By: Kevin Ramsell
The last 24 hours has been a busy one for four-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion Ty Majeski. On Friday evening, he finished seventh in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Then he flew back to his home State to get his 26th victory in the ARCA Midwest Tour by winning the Salute the Troops 100 at Jefferson Speedway in Jefferson, WI.
“Obviously I had a great night last night in the truck series and made the flight up here this morning and we came to Jefferson to figure this car out,” Majeski said after the race. “We really struggled with it at the Dells in its debut and Toby (Nuttleman, Crew Chief) and his guys got it to where we needed it to be, and it showed here tonight.”
Majeski didn’t waste time showing the large crowd how strong his car was in the main event. By lap seven he was up to third and five laps later, passed Paul Shafer Jr. for second place.
It only took six laps for Majeski to chase down and pass Max Kahler for the top spot.
The first of two cautions flew on lap 32 when Cody DeVoy made contact with the turn three wall.
On the restart, Majeski pulled away from the field while behind him, Casey Johnson got by Kahler for the second spot on lap 34.
Fast qualifier and new track record holder, Luke Fenhaus made his way up to the top three on lap 41. Seven laps later, Fenhaus would get by Johnson for the second spot.
Joe Shear Classic winner Rich Bickle Jr. was working his way to the top ten on lap 64 when he made contact with Jonathan Eilen going into turn one. Bickle’s car jumped up on Eilen’s car to cause right front suspension damage and would pull off the track and not causing a caution flag to come out.
The final caution flew on lap 79 when Ryan Farrell made contact with the turn four wall, causing debris on the track.
This would allow Fenhaus and Johnson to close the gap and hopefully challenge Majeski for the lead on the re-start.
But Majeski’s strong car prevented a battle as he quickly pulled away from Fenhaus over the final 21 laps to get the victory.
“I knew I had a good car, obviously Luke has been really fast at the beginning of this year,” Majeski commented. “Obviously, when you are the leader, you don’t want to see a late race caution. But overall, I knew the car was good and I had confidence in it. We were able to hold them off and get it done.”
Fenhaus claimed his second consecutive runner-up position in the ARCA Midwest Tour after setting a new track record in qualifying. Earlier in the day, he made hard contact with the wall and was able to recover for a podium finish.
“It was up and down all day,” Fenhaus said after the race. “We had an issue go wrong, and I overdrove a little bit and hit the wall pretty good and wrecked almost the whole right side. We went to work and got some parts from the Bickle team and got it back together, and somehow finished second.”
Casey Johnson, who won at Jefferson the last time the ARCA Midwest Tour visited “Wisconsin’s Action Track,” was satisfied with his third place finish.
“The car was actually pretty good on the long runs, nobody had anything for Ty. That car was lights out,” Johnson said. “We were about second best, but that late restart she was a handful, but with a few to go, it came back to where it was. Third is not terrible.”
Shafer, another former Jefferson winner, was fourth while Austin Nason rounded out the top five.
In earlier action, Brandon Hill held off Justin Mondeik to win the 10-lap qualifier race. Those two along with Bickle and Shaun Scheel earned spots to the main event.
Nason won the odd heat while Farrell won the even heat.
Curt Tillman won the last chance race over Gabe Sommers, giving those two each a spot in the 100-lap main event.
The ARCA Midwest Tour will head to the famous Milwaukee Mile on June 20th for the Father’s Day 100.
