By: Kevin Ramsell
Kaukauna, WI – Justin Mondeik scored his biggest win in his young career by winning the Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA Midwest Tour presented by Five Star Race Car Bodies Grandrud Auto Group 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.
The Gleason, Wisconsin driver took home $15,000 in his fourth victory in the Tour. Which ended a winless drought going back to September 2024 when he won the Thunderstruck 93 at Elko Speedway in Elko, Minnesota.
Mondeik was up near the front throughout the entire race, leading a majority of the first half.
Ty Fredrickson, fresh off his win in the Howie Lettow Classic at Madison International Speedway, was the dominant car in the second half, where he had close to a two-second lead until the caution flew with 19 laps to go when former Gandrud Auto Group 250 winner Paul Shafer Jr. made hard contact with the styrofoam in the turn four wall.
On the restart, Mondeik would restart on the inside while Fredrickson chose the outside lane. As the green flew, the two were battling side-by-side until the caution flew for Cody Vanderloop’s spin.
The final restart with 10 to go saw the two in the same position as the last restart. The two went into turns one and two, appearing to touch, and as they came off of turn two, allowing Mondeik to jump out to the lead.
Mondeik would pull away to his big payday and become the 22nd different winner in the 42 runnings of the 250.
“I knew we had a really good car all day. I tried to set sail early on and just do our own pace and try to get tire strategy there. You know, early on to take tires late and it paid off there,” Mondeik said after the race. “So I had a couple of really good restarts there at the end that that’s what we needed. Fredrickson was starting to, you know, stretch it out there before that last caution. So really thankful, you know, that this happened.”
The last restart between Mondeik and Fredrickson did have a little controversy as the two appeared to have made contact for the lead.
“I felt like it was extremely clean,” Mondeik explained. “I mean, obviously we’re right on each other down the back stretch and waited for him to fire and just started to listen to where he was starting to throttle up and we were able to get a good launch off the bottom and, you know, just kind of be at his numbers into one and was able to get a good one and two and kind of set sail after that. So definitely in a state of shock right now.”
Fredrickson explained his side.
“Well, last two restarts, Mondeik jumped the restart, but instead of crashing the whole field by not going, I decided to just try to do my best on the top,” Fredrickson said. “Then the last restart, he did the same thing, but then stuffed me in the fence coming off of two and knocked the toe out and it wasn’t the same since.”
Fredrickson remains optimistic about being a future winner of this race.
“We were really good and we’re usually good when we come here,” Fredrickson said. “We had a shot to win it last year, and even more dominant this year. But hopefully next year I can seal the deal.”
Penn Sauter, fresh off a feature win last Thursday night at WIR, finished third with Riley Stenjem coming home fourth. Two-time ASA Midwest Tour champion Gabe Sommers rounded out the top five.
Several top drivers suffered mechanical issues and fell out early including defending winner Luke Fenhaus, five-time Midwest Tour champion Ty Majeski, and Joe Shear Classic winner Austin Nason.
The Appalachian Sucker Punch ASA Midwest Tour presented by Five Star Race Car Bodies is back in action on Saturday, September 5th, at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI, for the Jim Sauter Classic 200.
A replay of Tuesday’s race is available on tracktv.com.