Posted by Madison Speedway on 7/25/2005, 12:47 pm
Board Administrator

Sauter, Wilberg, Cottam, and Kalbus are Mid Season Champions at MIS Oregon (WI) Travis Sauter, Bobby Wilberg, Charlie Cottam, and Jay Kalbus took top honors in their respective divisions on Stoneworks Mid-Season Championship night at Madison International Speedway. Travis Sauter of Necedah put together an impressive run in taking home the checkered flag in the Stoneworks 40 for the Weaver Auto Parts ASA Late Models. The twenty-six car ASA Late Model field was led to the green by Tom Gille and Jason Tyler. Travis Sauter would inherit the top position after a multi-car spin on lap five. Despite two more early caution flags for a car making hard contact with the front stretch wall and an incident in turn three involving several cars, Sauter was still able to hold his lead over Dan Lensing, Ryan Hanson, Nate Haseleu, and Bryan Reffner. Sauter soon built up an eight car advantage over Lensing with Haseleu up to challenge Lensing for second with the two running side by side with Haseleu eventually gaining the advantage on lap 23 with Reffner right behind moving into the third spot. By lap 27 Sauter had built up a twelve car length advantage with the trailing cars hoping for a caution flag. Their wishes were answered when on lap 29 two cars made contact on the front stretch resulting in the caution flag coming out and the disappearance of Sauter’s sizable lead. With Haseleu and Reffner now right on his tail, Sauter was able to hold on to his lead until the caution flag came out on lap 39 for a spin in turn two. All the pieces were now in place for a classic MIS finish. When the green flag waved for the final time Sauter was on top of his game as he was able to fight off Haseleu and Reffner enroute to his first Weaver Auto Parts ASA Late Model feature win of the 2005 season. Wilberg set fast time with a lap of 18.379 (97.938 mph). Heat race winners were John Wood, Mike Beyer, and Nick Hammer. Point leader Bobby Wilberg of Orfordville increased his lead over his fellow competitors in the Bryden Motors Super Late Model division by picking up his third feature win of the season by taking home top honors in the Stoneworks 40. Jim Carlson and Billy Baumeister led the field of fourteen Bryden Motors Super Late Models to the green flag in their forty lap feature event. Carlson grabbed the early lead but would only hold the top spot for the first three laps when Kyle Kinder powered by him for the lead. The first caution came out on lap four for a back stretch spin. On the restart Kinder jumped out to an eight car advantage which was quickly negated due to a spin in turn three that brought out the race’s second caution. Kinder was able to maintain his advantage after the restart with Jeff Storm and Brian Johnson Jr. closing quickly. Also showing early speed was point leader Bobby Wilberg who moved from his eleventh starting postion all the way to fourth by lap 8. On lap twelve Johnson and Kinder were running side by side with Johnson on the outside and Kinder on the inside. On lap 14 Johnson made his pass for the lead and one lap later Wilberg passed Kinder for second. With each lap Wilberg continued to cut into Johnson’s lead until on lap 25 the Orfordville, Wisconsin, driver was able to pass on the inside and move to the front. On lap 34 Wilberg and Johnson had caught the tail end of the field with Johnson doing everything he could to get by the leader but coming up just short. Wilberg was able to hang on for the win by a half second margin over Johnson. Following the top two were Storm, Kinder, and Steve Rubeck. Wilberg set fast time with a lap of 17.719 (101.586 mph). Heat winners were Billy Baumeister of Janesville and Storm. All-time Midwest Truck Series feature winner added another win to his total by claiming the top spot in the Stoneworks 20 for the Rockweiler Insulation Midwest Truck Series. Cottam and Fred Oswald started in the front row of the ten truck Rockweiler Insulation Midwest Truck Series twenty-lap feature. Cottam showed the early speed and jumped out to the lead followed by Dan Chesmore. A crash on lap six brought out the first caution of the race. Cottam continued his advantage over Chesmore and the rest of the field after the restart with the caution coming out for the second time on lap 10 for a spin in turn one. Cottam had no trouble maintaining his lead over the field after the restart and came home the winner with a 1.17 second advantage over Chesmore. Rounding out the top five were Dann Barber, Bryan Pautsch, and Garrett Goth. Goth set fast time with a lap of 19.533 (92.152 mph). Cottam was also victorious in the heat race. Jay Kalbus of Watertown has definitely been the car to beat in the Area Sportsman division as he made it two in a row by winning the Stoneworks 15. Carey Hensel paced the Bryden Motors Area Sportsman field to the start of their fifteen lap feature. Hensel held the lead for the first three laps until being passed by Ryan Goldade. On lap 10 Jay Kalbus pulled to the outside of Goldade and took over the lead one lap later. From there on it was all Kalbus who cruised to victory lane once again followed by Goldade, Mark Deporter, Scott Lawver, and Hensel. Kalbus set fast time with a lap of 20.686 (87.015 mph) with Jim Burns of Janesville coming home the winner in the heat race. Next week the Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series comes to Madison International Speedway with their high flying winged sprint cars. They will be attempting to set the all-time speed record which was set one year ago when Joe Rebman turned a lap of over 119 mph. The Weaver Auto Parts ASA Late Models and Bryden Motors Area Sportsman will also be in action. Fan gates open at 4:30, hot laps at 4:45, qualifying at 6:30 with racing at 8:00 PM.