Photos Courtesy TJ Harron Photography / TJHarron.com
Chester Ace and Kenny Joosten Also Winners
Ty Majeski held off a hard charging Johnny Sauter to win the eighth annual Joe Shear Classic for the ARCA Midwest Tour at Madison International Speedway. The 100 lap event went caution free and was Majeski’s third feature win at Madison in his last four starts.
In other racing action, Chester Ace was the winner in the Midwest Trucks while Kenny Joosten took hom top honors in the Mid American Stock Car Series.
Jason Weinkauf and Dennis Prunty brought the twenty-four car field to the green flag with Prunty sprinting to the lead with Nick Murgic in third place. On lap 7 Chris Weinkauf moved past Jonathan Eilen for fourth with Ty Majeski in fifth. On lap 11 Majeski powered past Chris Weinkauf for fourth place.
With twenty laps in the books, the hard charger on the track was clearly Johnny Sauter who had moved from his twenty-third starting position to tenth. The top four out front were separated by six car lengths nose to tail with Prunty maintaining a two car length lead over Jason Weinkauf.
Majeski took the third spot on lap 26 by passing Murgic on the outside and moved into second on lap 28 when he passed Jason Weinkauf. On lap 31 Majeski pulled to the inside of Prunty coming out of turn two and one lap later took over the top spot. Meanwhile, Johnny Sauter was up to sixth place on lap 32.
On lap 35 Majeski continued to outpace the field with a two car length lead over Prunty while Murgic and Jason Weinkauf raced side by side for third with Chris Weinkauf rounding out the top five. Sauter moved into fifth on lap 41 and passed Jason Weinkauf for fourth one lap later.
Out in front Majeski was building his lead while Sauter continued his amazing journey as he took third on lap 45 followed by Murgic, Chris Weinkauf, and Derek Kraus. Chris Weinkauf regained the fourth spot on lap 53 when he moved past Nick Murgic.
On lap 60 Sauter has closed the gap on Prunty to just a single car length while Majeski enjoyed a four second advantage out front. Every time Sauter would get close to making the pass on the inside a lapped car would delay his efforts. On lap 67 Sauter would try the outside and make the pass of Prunty for second but still some five seconds behind the leader.
Majeski continued to work his way around lapped traffic which allowed Sauter to cut the gap to four seconds. With fifteen laps to go the lead was under four seconds while back in the field Derek Kraus moved into the top five.
With ten laps to go Sauter was doing everything he could to close the gap as the race continued under the green flag. But despite his best efforts, he wouldn’t be able to catch Majeski who picked up his third win at Madison in the past two seasons. Sauter finished in second place followed by Dennis Prunty. Rounding out the top five were Chris Weinkauf and Travis Sauter.
“We’ve struggled in this race in the past. It was a good run and I knew Johnny was coming strong,” said Majeski from victory lane in a post race interview.
After being penalized following the preliminary race, Johnny Sauter added, “It was a good car, we just have to do a little better. It’s too bad the fastest car didn’t win today.”
In the 10 lap qualifying race, Austin Nason took the early lead and held off the field of eight cars to take the checkered flag. Skylar Holzhausen finished second followed by Cardell Potter and Ricky Baker.
In the first of two 8 lap dashes for the top sixteen qualifiers, Paul Shafer Jr. took the early lead and never looked back on his way to the win. Jason Weinkauf finished second followed by Ty Majeski. In the second dash it was Andrew Morrissey holding off Dennis Prunty and Johnny Sauter for the win.
2016 Joe Shear Classic
Ace Holds Off Lepak for Exciting Midwest Truck Victory
Chester Ace picked up the win in the 30 lap feature for the Midwest Truck Series by holding off Jeremy Lepak.
“We’re glad to be here starting off the season right,” said Ace from victory lane. “It was a tough race today.”
Michael Raskovic and Nick Egan brought the field of twelve trucks to the green flag. Egan pulled off the track before completing a lap giving the lead to Raskovic with Jerry Wood and Ace moving up to second and third.
On lap 5, Ace pulled to the inside of Wood and one lap later took the second position with Raskovic still five truck lengths in front. Jeremy Lepak raced his way past Mike Corvo on lap 8 to move into fourth.
Raskovic continued to lead with Ace quickly closing the gap and by lap 10 was on his tailgate. Two laps later Ace made contact with Raskovic while going for the lead while Lepak moved into third. One lap later as Ace and Raskovic were battling it out for the lead Lepak was able to power his way into the lead.
Ace was not about to be left behind as the two broke away from the pack with Ace putting heavy pressure on the leader trying to find room on the inside for the pass. The race’s only caution flag came out on lap 21 when a small fire broke out under the Rick Corso truck.
Following the restart Ace and Lepak continued their side by side battle closing followed by Corvo and Raskovic. With five laps to go Ace put a truck length between himself and Lepak and kept that advantage all the way to the checkered flag. Raskovic would finish third followed by Corvo and Dave Edwards.
Nick Egan held off Michael Raskovic to win the first 8-lap heat. Chester Ace took the lead from Rick Corso on lap 4 and cruised to the win in the second heat race.
Fast qualifier for the Midwest Trucks was Kevin Knuese with a lap of 18.551
2016 Joe Shear Classic
Kenny Joosten Wins Mid American 30
Kenny Joosten took home the checkered flag in the 30 lap feature for the Mid American Stock Car Series.
“I’ve had some struggles on half mile tracks…I’ve never done real well on the big tracks. This is great and I have to thank Scott Dunning for helping me get this car to where it is today,” said Joosten from victory lane.
