Even though the lights went out on Saturday night, the party wasn’t over for Ty Majeski on Sunday afternoon.
The Seymour, Wisconsin driver had a record day winning his third ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment in row this season and tied Dan Fredrickson for the most victories in the tour by winning the Bev Aschenbrenner Memorial at Marshfield Motor Speedway in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
The 100-lap event was delayed until Sunday afternoon after the generator that powered the track lights on Saturday night failed causing officials to use Mother Nature’s light to complete the event.
The 100-lap race went caution-free with three lead changes.
Jason Weinkauf, who won the last caution-free ARCAMT event at Marshfield in 2011, took the early lead at the green flag. He held on to the top spot until Skylar Holzhausen went to inside of Weinkauf and took over the lead on lap 11.
Holzhausen would lead the field around the half-mile oval as Majeski started his move to the front from his sixth starting position. Majeski would make his way into the top-five by lap 16 as he went by Jonathan Eilen, who was making his 110th series start.
By lap 26, Majeski worked his way up to third and challenged Chris Weinkauf for the second position. Weinkauf did everything he could to make Majeski earn the position with a great side-by-side battle. A lap later, Majeski cleared Weinkauf and set his focus on Holzhausen.
Majeski would chase down Holzhausen, who won at Marshfield in 2013, for the lead. Holzhausen protected the inside line forcing Majeski to go on the outside for the winning pass on lap 44.
As Majeski was clicking off the laps, Dalton Zehr was making a strong run to the front after starting near the rear in a backup car. He would move up to the second position in the late stages of the race, but didn’t have enough time to chase down Majeski at the checkered flag.
Majeski’s victory is the 16th in the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment, tying him with Dan Fredrickson for the most all-time victories in the tour. He is also the first driver to be a two-time ARCAMT winner at Marshfield Motor Speedway.
“I knew the track was going to abrasive in the beginning because the track was green after the rain we had earlier today,” Majeski said in victory lane. “I was just biding my time in the beginning, just being smooth. A few cars got around me and lost a few track positions, but I was being smooth and I think I had a little more tire at the end.”
Majeski was also happy to tie Fredrickson for the most all-time victories.
“It’s really cool. Dan has been the man in the Midwest for years now. He has a lot of experiences and a lot of wins, and is competitive everywhere he goes,” Majeski explained. “For me, to be in the same company as he is pretty cool. I am not sure how many starts he has versus how many starts we have, but it’s a testament to what my team has accomplished in the last three to four years.”
Zehr would finish second in the race, but failed post-race inspection due to weight.
Chris Weinkauf, who was also the fast qualifier, officially gets the runner-up position. For Weinkauf, this race had a personal special meaning to him.
“This is for Bev,” a solemn Weinkauf said after the race. “I still can’t believe that last night didn’t go through, but we got it in today. This is for the Aschenbrenner family. We love her, we miss her.
“Our guys battled back from a miss in the motor,” Weinkauf continued to say about his team. “We got it fixed and came out here and ran 100 green flag laps. Very proud for everyone for our second-place finish.”
Jim Sauter Jr. officially finished third with Holzhausen in fourth. Dean LaPointe scored his best finish ever in the ARCA Midwest Tour with a fifth-place finish.
Andrew Morrissey, who made his 100th start in the ARCAMT, finished 11th.
The ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment will head to Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois on Saturday, June 17th for a 50-mile event around the 1.25-mile oval prior to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
Visit midwesttour.racing for the full schedule and be sure to follow the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment on Facebook (/midwesttour) and Twitter (@midwesttour).
