Posted by Madison Speedway on 7/1/2005, 10:44 am
Board Administrator

Justin Diercks Wins Miller Classic on Final Lap “It was a big opening and I took it,” said Davenport, Iowa’s Justin Diercks after Dave Feiler of Sun Prairie and Andrew Morrissey of DeForest made contact coming out of turn four on the last lap allowing Diercks to win the Miller Classic by only leading the front stretch portion of the final lap. This marked an amazing run for Diercks who needed to come out of the qualifying race and started twenty-sixth in the twenty-eight car field. Tim Schendel of Sparta and Feiler paced the field of twenty-eight cars to the green flag. Feiler wasted no time in grabbing the top spot and opened an early five car advantage over the field. Cambridge’s Dale Nottestad quickly moved from his third row starting position up to second. The first caution of the race came out on lap 15 when Jeremy Miller of Rockton, Illinois, suffered a flat left front tire and slowed on the backstretch. The caution negated the sizable advantage Feiler had built up over the field. However, the three-time MIS track champion was able to hold off the field and slowly regain his lead over his fellow competitors. Nathan Haseleu of Pardeeville was the fastest car back in the pack as he had moved up to fifth place from his tenth place starting position by lap 24. On lap 43 Haseleu passed Brian Johnson Jr. of Roscoe, Illinois, for fourth place with Ryan Mathews of Lake Geneva moving up to fifth three laps later. From there on Feiler adeptly worked his way through lapped traffic and continued to build the distance between himself and the second place car of Nottestad. A competition yellow came out after the first 75 lap segment with Feiler leading followed by Nottestad, Haseleu, Mathews, Schendel, and Andrew Morrissey of DeForest. The leader Feiler was able to roll the die to determine the invert of the first six cars for the second segment. Feiler rolled a one which meant he would start first for the second segment. Following the restart Feiler continued to lead until lap 79 when Nottestad passed him only to relinquish the lead back to Feiler two laps later. Nottestad then lost another position when passed by Haseleu a lap later. Nottestad continued to drop back when on lap 94 when he was passed by both Mathews and Morrissey. One lap later Rich Bickle Jr. of Edgerton moved into the top five with a pass of Nottestad. Ted Musgrave of Franklin and Justin Diercks of Davenport, Iowa, showed a lot of speed following the competition yellow as they were both knocking on the door for a top five position by lap 100. On lap 115 Morrissey made an inside pass of Haseleu for second. Five laps later Morrisey was right on the bumper of Feiler and challenging him for the lead. On lap 124 Bickle was able to get by Haseleu for fourth with Diercks following suit. The second caution of the race came out on lap 129 for a spin by Tim Schendel in turn two. With Feiler maintaining his lead after the restart, it was Bickle on the move as he passed Mathews for the third spot. Contact between the leaders on lap 140 allowed Bickle to make it a three way race to the finish. Three laps later Bickle dropped slightly off the pace moving Diercks up to third. On lap 150 Morrissey and Feiler made contact coming out of turn four which allowed Diercks to slide by and win the race in one of the most exciting finishes in years at Madison International Speedway. Feiler was able to hold on to second place followed by Mathews, Morrissey, and Haseleu. Rounding out the top ten were Musgrave, Bickle, Nottestad, Mark Eswein of Wisconsin Rapids, and Johnson Jr. Austin Kontetski of South Beloit, Illinois, and Diercks won the qualifying races. Bobby Wilberg of Orfordville set fast time with a lap of 17.615 or 102.186 mph. Tim Sauter of Necedah, Wisconsin, made the most of his return to MIS when he captured the first-ever appearance of the Big Eight Limited Late Model Series at Wisconsin’s Track of Champions. Dennis Schmidt of Juneau, Wisconsin, and Jason Schuler of Cambridge, Wisconsin started in the front row of the twenty-four car field. Schuler led until lap 13 when Sauter passed him for the lead as the two started to check away from the field. It proved to be a very entertaining battle out front with Sauter holding the lead until lap 27 when Schuler was able to get by and take back the top spot. However, Schuler was unable to hold off Sauter who overtook him four laps later on lap 31 and cruised to victory. Following Sauter at the finish was Schuler, Beau Sanden of Janesville, Bobby Wilberg of Orfordville, and Tony Bagstad of Cashton, Wisconsin. Rounding out the top ten were Mike Beyer of Machesney Park, Illinois, Jon Reynolds Jr. of Rockford, Ryan Carlson of Loves Park, Illinois, Ricky Bilderback of Rockton, Illinois, and Josh Wallace of Pell Lake, Wisconsin. Qualifying races were won by Kris Kelly of Norway, Michigan, and Mike Ehde of Prairie du Chien. George Bohn of Rockford won the last chance race. Wilberg set fast time with a lap of 18.812 or 95.684 mph. There will be no racing at Madison International Speedway on Friday, July 1. Racing resumes on Friday night July 8 with action in all four divisions including the Grand National Vintage Series. Super Late Models:Miller Classic 150 Feature: 1-10 Justin Diercks- Davenport, IA, Dave Feiler- Sun Prairie, Ryan Mathews- Lake Geneva, Andrew Morrissey- DeForest, Nathan Haseleu- Pardeeville, Ted Musgrave- Franklin, Rick Bickle Jr.- Edgerton, Dale Nottestad- Cambridge, Mark Eswein- Wisconsin Rapids, Brian Johnson Jr.- Roscoe, IL 11-20 Bobby Wilberg- Orfordville, Steve Carlson- West Salem, Erik Darnell- Beach Park, IL, Steve Rubeck- Cherry Valley, IL, Jeremy Miller- Rockton, IL, Tim Schendel- Sparta, Dexter Bean- Westby, Ken Wills- Milwaukee, Kyle Kinder-McFarland, Tod Kropf- Watertown 21-28 David Prunty- Brownsville, Austin Konetski- South Beloit, IL, Todd Kluever- Sun Prairie, Dean Cornelius- Chaska, MN, Kevin Tunks- Indianford, Scott Wimmer- Wausau, Jeff Storm- Waterford, Chris Wimmer- Wausau Fast Qualifier: Bobby Wilberg- Orfordville 17.615 (102.186 mph) Qualifying Race #1: Austin Konetski- South Beloit, IL Qualifying Race #2:Justin Diercks- Davenport, IA Lap Leaders: Feiler 1-78, Nottestad 79-80, Feiler 81-149, Diercks 150 Time of the Race: 54 minutes