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USA Nationals & Pepsi Cup Weekend At Cedar Lake
New Richmond, WI; August 6, 2005. The 2005 edition of The USA Nationals,
held annually at Cedar Lake Speedway, was certainly the place to be this past
weekend for any dirt Late Model fans in the Midwest. After talking to
several spectators at the conclusion of the show, the most common response
heard was, “Awesome show, looking forward to next year
already!” Certainly a Late Models fan’s dream weekend with the
all the cars and stars of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series combined with
the best Super Late Models from the five state area and Canada all converged
on Cedar Lake’s lightning fast high banks. Saturday night featured
another full show of Super Late Models in the $5,000 to-win Pepsi Cup portion
of the weekend along with the two consi races and 60 lap $40,000 to-win USA
Nationals for the Stacker 2 World of Outlaws. Another combined total of
over 80 of the best Late Models in the country checked in ready to do battle
for the over $175,000 in prize money.
The evening got started with five heat races for Pepsi Cup portion of the
program. Heat number one was a Steve Laursen driving clinic as he
rocketed to a near half lap heat race win. Heat number two saw last
night’s winner, Joel Cryderman, take the early advantage but followed
closely by Pat Doar. Doar tired several times to drive around Cryderman,
but it was not to be as Joel picked up where he left off last night and picked
up the win. Heat three saw Troy Kuyoth drive out front early and
establish a stranglehold on the lead all the way to the checkers for the heat
race victory. In the fourth heat race we got to see John Kaanta power to
the front and remain there to pick up the heat race win in the brand new
Mastersbuilt machine. The fifth and final heat race had Brady Smith
cruise to an early advantage but soon be heavily pressured by Jimmy
Mars. For the last half of the race Mars stalked Smith up and down the
speedway but wasn’t able to complete the pass as Smith crossed the stripe
first to claim the heat win.
The World of Outlaw Late Models had their twin “B” features up next as
Kerry Hanson and Mitch Johnson were side-by-side for the green flag.
Schlieper moved to the front and then fought off several cautions to pick up
the win. Schlieper crossed the line ahead of Clint Smith and Kerry Hanson, all
three picking up starting spots in the “A” feature later on. The
second “B” had Shane Clanton and “Chubzilla” Chub Frank on row number
one. Frank used the high side early and drove right to the front with
Clanton and Pat Doar trailing behind. It was never really a competition
for Frank as he cruised to the victory ahead of Clanton and Doar, all earning
spots in the 18th Annual USA Nationals.
Pepsi Cup Super Late Models were up next wit their twin “B”
features. In the first “B”, Joey Jensen sliced to the front early
but soon had company from The Jet, Justin Fegers. Fegers used the
cushion to drive past Jensen with five laps left. No more than two laps
later, Jensen’s motor let go heading down the back stretch. That
eliminated him from a transfer spot and moved Jeff Hinkemeyer into a transfer
position. Fegers had no problems on the restart and cruised to a
qualifier win. The second “B” had Jerry Redetzke on the pole with
Mike Nutzmann to his outside. Nutzmann absolutely powered out front of
the field until a motor let go only a few laps into the contest. He gave
the lead back to Redetzke and Big Jerry never looked back as he drove off to
pick up the checkers.
The twin Pepsi Cup Dashes were up next to determine the first five rows in
tonight’s second $5,000 to-win Super Late Model Pepsi Cup. Last
night’s feature winner Joel Cryderman led John Kaanta across the stripe to
earn the pole for tonight’s feature. The second dash had Steve Laursen
motor to the lead and come across the stripe ahead of Pat Doar and Jimmy Mars.
The $5,000 to-win Pepsi Cup event was up next as the anticipation of the huge
crowd could be felt in the cool evening air. As engines roared to life
and cars filed onto the speedway, Joel Cryderman and Steve Laursen took their
rightful spots adorning the front row. On the start, Laursen bolted to
an early advantage with Pat Doar and Cryderman close in tow. Laursen
began extending that lead for a few laps until Cryderman made a move on Doar
for the second spot and began closing the gap on Laursen. By lap 10
Cryderman had caught Laursen and began eyeing the 19 machine up, looking for a
way around. They didn’t take long as on lap 13, Cryderman found the
hole he was looking for and drove right past Laursen for the lead. A
yellow waived for debris on lap 19 slowing the field bunching up Cryderman,
Doar, Laursen, Jeff Wildung and Troy Kuyoth in the fifth spot. On the
restart, the field went right back to about four distinct grooves on the
speedway and sliced it up for position. Jimmy Mars made his way into the
lead pack with about 15 to go as he got by Kuyoth, and then snuck by Wildung
and into the third spot. Not yet satisfied Jimmy fought past Doar and
into the second spot behind Cryderman. Meanwhile up front Cryderman was
evading lapped traffic and clicking off laps putting more distance between
himself and rest of his competition. Mars kept digging hard chasing
Cryderman all the way to the end, but just didn’t have enough time as Joel
Cryderman crossed the stripe first completing the double this weekend!
