Dan Fredrickson Takes the 2017 Triple Crown Challenge
Paul Shafer Jr. took the checkered flag in the Howie Lettow Classic while Dan Fredrickson won the Super Late Model Triple Crown Challenge points race for 2017. Kevin Knuese won the Midwest Truck Series main event while Bobby Frisch (Vintage) and Jamie Domski (Super Cups) also took home checkered flags.
Paul Shafer Jr. Holds Off Johnny Sauter for Classic Victory
Paul Shafer Jr. held off Johnny Sauter to win the 50 lap Howie Lettow Classic.
The twenty car field was brought to the green flag by Andrew Morrissey and Johnny Sauter. Morrissey and Sauter raced side by side with Sauter gaining the lead on the second lap. Morrissey ran second with Paul Shafer Jr. and Austin Nason battling it out for third with Jeff Van Oudenhoven in fifth. Shafer Jr. won the race for third and then took second from Morrissey with Nason close behind.
Shafer Jr. quickly closed in on Sauter for the lead and on lap 10 pulled to the inside to take the lead. Shafer Jr. built a 1.7 second lead over Sauter and 2.1 seconds over Nason as the top three were pulling away from the fourth and fifth place cars of Morrissey and Dan Fredrickson. Fredrickson worked his way past Morrissey for fourth while Casey Johnson cracked the top five after twenty laps.
Sauter cut the lead to less than five car lengths at the half-way mark as the leaders began to work their way through lapped traffic. With twenty laps to go Shafer Jr.’s lead was down to less than two car lengths.
Shafer Jr. was able to increase his lead to 0.7 seconds with fifteen laps to go with Nason a distant third. But Sauter wasn’t finished as once again he closed the gap to a car length. On lap 40 Sauter took the lead from Shafer Jr. coming out of turn two and started to build a multi-car length lead. The battle for third between Nason and Fredrickson was heating up with Fredrickson taking the spot with seven laps to go.
With five laps to go Sauter struggled coming out of turn two giving the lead back to Shafer Jr. As Sauter appeared to be making his move to regain the lead his car slowed coming out of turn four due to ignition problems with one lap to go and allowing Shafer Jr. to cruise to victory lane. Fredrickson finished second followed by Johnson, Sauter, and Nason.
“It was a lot of fun. Johnny’s car was starting to shut off at the end. We’ll take it any way we can,” said Shafer Jr.
“I love this race track. It’s super fun. It’s a great race, we would have loved to have a caution, but we had a good time,” said Fredrickson.
“We started back a ways and made up a lot of ground,” said third place finisher Casey Johnson.
Fredrickson won the 2017 Super Late Model Triple Crown Challenge with 355 points followed by Rich Bickle Jr. (285), Paul Shafer Jr. (284), Travis Sauter (254), and Bobby Wilberg (252) completing the top five.
Fredrickson set fast time with a lap of 17.516 (102.763 mph). Reagan May, Fredrickson, and Paul Shafer Jr. won the ten lap heat races.
Kevin Knuese Wins a Wild One
It’s what you expect whenever the Midwest Trucks come to Madison. Exciting side by side racing that goes down to the final lap. And that’s what happened tonight as Kevin Knuese picked up his second win of the season at Madison in the 30 lap feature.
The field was brought to the green flag by James Swan and Nick Egan who raced side by side for the first lap before Egan grabbed the advantage from the outside. The caution came out on lap 2 for a spinning truck in turn four.
From the outside, Swan won the restart with Egan, Kevin Knuese, Gabe Sommers, and Rick Corso in pursuit. On lap 5, Egan pulled back to the inside of Swan and regained the lead from the inside. On lap 8 Knuese muscled his way past Swan for second with Corso moving by Sommers for fourth as the top four started to pull away from the field.
On lap 13 Knuese pulled to the inside of Egan to battle for the lead while Corso moved to the inside of Swan for third with Chester Ace on the move in fifth. One lap later Knuese took over the top spot and opened up a two truck length advantage over Egan.
The trio of Knuese, Egan, and Corso broke away from the pack with ten laps to go before Egan spun on the front stretch bringing out the caution flag.
