Majeski Wins the Wayne Carter Classic at Grundy County Speedway
by Kari Shear-Carlson / July 16, 2016 – Ty Majeski is certainly, what they say, on a roll, in the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by Scag Power Equipment. Friday night’s Wayne Carter Classic at Grundy County Speedway was Majeski’s fourth win out of the first five ARCA Midwest Tour events. It didn’t come easy for the Seymour, WI driver, however.
“I worked for this one,” said Majeski from victory lane.
DJ Weltmeyer and Anthony Danta led the 26 car field to the green flag for the 100 lap historic event. Weltmeyer took the lead and brought Paul Shafer Jr and Ty Majeski with him. The three ran bumper to bumper until lap eight when Shafer dove to the inside of Weltmeyer for the lead. Both Shafer and Majeski were able to clear Weltmeyer before the first caution of the night came out one lap later.
Austin Nason, Derek Kraus, and Chris Weinkauf were all involved coming out of turn two on lap nine, Weinkauf getting the worst of it all. Shafer held onto his lead as they went back to green flag racing. Another caution came out on lap 14 as Casey Johnson slowed on the front stretch and at the same time Kevin Zielezinski spun in turn one.
Once again Shafer took the lead at the restart, only to be slowed for a caution on lap 15. Natalie Decker, Larry Schuler, John Nutley, Zielezinski, and Justin Oertel all got together in turn two. Tom White waved the green flag once again and Shafer pulled ahead of Majeski. Majeski made a cross-over move and grabbed the lead away on lap 16. Jeff Cannon, Boris Jurkovic, and Danta spun coming out of turn two and brought yet another caution on lap 17.
It was a slow start to the 100-lapper, but when they returned to green flag racing, Majeski immediately started to pull away from the rest of the field. By this time, Andrew Morrissey had made his way up near the front and led Shafer and Ricky Baker as the three battled nose to tail for the second through fourth spots. Baker used a tap to the bumper to get around Shafer for third and quickly made a move around Morrissey for second.
Majeski continued his domination and looked to be on his way to an easy victory, until lap 24. Majeski suddenly slowed off the pace until he came to stop on the backstretch, bringing out the caution and a little bit of shock to the huge crowd on hand.
Ricky Baker inherited the lead. Last year’s winner, Eddie Hoffman had worked his way up and lined up on the outside of Baker for the restart. Tom White wasn’t pleased with the restart and quickly turned the caution lights back on. At the same moment, Jeff Holtz spun in turn four keeping the caution on the track.
With the extra time, Majeski was able to rejoin the field without losing a lap. Hoffman suddenly pulled off the track before the field went green again with 23 laps to go. Only six cars remained on the lead lap at this point.
Baker and Shafer Jr made up the front row, followed by Nick Barstad, Jason Weinkauf, Morrissey, and none other than, Ty Majeski. Barstad and Baker were side-by-side. Barstad cleared Baker and took the lead.
Majeski was on the move and up to second with 14 laps remaining. With 10 laps to go, Ty moved to the inside and stole the lead from Barstad to go on to his fourth Midwest Tour victory this year. Baker gave it all he had but settled for third in the end. Paul Shafer Jr and Andrew Morrissey rounded out the top five.
“The cards played into my hands with those cautions after my mechanical issue. I didn’t have any power steering when I came back out, and I had to play a little dirty to get back through to the front, but it all goes back to my crew,” admitted Majeski.
Earlier in the evening, Andy Jones topped the chart in qualifying. Chris Weinkauf won the qualifying race and Eddie Hoffman and Austin Nason were the winners of the odd and even dashes.
The next event for the ARCA Midwest Tour is the biggest event of the season. The Potawatomi Dixieland 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway is Tuesday night, August 2nd. This is a can’t miss event, so do whatever you need to do to be there!
Front gates open at 4:00pm, qualifying at 5:00pm and a fan autograph session in the grandstands at 6:00pm. Opening ceremonies including Racers Reunion Interviews begin at 6:35pm and racing starts at 7:00pm.
For complete details visit arcamidwesttour.com.
Be sure to follow the ARCA Midwest Tour on Facebook (/midwesttour) and Twitter (@midwesttour).
To learn more about the Automobile Racing Club of America Midwest Tour, log on to 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 Speedway.
