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Strouf Tops Mid-Ams At 141
Francis Creek, WI July 29, 2006 - A late pass by Monte Strouf carried
him to his first Mid-American feature win of the season Saturday night at the
141 Speedway in Francis Creek.
Also taking home winner trophies on the night were Lee Kielpikowski in the
Super Stocks, Jordan Thiel in the Mini Stocks, Kyle Bauknecht in the Hobby
Stocks and Rachel Gauger in the Sport 4s.
A late caution in the Mid-American headliner open the door for Strouf to make
a move on rookie Travis Rodewald en route to his victory. Rodewald had
led from the initial drop of the green, and carried a steady five-car length
advantage over Mike Oswald into the late stages of the event.
With Oswald locked in a battle for second with Strouf, Joe Kerkhoff and Jimbo
Schleis, Rodewald appeared headed to his first career MidAm win. Jeff
Tisler used the high line to catch the lead pack, but as he closed on Schleis,
contact sent the later sliding bringing out the caution with 10 laps to go.
Strouf chose the outside for the restart, but Rodewald again gained control on
the green. Strouf dropped to the low line and caught a break on the 30th
lap as Rodewald slipped high in the fourth turn. Strouf shot to the
point, then pulled away to the win.
Oswald also used the inside to grab the second spot, finishing there just
ahead of Kerkhoff. Kevin Damrow, Gary Tisler and Daryl Gerke completed
the top six.
The win for Strouf, coupled with another fast qualifier mark, moved him into
the division point lead.
Drama came on the final corner of the Super Stock feature as leader Tim Conard
rounded the final turn with a win in his sights. Conard had used an
outside move on Adam Pontzloff with four laps to go to take the lead for the
first time with four laps to go.
Kielpikowski slipped past Pontzloff for second, but appeared headed to a
second place run as Conard worked through three and four. But as Conard
rounded four and began to head for the line, he lost the handle, spinning to
the infield.
Kielpikowski avoided the sliding to Conard to race to his first feature win of
the season. The spin moved Pontzloff back to second, his best career
finish in the Supers. Nathan Wegner was third, points leader Greg
Thompson fourth and Kraig Koehler was fifth. Koehler, in just his second
night in the former Josh Sand championship car, marked his second straight top
five finish to go along with fast time honors on the night.
Thiel raced away from the pack, and then withstood a late charge from
defending champ Jason Novak to win for the second time in 2006.
Thiel took the lead early from Steve Schneider, and then worked to what
appeared to be a walk-away win. But Novak marched steadily forward,
grabbing second with nine laps to go.
Aided somewhat by lapped traffic, Novak caught Thiel on the final lap, but
couldn’t make a serious play for the lead. Thiel crossed the line
first; his second win of the season after taking the trophy on opening
night.
Novak was second, with the rest of the top five all recording season high
finishes: Schneider third, Dave Gauger Jr fourth and Kari Kostichka
fifth.
Jason Rabas jumped to a big lead in the Hobby Stock main and most certainly
would have made things tough for Bauknecht. But on just the third lap,
he pulled high out of two and headed for the pits out of power.
Dave Gauger Sr inherited the top spot, but held it for just a pair of laps as
Bauknecht scooted by, headed to his 7th feature win of the season.
Gauger stayed put in second as Joshua Setzer won a race long battle with Jacob
Anderson for third.
Rachel Gauger used a restart on the 8th lap to grab the lead from Aaron
Dalton, and then held off Don Murray and Matt Cherney through lapped traffic
on the final lap to win her first feature of the season in the Sport 4 event.
Saturday night, the Speedway will host the annual 50-lap Wayne Knowles
Memorial MidAm feature presented by TA Motorsports. The second
annual Box Car Races for the kids will also be part of the show.
Qualifying will take to the quarter-mile oval at 5:00PM, with the first heat
at 7:00PM. For more information, visit the track’s website at
www.141speedway.com
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