ARCA MIDWEST TOUR INVADES JEFFERSON SPEEDWAY

CAMBRIDGE, WI (Saturday May 28, 2022)            The Nottestad family has won multiple championships and victories at Jefferson Speedway located between Cambridge and Jefferson, Wisconsin.

On Saturday night, another generation of the Nottestad family made it a historic one as Jacob Nottestad held off tough battles from Gabe Sommers and John DeAngelis to win the Salute the Troops 100. His first victory in the ARCA Midwest Tour.

“What a team effort! We wrenched on this thing all day, we were busy in the pits,” Nottestad said after the race. “The changes we made and to see it show is just incredible.”

Nottestad led the field to the green flag as he and Sommers were on the front row. The two battled for the top spot over the first 46 laps, until the first caution flew for Luke Fenhaus’s spin in turn four and he would retire from the event with mechanical issues.

On the restart, Nottestad would get out ahead of Sommers until the second caution flew on lap 55 for Justin Mondiek’s spin coming out of turn two.

Sommers would get his nose out ahead of Nottestad on the restart, but was not able to take the outright lead as Nottestad jumped back to the front.

DeAngelis would get by Sommers for second on lap 61 and would try to find a way to get around a tough Nottestad, but his numerous attempts came up short until the final caution Lew on lap 74.

The final caution involved Jonathan Eilen and Levon Van Der Geest as the two got together going into turn one. Van Der Geest got the worse of it as he had heavy damage on the left side of his car.

On the final restart, Nottestad would continue to lead as Sommers got the second spot back from DeAngelis.

Fast qualifier and new track record holder Casey Johnson made a daring three-wide move out of turn four to get the third spot but would not be able to catch up to the top two and challenge for the win.

At the line, it was Nottestad getting the checkered flag followed by Sommers in second and Johnson in third. DeAngelis finished fourth with Austin Nason rounding out the top five.

The victory also helps Nottestad in his chase to win the 2022 Kulwicki Driver Development program title.

“We are racing for Alan this year, and to win this is just a huge bonus in the point standings for that program.” Nottestad said. “Especially at our home track as well. We have a huge edge on these guys as far as laps go, but it was an awesome team effort.”

Johnson did set a new track record in qualifying with a time of 13.230 erasing Ty Majeski’s track record set a year ago that was 13.394 seconds.

In fact, the top 11 broke the track record in qualifying.

Nottestad also won the odd heat while Sommers won the even heat. Shaun Scheel held off a last lap charge from Tristan Swanson to win the qualifier heat.

The 602 Outlaw Late Model Tour joined the program at Wisconsin’s Action Track  on Saturday night with Sparta’s Jason Stark grabbing the 50 lap feature victory. Alex Hartwig and Charlie Bates paced the field to green with Hartwig taking the early lead. After two early yellow flags Stark and Hartwig lined up side by side to restart the action. This time, it was Stark taking control of the top spot with Hartwig dropping to second and Mike Winters up to third. The top three lined up single file and began to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Around the half way point of the race, Tom Carlson moved into fourth and began to close the gap on the leaders. But another yellow on lap 28 slowed the pack, closing up the field for the restart. After a fourth caution on lap 30, Stark continued to show the way with Hartwig in pursuit. A final caution on lap 38 set up a 12 lap shootout to the finish with Stark remaining in the lead. Stark ran unchallenged in the final circuits to secure the win. Hartwig followed Stark across the stripe, but following postrace inspection, was forced to vacate his finishing position. Winters claimed the second spot followed by Carlson, Bryce Miller and Dennis Prunty.

The Midwest Dash Series rounded out the lineup on the evening with Merek Pankow of Jefferson claiming the 40 lap feature event. Keith Bell led lap one from the outside of the front row with Tim Finstad and Tyler Edmundson battling for second. An early caution on lap three pitted Bell and Edmundson on the front row for the restart. Bell moved back out front as racing resumed. Finstad emerged with second as Pankow moved ahead to challenge to his outside. Pankow drove up to second and continued forward alongside Bell at the front. By lap five, Pankow out all alone in the lead with Mark English in his tracks for second. Phil Malouf moved up to challenge English on lap 11 while Pankow stretched his advantage on the point. Malouf completed the pass for second on lap 17 and began to try and close the gap on the leader. Just after the halfway point, Mark Dewey made his move to enter the top three, getting by English on lap 24. Dewey continued his trek to the front, closing in behind Malouf. Dewey eventually got by Malouf for second with six laps remaining. Dewey charged up behind Pankow as the laps ticked away. As they raced towards the checkers on the final lap, Dewey made an attempt to draw even on the low side. But Pankow held Dewey at bay to fly past the checkers first and pick up the win. Dewey settled for second with Malouf, Karter Stark and English rounding out the top five.

Next Saturday, June 4, is a full program of racing with time trials at 4:30 and racing at 7pm. Jefferson Speedway is located halfway between Jefferson and Cambridge on Hwy 18. Please visit jeffersonspeedway.com for more information.

JEFFERSON SPEEDWAY RACE SUMMARY

Qualifying

Feature

602 Late Model Tour-

Qualifying

Dash

Heat Races

Feature

Midwest Dash Series-

Qualifying

Heat Races

Feature