Scores Second Consecutive ARCA Midwest Tour Win
by Gregg Paul
Dan Fredrickson likes State Park Speedway. In fact, that was the first thing he said as he crawled out of his car in Victory Lane after picking up his second consecutive World Wide Packaging 125 win in the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings.
Then he quickly changed the conversation towards honoring the man that was on everyone’s mind, the legend, Dick Trickle.
“I really like this place,” said Fredrickson. “Obviously we’re all going to miss the guy. I don’t know what his situation was but I know it wasn’t simple. You know, it sucks.”
While paying homage to the legend was what everyone expected, what was also expected was that Fredrickson would come to dominate the field at the Wausau racetrack. What wasn’t expected was that a yellow with just two laps remaining erased Fredrickson’s huge lead.
Fredrickson had taken the lead back on lap 34 when he got around a fellow team i-gogs Sunglasses Touring Star, Jonathan Eilen. Fredrickson would easily stretch his lead to nearly a full straightaway as the race neared the break at lap 75.
Fredrickson took everyone by surprise after the break by electing to take the restart from the outside lane. It didn’t seem to matter as Fredrickson easily got a jump at the drop of the green flag and steadily pulled away from the field.
The only thing that seemed to temporarily derail Fredrickson’s march towards the checkers was a yellow flag that made people wonder if it were divine intervention. Just after lap 99 was completed, team Vita Ice Touring Star, Skylar Holzhausen and team DOC 360 Touring Star, Nathan Haseleu made contact in turn three with Haseleu getting turned into the outside wall. Both drivers were contesting the fifth spot at the time, but being that it was lap 99 many thought that just maybe it was Dick Trickle’s way of looking down on the first race since his passing.
That was just a mere bump in the road, as Fredrickson would get another huge jump on the restart and pull away to a lead again. Another yellow with just two laps remaining proved to be just as futile for the rest of the field, as Fredrickson survived the late challenge from Tim Sauter to successfully defend his win at State Park Speedway.
Defending series champion Jonathan Eilen had a strong run all night and would wind up finishing in the third spot. Jeff Storm, another member of the team i-gogs Sunglasses Touring Stars was nearly lapped in the first half but ran a strong second half to come home in the fourth position. Nathan Haseleu recovered from his earlier spin to finish in fifth.
The next event for the ARCA Midwest Tour is Saturday, June 8th at Dells Raceway Park. Go to arcamidwesttour.com for details.
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.
