KEITH SURVIVES LATE SCARE IN JEFFERSON VICTORY

Topics:  Brad Keith

Matt Panure
Mid American Stock Car Series
June 24, 2013

JEFFERSON, Wis. (June 24, 2013) – On a night when the Mid-American Stock Car Series point leader was on cruise control, it seemed only a lapped car could question Brad Keith’s certainty of victory at Jefferson Speedway.

Keith picked of spots early in the 50-lap feature and grabbed the lead after a restart on lap seven. His greatest challenge came late in the race when he dodged the lapped machine of Butch Mierendorf not once, but twice.

With just 11 laps remaining Keith approached Mierendorf and attempted to put him a lap down by sliding to the bottom. Keith was already there and Mierendorf spun into the infield.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Keith said. “I think maybe he didn’t realize the leaders were coming.”

Just a few laps later the situation was nearly the same as both were in close proximity heading into turn one, this time with just seven laps remaining. Keith again slipped away unscathed and was able to cruise to his second win of the 2013 MASCS season.

The early portions of the race, ironically, were less jarring to the driver from West Bend, Wis. As Rick Tackman wrestled an early lead away from Mark Pluer, drivers were staying put in the preferred lines in three and four – in the middle grove and the very outside. No one had expected Keith or any other driver would be so good down low on the progressively banked turn.

“I had remembered from last year we went down there a couple times and the car was marginal,” Keith recalled. “This year we thought we would be able to pass a lot of cars in three and four on the bottom, so in practice that’s where I spent the majority of my time.”

Keith stretched his lead out to a sizeable margin through the next ten laps until a caution and a restart on lap 18. After the restart Tyler Bauknecht hung with Keith. The duo broke away from the pack, turning attention over to fast qualifier Scott Null.

Null slowly crept his way through the top ten and first entered the top five when he passed Frank Slabenek Jr. on lap 23. The former Jefferson Late Model racer had a long way to go to catch the top four. However, he found the breaks he would need with a string of cautions beginning on lap 30.

With the top five tightening up it was expected that Keith break away, however, Bauknecht stayed close. It was all part of the strategy, Keith said.

“I kind of figured there were going to be a few more cautions, so I decided not to use my stuff up and hold just a three to four car length advantage,” Keith said. “I don’t know how good Tyler was, maybe he had something for us, maybe he didn’t. At a certain point we just knew there were going to be more cautions. We didn’t want to drive hard for a lap or two; we just wanted to keep it on cruise control to be sure we’d have something at the end.”

The final laps went without incident aside from Keith’s close encounters with Mierendorf. Bauknecht hung onto second, Pluer remained in the top three, Null passed Tackman after a restart to finish fourth and Ryan Gutknecht made a late charge to fifth.

After an eighth place finish on Friday night in Grundy it was another solid point night for Keith. Staying out of trouble was the biggest goal, Keith claimed, especially after his fellow point leaders Jeremy Spoonmore, Lyle Nowak and Mark Pluer each experienced one DNF on the weekend.

“That’s the one thing you have to prevent is having DNFs – each and every race that’s the number one goal. If we can get through every race without mechanical failures or wreck, at the end of the year we should be in pretty good shape.”

Sopwith Motorsports will film seven of the Series races this year, which included this Jefferson race. The tape-delayed telecasts will be 30-minutes in length, allowing for multiple network airings and broad sampling by new viewers. Rob Klepper (CBS, ESPN2, NBC Sports) will host the show with Olivia Pritchett (TUFF TV, Untamed Sports TV) handling pit interviews. The program will air in a traditional sportscast format that stock car fans will find familiar and easy to watch.

The next stop for the Mid-American Stock Car Series is this Friday, June 28 at Veteran’s Raceway Park in Tomah, Wis. Due to circumstances beyond his control, Lyle Nowak will not compete again until Milwaukee, which means a new winner will visit Victory Lane in Tomah this weekend.

Veterans Raceway Park is located three miles west of I-94 on just off Hwy 21 west of Tomah, WI on Flagstaff Rd. Gates open at 5:00, Opening Ceremonies 7:15 with Racing at 7:30. Join us in this inaugural season and watch them grow.
More on Veterans Raceway Park at www.veteransraceway.com