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141 Speedway Mid Am Win Decided Post Race
Francis Creek, WI May 27, 2006: Jimbo Schleis fought off
several challenges to win his first career Mid-American feature Saturday night
at the 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. Post race inspections would ultimately
decide outcome on the final finishing order.
Rookie winners were the order of the day as Peter Kumbalek in the Super
Stocks, Mike TeStroete in the Hobby Stocks and Matt Cherney in the Sport 4
class followed Schleis’ path to victory lane. Allen Dillon broke the
trend with a thrilling win in the Mini-Stock finale.
While Schleis is no stranger to racing in Northeastern Wisconsin having raced
for decades, he carries the unusual handle of “rookie” after moving up to
the Mid-Americans this season. Schleis held the pole for the main, and
used it to his advantage, fighting off Jesse Fuller through two early
restarts.
He was able to gain a little breathing room as Fuller and Don Wood fought side
by side for second. That lead was erased at the halfway mark as Jeff
Tisler slid in the third turn. Dave Verhagen and Todd Mott were
collected in the aftermath, with Verhagen’s solid night ending on the hook.
Under green, Schleis again took control as Fuller and Wood continued the fight
for second. A final caution with ten to go set fellow rookie Wood on the
outside of the first row, but Schleis caught a perfect restart to pull away to
the win. Alas an out of specification camshaft would strip him of the
victory, and Wood who crossed the line second was too light at the scales,
moving Fuller up to the winning position. Daryl Gerke advanced from deep
in the field for second followed by Todd Mott. Jeff Wohlrabe, guest
driving for Mike Oswald, posted a fourth place finish in his first Mid-Am run
with Kevin Damrow rounding out the top five.
Kumbalek crossed the line second in the Super Stock headliner but was awarded
the win after Lee Kielpikowski was disqualified post-race due to an unapproved
carburetor. Kielpikowski had taken taken the lead from Brian
Stanelle on the 17th lap. He pulled away to a solid advantage, as
Kumbalek, Jo Gauger and Josh Sand raced in a pack for what appeared to be
second.
Kumbalek held the narrow edge at the checker, and with the tech ruling, second
became first. Like Schleis, Kumbalek scored the win in just his second
night in the division after moving up from the Hobby Stocks.
In the Mini-Stocks, Dillon edged Kurt Naidl by inches at the stripe to win for
the first time this season. Brian Wetenkamp was close to a first win,
leading the first 19 laps of the feature. Dillon led a pack of cars,
including Naidl, Andy Casavant, Dave Gauger, Jr, Jason Novak and Cory Kemkes
in chasing down Wetenkamp.
Dillon caught him on the 17th lap, and then passed him three laps later.
Naidl followed by, and established the outside line. He pulled even with
Dillon, and edged ahead as the white flag flew. Dillon scratched back on
the inside line. The duo ran side by side through the final series of
corners, with Dillon pulling ahead by a matter of inches for the win.
Behind Naidl in the top six were Casavant, Novak, Wetenkamp and Kemkes.
TeStroete took the Hobby Stock lead from Mark Vranak on the 7th lap, and then
held off a challenge from Tyler Bauknecht to win his first feature.
Bauknecht moved into second on lap 10. He caught TeStroete with three to
go, but the former dirt track racer held the middle groove, giving Bauknecht
little room to slip to the inside.
At the checker, it was TeStroete by less than a car length, with Bauknecht,
Jamie Vetter, Josh Setzer and Jacob Anderson all posting top five finishes.
Dave Gauger, Sr looked to be headed to a sure win in the Sport 4 main.
He had a huge lead, but it was erased by caution on the 10th lap. Under
green, he again pulled away to nearly a half lap advantage. But Gauger
slowed rather than tangle with heavy lapped traffic, allowing Cherney, Ashley
Wertel and Aaron Dalton to catch him.
In the final turn, the 14-year-old Cherney dove to the inside and nipped
Gauger at the line. After leading all but the last lap, Gauger settled
for second followed by Wertel, Dalton, Sue Cherney, Tom Tegan and Erik Turner.
It’s Firefighter’s night this Saturday, with all area firemen admitted
free. Goldigger’s will sponsor the show, with qualifying at 5:00 and
racing at 7:00. The Speedway’s Power Hour will feature our first ever
firefighter triathlon at 6:00 and later a race between area fire chief.
For more information, visit the Speedway’s web site at www.141speedway.com
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