Haseleu wins again at Raceway Park

For the second year in a row Nathan Haseleu (#87) scored a win in the ASA Midwest tour Shakopee 125 at Raceway Park.  Nathan started the race in the second row, but the outside lane got shuffled back on the start and he ended up in 8th position just 10 laps into the race.  Haseleu was one of the first cars to start using the top groove on this tough 1/4 mile track and he passed Steve Carlson and Jeff Storm on the outside to scratch his way tword the front of the pack.

Defending Raceway Park champion Adam Royle (#89) lead for most of the first 74 laps of the race and was pulling away when he had mechanical problems and pulled off the track.  Hawkey Downs winner Jonathan Eilen (#77) had charged up to third place when he had mechanical problems and spun out in corner #3 causing another caution.

 
The new ASA Midwest tour "double file" restarts helped as Haseleu chose the outside lane and moved up numerous positions mid-race.  With Royle and Eilen both having problems, that left Haseleu to battle with Chris Wimmer and Jacob Goede for the top stop.

Nick Panitzke (#22) was fast-timer in qualifying and seemed to be the fastest car on the track the final portion of the race, with the invert he started 7th row outside and finished a strong 3rd place, battling Chris Wimmer for the runner up spot.

Andrew Morrissey (#39) lengthened his ASA Midwest tour point lead because Ross Kenseth did not attend the race, he was at his college orientation at Clemson University.  Morrissey now leads Nathan Haseleu by 70pts, Jacob Goede in third 81pts back then Tim Schendel fourth 93pts behind.

Unoffical results:
1- Nathan Haseleu
2-Chris Wimmer
3-Nick Panitzke
4-Andrew Morrissey
5-Michael Bilderback
6-Jacob Goede
7-Steve Carlson
8-Skylar Holzhausen
9-Griffin McGrath
10-Nick Murgic

*notables
12-Tim Schendel
17-Jonathan Eilen
19-Adam Royle
23-Molly Rhoads

Listen for interviews with all the top three finishers on "Speedtalk on 1360" radio with Jason and Dean Saturday morning 10-11am on KRWC 1360am or at www.krwc1360.com

Here is a youtube video link of the beginning of the race, #89 Adam Royle passes #78 Skylar Holtzhausen. http://www.youtube.com/user/Speedtalkon1360?feature=mhee

Here is a youtube video link of the last few laps of the race, #22 Nick Panitzke trys to pass #52 Wimmer with #87 Haseleu out front.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esiRPuCHMCM

ASA Midwest tour at Raceway Park

The ASA Midwest tour is back in Minnesota and racing at the famed 1/4 mile at Raceway Park in Shakopee.

Jonathan Eilen (#77) is coming off a big win last weekend at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids IA.  It was a sweet win for Jonathan because one year ago he had a terrible wreck at that track and spent most of 2010 recovering from his injuries.

Eilen has had mixed sucess with the ASA Midwest tour at Raceway Park, he finished second place in 2008 but has struggled the last couple years.

Donny Reuvers (#41) has won the Shakopee race twice, 2008 & 2009.  He is not racing the full schedule with the ASA Midwest tour this year and has not dominated at Raceway Park like in the past, but he has more laps at this track than anyone in the field.  Dan Fredrickson won the 2007 race, muscling his way past Adam Royle with just a few laps to go.

Last year (#87) Nathan Haseleu won the 125 lap race at Shakopee, he thrilled the crowd by taking the lead by passing Steve Carlson on the high side at lap 118.  Iowa native Thor Anderson finished 3rd.  Ross Kenseth (photo below) tangled with Michael Bilderback on lap 70 and both went to the tail end of the field, Kenseth made a furious charge through the field to finish 4th.

The top Minnesota finisher in 2010 was Ryan Johnson, Dan Fredrickson and Chris Wimmer both were hampered with brake problems.

Steve Carlson is having a tough 2011 season and Raceway Park might be the remedy.  Carlson has been great in Shakopee over the years, he finished 3rd in 2007 and 2008 and 2nd in both 2009 and 2010.

Andrew Morrissey is the current point leader in the ASA Midwest tour, he leads Ross Kenseth by 47 points with Tim Schendel and MN driver Jacob Goede tied for third 68 points back, Nathan Haseleu is fifth and Jonathan Eilen sixth place in points.

Hobby Stocks and the "Wild and Crazy" figure 8's will also be racing Sunday night.

Qualifying begins at 4pm, Driver Autographs at 5pm and racing begins at 6pm Sunday night Aug 21st.  Jason and Dean will be interviewing all the top drivers for Speedtalk on 1360 radio Saturdays 10-11am on KRWC radio and http://www.krwc1360.com/  also full race coverage on http://www.speedtalkon1360.com/


For more information go to http://www.goracewaypark.com/ or http://www.asamidwesttour.com/

Choquette wins at Iowa

Jeff Choquette (photo above) from South Beach Florida wins the ASA Midwest tour 150 lap race at Iowa Speedway in front of a large crowd  of over 12,000 fans.  Choquette started the race on the fourth row outside, he worked his way up to second place by mid-race.  He had a great battle with Ross Kenseth (photo below) working his way through lapped traffic, finally passing him for the lead at about lap 110.

