Ian Madsen scores Four Crown Nationals victory for first ever Eldora Speedway win,

ROSSBURG, Ohio (September 24, 2016) - Sometimes, being in the right place at the right time can make all of the difference. For Ian Madsen, that statement proved to be worth $5,000.

For the first time in his career, Ian Madsen is a main event winner at the world-famous Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio; scoring a victory against the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions during the 35th Annual Four Crown Nationals.

Climbing ahead from third on the feature grid, Madsen took command officially on lap 28, utilizing Rico Abreu’s misfortune while racing in the runner-up position. The victory was Madsen’s third against the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions during the course of his career, but his first in 2016. Chad Kemenah finished second, followed by Randy Hannagan, Kraig Kinser and Brady Bacon.

“It’s really awesome to get a win at this place,” Ian Madsen explained. “I’ve always dreamed of winning a race at Eldora Speedway. It’s really cool to be able to stand up here on this victory lane stage. I can’t thank my team enough for their hard work. Kyle, Mark, Jackson, and all of the guys back home, Brett and Matt; they all do so much. My crew chief, Kyle Ripper, gave me a great car tonight. We’ve been knocking on the door to get a big win, so this is awesome.”

A pair of California natives, Rico Abreu and Randy Hannagan, led the feature starters to green on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway. Hannagan earned the early advantage, leading Chad Kemenah and Rico Abreu by the flagstand for the first time. The “Hurricane” kept control for the first six circuits, eventually feeling some pressure from the duo racing directly behind him. A pair of cautions on lap seven would halt competition for the first time during the 30-lap main event, erasing Hannagan’s advantage at the front of the field. The cautions proved to be beneficial for second place running Rico Abreu; using the momentum change to drive by Hannagan when green flag action returned to officially lead the seventh circuit.

Abreu drove on to dominate the next 20 circuits, outrunning Randy Hannagan, Chad Kemenah and eventually Ian Madsen through two additional cautions and periods of intense traffic. Unfortunately, Abreu’s dominating performance would soon come to a halt; spinning all alone between turns three and four on lap 28, eventually adding Lee Jacobs to the pileup. Madsen, who battled his way forward after starting on the inside of row two, inherited command. His lucky strike would soon pay off, keeping Chad Kemenah and Randy Hannagan at bay for the last three circuits to secure $5,000 and a first-ever trip to the Eldora Speedway victory lane stage.

“I don’t think we had anything for Rico (Abreu),” Madsen explained. “We got a lucky break there, so we had to make the most of it.”

With his runner-up finish, Chad Kemenah officially reclaims the top spot in the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions title chase, now holding a 20-point cushion over Dale Blaney, and a 70-point cushion over Sheldon Haudenschild, heading into the next Arctic Cat All Star program. Blaney and Haudenschild each suffered from problems during the Four Crown Nationals main event; Blaney made contact with the turn four retaining wall, while Haudenschild suffered from engine failure.

“You have to finish every race. My crew always gives me a great opportunity to do that,” Chad Kemenah explained. “We just keep plugging away and we keep earning podiums. Ian (Madsen) had a really good car tonight. I actually felt like I was getting better and better as the race went on. We were able to move around quite a bit on the race track. We were good enough to run second to him and I’ll take it.”

With only two weeks to wait, the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will return to The Big E on Saturday evening, October 8, for the Eldora Speedway season finale. Dubbed the Sprintacular, the sprint car triple-header will feature the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions, NRA ‘360’ Sprint Invaders and the BOSS non-wing sprint cars, each conducting a full program including preliminary competition and main events. The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will battle for a $5,000 top prize, as well as full points, during the annual Sprintacular; the fourth and final Eldora Speedway appearance for the Arctic Cat All Stars in 2016.

Those seeking additional information regarding the 2016 Eldora Speedway Sprintacular should visit Eldora Speedway live on the Web at www.eldoraspeedway.com.

Contingency Awards/Results: Eldora Speedway - Saturday, September 24, 2016:
Event: 35th Annual Four Crown Nationals
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 37 Entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Dale Blaney - 14.490 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Randy Hannagan - 14.158 seconds
Kistler Racing Products Heat #1: Jac Haudenschild
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Tyler Courtney
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Sheldon Haudenschild
EMi Heat #4: Caleb Helms
JE Pistons Dash: Rico Abreu
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Ian Madsen
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Max Stambaugh (+12)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Jac Haudenschild (6th)
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Kerry Madsen
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Cole Duncan
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying
1.11N-Randy Hannagan, 14.158; 2.11K-Kraig Kinser, 14.243; 3.24-Rico Abreu, 14.258; 4.70-Dean Jacobs, 14.259; 5.1-Dale Blaney, 14.281; 6.10H-Chad Kemenah, 14.339; 7.99-Brady Bacon, 14.387; 8.93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.396; 9.18-Ian Madsen, 14.500; 10.35-Jac Haudenschild, 14.548; 11.21-Cap Henry, 14.549; 12.81-Lee Jacobs, 14.565; 13.17W-Kerry Madsen, 14.572; 14.8M-TJ Michael, 14.602; 15.20N-Hunter Schuerenberg, 14.649; 16.23-DJ Foos, 14.691; 17.40-Caleb Helms, 14.739; 18.7C-Caleb Armstrong, 14.740; 19.49D-Shawn Dancer, 14.755; 20.9X-Cole Duncan, 14.782; 21.OO-Dane Lorenc, 14.817; 22.23c-Tyler Courtney, 14.835; 23.57X-Andrew Palker, 14.885; 24.19P-Paige Polyak, 14.890; 25.33M-Max Stambaugh, 14.932; 26.09x-Carson Macedo, 14.976; 27.83-Adam Cruea, 15.022; 28.71m-Paul May, 15.109; 29.O7-Jacob Wilson, 15.127; 30.7J-Joe Swanson, 15.140; 31.59-Ben Schmidt, 15.167; 32.11R-Chase Ridenour, 15.288; 33.10S-Jay Steinebach, 15.314; 34.49H-Bradley Howard, 15.321; 35.60-Kory Crabtree, 15.611; 36.6-Bill Rose, 15.649; 37.5B-Chad Blonde, 15.693;

