By: Kevin Ramsell
NEWTON, IA (Sunday, May 17, 2009) - The Pride of Iowa 100 was the 26th event in the history of the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment. It will also go down as the highest attended and one of the more exciting finishes in the short history of the series.

CHRIS WIMMER IS AN ASA WINNER FINALLY!!!

Chris Wimmer was a regular competitor in the original American Speed Association National Series but never found himself in victory lane, that was until Saturday night at Iowa Speedway. Many felt that the younger brother of NASCAR Nationwide driver Scott Wimmer would find himself in victory lane soon. Prior to his first ASAMT win, he competed in 17 events where he had two fast times, five top-five and nine top-ten finishes.

It was also a great comeback after he was involved in a hard wreck on lap 2 in the Joe Shear Classic event, “Two weeks ago, we got wrecked at Madison International Speedway and I was pretty down coming into Iowa, but to come her and this place is amazing. It’s the fastest and nicest place we run at and to win here is just great.”

BROTHERLY LOVE ONLY A PHONE CALL AWAY

Speaking of his brother, who will be competing at Iowa Speedway in July at the NASCAR Nationwide Series event, the younger brother jokingly said he may come and help Scott on how to set up for the track, “I think I am going to come down when he runs the Nationwide race,” Wimmer chuckled. “He actually helped me out right before the race by giving me a couple of ideas to try on the car and it worked. I don’t know, he may have all of the ideas, he helped me out a lot.”

IOWA SPEEDWAY OFFICIALS IMPRESSED WITH THE ASAMT

The ASAMT event along with the USST Trucks was the season opening event for the 2009 Iowa Speedway officials, and they could not have been more happy with how the season kicked off by how the Pride of Iowa 100 ended with a three-car battle for the win in the final ten laps.

The announced attendence of 22,095 endured a cool night with temperatures in the 50’s but saw some hot action on the track as 41 competitors took on the 7/8-mile oval.

“We are very, very enthused about the growth of the ASA Midwest Tour and the growth of super late model racing in the Midwest and that is an integral part of it,” Craig Armstrong, General Manager/Vice President of Iowa Speedway stated. “So the ASAMT has become a very important part of our season and obviously having our opening show is really going to position the ASAMT as the premiere midwestern super late model series as well as playing in front of a nearly full house and that in itself is a big feather in ASAMT’s hat.”

SHOW US THE OUTTAKES

Many fans of the ASAMT’s Online Video Highlights will be eager to see the video from Iowa Speedway especially in victory lane as co-host Jana Jurkovich is actually dating Chris Wimmer. The post-race interview had to take a few takes as both began laughing each time Jana tried to interview him on camera. I think the outtakes should be shown.

IT’S EARLY...BUT LET’S LOOK AT THE POINTS

After two events, Nathan Haseleu is back on top of the point standings for the first time after winning the ASAMT championship in 2007. After his ninth place finish at Iowa Speedway, he currently holds a one point lead over Schendel in the standings.

Eilen is in third, only 28 points back of Haseleu. There is a tie for fourth in the standings with Jacob Goede and Wimmer 34 points behind the leader.

PRIDE OF IOWA 100 STATS AVAILABLE ONLINE

You can view the finishing order and full qualifying results from the Pride of Iowa 100 by visiting http://stats.asamidwesttour.com.

NEXT UP....

The ASAMT will make its first appearance in the state of Minnesota next Saturday night for the Elko 125 at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN. Last year, Jake Ryan held off Dan Fredrickson for the win. Qualifying will get underway at 4:00 p.m. with the local divisions racing at 6:00 p.m. ASAMT racing starts at 7:00 p.m.