By: Kevin Ramsell
BUCHANAN, WI (Tuesday, August 05, 2008) – Steve Carlson followed up his ASAMT win at Hawkeye Downs by collecting his sixth SCAG Power Equipment Dixieland 150 at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, WI. Carlson won by 2.616 seconds over Kyle Calmes in front of over 5,100 fans.
“What a really almost perfect race car, I have to thank this one to my crew,” a happy Carlson stated in victory lane. “I have a well balanced crew. One guy wants to change a lot of things and another won’t let me change anything and it just balances out so well.”
Carlson stated that he never had a car near this perfect before at WIR, “This baby was right on tonight.”
Carlson took the lead from Jonathan Eilen on lap 79 after he made an inside pass from early leader Jonathan Eilen. But, Carlson didn’t have an easy drive as he held off Freedom, WI pilot Calmes who was competing on his home track. But with 25 laps to go, Carlson would pull away from Calmes and take home the win.
“When I was on his bumper, I was a little too anxious and I wore my tires out a little to soon,” an excited Calmes stated afterwards. “It’s an honor to finish runner-up behind Steve Carlson, he’s got so many laps and I am a big fan of his. It’s just great to get into the top-three and the podium here in victory lane.”
Tim Schendel earned his second straight podium finish by finishing third after passing current ASAMT point leader Dan Fredrickson in the closing laps. “He slipped a little bit and I was there,” Schendel stated afterwards. “I think he got a little mad at me, but he has done that to me before. But we will go on racing and I am sure it will come out in the end.”
Steve Holzhausen was the early leader in the 150-lap event until Eilen got past him on lap 13 and would pace a fast field through the first 75-laps that went caution free.
NASCAR Sprint Cup leader and the evening’s fast qualifier Kyle Busch started tenth and quickly got up to fifth by lap 7 but fell back to 12th at the halfway break. Busch would fall out of the event on lap 92 with handling problems.
After the halfway break, Carlson, who was chasing down Eilen, would take over the top spot on lap 79. Calmes would take over second on lap 102 and set his sights on the leader. The top-two entertained the fans with a close battle for the top spot until Carlson would start to pull away on lap 125 and take home the win.
Carlson previously won the Dixieland race in 1997, 98, 2001, 03, and 04.
The event only saw two caution flags. The first came out on lap 98 when Andy Monday spun in turn four. The second flew on lap 101 when Mike Gardner, Nathan Haseleu, and Brett Moffitt spun in turn four. Gardner sustained damage and was done for the evening.
Rounding out the top ten was Chris Wimmer in fourth with Fredrickson in fifth. Tim Rothe was sixth with Holzhausen finishing seventh. Andrew Morrissey had another top-ten finish with his eighth place run. Eilen fell back to finish ninth and Haseleu recovered to finish tenth.
Fredrickson left WIR unofficially with a 104-point over Donny Reuvers after Reuvers fell out on lap 43 with rear end problems, he would finish 25th.
The next event for the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment is on Sunday, August 17th at Raceway Park in Shakopee, MN.
This article was posted to the website on August 6th, 2008
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