Ty Majeski of Seymour, Wisconsin, started eighth, took the lead on lap 31 and led the rest of the way to pick up the win tonight in the Howie Lettow Classic 100 presented by Zimbrick Chevrolet. He became the first repeat winner in the Classic after winning in 2015. It was also Majeski’s sixth career win at Madison.
Austin Nason and Matt Kenseth had the honors of bringing the stellar twenty-four car field to the green flag. Kenseth led the first lap by a couple of feet over Nason and the side by side battle continued while Gabe Sommers, Paul Shafer Jr., and Blake Brown were third through fifth.
On lap 4 Ty Majeski broke into the top five. One lap later Kenseth cleared Nason for the lead and opened up a four car length lead. On lap 7 Majeski raced his way past Sommers for third and took the second position from Nason one lap later and began to hunt down Kenseth.
Kenseth and Majeski broke away from the pack with Majeski staying within two car lengths with Sommers a distant third. With twenty laps in the book, Kenseth and Majeski had opened up a two second lead over the rest of the field. On the move in the pack was Andrew Morrissey who moved past Ryan Farrell to take sixth place on lap 22 just before Farrell and Blake Brown got together bringing out the race’s first caution flag.
Kenseth elected to line up on the outside for the restart giving Majeski the inside line with Sommers and Nason comprising the second row. Kenseth was able to retain his lead over Majeski, but the race didn’t stay green for long as the car of Billy Mohn stopped on the front stretch on lap 25 ending his night. Jacob Goede, who was in sixth, also was forced to the pits during the caution because his car was leaking fluids.
It would be the same scenario on the restart with the leaders out front. Kenseth won the drag race for the lead with Nason, Andrew Morrissey, and Shafer Jr. completing the top five with Carson Kvapil on the outside looking in. On lap 30 Majeski pulled to the inside of Kenseth and took the lead and cleared Kenseth for the top spot one lap later. Majeski opened up a six car length lead over Kenseth on lap 35. Morrissey worked his way past Nason for third on lap 36 with Jonathan Eilen moving into the top five on lap 38.
Eilen, who started fifteenth, continued his march forward as he moved past Nason for fourth on lap 40. Out front Majeski was increasing his lead over the field while Kenseth was having his hands full with the hard charging Morrissey. On lap 47 Morrissey made his move and passed Kenseth for second coming out of turn four with Eilen now up to challenge Kenseth for third.
At the half-way mark Majeski’s lead over Morrissey was 1.6 seconds. Five laps later the lead had been cut to 1.1 seconds while Eilen was working his way to the inside of Kenseth for third followed by Shafer Jr. and Kvapil. On lap 58 Eilen was able to wrestle the third spot from Kenseth as the race continued to stay green.
Majeski had increased his lead to nearly two seconds over Morrissey after 65 laps and it looked like only a caution flag would be able to slow down the speedy Majeski.
The caution flag did come out on lap 70, but it may have helped Majeski more than any of his fellow competitors. Majeski was forced to check up as Blake Brown was trying to get into the pits just before Dalton Zehr spun due to fluids on the track that would change the caution flag to a red flag and cause all of the cars to stop on the backstretch.
Majeski elected to line up on the outside with Morrissey on the inside. Kenseth lined up on the inside of the second row with Eilen on the outside. It was a great restart for Majeski who was able to get back out front ahead of Morrissey. The top seven broke away from the pack with Majeski taking a one second advantage over Morrissey who suddenly had his hands full with Eilen who was on his rear bumper. The battle for second allowed Majeski to increase his lead to 1.8 seconds with 17 laps to go.
On lap 86, the fifth place car of Shafer Jr. made heavy contact with the outside wall in turn three bringing out the caution flag and ending the night for Shafer Jr.
Once again the leader chose to line up on the outside giving Morrissey the inside with Eilen going outside in row two with Kenseth on the inside. It was another great restart for Majeski who led for two laps before the caution flag came out for a spin in turn two.
Majeski jumped back out to the lead over Morrissey while Eilen and Kenseth were fighting for the third position with Luke Fenhaus up to fifth. But there was no slowing down Majeski who quickly extended his lead as time was running out for the rest of the field. But the yellow flag came out on lap 94 when point leader Casey Johnson experienced big time trouble coming out of turn four and pulled to the inside of the track.
With fewer than ten laps to go the restart would be single file. Majeski proved to be the master of the restarts as continued to show the way out front followed by Morrissey, Eilen, Kenseth, and John DeAngelis Jr. Three laps later a spin by Gabe Sommers, who had fought his way back to eighth place, would lead to another caution flag.
Another restart with similar results as Majeski was not about to be denied as he picked up the checkered flag followed by Morrissey, Eilen, Kenseth, and DeAngelis Jr.