Heat 1, Group A -  (8 Laps)
1. 35-Jac Haudenschild[2] ; 2. 99-Brady Bacon[3] ; 3. 1-Dale Blaney[4] ; 4. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg[1] ; 5. 23-DJ Foos[5] ; 6. 09x-Carson Macedo[6] ; 7. O7-Jacob Wilson[7] ; 8. 7J-Joe Swanson[8] ; 9. 6-Bill Rose[10] ; 10. 60-Kory Crabtree[9]

Heat 2, Group B -  (8 Laps)
1. 23c-Tyler Courtney[1] ; 2. 18-Ian Madsen[3] ; 3. 17W-Kerry Madsen[2] ; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser[4] ; 5. 19P-Paige Polyak[5] ; 6. 33M-Max Stambaugh[6] ; 7. 59-Ben Schmidt[7] ; 8. 11R-Chase Ridenour[8]

Heat 3, Group C -  (8 Laps)
1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[2] ; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah[3] ; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[4] ; 4. 21-Cap Henry[1] ; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs[5] ; 6. 71m-Paul May[8] ; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard[9] ; 8. OO-Dane Lorenc[7] ; 9. 49D-Shawn Dancer[6]

Heat 4, Group D -  (8 Laps)
1. 40-Caleb Helms[1] ; 2. 11N-Randy Hannagan[4] ; 3. 70-Dean Jacobs[3] ; 4. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5] ; 5. 8M-TJ Michael[2] ; 6. 9X-Cole Duncan[6] ; 7. 57X-Andrew Palker[7] ; 8. 83-Adam Cruea[8] ; 9. 10S-Jay Steinebach[9]

Dash 1 -  (6 Laps)
1. 24-Rico Abreu[3] ; 2. 11N-Randy Hannagan[1] ; 3. 18-Ian Madsen[5] ; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah[2] ; 5. 99-Brady Bacon[6] ; 6. 35-Jac Haudenschild[4] ; 7. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[8] ; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser[7]

B-Main 1 -  (12 Laps)
1. 33M-Max Stambaugh[5] ; 2. OO-Dane Lorenc[3] ; 3. 9X-Cole Duncan[2] ; 4. 09x-Carson Macedo[6] ; 5. 71m-Paul May[8] ; 6. 59-Ben Schmidt[11] ; 7. 83-Adam Cruea[7] ; 8. 7J-Joe Swanson[10] ; 9. O7-Jacob Wilson[9] ; 10. 60-Kory Crabtree[15] ; 11. 49H-Bradley Howard[14] ; 12. 6-Bill Rose[16] ; 13. 57X-Andrew Palker[4] ; 14. 49D-Shawn Dancer[1] ; 15. 10S-Jay Steinebach[13] ; 16. 11R-Chase Ridenour[12] ; 17. 5B-Chad Blonde[17]

A-Main 1 -  (30 Laps)
1. 18-Ian Madsen[3] ; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah[4] ; 3. 11N-Randy Hannagan[2] ; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser[8] ; 5. 99-Brady Bacon[5] ; 6. 35-Jac Haudenschild[6] ; 7. 21-Cap Henry[15] ; 8. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[16] ; 9. 33M-Max Stambaugh[21] ; 10. 17W-Kerry Madsen[12] ; 11. 70-Dean Jacobs[13] ; 12. 23c-Tyler Courtney[10] ; 13. 20N-Hunter Schuerenberg[14] ; 14. 09x-Carson Macedo[24] ; 15. 9X-Cole Duncan[23] ; 16. 23-DJ Foos[17] ; 17. 57X-Andrew Palker[25] ; 18. 40-Caleb Helms[9] ; 19. 24-Rico Abreu[1] ; 20. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[7] ; 21. 8M-TJ Michael[20] ; 22. 81-Lee Jacobs[19] ; 23. 1-Dale Blaney[11] ; 24. 19P-Paige Polyak[18] ; 25. OO-Dane Lorenc[22]

Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Standings (September 24, 2016):
1. Chad Kemenah - 4960
2. Dale Blaney - 4940
3. Sheldon Haudenschild - 4890
4. Cap Henry -4646
5. Kraig Kinser - 4586
6. Danny Holtgraver - 4580
7. T.J. Michael - 4370
8. Caleb Helms - 4190
9. Lee Jacobs - 4042
10. Andrew Palker - 3980

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