Captures Joe Shear Classic And Guitar That Goes With It
by Gregg Paul
The ARCA Midwest Tour presented by Scag Power Equipment and Lester Buildings “5th Annual Joe Shear Classic is officially in the books.
Travis Sauter doesn’t believe in luck, yet he somehow managed to hold off Jacob Goede to capture his seventh straight feature win at the Madison International Speedway. Sauter was able to get around Goede with coming to the white flag lap and narrowly held on for the victory. The win was Sauter’s second straight Midwest Tour win as well.
Sauter and his uncle Johnny, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver seemingly had the field covered from just prior to the break at lap 64. The duo pulled away from the field on restarts until a yellow with just 23 laps to go. Dan Fredrickson had worked his way into the top three and pulled to the inside on the restart to get by both Travis and Johnny.
A spin two laps after that restart by Joel Thiesen set the stage for the late race drama. Johnny Sauter spun his tires on the restart and allowed Fredrickson to get away. Sauter would fight back on the inside and pulled back alongside Fredrickson. Sauter than appeared to hook the apron coming off of turn four, giving Fredrickson the advantage. Sauter kept his foot in the gas and made contact with Fredrickson that sent Sauter spinning down the front straightaway.
Jacob Goede utilized the cone to get to the outside of the front row on the restart. Goede would get the jump and pull ahead of Fredrickson coming off of turn two. Goede would pull away by a few car lengths, as Travis Sauter lurked behind.
Sauter would get by Fredrickson coming off of turn two with just twelve laps remaining. Sauter methodically began to reel in Goede, pulling closer and closer as the laps wound down. With just four laps to go, Sauter latched onto the rear bumper of Goede, setting the stage for an awesome finish.
Sauter would use the chrome horn at both ends of the track, only to see Goede hold onto the lead. Sauter would get a nose inside before Goede would slam the door on him. Coming to the White Flag, Sauter got underneath Goede as the came off of turn four. Sauter would clear Goede down the straightaway and ran the final lap with Goede just barely on his rear bumper. However, Goede could never mount that last ditched effort, as Sauter notched yet another victory at MIS.
“Johnny was the guy to beat in the second half,” said Sauter. “He had them covered, then I was loose after the break. Once he went out I still thought I had the best car. Restarting in the second row, Danny’s hard to pass and I got by him just in time, with like 8 to go. That was the perfect amount of time to catch Jacob.”
Sauter picked up the signature Guitar Trophy emblematic of the win in the Joe Shear Classic, something he was happy to avenge from last year’s bitter defeat.
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
