Bobby Wilberg Rolls At Madison

by NSSN Staff

OREGON, Wis – Bobby Wilberg picked up the checkered flag in the 40-lap feature late-model feature at Madison Int’l Speedway Friday evening.

The win was his first of the season at MIS for the multi-time track champion.

John Baumeister, Jr. and Wilberg had the honors of bringing the field to the green flag in their 40-lap feature. Wilberg quickly jumped out to the lead as Baumeister was fighting off Knuese and Johnson for second.

By lap four Wilberg’s advantage over the field was nearly 15 car lengths. Baumeister held down the second position and Zack Riddle moved up to third on lap five and passed Baumeister for second one lap later. Johnson and Knuese would also overtake Baumeister on lap seven.

Out front it was smooth sailing for Wilberg, but that would be short-lived as the caution flag came out on lap 10 for a spin in turn two.

The restart would find Wilberg on the inside followed by Riddle, Knuese, and Johnson. But it would be Dale Nottestad who would choose the high side and line up outside of Wilberg in row one.

Wilberg retained his lead after the green flag waved with Riddle moving into second ahead of Nottestad. The trio began to check away from the field with Nottestad and Riddle switching positions on lap 16. One lap later Riddle would retake the second spot while Wilberg was building a ten car length lead out front.

Riddle and Nottestad were beginning to close the gap little by little with each lap and by lap 25 the lead was down to four car lengths. On lap 26 Nottestad would find room to get by Riddle to take second but Riddle was not about to give up and he took it back on lap 27. This allowed Wilberg to increase his lead to more than 10 car lengths.

As Riddle and Nottestad took turns in second place, Knuese was up to join the mix. However, Wilberg had his eyes clearly focused on the open space ahead of him as he enjoyed a sizeable lead. Nottestad increased his lead over Riddle by three car lengths, but it didn’t appear that he would have enough time to catch the leader. His only hope would be a caution flag.

The lead was down to six car lengths on lap 38 with time running out on Nottestad. With one to go Nottestad had cut the lead to four lengths but wouldn’t have enough as Wilberg held him off for the win. Riddle finished in third place followed by Knuese and Johnson.

“The car ran great tonight considering we made some last minute changes this week. I really have to thank Zack and Dale since they were running hard behind me which allowed me to build a lead,” said Wilberg.

Tommy Wutke (sportsman) and Andy Jones (Legends) were also winners Friday.

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Posted by NSSN Staff on Jun 16 2012 Filed under MIDWEST, Racing Nation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.