Tim Schendel (photo below) took the lead early but had a flat tire early in the race and had to make an early unscheduled pit stop.  He came from the back of the pack and ended up finishing a tight third place.

*Press conference VIDEO link with Tim Schendel and Dean Reller http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16461976

ASA Midwest tour point leader Andrew Morrissey had an off night and that should put second place finisher Ross Kenseth back within 14pts of the point lead. 

UNOFFICIAL Results:

1- Jeff Choquette

2- Ross Kenseth

3-Tim Schendel

4-Nathan Haseleu

5-Jeff Storm

6-Dean Cornelius (Bloomington MN)

7-Nick Panitzke (Sauk Centre MN)

8-Skyler Holtzhausen

9-Jacob Goede (Carver MN)

10-Jonathan Eilen (Hampton MN)

11-Steve Carlson

Listen for SPEEDTALK on 1360 radio Saturday morning 10-11am for interviews with the top 3 ASA Midwest tour finishers.  Listen LIVE at http://www.krwc1360.com/

New Stars Emerge In ASA Midwest Tour's first half

Dean & Jason Talkin Racin
http://www.theracingconnection.com/



By Dean Reller

Unlike other touring series, where the circuit comes to town and local race fans watch many unfamiliar names stage a race on the track they are familiar with, but the drivers aren’t so familiar was the norm, until along came the ASA Midwest Tour. Tim Olson and Steve Einhaus revived the idea of bringing a field of Touring Stars to a local race track to compete against the local stars that race fans are used to seeing running at the front every week. This concept was highly successful in the former ARTGO series, but got lost along the way as NASCAR took over the series and made several changes, which resulted in a touring series that visited local tracks with little chance to see local drivers compete in front of their hometown fans.


In the first few years of the ASA Midwest Tour, the local drivers gave a good effort, but frequently lost the race to the touring drivers. This year has definitely not fit into that mold. In the first seven races, there have been five different drivers taking the checkered flag. Ross Kenseth, after a strong season last year, leads in the win column with three victories. Touring Star Tim Schendel has one win and Rookie Sklyer Holzhausen (photo below) has one win.

However, the real eye openers have been Jason Weinkauf and Mark Mackesy. They do not compete against many of these drivers on a regular basis, but they had the advantage over the touring series drivers as they used their expertise on their own turf and showed that the local driver can win against the visitors. I may add that these visitors include many track championships and touring series championships throughout the Midwest making them very strong competition and virtually all of them have a chance to win at every race. This fact is backed up by a very unique, but overlooked statistic that at most races the entire field qualifies within .5 seconds from top to bottom. Yes, that’s one-half of a second from the fastest to the slowest. This goes to show that the local drivers experience on the familiar track allows them to mix it up with the touring drivers who have to quickly adapt to a new track.

Ross Kenseth (photo above) has the obvious blood lines of a racer, being the son of NASCAR star Matt Kenseth, but the young driver has been proving that he’s the real deal as his three wins having him leading in the win column, but not in the point standings as Andrew Morrissey, another of the young guns of the ASA Midwest Tour, leads in the points with several runner-up finishes and is set to win in any of the final few races of the year. Jacob Goede has recorded a couple of ASA Midwest Tour wins in the last few years, but he too has been snake bit in the hunt to the checkered flag, but sits inside the top five in the standings. Veteran driver Tim Schendel has one win and tons of experience, but sits fourth in points and needs to click off a couple a wins to give him a chance at the Championship. Young gun Nick Murgic rounds out the top five in points and would not surprise anyone if he won at least one of the remaining races. Former Champions Nathan Haseleu and Steve Carlson along with frontrunners Chris Wimmer and Jonathan Eilen are also surprisingly lacking Victory Lane appearances this year and sit surprising lower than expected in the point standings.


Jason Weinkauf and Mark Mackesy may have surprised the Touring drivers, but the chance for the local driver to win over the wealth of talent and experience has made something that race fans can get behind. Prior to the start of the season, officials from the ASA Midwest Tour billed 2011 as “The Best Season Yet”. At first I chalked that up to promotional hype, but the stark reality is that so far the 2011 season is living up to its billing and with a handful of key races remaining, the race to the Championship should be just as exciting.

The ASA Midwest tour travels to Iowa Speedway in Newton IA on Friday Aug 5th racing on the same weekend as the NASCAR Nationwide series.  Jason and Dean will have full coverage LIVE from Iowa Speedway with interviews of the top finishers of the ASA Midwest tour race on "Speedtalk on 1360," Saturday morning 10-11am on http://www.krwc1360.com/


Dean Reller and Jason Searcy have over 40 years combined experienced in motorsports. They host the weekly program Speed Talk on 1360 every Saturday morning from 10-11 AM on KRWC AM 1360. The program covers NASCAR and devotes a good portion to local and regional racing as well.