KAUKAUNA, Wis. — The route for Ty Majeski’s $15,000 payday in the ARCA Midwest Tour’s Gandrud Auto Group 250 at Wisconsin Int’l Raceway was not an easy one for the five-time tour champion on Tuesday night.
“We had a pinhole leak in the power steering line when we faded on the long run, just had no power steering. I was hanging on, praying for a yellow and getting worn out,” a relieved Majeski said. “Thankfully the pinhole filled up enough when we put more in it during a caution and it lasted that was our night.”
But that wasn’t the only thing made Majeski a little nervous before the race.
“In qualifying, we got stuck in first gear and Toby (Nuttleman, crew chief) pried it out with a crowbar to get it back in gear,” Majeski explained. “We qualified and came back in and changed our transmission before the race.”
“We had quite the evening, but glad it all worked out.”
Majeski had about a 1.2-second lead on Johnson until the final caution flew on lap 142 for Bobby Kendall’s spin in turns three and four. This setup for an eight lap shootout between the top two drivers in the Midwest, Majeski and current ARCAMT point leader Casey Johnson.
Johnson got as close to Majeski’s bumper with three laps to go, but couldn’t make a move for the lead as the laps ran out.
“If we ran the same line, I could just be a hair faster, but we all know that you can’t pass when you are running the same line to the guy in front of you,” Johnson said. “We were trying to work the groove to see if I could find something a little bit and it didn’t work out.”
Gabe Sommers finished third after leading 29 laps until the caution flew on lap 224.
“I don’t know if it was a good thing or bad thing,” Sommers said about the caution coming out. “The tires just really came in near the end. I didn’t think they would come that quick, but they did. The car was really good, and we will come back next year just a little bit stronger.”
Luke Fenhaus finished fourth with Levon Van Der Geest finishing a strong fifth.
Stephen Nasse, two-time Southern Super Series champion, made his Midwest Tour debut driving for Steve Appel, came home with a sixth-place finish.
The race was broadcast live by SPEED SPORT affiliate, Midwesttour.tv
The finish:
Ty Majeski, Casey Johnson, Gabe Sommers, Luke Fenhaus, Levon VanDerGeest, Stephen Nasse, Jeremy Lepak, Jonathan Eilen, Justin Mondeik, Connor Mosack, Matt Kenseth, Grant Griesbach, Bobby Kendall, Blake Brown, Dean Cornelius, Barrett Polhemus, Tristian Swanson, Harley Jankowski, R.J. Braun, Andrew Morrissey, Erik Jones, Johnny Sauter, John DeAngelis Jr., Braison Bennett, Jeff VanOudenhoven, Trevor Vandermolen, Cameron Clifford, Derek Kraus, Ryan Farrell, Carson Hocevar, Sawyer Effertz.