By: Kevin Ramsell
(Morris, IL) – Ty Fredrickson’s young super late model career can finally check off another box, a victory in the ASA Midwest Tour by winning the 37th running of the Wayne Carter Classic 100 at Grundy County Speedway.
The 16-year-old from Webster, MN got by two-time defending ASAMT champion Gabe Sommers on lap 39 and held off challenges on restarts to get his ASAMT victory in his 16th start.
“Oh, yeah, it was really good. We unloaded off the trailer really good,” Fredrickson said in victory lane. “We just made some minor tweaks to the setup, and it showed that the setup changes were good, and I’m glad to finally get a win in the Midwest tour.”
The key to victory for Fredrickson was getting a good jump on the outside on the many restarts in the caution-filled race. Each restart, he would get a good launch off of turn two to get at least a one-car lead heading into turn three.
“Yeah, those restarts were getting old,” Fredrickson said with a chuckle. “I was ready for a green flag run, but, yeah, the car’s really good. I don’t know, this place is fun.
“We led a bunch of labs at the Dixieland, and now we won this one, so really awesome.”
Ricky Baker, 2017 Wayne Carter Classic winner, made the charge to the front from his ninth starting spot and got by Sommers on the last lap to secure a second-place finish.
“Cody Glick, and everybody at Hamke, along with Jeff Cannon at FRS Shocks, have been helping me out a lot the last four or five weeks. We really got the car going,” Baker said after the race. ”I think I just used it up a little bit too much in the beginning, trying to get track position, but these kids can… these kids can wield some race cars, huh?”
Sommers had a good points night as he was able to cut into Casey Johnson’s point lead with three races to go in the season. Sommers finished third while Johnson held on to a seventh-place finish.
“Yeah, the 36 was really good. They did a good job here today. Just a struggle a little bit, one and two,” Sommers said. “Just couldn’t get in there like I wanted to, and I just didn’t have enough. But congrats to Ty, they had a really good car. It was a really good race.”
Max Kahler, defending Jim Sauter Classic 200 winner, had a strong run to finish fourth while Levon Van Der Geest finished fifth.
Defending two-time Wayne Carter Classic winner Paul Shafer Jr. set a new track record in qualifying. In fact, the top five qualified under the track record set by James Lynch in 2023.
Ty Fredrickson becomes the 54th different winner in the history of the ASA Midwest Tour.
The ASAMT will be back in action on Saturday, August 30th for the Jim Sauter Classic 200 at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI. This will be the 200th event in the history of the ASA Midwest Tour.
For a replay of tonight’s race, please visit tracktv.com.
