Chamber of Commerce weather brought one of the largest crowds in history to Madison International Speedway in Oregon, WI on Sunday (May 7) to witness the 16th Annual Joe Shear Classic. It was the second race of the ASA STARS National Tour in 2023 and a post-race infraction has led to a change in its victor.
Race fans witnessed a great battle among drivers representing 13 States and one Canadian Province.
Those fans saw former two-time ASA Midwest Tour champion Dan Fredrickson beat five-time champion and current co-point leader in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Ty Majeski in the 200-lap event.
But afterwards in post-race inspection, Fredrickson was disqualified for an engine infraction. ASA STARS National Tour officials have declared Majeski as the winner of the Joe Shear Classic 200.
“I hate to win it this way, but it is great to win the race named after my Truck Series crew chief’s father,” Majeski said after learning he was declared the winner. “I am so happy to win this for Joe Jr. He always has some great stories about working with his father and that his dad taught him everything he knows today. It’s an honor win the race named after his father, who is a legendary short track driver.”
Majeski qualified seventh, but after the re-draw he started on the outside of the front row and grabbed the lead from Bubba Pollard at the start. Majeski would lead the first 75 laps of the race.
At the first stage break, Majeski and just about the entire field pitted for tires and fuel. Current ASA STARS National Tour points leader Casey Roderick and Jacob Gomes stayed out and would be the top two at the start of the second stage.
Roderick would take over the top spot on the restart while Majeski fell back to 13th.
Caution would fly on lap 124 when Jonathan Eilen spun in turn two, which allowed for a competition caution. Everyone except for Gabe Sommers, Austin Nason and Steve Apel stayed out.
Apel would take over the lead when the green flag flew, a lap later Roderick would bring out a caution after he spun on the front stretch after he appeared to come in front of Jacob Goede’s nose.
With the double file choose a lane restart, this allowed Majeski to get back into the top five.
But that didn’t last long as he and Gomes made contact going down the backstretch on lap 131. Majeski would come into the pits for repairs and re-join the race, while Gomes was out of the event.
Majeski would fall back to 10th but would work his way back into the top-five with 46 laps to go in the event.
With 21 laps to go, Majeski would get by Goede for the second spot, which eventually would be the winning move to earn his second Joe Shear Classic 200 victory and first in the ASA STARS National Tour.
Bubba Pollard, another former Joe Shear Classic winner, finished second and was satisfied with his podium finish, after struggling in practice on Saturday.
“We just wasn’t as bad yesterday as we thought we were,” Pollard said after the race. “We kept searching and working hard to get better. The other car was fine, thought we may be down on motor or something and something going on, but we didn’t, we weren’t that far off. We just kept working hard, plugging away and made some big swings in the last 40 minutes of practice, but really kept to our baseline all year. We got speed and ran in the top three about everywhere we go, and that is all you can ask for then the wins will come. It was a good day.”
Gabe Sommers finishing third. Roderick would finish fourth with Levon Van Der Geest rounding out the top five.
Upon learning that he was declared the winner of the race, the first thing he started contemplating was if he would keep the specially made Joe Shear Classic 200 trophy designed by Wehr’s Machine or hand it off to his crew chief in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The ASA STARS National Tour next event is on Tuesday, May 16th at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina for the ECMD 150. All tickets are general admission with individual day tickets priced at $30 and two day tickets are just $50.
The ASA Midwest Tour’s next event is Saturday, May 27th with the Salute the Troops 100 at Jefferson Speedway located between Cambridge and Jefferson, Wisconsin.
For the full ASA STARS National Tour schedule, plus Super Late Model rules and other information, please visit the series website at starsnationaltour.com, or be sure to follow the series on social media (Facebook: STARS National Series | Twitter: @racewithstars | IG: @starsnational).
ASA STARS National Tour
The ASA STARS National Tour debuted in March of 2023 for Super Late Model racing in America. Announced last October, many of the best drivers in America will compete in the ten-race national tour with a minimum $100,000 point fund. The championship team will be guaranteed $25,000.
The ASA STARS National Tour is made up of three races from each of the regional pavement Super Late Model Series under the Track Enterprises banner; the ASA CRA Super Series, the ASA Midwest Tour and the ASA Southern Super Series.
The Team Construction Winner’s Circle program has been announced as a part of the ASA STARS National Tour for licensed drivers/teams with perfect attendance. The program provides additional financial incentives to those teams who support the Series, thanks to Team Construction.
Track Enterprises, a Racing Promotions Company based in Illinois, will operate the ASA STARS National Tour. It announced the acquisition of the CRA sanctioning body in January and followed that up with the purchase of the Midwest Tour in July. In October, Track Enterprises President, Bob Sargent announced a partnership with the Southern Super Series which set the table for the formation of the ASA STARS National Tour.