Congratulations to Joel on a very impressive weekend.
Up next was the finale of the weekend, The 18th Annual Stacker2 USA Nationals
event. Steve Francis and Billy Moyer took their front row starting spot
for the start of the $40,000 to-win event. Moyer out front early as he
won the drag race down the front straight under the flag stand and beat
Francis into turn one. The field barreled into turns one and two, ripped
down the backstretch, then we found our first yellow of the event as Dan
Schlieper got tangled with several cars heading into turn three and made solid
contact with the inside retaining wall. The restart set the stage for
all kinds of drama as now everyone knows what the driver next to them wants to
do. Moyer retained the lead on the restart but soon found company as
Dale McDowell came from the outside second row starting spot to challenge
Moyer. That battle was halted as Earl Pearson Jr. and Chub Frank got
tangled coming off turn four, spinning both machines out. On the ensuing
restart Moyer again held the lead and McDowell, Francis, McCreadie, and Brady
Smith fell into top five spots. Moyer was setting a blistering pace as
it took him only until lap 12 to catch lapped traffic. The Mac Daddy,
Dale McDowell had reeled in Moyer and began stalking Mr. Smooth for the
lead. Side-by-side the pair went down the front stretch for the
lead! Moyer successfully fought off the challenge this time but soon had
more company as Francis used the battle to catch the pair. That battle
was again made larger and more treacherous as McCreadie and hotshot Josh
Richards all made it a five car battle with Moyer, McDowell, and
Francis. Moyer had the cushion all to himself as McDowell used the
middle groove to power past Moyer for the lead on lap 37. McCreadie used
the same line to blow past both Francis and Moyer to gain the second spot
behind leader McDowell. Birkhofer, Smith, Darren Miller and Rick Eckert
all were battling foe the fifth spot behind the leaders. Back up front
McCreadie was trying all lines around the speedway to slowly close the several
car gap. Josh Richards and Steve Francis went wheel-to-wheel around the
speedway in a great battle for third. They call him Kid rocket; Josh
Richards put a great move on the Kentucky Corneal to gain the spot. Then
the dreaded yellow flew for a flat right rear tire on third place runner Josh
Richards! That slowed the field and created a $40,000 to-win 9 lap
shootout to the checkers with McDowell leading McCreadie, Moyer, Francis, and
Birkhofer rounding out the top five. Brady Smith, Miller, and Eckert
were all within striking distance. On the restart McDowell held strong
up on the cushion as Moyer went to the bottom side. McDowell found yet
another gear as he immediately pulled out to a several car advantage over
Moyer and company. Then the last thing McDowell wanted to see happened
yet again… another yellow. Earl Pearson got tangled up coming out of
turn two and spun the 1P machine into the safety barrier. This all
happening on lap 53; creating a seven-lap dash to the big cash behind leader
McDowell.
Mac Daddy went right back to the cushion on the restart and took a several car
length lead over Moyer. Francis held the third spot with McCreadie
falling to third and Birkhofer running fifth. McDowell took the white
flag a with a good 10 car length lead over the field. No problems
encountered on the last lap as The Mac Daddy, Dale McDowell took the double
checkered flags to claim his second USA Nationals event and the $40,000
payday! Moyer came home second, Francis in third, McCreadie in fourth,
and Birkhofer rounded out the top five. Congratulations to Dale, his
crew and sponsors on their well deserved win!
Positions six through ten looked like this: Rick Eckert, Darren Miller,
Scott Bloomquist, Shane Clanton, and Brady Smith. From eleventh on back
the finishing order was: Jimmy Mars, Josh Richards, Darrell Lanigan,
Clint Smith, Chub Frank, Eric Jacobsen, Kerry Hansen, Trent Follmer, Earl
Pearson Jr., Donnie Moran, John Blankenship, Steve Isenberg, Pat Doar, and Dan
Schlieper in 24th.
Unofficially, Francis maintained his point lead in the World of Outlaws point
standings with a 30 pint lead over Moyer, Eckert (68), McCreadie (74), and
Chub Frank (112) in fifth. Several of the traveling WoO drivers
expressed their excitement about the weekend at praised both Cedar Lake for
hosting the event and the great fans for supporting one of the highlights on
their tour. Definitely an entertaining, on the edge of your seat weekend
from the drop of the first green to the double checkered flags and big check
awaiting McDowell on Saturday night.
Make sure you log on to www.cedarlakespeedway.com
to get a look at the complete schedule, ticket information, race recaps, and a
lot of other information about the high banked clay oval. Also call the
toll free information line for weather and schedule update at 866-4-CLSFUN
Advanced tickets for next year’s event can also be purchased by calling the
toll free line or logging on to the website. We look forward to seeing
you in the grandstands and pits next Saturday night at the legendary Cedar
Lake Speedway!
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