Midwest Tour LIVE Recap / Results
Nathan Haseleu and Ty Majeski Tied for the Top Spot in Points Heading into WIR
by Kari Shear-Carlson
July 5th, 2014 – “Nathan was pinching me down as we raced side by side there. He did what he had to do and I would’ve done the same thing,” said tonight’s, now two-time ARCA Midwest Tour presented by Scag Power Equipment winner, Ty Majeski.
Majeski’s night started out winning the VDL Fuel Systems Fast Qualifier Award. After finishing fourth in his heat race, he started on the inside of the fourth row in the 100 lap feature event. The rest of the night belonged to him, but it wasn’t without one of the biggest battles the ARCA Midwest Tour has seen this season.
Majeski and Nathan Haseleu put on a show that had to be seen to be believed. Haseleu had taken the lead from Jason Weinkauf who started on the outside of the front row next to pole sitter Nick Murgic. Haseleu was waiting for the two to shake out their differences. Murgic started to slip back on the outside giving Haseleu the opening for the second spot.
Haseleu quickly reeled in Jason Weinkauf and took over the top spot, but Ty Majeski wasn’t too far behind making a bump and run move on Jonathan Eilen and taking over the fourth spot. He continued to move through the field making his way up to Haseleu and started a side by side battle for the lead.
As Majeski looked to the inside, Haseleu held his line. The two were door handle to door handle. Haseleu would get a good run down the backstretch and going into turn three, but Majseki would get a slight advantage coming out of four and going down the frontstretch. The two continued the battle side by side lap after lap, after lap.
As they encountered lapped traffic, Majeski made a risky move making a lapped car sandwich hoping to come out ahead, but once again Haseleu held his ground and the two were side by side. At the half-way point the two were still going at it. They touched a little bit at one point and it looked like Majeski had the advantage, but Nathan wasn’t giving up.
As the two continued to race hard, Chris Weinkauf had snuck up into the mix. Majeski now had to play a little bit of defense and offense at the same time. It looked like the battle was never going to end. The two once again encountered lapped traffic, but this time Majeski played it safe. This allowed Haseleu to gain a little bit of breathing room as Weinkauf also slipped back several car lengths.
But it didn’t take long before Majeski was right back on Haseleu’s heals and the battle started all over again. They were side by side down the backstretch. This time Nathan allowed him by and tried to make the cross-over move but it didn’t happen. Majeski started to pull away by a car length or two and once again, Chris Weinkauf returned into the mix a little bit.
With 25 laps to go, Chris Weinkauf had now closed in on the back bumper of Haseleu making the move into the second spot. Majeski now had a 1/2 straightaway lead over the entire field and quickly put about 12 car lengths between him an Haseleu.
By this time Brian Campbell had moved into fourth. Weinkauf was gaining on Majeski as the laps wound down.
With ten laps to go Majeski was still holding his own followed by Chris Weinkauf and Nathan Haseleu and that’s how it remained when the checkered flag flew. Griffin McGrath and James Swan rounded out the top five.
“My car came on strong at the end, but Ty was really, really fast,” said Weinkauf.
Brian Campbell had moved into the fourth spot at the end of the race only to drop out with a handful of laps left with mechanical problems. Pole sitter, Nick Murgic fell back to the 12th spot.
The Tour will get a short break until their next event coming up on August 9th at Wisconsin International Speedway in Kaukauna, WI.
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To learn more about the Automobile Racing Club of America Midwest Tour, log on to arcamidwesttour.com. For questions call the ARCA Midwest Tour office at (262) 729-4111 or Tim Olson at (612) 327-5831 or Steve Einhaus (630) 212-6022 at or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@arcamidwesttour.comor Steve Einhaus at steve@arcamidwesttour.com.
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is among the leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country. Founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum, the organization administers more than 100 events each year in multiple racing series, including the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the ARCA Truck Series and the ARCA Midwest Tour, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways.
