by Gregg Paul
The ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings wraps up its coverage of the 5th Annual Joe Shear Classic at the Madison International Speedway. Travis Sauter continued his dominance at MIS by scoring his seventh consecutive feature victory at Wisconsin’s fastest half mile oval. Sauter battled his uncle Johnny Sauter over much of the race before staging a furious late race comeback to edge Jacob Goede at the checkers.
Sauter Family Well Represented
The Sauter family has a long and storied history in short track racing throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest. Several members have had success in NASCAR as well. Starting with the patriarch in Jim Sauter, the family has won numerous times at a wide variety of tracks.
The 5th Annual Joe Shear Classic saw three members of the famous family competing with the ARCA Midwest Tour. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Johnny Sauter set fast time in qualifying and appeared to be the car to beat, until spinning off of turn four late in the race. Johnny wound up finishing in the 21st position.
Tim Sauter, father of race winner Travis and brother to Johnny, ran a solid race in the top five most of the day before being sidelined with mechanical issues. Tim finished just ahead of Johnny in the 20th position.
Hedman Husler and Tesar Engineering Hard Charger
ARCA Midwest Touring Star Rich Bickle was easily the hardest charger on the day as he would pick up twenty two spots from his 26th starting position. Bickle had to rely on using a provisional just to make the feature, but quickly and methodically moved his way towards the front. By the time the checkered flag flew Bickle was all the way up to the fourth spot.
Rough Day For Defending Champion
Defending ARCA Midwest Tour Champion Jonathan Eilen struggled from the drop of the green flag. Despite starting the feature on the outside of the front row, Eilen’s car would lose power sporadically on the track. Eilen was slowed by the mechanical issue and brought out the first caution of the race when he stopped on the track in turn four. The crew tried to make repairs, but he lasted only a few more laps before calling it a day and would finish in 27th position.
Rookies Struggle With The Learning Curve
James Swan was the highest finishing rookie by placing 15th in the race. Swan was the only rookie to finish the race on track. Dennis Prunty, who had an impressive run at Toledo in the opener, struggled with his car and would drop out with steering problems. Prunty wound up finishing in 22nd. Bobby Kendall would finish 25th. Jeremy Miller would not make the feature after crashing his car hard into the front stretch wall during his qualifier race. Miller was battling Cardell Potter for position late in the race when the two made contact coming off of turn four sending Miller hard into the temporary retaining wall.
Race For Points Starting To Take Shape
Considering everyone who made the effort to race at Toledo each received 200 points, there was a 23-way tie for first place heading into the Joe Shear Classic. Race winner Travis Sauter is not competing for the points championship with the ARCA Midwest Tour, but after the results at MIS there is still a tie for first place in the standings.
Championship Points:
1) 8G Jacob Goede (TS) 351
2) 36 Dan Fredrickson (TS) 351
3) 52 Chris Wimmer (TS) 341
4) 75W Chris Weinkauf (TS) 338
5) 8H Eddie Hoffman 337
6) 45 Rich Bickle (TS) 336
7) 87 Nathan Haseleu (TS) 333
8) 78 Skylar Holzhausen (TS) 329
9) 75T Joel Theisen 328
10) 39 Andrew Morrissey (TS) 325
Next Event for the ARCA Midwest Tour
Next up on the schedule for the ARCA Midwest Tour is a date on Saturday may 18th at the State Park Speedway in Wausau, Wisconsin. Dan Fredrickson is the defending race winner, surviving a late race duel with Jonathan Eilen and Mark Mackesy.
Be sure to follow the ARCA Midwest Tour on Facebook (midwesttour) and Twitter (@midwesttour).
To learn more about the Automobile Racing Club of America Midwest Tour, log on toarcamidwesttour.com. For questions call the ARCA Midwest Tour office at (262) 729-4111 or Tim Olson at (612) 327-5831 or Steve Einhaus (630) 212-6022 at or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@arcamidwesttour.comor Steve Einhaus at steve@arcamidwesttour.com.
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is among the leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country. Founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum, the organization administers more than 100 events each year in multiple racing series, including the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the ARCA Truck Series and the ARCA Midwest Tour, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways.
