MID-AMERICAN ROOKIE K. SHEAR TAKES INAUGURAL DRP CHECKERED

Topics:  Kyle Shear

Matt Panure
Mid American Stock Car Series
July 14, 2007

(Wisconsin Dells, WI) July 14th -- The name Shear is well known to many race fans in the Midwest. Saturday night a young gun with the famous last name found victory lane for the first time in his short Mid-American career. Kyle Shear had barely brought his machine to a stop in victory lane at Dells Raceway Park when his brother, Troy Jr., mobbed him in excitement. Shear took advantage of a lap 11 restart to move around Danny Powell and kept defending series champion James Swan at bay in the waning laps to become Mid-American’s first victor at DRP.

For the second consecutive race Danny Powell took an early lead and began to pull away from the crowd as he took the jump at the green flag and immediately opened up a five car length lead over pole-sitter Scott Null. Null soon felt the heat from Lyle Nowak who worked his way around him on lap six. Shear stayed in Nowak’s tire tracks and followed him into third. Null tucked back in line as Nowak and Shear began to reel in Powell.

Although Powell’s advantage over Nowak was slowly eroding, it was completely erased when the first and only caution of the 40 lap event flew on lap 11. Troy Shear Jr. looped his machine in turn two and collected Dave Obermeyer. During the caution Kyle Shear was contacted and asked how he would find his way around Nowak and Powell. “I have no clue how to get around Lyle,” said Shear over the P.A., “and I have two really good cars behind me,” he added, referring to Swan and Bobby Gutknecht.

Shear caught his break on the restart. Coming back to the green flag Powell wiggled sideways and nearly spun in front of the entire field. Powell kept his machine straight as the entire inside line was forced to hit the binders to avoid collecting Powell. Shear started on the outside of row two on the restart and used the slip to jump to a three car length advantage over Powell as he regained his bearings.

Two laps after the restart Gutknecht used the inside line to move around Powell. Swan and Nowak slipped in the door opened by Gutknecht to move into third and fourth. Powell finally tucked back in line in front of Bill Prietzel. The two were locked in a battle for the fifth spot until lap 30 when Prietzel finally took advantage of the inside line to get around Powell.

While Shear approached lapped traffic comfortably, Swan and Gutknecht were slugging it out for the second spot. Swan finally maneuvered around Gutknecht on lap 22 and began the daunting task of reeling in Mid-American’s leading rookie contender. Shear stayed solid through lap traffic but Swan had erased the deficit with less than five laps remaining. One of the final cars to fall a lap to the leaders was Troy Shear Jr. K. Shear was asked if he found comfort in knowing that his brother was the car he needed to get around to keep Swan behind him. “It’s never comfortable when you know James Swan is behind you,” said Shear.

But Shear and Swan both moved around Troy Jr. without incident. However, there was a final scare for Shear as Mark Kissinger spun out of turn two on the final lap right in front of Shear. The spin did not phase Shear as he held off Swan and took his first ever Mid-American Stock Car Series feature win. The battle for third was decided in a three wide scrum at the line. Nowak held on to third by a fender as Gutknecht nipped Prietzel for fourth by a matter of inches.

Earlier in the evening, Tim Schmitt set his first Mid-American fast time. Schmitt’s machine experienced mechanical problems in one of the ten lap heat races and he did not start the 40 lap feature.

The event caused a massive shake up in Mid-American points. Gutknecht is the new point leader by two markers over Prietzel 605 to 603. Swan jumped to third only five points behind Gutknecht as Spoonmore fell to fourth eight points out of the lead. Lyle Nowak rounds out the top five 66 points back. Shear jumped from 12th to 8th after the win.

The next event for the Mid-American Stock Car Series is next Saturday July 21st at the Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, WI as part of the Red, White and Blue State Championships. The Tisler Salvage White Race is the second of three appearances for the series in 2007. The last event at WIR was won by Bill Prietzel. A brief hiatus will then be in order for the Mid-American Stock Car Series as the following scheduled race is on August 19th again at WIR. For more information about the Mid-American Stock Car Series including results, standings, the 2007 schedule and driver info visit www.midamericanracing.com.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
40 Lap Mid-American Feature
1. Kyle Shear, Roscoe, IL; 2. James Swan, Genoa City, WI; 3. Lyle Nowak, Wausau, WI; 4. Bobby Gutknecht, Oak Creek, WI; 5. Bill Prietzel, Richfield, WI; 6. Danny Powell, Polo, IL; 7. Jeremy Spoonmore, Somonauk, IL; 8. Josh Higgins, Morris, IL; 9. Adam Mass, Hebron, IL; 10. Ryan Finley, Shabbona, IL; 11. Scott Null, Lake Mills, WI; 12. Jeff Olson, Seneca, IL; 13. Andrew Kulka, Deerfield, WI; 14. Jake Finney, Sycamore, IL; 15. Kevin Damrow, Manitowoc, WI; 16. Mark Kissinger, West Bend, WI; 17. Troy Shear Jr., Roscoe, IL; 18. Maxwell Schultz, Reedsville, WI; 19. Gregg Marks, Maribel, WI; 20. Becca Kasten, Mequon, WI; 21. Dick Behrendt, Ingleside, IL; 22. Tony Habeck, Black Creek, WI; 23. Dave Obermeyer, Slinger, WI; 24. Joe Monti, Merrill, WI; 25. Tim Schmitt, New Berlin, WI (DNS)

10 Lap Heats
Heat 1: Obermeyer; Schultz; T. Shear;
Heat 2: Higgins; Nowak; Finley
Heat 3: Spoonmore; Powell; Finney

Fast Time: Schmitt: 14.557 seconds