating Griesbach at the line by a fender. Gregorich finished fourth, and Brown rounded out the top five.
This was Ace’s 11th Truck win at Madison. Overall, at Madison, Ace has 35 victories, 24 of those victories came when he ran in the Bandit division.
Anne Green won her first Truck Series heat. James Lynch won the even heat, while Race Olson won the odd heat.
Gregorich set a fast time of 18.971 seconds.
The Midwest Truck Series returns to Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, WI, on Tuesday, August 4th, for the Dixieland Delight 35.
For more information, visit Midwesttruckseries.com.