By: Kevin Ramsell
(Wisconsin Dells, WI) – Gabe Sommers had a big night at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI, as he became the first two-time winner of the ASA Midwest Tour’s Jim Sauter Classic 200 presented by Don’s Auto Truck Center & Hableman Bros. Company.
The two-time defending ASAMT champion took the lead with 23 laps to go from Paul Shafer Jr. to take home the victory.
“Yeah, it was a super tough race. I just fell back in the beginning, really, really deep because something happened in the front, and we all checked up and we were going through the grass, and I thought the race was over before it started and just kept digging, getting back through the field, and worked on it,” Sommers explained after the race. “At the pit stop, we made it a little bit better, just, just didn’t think I had enough, but then got into it with Fenhaus.”
Sommers is talking about the contact he made with Luke Fenhaus, who was by far the dominant car of the night. On the restart on lap 164, Fenhaus and Sommers went into turn one, and the two touched, causing Fenhaus to spin. Fenhaus tapped out and went to the rear for the caution.”
“Just caught myself behind and then in the box or whatever, when I launched, I spun, and I don’t know. He said she said, I don’t know,” Fenhaus said. “It was just, I caught myself behind spinning really bad and then, um, drove it in hard and just, you know, got really free in. So tried to not clean them out as best as I could to save my own deal, you know, but unfortunately you just got into them and obviously I tapped for it. So he deserves it. I mean, he’s a good race car driver. You know, he’s done the same to me. So respect wise, not wrecking me wise, but respect wise, we’ve had mutual respect between each other.”
Sommers wasn’t really sure what happened.
“I just, I hate that. I don’t even know what really happened,” Sommers said. “I think we wheel hopped a little bit and just super tough down on the concrete.”
After the caution, Sommers had practically raced for his life to get the victory.
”At the end, I didn’t think I’d be able to get Shafer again. He fired off really good and I just developed a really good run off of two and got it to stick going down into three and four. And that was the longest twenty laps of my life, for sure.”
Ty Fredrickson, who finished third last year, came back to finish second after a rough start to his 200-lap run. On the second lap, he went into the grass after contact was made in turns one and two and fell back to 23rd. The 16-year-old was able to race his way back through to a runner-up position.
“Yeah, I got spun out first corner, so that put me back a lot,” Fredrickson explained. “The caution never came out, so a lot of working from there, but we got our car better on the pit stops that we made, and we were able to work our way up. We missed the big wreck, and just not fast enough for Sommers at the end.”
The big wreck that Fredrickson was talking about happened on lap 120 as Mike Litchfeld and John DeAngelis Jr. spun going into turn one, causing a pile-up. DeAngelis’s car was on its side up against the wall. Levon Van Der Geest, Mitch Haver, Bryce Miller, and Weston Marthaler all suffered heavy damage, which necessitated a long red flag.
After the restart, Paul Shafer Jr. made his way up to the top five after starting 22nd. He would get the lead after the Sommers/Fenhaus incident with 26 laps to go. But Sommers got the lead back four laps later. Shafer then lost the runner-up position to Fredrickson with five laps to go.
Overall, Shafer, who admits that Dells Raceway Park isn’t one of his best tracks, was all smiles with a podium finish.
“Yeah, 22nd and almost won this thing. The car wasn’t bad. I knew we could race well, but I haven’t qualified well on this tire all year, except for a Grundy, and I think I was kind of a stroke to walk,” Shafer said. “So, not too bad. I wanted to get the 15. I wanted to get him, and I just couldn’t get him. He ran me clean.”
Defending winner Max Kahler finished fourth, with Kody King having a great night to finish fifth.
The victory in this race is special for Sommers and his team as his crew chief, Travis Sauter, is the grandson of Jim Sauter.
“It’s kind of a rough year. You’ve been in position to win a lot of these and haven’t closed it out. So that, to me, feels good that we stuck with it and closed one out, finally.” Sauter said after the race. “And honestly, we weren’t the best at the end of the race. We were really good through the middle section.”
Sauter was pleased with how this race turned out for Sommers, the team, and his family.
“It’s good for short track racing to have a huge crowd like this, and it’s become a bigger event that people want to come to and not stay at home.”
Mike Lichtfeld won the odd heat over Randy Sargent. Weston Marthaler won the even heat, while Fenhaus won the battle for second over Sauter. Jeff Storm won the qualifier heat.
Sommers won the fast qualifier award with a time of 13.152 seconds.
The ASA Midwest Tour heads to Elko Speedway in Elko, MN, on Saturday, September 20th, for the Thunderstruck 93.
To watch a replay of tonight’s race, visit tracktv.com.
