NORWAY, MI -- Courtesy: ASA Midwest Tour
Jamie Iverson took the lead on a restart with 34 laps remaining in the Norway 100 presented by DOC 360. End of the story, right? Not on this Saturday night.
Though Iverson seemed poised to win his fifth consecutive American Speed Association Midwest Tour (at Norway Speedway) presented by SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings main in front of his home crowd, ECHO and ECHO Bear Cat Touring Star Nathan Haseleu had other plans.
Unrelentingly Haseleu fought back just four laps after the restart and secured the lead for good on lap 70. With a couple restarts before the checkered flag, Haseleu fought off ECHO Bear Cat Quick Cut Qualifier Chris Weinkauf to pull away to his first win of the 2012 season.
Not to be denied, Haseleu hung tough all race long. Patiently picking his way up from the eighth starting spot, Haseleu was up to the third spot by lap seven after an early caution. After Andy Monday secured the lead on lap 10 from Jason Weinkauf, Haseleu slid to the bottom and took the runner-up spot on lap 11.
Diving to the inside over the next seven laps Haseleu surveyed his options to overtake Monday. Jumping to the outside line on lap 20 Haseleu looked as though he would test the top side. However, as Monday slipped, Haseleu jumped back in line and swiped the bottom groove to move past Monday on lap 21.
Running to a large lead over the next 20 laps, Haseleu and the remainder of the top five weaved through heavy lapped traffic. Monday had a healthy advantage in second as Jonathan Eilen, Tommy Gee and Chris Wienkauf stormed to third, fourth and fifth by lap 49. As Eilen pulled the rope on Monday's advantage in second the caution fell on lap 57 for a Jordan Ives spin.
A double file restart pitted Monday to the outside of Haseleu. Although Haseleu seemed to be the strongest competitor, Monday grabbed the lead on the outside. With the field scrambling from third on back, Iverson made his first appearance in the top five, dashing to the fourth spot from eighth over only four laps of action.
"We had a really good car tonight," Haseleu said. "I gave it away on that one restart; it's real tough on the restarts here."
The ensuing restarts after Monday took the top spot proved to be short-lived, but critical. Monday again chose the outside and utilized it to take the lead from Chris Weinkauf. When all was sorted out Monday had brought Iverson up a spot to third.
The biggest shake-up of the race came on lap 64 when Weinkauf and Monday went for the same piece of real estate and Monday was forced up the track. Haseleu slipped to the bottom and took the lead away. With the field scrambling for position, Monday tried to tuck back in line. With no room, Monday was sent spinning, but was ruled as the solo cause of the caution.
Monday at the tail, and Iverson took the outside line on the restart. He rocketed to the lead.
"Jamie got up there and I thought it was done, but his car wasn't very good tonight," Haseleu explained. "It was a good fun race, but a little tougher than I wanted. We had a really fast car and I almost gave it away a couple times."
Haseleu quickly disposed of Weinkauf and set his sights on Iverson. Just four laps later Haseleu had caught Iverson and swiped the lead with an inside pass on lap 70.
As Haseleu drove away from the pack, spots in the top five remained heavily disputed. Weinkauf ran second after taking the spot from Iverson on lap 76. Just four laps later Chris Wimmer took third, bringing Jonathan Eilen along. Eilen eventually captured the third spot from Wimmer and challenged Weinkauf to no avail over the final five circuits.
Through the final restarts Haseleu chose the outside line at the cone - a seemingly strange piece of strategy.
"When I was leading earlier Andy (Monday) pinched me down and got the lead, then I saw him do that to Chris (Weinkauf) a couple times, so I figured the outside was the way to go," Haseleu said. "We did and we were able to hold on to it."
Weinkauf's second place finish came heavily contested by Eilen. "I kind of bumped him a couple times," Eilen said. "It was one of those things where you don't want to spin him out and go to the back, a third place finish is better than 22nd."
A fourth place finish for Wimmer was retribution for a tumultuous day. Wimmer's car suffered mechanical issues during qualifying and was not in use for the day. The Wimmer crew unloaded the car backup car from Jonathan Eilen's hauler - the car driven to second by Jeremy Miller at Madison one week ago. Wimmer suffered damage to his nose in an early caution, but managed to stay in the championship conversation after starting at the tail and patiently working his way to a top five finish.
Rounding out the top five was Iverson, who had his opportunity to clinch his fifth straight Norway win, but could not coax an ill-handling machine to hang on to the top spot.
The next event for the ASA Midwest Tour is next Saturday, August 18 at Elko (Minn.) Speedway for the Elko 100.
Be sure to follow the ASA Midwest Tour on Facebook (asamidwesttour) and Twitter (@asamidwesttour).
To learn more about the ASA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings, log on to asamidwesttour.com. For questions call the ASA Midwest Tour office at (630) 212-6022 or Tim Olson at (612) 327-5831 or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@asamidwesttour.com or Steve Einhaus at steve@asamidwesttour.com.
To learn more about the Daytona Beach, Florida-based Racing Speed Associates or the American Speed Association® Racing Member Track program, call (386) 258-2221 or send an e-mail to info@asa-racing.com. For news and information from racetracks and regional tours involved in the American Speed Association®, visit www.asaracing.com.
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Feature Finish
# Driver Name Hometown
1 - 87 - Nathan Haseleu (TS) - Marshall, Wi
2 - 75 - Chris Weinkauf (TS) - Merrill, WI
3 - 77 - Jonathan Eilen (TS) - Hampton, MN
4 - 52 - Chris Wimmer (TS) - Wausau, WI
5 - 97I - Jamie Iverson - Escanaba, MI
6 - 77K - Kris Kelly - Norway, MI
7 - 10M - Andy Monday - Appleton, WI
8 - 34 - Brandon Hill - Genoa City, WI
9 - 89 - Matt Tifft (R) - Hinckley, OH
10 - 47S - Jordan Sims - Salt Ste. Marie, ONT
11 - 58 - Cardell Potter (R) - Camp Douglas, WI
12 - 711 - Kyle Gennett - Rangeline, WI
13 - 2K - Dillon Kralovetz - Bonduel, WI
14 - 41B - Brian Stanchina - Quinnesec, MI
15 - 99I - Jordan Ives - Escanaba, MI
16 - 39 - Andrew Morrissey (TS) - DeForest, WI
17 - 36G - Tom Gee Jr - Wausaukee, WI
18 - 76 - Jason Weinkauf (R) - Merrill, WI
19 - 52L - Tom Lindquist - Escanaba, MI
20 - 79 - Dan Lindsley - Iron Mountain, MI
21 - 41S - Scott Stanchina - Kingsford, MI
22 - 90 - Erik Long - Brookfield, WI
23 - 67 - Greg Haese - Manitowoc, WI