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In its 70th year of racing, Rockford Speedway in Loves Park, Illinois continues to provide tough, hard nose racing that fans come to witness in person. Those same fans have witnessed the thrill of victory as well as the agony of defeat.

On Saturday night, they witnessed and felt both at the same time on lap 96 of the 23rd running of the Kar Korner All-Star 100. The sixth event of the 2017 season for the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment.

The thrill and agony came as Ty Majeski used the famous short track bump and run to get by hometown star Austin Nason coming out of turn four with four laps to go in a 100-lap event that Nason dominated from the start of the green flag.

Majeski, fresh off his debut in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, smiled but was humble in victory lane after winning his fifth in a row in the ARCA Midwest Tour.

“We had a little better car. I was just being patient at the beginning of the race. Obviously, I would have expected him (Nason) to race me that way too if he had a better car here at Rockford,” Majeski explained. “It’s so tough to pass here. I tried to get around him clean for like 35 laps or so. I got to the inside of him a couple of times and every time I got a run, the caution would come out, and it was just really frustrating from that standpoint. We had a lot of cautions today, but just wanted more green flag laps because I believe we had a good car in the long run and never really got a chance to show it. All in all it was a good night, and we got it done in the end.”

When asked if he if could have passed Nason without bumping him, Majeski didn’t hesitate with his answer.

“No. No. I got into him just a little bit and I got him loose out of four and went down to two,” Majeski said. “I gave him a groove up there and I slid him up a little bit just to take his line away from him off of two, so his car wasn’t pointed so well and I got a good run down the backstretch.”

Nason, who let 96 of the 100 laps, wasn’t pleased on how he lost the race to the three-time defending series champion at his home track.

“Casey (Johnson) raced me clean. Me and him got into it at last year’s National Short Track Championships but he didn’t get me back and I will have to remember that. But that is how you race,” Nason said. “Ty is a good racer and he knows what he is doing, but you don’t move someone like that and keep going, you got to let him save it. We’ll remember that.”

But Nason did see a silver lining after his strong run.

“This definitely gives me momentum, but I was coming back looking for something. This is the second one that slipped out of my hands,” Nason said. “We will come back to Short Track here at Rockford and be stronger.”

Casey Johnson finished third and watch had the best view of the battle for the lead in front of him.

“It was a little rough racing. I think Austin got screwed. He ran a good clean race all night. I had three or four shots to booger him, but I never did it,” Johnson said. “If a guy wants to win that way, let him win that way.”

But, Johnson was pleased with a podium finish.

“I’m happy with it. The car wasn’t quite up to par, we need to put in a little work,” Johnson said. “Austin had a great car and Ty had a decent one, not a bad night.”

Andrew Morrissey finished fourth while Jon Reynolds Jr, who started shotgun on the field, came through to finish fifth.

With his second Kar Korner All-Star 100 victory, Ty Majeski became the third driver to be a multiple winner of the historic event. He now joins a list that includes Dick Trickle, who has four victories, and Joe Shear, who has three wins.

The ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment will be back in action on Saturday, July 15th at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois with the Wayne Carter Classic.

  1. Ty Majeski
  2. Austin Nason
  3. Casey Johnson
  4. Andrew Morrissey
  5. Jon Reynolds
  6. Travis Dassow
  7. Michael Ostdiek
  8. Derek Kraus
  9. Paul Shafer Jr.
  10. Natalie Decker
  11. Matt Kocourek
  12. John DeAngelis Jr.
  13. Justin Mondeik
  14. Mike Beyer
  15. Dennis Prunty
  16. Dalton Zehr
  17. Jonathan Eilen
  18. Rich Bickle, Jr
  19. Ricky Baker
  20. Danny Darnell
  21. Mitch Garfield
  22. Mikie Breiner

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