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Garziano Gets Over In Independence Enduro At 141
Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted a large and enthusiastic crowd at
141 Speedway in Francis Creek for the annual Independence Day Compact Car
Enduro sponsored by Tisler Salvage of Menchelville.
Kraig Koehler of Two Rivers led the field to the green flag follwed closely by
Don Murray and Terry Kust. These three held the top spots for the first fifty
laps with only one pause in the action which occurred when the car of Mike
Loberger lost a tire in turn one bringing out the red flag and stopping the
race.
When the contest resumed, Brian Monday had moved to the second spot when
Murray had to go to the pits for repairs and Kust dropped off the pace. Monday
held on to that spot until lap 90 when he was spun out by James Smith in turn
three and dropped into the infield and back to eleventh place.
A mandatory yellow was given at lap 100 for the drivers to get tires and gas.
When the race resumed, Koehler continued to lead but was being closely pursued
by Mike Graziano and David Beyer.
The race was stopped again at lap 133 when the car driven by Dean Flaig burst
in to flames on the front stretch. Fortunately the safety crew was able to
extinguish the flames and Flaig escaped without injury.
On the restart, Koehler got a good jump and was again in a commanding position
and appeared to be cruising to a win when he made contact with a backmarker on
lap 160 flattening his front tire and sending him to the pits handing the lead
to Beyer.
Beyer would hold the lead to the lap 200 break but would be penalized for
rough driving giving the lead to Graziano.
Stage three of the race would be a Sunday drive for Graziano as he got a
measure of satisfaction after leading the majority of the last race at 141
only to lose after a late race crash. Frank Calabrese would finish
second while Beyer fought off the penalty to take third. Rookie Rachael
Czarapata and veteran Jeff “The Professor” Meulemans rounded out the top
five.
Next week The Top Hat of Manitowoc presents the Pa Murray Memorial 50 race
will be the featured event topping off the regular Saturday night program at
141. Time trials at 5:30, races at 7pm. For more information go to their
website at 141Speedway.com.
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