JEFFERSON, WI (Saturday, July 15, 2017) Dale Nottestad of Cambridge charged to the front of the field on Saturday night on his way to capturing the O’Reilly Auto Parts 50 lap Late Model main event. This win marks the first for the Clifcorn Motorsports Chevrolet since August of last season. Despite the lack of wins this season until now, Nottestad is parked firmly in the top five in points as he searches for his fourth track championship in the last five seasons.
Dylan Schuyler and Kyle Taylor paced the field to green with Schuyler taking the initial lead on the opening lap. Taylor looked loose as they came to green and he fell back into a battle with Noel Ramge for second. On lap two, John Ovadal Jr got sideways off turn two and collected the point leader, Shaun Scheel to force the first of two early cautions. The leaders raced single file through the second caution on lap eight when Nottestad began to make his trek through the top five. As racing resumed on lap nine, Nottestad dove under Steve Dobbratz in a battle for fourth. Nottestad quickly moved up alongside Taylor to grab third on lap 12. At the same time, Ramge began to challenge Schuyler for the top spot while Nottestad pulled up behind them. Ramge got under Schuyler as they raced off turn two on lap 17. Nottestad watched the battle closely from third as Ramge began to chip away at Schuyler for the lead. Ramge finally cleared for the top spot on lap 19 with Nottestad filling the gap under Schuyler. After racing side by side for several laps, Nottestad cleared for second on lap 27 and began to reel in Ramge at the front. Lap after lap, Nottestad edged closer to the leader. With ten laps to go, Nottestad caught Ramge and fired under him through turns three and four. Nottestad stuck his nose into the lead as they completed the lap. From there, the race belonged to the three time and defending Late Model champion. At the checkers, it was Nottestad for the win followed by Ramge, Luke Westenberg, Jason Erickson and Michael Grueneberg.