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44 Sprinters Do Battle At Cedar Lake’s Sprint Car Showdown
New Richmond, WI; September 10, 2005. With the season winding down and
the track championships already awarded; 44 fire-breathing 410 sprint cars
showed up to battle for cash and bragging rights in the 4th annual Sprint Car
Showdown on the lighting fast high banks of Cedar Lake. Wissota Midwest
Modifieds were the under-card for the program and 34 of those machines checked
into the pit gate. Many of the 34 Mods in attendance were not CLS
regulars. Many of the teams came in hopes of getting a jump on the setup
for this week’s 20th annual Wissota 100 Wednesday through
Saturday.
The Annual September Sprint Car Showdown continues to grow larger each year as
a great crowd again filled the grandstand on a perfect late summer
evening. This event also doubles as the Jerry Richert Memorial in memory
of the late Jerry Richert. A big thank you goes to the whole Richert
family for organizing this great program. Four heat races in both
classes were the appetizer for the evening. One ‘B’ feature was
first for the Mods then the sprints lined up for twin ‘B’ features before
the main events.
The 30 lap sprint feature was the first of the two. Gregg Dobmeier
started on the pole with Kim Mock redrawing the outside front row.
Dobmeier bolted to the lead with Scotty Neitzel moving to the second spot, and
Justin Henderson sliding into third. A lap three melee erupted as KJ
Skelton and Randy Anderson got tangled in turn two sending both machines into
multiple barrel rolls. Both drivers walked away from the incident but
both machines were destroyed. Dobmeier led Neitzel, Henderson, Wayne
Johnson, and Scott Young for the restart. That restart was short-lived
as Linton Jeffrey did several somersaults between turns one and two only a lap
later. Jeffrey was OK, but as is usually the case in sprint car flips,
the racing machine did not fair so well. On the ensuing restart,
Dobmeier again held the lead but Henderson pulled even less than a lap
later. Gregg Bakker hit the hammer and powered into third spot very
quickly behind the two. On lap 10, Henderson found a quick groove and
drove past Dobmeier for the lead. Henderson smoothly eluded lapped
traffic but was soon host to pressure from Wayne Johnson. A great slide
job by Johnson on lap 18 put him on the point out ahead of Henderson, Bakker,
Dobmeier, and Neitzel.
As the laps began ticking off very quickly, Johnson thought it might be smooth
sailing to the checkers. Not to be as the yellow waived over the
speedway on lap 23 for a spin back in the pack. Johnson maintained the
point on the restart but had Henderson sizing him up from the second
spot. Henderson blew past Johnson coming out of turn four on lap 24 only
to have Johnson throw a wicked slide job back at Henderson a lap later.
The pair threw great moves at each other swapping the lead four times over a
three lap segment! Unfortunately that battle up front was halted for a
lap 26 caution as a lapped machine fell off the pace. On the restart,
the unbelievable happened as the leader, Johnson, lost his motor coming out of
turn four bringing out the caution yet again on lap 26. Henderson
inherited the lead with Bakker on his nerf bar for a four-lap dash to the
cash. Third place runner Dobmeier got tangled with Mike Reinke coming
off turn two sending both machines up-side-down on lap 28. Both drivers
were OK but unable to finish the event. On the final restart Henderson
bolted away from the field for the remaining two laps to take the checkers and
win the 2005 Jerry Richert Memorial! Bakker, Neitzel, Scott Young, and
Travis Whitney rounded out the top five.
The Midwest Mods were the final event of the evening with track champion Dan
Wheeler continuing his string of great redraws as he redrew the pole for the
feature with Greg Chelsey lining up to his outside. Wheeler held the
point on the start as Dane Durbin slid into second when a restart came out on
lap two for a Brain Murphy breakdown. Wheeler again held the lead with
Durbin in second and Danny Bayer putting pressure on Durbin from the third
spot. Kevin Adams was the hard charger of the field as he came from a
ways back to move into fourth on lap 12. Meanwhile up front it was all
Wheeler as he ran off and hid from the field in route to picking up the
feature win. Wheeler led Durbin, Bayer, Adams, and Dennis Jones across
the stripe. Congratulations again to Dan and his team on a great
championship season.
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. Remember, its Wissota 100 time again as 500+ race cars
will descend upon Cedar Lake this week for the annual fall classic. We
look forward to seeing you in the grandstands and pits next week for the 20th
annual Wissota 100 at the legendary Cedar Lake Speedway!
Results:
Sprint Cars
Heat Winners:
Heat 1: 80K Mike Kertscher
Heat 2: 13 Mark Dobmeier
Heat 3: 1H Gregg Bakker
Heat 4: 61 Joe Roe
Feature: Henderson, Bakker, Neitzel, Young, Whitney, Kerschner, Roe,
Geldner, Mock, and C. Shierk.
Wissota Midwest Modifieds
Heat Winners:
Heat 1: 40 Kevin Adams
Heat 2: 1J Dennis Jones
Heat 3: 36 Danny Bayer
Heat 4: 66 Lonnie Louschke
Feature: Wheeler, Durbin, Bayer, Adams, Jones, Chelsey, Weisman,
Phillips, Cummings, and Lavato.
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