July 24, West Allis, Wis. - On a blistering 100 degree (F) day, the drivers of the Menard's Infiniti Pro Series brought their own hot brand of excitement to a town best known for beer, cheese, and incredible lakefront festivals.

In an extremely hard-fought race, Jeff Simmons passed Wade Cunningham with three laps remaining to emerge as the victor of the Milwaukee 100 at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin.  This was Simmons' first victory of the year and was Cunningham's fifth second place finish.  Also standing on the podium for the second time in 2005 was Nick Bussell, who was running in his second race with Vision Racing after leaving JL West Motorsports earlier this year.  Simmons and Cunningham, who were the only two leaders of the race, dueled each other around the historic one mile oval, trading the lead several times and keeping the fans who had not yet passed out from heat stroke on the edge of their seats.

Interestingly enough, neither one of the two race leaders were on the front row when the race started.  Jaime Camara (winner of last week's race in Nashville) was on the pole after an incredibly strong qualification run.  Next to him was Jon Herb, who also was exceptionally strong in qualifying.  Wade Cunningham started in third, Arie Luyendyk, Jr. in fourth, Nick Bussell in fifth, Jay Drake in sixth, and Jeff Simmons far back in seventh. 

However, things began to change when the green flag dropped...

Coming down the main straight for the start, Cunningham dove beneath Camara on the entry to Turn 1 to take the lead.  Immediately after Cunningham's pass, Herb passed Camara on the outside to retain second place.  Simmons was able to pass Jay Drake on the start, moving up to sixth place. 

By Lap 2, Simmons, who clearly had a fast car, was continuing to move up through the field, passing Nick Bussell on the inside as they drove down the back stretch.  On Lap 3, Simmons drove past polesitter Camara to capture third.  Simmons' team definitely had a good setup for the conditions.  He clearly had better exit speed out of the turns than his competition.  "That's one advantage that we had over everyone today," Simmons recalled, "I could… drive my car really low on the track in the middle of the corner."  Within the first five laps of the race, Jeff managed to demonstrate this to the majority of the drivers in the field.

The close racing continued on Lap 4 as Jon Herb got an incredible run on the straight and dropped to the inside of Cunningham on the entry to the first turn.  Herb made the pass, but appeared to carry too much speed into Turn 2, which forced him to go wide and allowed Cunningham to repass him on the inside.

On Lap 5, Scott Mayer, driving the ABC Building Supply entry, spun in Turn 2, bringing out the first full course caution of the race.  The caution remained until Lap 11, when the field had its first restart.  Cunningham, had a very good restart and accelerated away from his competition.  Nick Bussell, who also had a great restart, passed Camara on the inside as the field drove into Turn 1.  After successfully completing the pass, Bussell emerged from Turn 2 in fourth place.

The racing was also tight further back in the field as on Lap 13, Jay Drake and Travis Gregg were battling side by side for eighth position.  Gregg, who was uncharacteristically off the pace, ended up finishing in eighth, while Drake, coming off of a strong third place finish in Nashville, improved his position eventually to finish sixth. 

As Lap 15 passed, there had already been enough tight racing to fill a whole race, but the action continued as Simmons closed on Jon Herb (still running in second).  Simmons continued to press Herb, highlighted by a failed pass to the inside in Turn 1 on Lap 21.  However, three laps later, Simmons managed to seal the deal.  He got a good run out of Turn 4, and closed the gap with Herb along the front straight and into Turn 1.  As they came out of Turn 2, Simmons and Herb ran side by side down the back straight, each of them fighting for the lead.  Simmons finally was able to complete the pass as they entered Turn 3.

By Lap 26, Simmons was slowly eroding Cunningham's lead, and Jon Herb was slowly falling back after the dual with Simmons.  This allowed Nick Bussell to get a good run on Herb, and pass him on the front straight.  Herb continued to slow, and dropped back even further in the field.  Herb was not a factor for the rest of the race, but suprisingly managed to regain many of the positions that he had lost to finish a strong fourth. 