Corso and Knuese raced side by side on the restart with Corso gaining the advantage before Knuese wrestled it back one lap later as the two traded some paint out front with Ace on the outside looking in. Corso regained the lead on lap 5 with Ace up to challenge. However, Knuese was not done as he worked his way back to the lead with three laps to go followed by Corso and Ace.
Knuese was able to hold off the field to pick up the win with Corso, Ace, Swan, and Ross Christiansen rounding out the top five.
“That was a lot of work. It was a lot of fun,” said Knuese from victory lane.
Chester Ace was fast qualifier with a mark of 19.122 (94.132 mph). James Swan and Nick Egan were the winners in the heat races.
Bobby Frisch Wins at Madison
Bobby Frisch won the 15 lap feature for the Northern Illinois Vintage Stock Cars.
Jake Arneson and Ken Hutchens paced the field to the green flag. Arneson grabbed the early advantage with Bobby Frisch quickly up to challenge him for the lead. On lap 3 Frisch powered his way to the outside of Arneson to take the lead coming out of turn one. A spin in turn four on lap 8 brought out the caution flag.
Frisch got a great restart with Woody Pool up to second ahead of Arneson. It appeared that Pool had what it took to catch Frisch, but he spun with three laps to go allowing Frisch to cruise to victory lane. Arneson finished second followed by Steve Rubeck, Ken Hutchens, and Joe Darnell.
“I knew the 02 (Pool) car was fast and coming up,” said Frisch. “This car was fast.”
Heat wins went to Frisch and Rubeck.
Jamie Domski Make It Two for Two at Madison
Jamie Domski won the 20 lap feature for the Central States Region Super Cups.
Connor Kosowski and Alex Ertmann led the seven car field to the green flag. Kosowski led the first lap before losing the top spot to Payton Glodowski after one lap. On lap 7 quick qualifier Jamie Domski was up to second after passing Ertmann. Glodowski’s lead was 2.5 seconds but a caution on lap 8 for a spin took that away.
Glodowski continued to lead after the restart until Domski worked his way to the inside coming out of turn one to take the lead on lap 12. Glodowski did his best to keep him in his sights, but Domski was able to hold him off the field to pick up his second win at Madison this season. Alex Ertmann, Connor Kosowski, Zachary Tinkle, and Steve Naples completed the top five.
“It’s a driver’s track and I love it,” said Domski who presented his trophy to a young fan.
Fast qualifier was Jamie Domski with a lap of 14.571. Payton Glodowski won the heat race.
Next Friday (August 25th) at Madison it’s Buck Night with all concessions just $1.00 and beer for $2.00 with racing action in the NASCAR Whelen All American Late Models, Dave’s White Rock Sportsman, Pellitteri Waste Systems Bandits, and Roto Rooter 6Shooters. Fans will also have the opportunity to meet and greet all of the weekly racers for Autograph Night.
