NOWAK CAPTURES KIM PARSONS MEMORIAL TROPHY IN INAUGURAL MASCS TOMAH GO

Topics:  Lyle Nowak, Veterans Memorial 40

Matt Panure
Mid American Stock Car Series
May 25, 2013

TOMAH, Wis. (May 25, 2013) – There are very few race tracks in the Midwest Wausau’s Lyle Nowak hasn’t seen with his Mid-American Stock Car Series racer. If history is any indication, he might be seeking them out soon.

Just as he did a couple of seasons ago in his Norway MASCS debut, Lyle Nowak debuted and captured the win and the Kim Parsons Memorial Trophy in the Veterans Memorial 40 at Veterans Raceway Park in Tomah Friday night.

In fact, it was the first time Nowak had even seen the three-eighths mile facility.

“It’s a demanding little race track with tight corners and long straightaways,” Nowak said. “You’ve got to be careful not to overdrive the corner and drive it in too deep, but you have to be able to make the car get through the corner and get forward bite too. It is a unique little track and it’s fun to drive when you can get out front.”

On the scoring sheet it seemingly didn’t take Nowak long to move from the front of the field from his eighth place starting spot – just five laps. However, four cautions in the first five laps stalled the pace of the feature event, and aided Nowak in working his way to the front.

Behind front-row starters Dustin Krebs and Marv Flick, drivers scurried for position while still feeling out Veterans RWP for the first time. The first caution came when Dan Gilster drifted up high in turns one and two and spun, bringing out a yellow on lap four.

Cautions proved to breed cautions over the next three attempts. The worst incident was the final which involved a tangle on the front stretch between Jack Stern and Rick Tackman. Stern was able to continue, but Tackman’s racer was too badly damaged to make the call by the time the green fell again.

Through the cautions Nowak continued to choose the outside of Krebs in the front row. Although the 2010 MASCS Champ felt more comfortable on the bottom, clipping the newly-placed asphalt, he knew that his best opportunity was to capitalize on the outside.

“I felt choosing the outside line was the proper thing to try at the time,” Nowak said of his decision to dart to the top when the decision cone was placed for the restart. “I knew that if I didn’t that Brad Keith, Jeremy Spoonmore or Mark Pluer certainly would have.”

“It’s risk versus reward when you do that because the inside line is preferred here, and it’s where you want to be, but if you want to get where you want to go and win a race you have to try to take those chances and make those choices.”

When the green fell, Nowak quickly jumped to the advantage with Keith following closely in his tire tracks. On lap seven Jeremy Spoonmore and fast-qualifier Mark Pluer jumped past Krebs as well and the top four began to break away from the pack.

For the better part of 30 laps Keith pressured Nowak. Keith dared to test the outside groove seemingly every five laps, but continued to tuck back into line and hope for a Nowak miscue to open up his chance for a second win in just a week’s time.

“Brad Keith is a very good racer – young energetic and hungry,” Nowak said. “He has a very good car and a very good team. You bet he made me nervous.”

In Keith’s eyes a miscue would have been the only way to get around Nowak.

“I put my bumper to Lyle a couple times, but he was good on the bottom,” Keith explained. “I tried the outside and there was nothing, so I was content with second place.”

With ten laps remaining Nowak and Keith were trailed closely by Spoonmore and Pluer. However, as the laps clicked off Spoonmore and Pluer began to fade backward, leaving some breathing room for Keith to continue his challenges to Nowak. With just three laps remaining Pluer slid to the inside of Spoonmore to take third. He did not have enough time to catch back up to the top two.

Spoonmore went on to hold the fourth position while a fast-closing Dan Gilster rounded out the top five.

After struggling at Rockford Speedway in April, Nowak realizes he has a lot of ground to make up on point leaders Keith, Pluer and Spoonmore. The past champion, who came up just shy of a title last season knows that it will take a few more nights like Friday, and he will have a chance to close the gap further.

“It’s a long season,” he said. “Chances are if someone goes through the season error free and trouble free, they’ll be your champion. That doesn’t happen very often. We’ll keep digging and we’ll keep giving it our best shot. I kind of like being the underdog where no one has to worry about us.”

The win found some extra meaning for Nowak when he was awarded the Kim Parsons Memorial Trophy in Victory Lane. Nowak has a long-standing relationship with the Parsons family and his long-time fan Kim, for whom the trophy is named. After the racing was completed Nowak, his wife Marcy and Kim’s father Steve met in the pits and reminisced.

The next event for the Mid-American Stock Cars Series is scheduled for Friday, June 21 at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Ill. The series will then swing north to Jefferson (Wis.) Speedway the following day. After a demanding trip through the south Mid-American will make a return trip to Tomah the following Friday, June 28.

For more information on the Mid-American Stock Car Series including news, results, standings, the remaining 2013 schedule and more visit www.midamericanracing.com.