by Kari Shear-Carlson / Sept 26, 2016 – With rain heading into the area, the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by Scag Power Equipment ‘Thunderstruck 93’ 125 lap feature was shortened to a fitting 93 laps last Saturday night at Elko Speedway. Dan Fredrickson is no stranger to victory lane in the event and took the checkers once again over a hard-charging Ty Majeski.
Elko’s very own, Chris Marek jumped out to the early lead. As the laps started to be put into the record book, Jonathan Eilen, Travis Dassow, and Fredrickson were headed straight to the front. The first caution of the night came out on lap 12 when Derek Kraus and Matt Kocourek got together and Kocourek spun.
Fredrickson and Marek made up the front row with Dassow and Eilen right behind them on the restart. Marek got the initial jump, but Fredrickson and Dassow didn’t let him get out of their sights. Fredrickson snagged the lead with 70 laps of the 93 remaining.
Meanwhile, current point leader, Ty Majeski was patiently moving through the field from his 13th starting position. On lap 30, Majeski got under Jacob Goede for the fifth spot and started to work his way to the front. As Nick Barstad and Dassow raced side-by-side, Majeski was testing the waters thinking about going three-wide. He was putting just enough pressure on Barstad and Dassow. Dassow got a little high and just as Majeski was making his move, the caution came out.
Barstad and Fredrickson setup the front row followed by Dassow and Marek, and Goede and Majeski as the green flag waved once again. With 50 laps remaining it was still anyone’s game. Fredrickson took the lead and Marek and Barstad raced side-by-side for several laps as Majeski and Goede waited patiently for an opening. Once Majeski got around Barstad for third he set his sights on Marek passing him for second.
By this time, Fredrickson had a sizeable lead, so Majeski had his work cut out for him with 33 laps to go. The two started to maneuver lapped traffic and Majeski was slowly making gains. With 10 laps to go, Majeski was within two car lengths. With three laps left, Majeski cautiously let Fredrickson know he was right there and he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
As the two crossed the line for the white flag, Majeski got a piece of Fredrickson’s bumper, but with the combined experience of the two, they both stayed in the fight. Lapped traffic on the backstretch and going into turns three and four played to Fredrickson’s benefit. He came across the line just ahead of Majeski, who proved he was once again one to beat.
Third place went to Jacob Goede, followed by Nick Barstad and Chris Weinkauf who rounded out the top five.
The ARCA Midwest Tour heads to their final championship event of the season on October 8th and 9th at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Complete details for the full Oktoberfest weekend can be found at oktoberfestraceweekend.com.
For complete event details, log on to arcamidwesttour.com
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 to 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 Speedway.