Results
Super Late Models
A Feature 1 50 laps
1. 7S-Paul Shafer Jr, [4]; 2. 36F-Dan Fredrickson, [7]; 3. 5J-Casey Johnson, [11]; 4. 5JS-Johnny Sauter, [2]; 5. 14N-Austin Nason, [6]; 6. 5TS-Travis Sauter, [5]; 7. 45B-Rich Bickle Jr., [8]; 8. 39M-Andrew Morrissey, [1]; 9. 99W-Bobby Wilberg, [9]; 10. 5B-John Beale, [13]; 11. 45O-Jeff Van Oudenhoven, [3]; 12. 33M-Reagan May, [15]; 13. 15L-Dean LaPointe, [16]; 14. 22S-Jeremy Spoonmore, [14]; 15. 28F-Jake Finney, [17]; 16. 5H-Jeff Holmgren Jr, [18]; 17. 11P-Alex Prunty, [19]; 18. 25S-Jeff Storm, [10]; 19. 13B-Mikie Breiner, [20]; 20. 34H-Brandon Hill, [12]
Heat 1 10 laps
1. 33M-Reagan May, [1]; 2. 15L-Dean LaPointe, [2]; 3. 28F-Jake Finney, [3]; 4. 5H-Jeff Holmgren Jr, [4]; 5. 11P-Alex Prunty, [6]; 6. 13B-Mikie Breiner, [5]
Heat 2 10 laps
1. 36F-Dan Fredrickson, [3]; 2. 5TS-Travis Sauter, [2]; 3. 99W-Bobby Wilberg, [5]; 4. 39M-Andrew Morrissey, [4]; 5. 5B-John Beale, [7]; 6. 5J-Casey Johnson, [6]; 7. 45O-Jeff Van Oudenhoven, [1]
Heat 3 10 laps
1. 7S-Paul Shafer Jr, [2]; 2. 14N-Austin Nason, [3]; 3. 45B-Rich Bickle Jr., [4]; 4. 5JS-Johnny Sauter, [1]; 5. 25S-Jeff Storm, [5]; 6. 22S-Jeremy Spoonmore, [7]; 7. 34H-Brandon Hill, [6]
Qualifying 1
1. 36F-Dan Fredrickson, [16]; 2. 14N-Austin Nason, [9]; 3. 5TS-Travis Sauter, [20]; 4. 7S-Paul Shafer Jr, [6]; 5. 45O-Jeff Van Oudenhoven, [19]; 6. 5JS-Johnny Sauter, [2]; 7. 39M-Andrew Morrissey, [17]; 8. 45B-Rich Bickle Jr., [18]; 9. 99W-Bobby Wilberg, [1]; 10. 25S-Jeff Storm, [12]; 11. 5J-Casey Johnson, [3]; 12. 34H-Brandon Hill, [15]; 13. 5B-John Beale, [5]; 14. 22S-Jeremy Spoonmore, [11]; 15. 15L-Dean LaPointe, [10]; 16. 33M-Reagan May, [14]; 17. 11P-Alex Prunty, [7]; 18. 28F-Jake Finney, [13]; 19. 5H-Jeff Holmgren Jr, [4]; 20. 13B-Mikie Breiner, [8]
Midwest Trucks
Feature: (1-10) Kevin Knuese, Rick Corso, Chester Ace, James Swan, Ross Christiansen, Dave Edwards, Danielle Behn, Mike Corvo, Gabe Sommers, Nick Egan
(11-13) Rock Christiansen, Dan Calhoun, Michael Bachaus
Heat One: (1-7) James Swan, Rick Corso, Chester Ace, Mike Corvo, Danielle Behn, Dan Calhoun, Michael Bachaus
Heat Two: (1-6) Nick Egan, Gabe Sommers, Kevin Knuese, Dave Edwards, Ross Christiansen, Rock Christiansen
Qualifying: (1-10) Chester Ace, Kevin Knuese, Rick Corso, Dave Edwards, James Swan, Gabe Sommers, Mike Corvo, Ross Christiansen, Michael Bachaus, Nick Egan
(11-13) Danielle Behn, Rock Christiansen, Dan Calhoun
Northern Illinois Vintage Stock Cars
Feature: (1-10) Bobby Frisch, Jake Arneson, Steve Rubeck, Ken Hutchens, Joe Darnell, Tom Collins, Butch Mierendorf, Woody Pool, Pat Echlin, Bill Martin
Heat One: (1-5) Bobby Frisch, Jake Arneson, Joe Darnell, Tom Collins, Bill Martin
Heat Two: (1-5) Steve Rubeck, Pat Echlin, Woody Pool, Butch Mierendorf, Ken Hutchens
Central States Region Super Cups
Feature: (1-7) Jamie Domski, Alex Ertmann, Connor Kosowski, Zachary Tinkle, Steve Naples, Payton Glodowski, Mike Mucha
Heat One: (1-7) Payton Glodowski, Jamie Domski, Connor Kosowski, Alex Ertmann, Zachary Tinkle, Steve Naples, Mike Mucha
Qualifying: (1-7) Jamie Domski, Payton Glodowski, Alex Ertmann, Connor Kosowski, Zachary Tinkle, Steve Naples, Mike Mucha (DNS)