NOWAK GETS AN EMOTIONAL WIN IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD |
|---|
Topics: Lyle Nowak
|
Gregg Paul
Mid American Stock Car Series
July 11, 2014
It’s not very often that you see an experienced veteran racer who frequently wins get emotional in Victory Lane. Yet when you consider all that has happened to Lyle Nowak and his race team in the last few years, when he climbed out of his car after getting the win in his home track, the emotion just bubbled over.
“There’s a lot of joy and a lot of satisfaction,” said Nowak. “When you race in your home town at your home track, everybody wants you to run good. Everybody hopes you can run good. The expectations to run good are high and you don’t always have the opportunity to do that. We’ve done this a long time and we’ve had way more disappointments than we’ve had successes and enjoyments. When you can win one like we did, I mean we had a rough year last year and things kind of snowballed where we had a bad crash on the highway and it affected our racing program and we just had to regroup. We came here to race last year and we really weren’t ready to do that. To come back this year and build some momentum through the beginning of the year and to accomplish this tonight, it’s pretty rewarding.”
It’s also pretty rewarding with the way Nowak had to come through the field to be in a position to get the win.
Erik Pierce and Landry Potter led the field to the green with the field staying two by two for a couple of laps. Pierce was finally able to clear Potter for the lead on lap 2 and opened the door for Jeremy Spoonmore to follow into second. Potter was stuck on the high side as Mark Pluer was able to get by, with Nowak lurking in fifth.
Jeff Holtz who has been in the thick of the points battle with Nowak was following in his tire tracks as Nowak moved around Potter for fourth. Holtz got by Potter as well and into the top five by lap 6.
Nowak then looked to the inside of Pluer for the third spot on lap 7, but Pluer fought back on the outside to stay side by side with Nowak. A lap later Nowak would complete the pass and look to move in on the leaders up ahead.
Spoonmore and Pierce were battling side by side for the lead for several laps before Spoonmore took over the top spot on lap 12. Nowak stuck his nose inside Pierce when the door opened and cleared for second two laps later. Holtz was still glued to Nowak’s bumper and followed past Pierce and into third.
Nowak began to challenge Spoonmore for the lead by first looking to the inside, then to the outside. Spoonmore was able to hold off Nowak for a couple of laps, while behind them Pierce recovered and passed Holtz to take back the third spot on lap 16. Pluer also got past Holtz to reclaim the fourth spot. Spoonmore cleared Nowak for the outright lead coming off of turn two.
The first yellow would come out on lap 17 when Mark Brooner spun in turn four.
Nowak would get the jump on the restart heading into turn one and clear Spoonmore for the lead. However Nowak would slide high coming off of turn two giving Spoonmore the chance to pull back even. Spoonmore continued that momentum and retook the lead a lap later.
The yellow would fly again on lap 19 when Landry Potter spun in turn one right in front of heavy traffic. Fortunately no one made any contact with Potter, but he would be done for the night.
Nowak got a great jump on the inside coming to the green and Pluer tried to follow past Spoonmore for second. They were still side by side coming off of turn four when Pluer apparently had a flat tire and slid towards the outside wall coming off of turn four collecting Spoonmore. Dan Gilster and Steven Cox spun to avoid as the caution came out again on lap 20.
As officials tried to reset the lineup it was determined that Spoonmore would get his spot back. Spoonmore followed Nowak to the low side when the cone appeared giving Brian Back the opportunity to move to the high side on the restart.
Nowak again got a great restart and was able to clear Back for the lead off of turn two with Spoonmore a close third. The top three then raced nose to tail and opened up a few car lengths on the fourth place battle between Holtz and Pierce.
Once Nowak cleared Back he stretched out his lead to two car lengths while the top five now raced single file. Rick Tackman Jr. got by Pierce for the fifth spot on lap 25.
Back wasn’t going to go away without a fight as he moved back in on Nowak’s bumper to challenge for the lead on lap 26. Back looked to the outside to try to get around Nowak, but Nowak was able to get off the corners a bit better to maintain the lead. Back then changed his line by diamonding the corners and gained a ton on entry. Nowak was still able to power off the corners and stay in the lead.
The lead duo was then opening up space between themselves and Spoonmore in third as laps were winding down. Back continued to look to the high side to try to make the pass until the leaders approached heavy traffic with just seven laps remaining.
Nowak almost gave away the lead coming off of turn four with five laps to go when he slid sideways off the corner, but stayed in the gas to keep ahead of Back by the time they got to turn one. Back was still on Nowak’s bumper when they finally cleared the lapped traffic with three laps to go.
As Back was racing hard trying to make the pass for the lead again, it was his turn to slide sideways coming off of turn four. Like Nowak before him, Back was able to stay in the gas and remained glued to Nowak’s bumper. However, the laps ran out and Nowak was able to hold off Back to score the win in front of his home town fans.
Nowak knew that racing against Back was not going to be easy. Especially after having raced against both of Back’s grandfathers years ago.
“Brian Back is one of my best friends,” said Nowak. “He helped me with this car and I have a 'Back' car. I know Brian will run hard and wants to win too, just like I do. I’ll race every day of the week with that young man. That family has been just a pillar in the racing community for many years. I’m just honored to be a part of that group with them. To compete with Brian is actually a win for both of us because even if Brian would have won, I mean we work hard on these cars, we try to make them faster, but it’s fun to beat him too.”
Nowak once again proved that he was willing to drive the car where he needed to be able to get to the front.
“We have raced here a long time and you would assume that the inside groove is better than the outside groove,” said Nowak. “It might be a little bit better but the outside groove is pretty good too. You just can’t allow the guy on the inside to move you up the race track. You have to kind of hold him down and make him stay down. Then you can get a decent drive up off the corner. You also can make a better radius through the corner on the outside groove and you’re not pinching the car so bad. It is actually not a bad groove either. We worked hard on trying to get the car just not that it was super fast but that it wouldn’t fade. That it would stay underneath us. I had to be careful because I was a little loose off the corner, but it was still pretty good. It turned good through the middle.”
The car also was good enough to turn right through the middle of Victory Lane.
Back secured quick time while Rick Tackman and Dan Gilster won their respective heat races.
Join us Sunday as the MID-AMERICAN STOCK CAR SERIES rolls on to Slinger Super Speedway for the first time as a sanctioned event.
For updates, news, and series information, visit the MASCS website at www.midamericanracing.com. View more photos on the "Gallery" page.
For more information on Slinger Super Speedway, visit the track’s website at www.slingersuperspeedway.com.
State Park Speedway Finish:
(1-10) Lyle Nowak, Wausau, WI; Brian Back, Rudolph, WI: Jeremy Spoonmore, Somonauk, IL: Rick Tackman, JR, Waukesha, WI: Jeff Holtz, Franksville, WI: Kenny Joosten, Wonder Lake, IL: Scott Dunning, Bolingbrook, IL: Erik Pierce, Crystal Lake, IL: Dan Gilster, West Salem, WI: Mark Pluer, Brookfield, WI:
(11-18) Scott Null, Lake Mills, WI: Marv Flick, Stevens Point, WI: Stephen Cox, Indianapolis, IN: Mark Brooner, Tomah, WI: Greg Beebe, Waukesha, WI: David Slack, Engadine, MI: Ben Glascock, Indianola, IA: Landry Potter, Genoa City, WI.