By: Kevin Ramsell
MARSHFIELD, WI (Sunday, September 07, 2008) – Tim Schendel made his second visit to Marshfield Super Speedway payoff as he won his second American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment event by winning the Kim Parsons Memorial 100. Schendel started 13th and took over the lead with 35 laps to go as he passed defending ASAMT champion Nathan Haseleu for the win.
“That was a lot of tough cars, a lot of tough passing,” a smiling Schendel stated in victory lane. “I knew we had a good car all weekend and we were just biding our time.”
For Schendel, getting his second win in the ASAMT showed how the hard work paid off, “It took us all year to get our stuff together. Its tough coming into this series thinking you are going to win right away but this is a tough group of guys’ right here.”
It was Eugene Gregorich Jr. taking the early lead in the 100-lap main event but that would only last a couple of laps as he slowed on lap 3 to bring out the first of two caution flags. Gregorich would pull off with mechanical problems.
This handed the lead over to Andrew Morrissey who had to hold off Haseleu throughout the first two-third of the race.
Morrissey and Haseleu had some great side-by-side battles as Morrissey’s car was strong running the outside groove and Haseleu couldn’t get the bite on the inside. That was until lap 60 when Haseleu got that bite and completed the pass on lap 61.
But Haseleu’s lead wouldn’t last long as Schendel followed him on the inside and got past Morrissey for second lap 63. Two laps later, Schendel would get by Haseleu and take over the top spot.
The final caution flew on lap 81 when Travis Sauter developed engine problems and was done for the evening. This tightened up the field for a 19-lap shootout.
On the re-start, Haseleu tried to get on the inside of Schendel but he was denied the opportunity as Schendel pulled away to his second win.
“Nate was doing a good job holding me off, but I had to be patient and slow down and I tried to get him wherever I could. Nate is a good racer and I really love racing with him and it would have been cool to be side-by-side at the end but that is too nerve wracking for me.”
Haseleu was pleased with his second place run, “The Swiss Colony car was pretty good, I thought we were a top three car all day, we didn’t qualify as good,” Haseleu stated. “Tim was really fast. I was really good on re-starts but I couldn’t keep up with him on the long runs. This is a new Pathfinder Chassis and we are getting it figured out.”
Steve Holzhausen started ninth and came home with a third place finish, to his surprise. “I wasn’t real happy with the car and it was going away early, so I babied it and I guess we ended up third,” Holzhausen stated.
Mark Eswein came home fourth after starting eighth. Donny Reuvers recovered from his troubles at Norway to get past Morrissey for fifth on the last lap after starting 14th.
Current ASAMT point leader Dan Fredrickson finished seventh and unofficially has a 56-point lead going into the ASAMT Championship Weekend at Oktoberfest over Reuvers.
Schendel’s win moved him up to third in the points only 135 points behind Fredrickson in the standings.
Those top three are the only ones mathematically eligible for the ASAMT championship. Chris Wimmer is in fourth, 174 points back. The most a driver can earn in an ASAMT event is 160 points.
The final event of the 2008 season will take place on Oktober 4-5 at the famous Oktoberfest Race Weekend at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, WI.
This article was posted to the website on September 8th, 2008
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