Race Winner - Jeff Simmons

At this point in the race, Simmons began to stretch out quite a lead as both he and Cunningham worked their way through lap traffic.  By Lap 39, Simmons had extended his lead to nearly 250 yards while Cunningham was stacked up behind the lap cars of Travis Gregg and Cunningham's BSR teammate Arie Luyendyk, Jr.  Cunningham's difficulty with the lap traffic allowed Nick Bussell to close the gap with him and challenge him for position on Lap 41.  Several times Bussell appeared to get a good run on Cunningham, but on all occasions, Bussell attempted to make his moves at the same time as Cunningham was trying to pass either Gregg or Luyendyk.  This meant that Bussell's line to pass vanished before his eyes and he had to get on the brakes several times to abort his attempts.

Once Cunningham made it past Gregg and Luyendyk, he began to slowly close the gap with Simmons, running nearly 250 yards in front.  By Lap 50, the race settled down into a single file event, with the contestants setting up for the mid-race and slowly trying to improve their positions.  Bussell continued to challenge Cunningham and came close to passing just about every time Cunningham approached a lap car.  However, Cunningham was able to keep him at bay and continued to drive a very strong race.  This continued until Lap 64 when Chris Festa spun in Turn 2, making hard contact with the wall.  Festa was treated and released by the infield care center and is in good condition after the incident.

The yellow nullified Simmons' 250 yard lead as the field bunched up when the pace car appeared on the track.  Once the track was cleared, the field prepared for a restart on Lap 72.  In one of the best restarts of the season, Cunningham flew by Simmons and pulled ahead to a 50 yard lead by the time they entered into Turn 1.  According to Cunningham, "We had a pretty perfect restart."  And Simmons said, "We had a little problem picking up fuel for a lap and a half.  That's what allowed Wade to get by so easily."  The combination of Cunningham's perfect timing and Simmons fuel pickup problem made it look as if the 33 car was launched out of a cannon on the restart and Cunningham opened a huge lead in a period of less than a lap.  Bussell also had problems on the restart and was passed by Camara.  Of the restart, Bussell said, "I think something happened in the gearbox and the car stayed in third gear and hit the false (rev) limiter.  I got passed by Jaime.  I think if I could have stayed in front of him, I would have had a chance to run with the two leaders."  Bussell did end up eventually working his way past Camara to finish third.

Meanwhile, it took Simmons about 15 laps to close Cunningham's lead, but by Lap 92 he was right behind Cunningham again, threatening to pass.  Cunningham held him off though and seemed to be in command of the race until the dueling pair approached more lap traffic on Lap 97.  In a moment reminiscent of earlier in the race, Cunningham drove hard into Turn 3 and approached his teammate Arie Luyendyk from behind.  Unfortunately, some miscommunication between the drivers and the spotters meant that Luyendyk wasn't ready for the pass and Cunningham drove right up on his gearbox and had to roll out of the throttle.  This allowed Jeff Simmons to get a run coming out of Turn 4 and complete the pass entering Turn 1.  For the next two laps, Simmons stretched the lead and finished handily in first.

According to Cunningham, "A little bit of miscommunication, lap traffic second to last lap, that cost us the win."  Simmons agreed, "I just had to try to remain patient but push really hard at the same time because the laps were ticking away.  I'm really thankful we caught up to that lap traffic."

Simmons may be thankful he caught up to the traffic, but luck was only a minor contributor to his victory.  He certainly had one of the strongest cars on the track and also drove a great race to earn his first victory since 2003.  Summing it up, Simmons said, "It's great to get that win and great to get the first win for Kenn Hardley and Team ISI.  He's been great and been behind me so much, behind the other guys, the rest of the guys on the team.  I'm really thankful I could get that win for him."

Indeed, the rest of the fans at the Milwaukee Mile were also thankful that Jeff Simmons and Wade Cunningham treated them to some of the best racing of the day.

The final finishing order from Milwaukee was:

Simmons, Cunningham, Bussell, Herb, Camara, Drake, Luyendyk, Gregg, Roth, Festa, Mayer.

With his second place finish, Cunningham extends his lead in the series points race to 36 over Jaime Camara.  The next Infiniti Pro Series race will be August 13th at the Kentucky Speedway.