“Our car sure was fast tonight. Really proud of everyone…this is cool,” said Majeski. “I just had to be prepared for all of those restarts and those guys raced me clean all night.”
Runner-up Morrissey added, “I had a really good car, but the cautions made it tight.”
“I’m liking this track,” said Eilen who started fifteenth and finished third after picking up a win earlier this season at Madison.
Dalton Zehr won the ten lap qualifying race. Winners in the eight lap Dash races were Jonathan Eilen and Jacob Goede.
Majeski also set fast time with a lap of 17.426 (103.294 mph). “A lot of great cars tonight. It’s so cool seeing all of these great fans in the stands tonight,” said Majeski during pre-race ceremonies. Ryan Farrell, Paul Shafer Jr., Luke Fenhaus, and Gabe Sommers completed the top five.
ARCA Midwest Tour
Howie Lettow Classic 100
1. 91M-Ty Majeski, [8]; 2. 39M-Andrew Morrissey, [9]; 3. 77E-Jonathan Eilen, [15]; 4. 8MK-Matt Kenseth, [2]; 5. 7D-John DeAngelis, [10]; 6. 4F-Luke Fenhaus, [5]; 7. 14N-Austin Nason, [1]; 8. 35K-Carson Kvapil, [11]; 9. 119Z-Dalton Zehr, [17]; 10. 45B-Rich Bickle Jr., [18]; 11. 15S-Gabe Sommers, [4]; 12. 75H-Dillon Hammond, [20]; 13. 44M-Justin Mondeik, [21]; 14. 88C-Rick Corso, [23]; 15. 13AB-Andrew Brocker, [24]; 16. 47J-Casey Johnson, [13]; 17. 11K-Bobby Kendall, [19]; 18. 52B-Ricky Baker, [22]; 19. 7S-Paul Shafer Jr, [6]; 20. 71BB-Blake Brown, [3]; 21. 80F-Ryan Farrell, [7]; 22. 9L-Tim Lampman, [16]; 23. 72G-Jacob Goede, [14]; 24. 8M-Billy Mohn, [12]
Odd Dash
1. 77E-Jonathan Eilen, [1]; 2. 39M-Andrew Morrissey, [4]; 3. 91M-Ty Majeski, [8]; 4. 47J-Casey Johnson, [2]; 5. 15S-Gabe Sommers, [6]; 6. 7S-Paul Shafer Jr, [7]; 7. 8MK-Matt Kenseth, [5]; 8. 35K-Carson Kvapil, [3]
Even Dash
1. 72G-Jacob Goede, [2]; 2. 7D-John DeAngelis, [4]; 3. 9L-Tim Lampman, [1]; 4. 71BB-Blake Brown, [6]; 5. 14N-Austin Nason, [5]; 6. 80F-Ryan Farrell, [8]; 7. 4F-Luke Fenhaus, [7]; 8. 8M-Billy Mohn, [3]
Qualifying Race
1. 119Z-Dalton Zehr, [1]; 2. 45B-Rich Bickle Jr., [3]; 3. 11K-Bobby Kendall, [2]; 4. 75H-Dillon Hammond, [4]; 5. 44M-Justin Mondeik, [5]; 6. 52B-Ricky Baker, [6]; 7. 88C-Rick Corso, [7]; 8. 13AB-Andrew Brocker, [8]
Qualifying
1. 91M-Ty Majeski, [22]; 2. 80F-Ryan Farrell, [20]; 3. 7S-Paul Shafer Jr, [26]; 4. 4F-Luke Fenhaus, [24]; 5. 15S-Gabe Sommers, [7]; 6. 71BB-Blake Brown, [15]; 7. 8MK-Matt Kenseth, [1]; 8. 14N-Austin Nason, [6]; 9. 39M-Andrew Morrissey, [10]; 10. 7D-John DeAngelis, [25]; 11. 35K-Carson Kvapil, [9]; 12. 8M-Billy Mohn, [2]; 13. 47J-Casey Johnson, [13]; 14. 72G-Jacob Goede, [16]; 15. 77E-Jonathan Eilen, [19]; 16. 9L-Tim Lampman, [3]; 17. 119Z-Dalton Zehr, [23]; 18. 11K-Bobby Kendall, [4]; 19. 45B-Rich Bickle Jr., [12]; 20. 75H-Dillon Hammond, [17]; 21. 44M-Justin Mondeik, [11]; 22. 34H-Brandon Hill, [8]; 23. 52B-Ricky Baker, [14]; 24. 88C-Rick Corso, [21]; 25. 13AB-Andrew Brocker, [5]; 26. 76W-Jason Weinkauf, [18]