Rick Tackman Jr. and Bobby Gutknecht brought the field of nine cars to the stripe. Gutknecht drifted up the track on the first lap giving the lead to Tackman Jr. The caution flag came out on lap 7 for debris on the backstretch.
Gutknecht regained the lead after the restart followed by Tackman Jr., Rick Corso, Kenny Joosten, and Scott Dunning. On lap 10 Corso snuck by Tackman Jr. for second but drifted up the speedway in turn two giving the second position back to Tackman Jr. This allowed Gutknecht to build a big lead out front. On lap 13 Corso took back second place while Joosten was up to battle it out with Tackman Jr. for third. After taking third, Joosten flew by Corso for second on lap 17. Fast qualifier Dan Gilster who started ninth was up to fourth on lap 18.
With ten laps to go Joosten was closing the gap and on lap 21 moved to the inside of Gutknecht for the lead but got too low coming into turn four and was unable to make the pass. On lap 23 Joosten squeezed his way to the inside of Gutknecht for the lead before giving it back one lap later.
It was Joosten on the inside and Gutknecht on the outside for two more laps before Joosten was able to take the lead for good and check away from the field and take home the checkered flag. Gutknecht held off Gilster for second place with Corso and Dunning rounding out the top five.
Bobby Gutknecht picked up the win in the 8 lap heat race. Rick Tackman Jr. and Gutknecht raced side by side for the early lead before Gutknecht grabbed the top spot and built a big lead over the field. Tackman finished in second with Ryan Gutknecht in third.
The fastest lap in qualifying went to Dan Gilster with a circuit of 19.255.
The NASCAR Whelen All American weekly racing program begins on Friday, May 13th with the Late Models, Sportsman, and Bandits all in action. Qualifying begins at 6:15 with racing at 7:30 with a free Pepsi Racing poster to the first 1,000 fans as part of the Pepsi Season Opener.
Results
ARCA Midwest Tour
100 Lap Feature: (Unofficial Results)
(1-10) Ty Majeski, Johnny Sauter, Dennis Prunty, Chris Weinkauf, Travis Sauter, Skylar Holzhausen, Casey Johnson, Paul Shafer Jr., Nick Murgic, Andrew Morrissey
(11-20) Derek Kraus, Tim Sauter, Jason Weinkauf, Natalie Decker, Nick Panitzke, Austin Nason, Cardell Potter, Jonathan Eilen, Matt Kocourek, Ricky Baker
(21-24) Duke Long, Andy Jones, Jeff Holtz, Jake Finney
10 Lap Qualifying Race: Austin Nason, Skylar Holzhausen, Cardell Potter, Ricky Baker, Natalie Decker, Tim Sauter, Jeff Holtz, Jake Finney
8 Lap Odd Dash: Paul Shafer Jr., Jason Weinkauf, Ty Majeski, Derek Kraus, Chris Weinkauf, Nick Murgic, Andy Jones, Travis Sauter
8 Lap Even Dash: Andrew Morrissey, Dennis Prunty, Johnny Sauter, Casey Johnson, Duke Long, Nick Panitzke, Jonathan Eilen, Matt Kocourek
Qualifying:
(1-10) Ty Majeski, Casey Johnson, Andy Jones, Nick Panitzke, Chris Weinkauf, Johnny Sauter, Derek Kraus, Jonathan Eilen, Nick Murgic, Dennis Prunty
(11-20) Jason Weinkauf, Matt Kocourek, Travis Sauter, Andrew Morrissey, Paul Shafer Jr., Duke Long, Ricky Baker, Austin Nason, Cardell Potter, Skylar Holzhausen
(21-24) Natalie Decker, Tim Sauter, Jeff Holtz, Jake Finney
Midwest Truck Series
30 Lap Feature:
(1-10) Chester Ace, Jeremy Lepak, Michael Raskovic, Mike Corvo, Dave Edwards, Jerry Wood, Danielle Behn, Derek Doerr, Ross Christiansen, Rick Corso
(11-12) Cole Scholze, Nick Egan, Todd Schmitz (DNS), Kevin Knuese (DNS), Kyle Rhoades (DNS)
8 Lap Heat One: Nick Egan, Michael Raskovic, Derek Doerr, Danielle Behn, Ross Christiansen, Cody Scholze, Kyle Rhoades (DNS)
8 Lap Heat Two: Chester Ace, Rick Corso, Mike Corvo, Jeremy Lepak, Dave Edwards, Todd Schmitz, Kevin Knuese
Qualifying:
(1-10) Kevin Knuese, Jeremy Lepak, Dave Edwards, Mike Corvo III, Chester Ace, Todd Schmitz, Rick Corso, Jerry Wood, Nick Egan, Michael Raskovic
(11-14) Derek Doerr, Danielle Behn, Ross Christiansen, Cole Scholze
(NT) Kyle Rhoades
Mid American Stock Car Series (MASCS)
30 Lap Feature:
(1-9) Kenny Joosten, Bobby Gutknecht, Dan Gilster, Rick Corso, Scott Dunning, Jeremy Spoonmore, Bill Rud, Ryan Gutknecht, Rick Tackman Jr.
8 Lap Heat One: Bobby Gutknecht, Rick Tackman Jr., Ryan Gutknecht, Jeremy Spoonmore, Kenny Joosten, Scott Dunning, Bill Rud, Dan Gilster
Qualifying:
(1-9) Dan Gilster, Bill Rud, Scott Dunning, Ryan Gutknecht, Ken Joosten, Rick Corso, Jeremy Spoonmore, Bobby Gutknecht, Rick Tackman Jr., Greg Beebe (DNS)