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Doar, Nelson, Loomis, Olson And Peterson Show The Way At Cedar Lake
05-06-2007
By Greg Parent
As a wave of rain passed just to the west of the track during the mid
afternoon hours, it appeared as though the fourth night of racing at the Cedar
Lake Speedway might be in jeopardy on Saturday May 5. Only some light
sprinkles fell at the track and soon the skies cleared a bit, the sun appeared
and racing took place on a somewhat cool and very windy spring evening.
A solid field of 119 cars signed into the pits to compete in five DTRA racing
divisions with 31 midwest modifieds, 26 modifieds, 24 late models, 20 super
stocks and 18 street stocks on hand.
As usual, the first DTRA class to get the night underway was the Street
Stocks. Cale Berry led all the way in the first heat race with Jason
Vandekamp a close second. The second heat race saw Shawn Kammerud grab
the lead on lap 1, but fifth starter Keith Tourville was quickly on the move
and into the lead by lap 2. One lap later Tourville slowed and pulled
into the pits with a breakdown. Kammerud held off Chris Peterson the
rest of the way for the win.
The first of three DTRA Midwest Modified heats was a good one. Erik
Peterson held the point for the first five laps before last week's feature
winner Ryan Olson got by for the lead. Peterson would not be denied the
win, as he retook the lead on lap 7 and kept Olson behind him. Justin
Schill had things his way in the second heat race with a dash from the pole
position to lead Clark Perry to the checkers for the win. 2006 DTRA
Rookie of the Year Andy Jones moved from fourth to first on the opening lap of
the third heat and raced ahead of the field for the win. Making his
first-ever competitive start in the midwest modified division; Skeeter Estey
ran a solid third behind Paul Fontecchio.
Mike Weber bolted from his outside front row starting spot enroute to victory
in the first DTRA Super Stock heat with Dan Carlson close behind.
Charlie Weber moved from seventh to third in a hurry and finished there.
After a caution waved on the opening lap of the second heat, 2006 CLS track
champion Larry Boumeester was called for jumping the start on the second
try. This meant he would be moved back one row. J B Stortz became
the new polesitter and took the lead over 2006 DTRA Rookie of the Year Jim
Gullikson. Boumeester moved into second a few laps later and took the
lead for good on lap 5. Gullikson eventually got by Stortz for second.
A strong field of DTRA Modifieds returned to action after having last week
off. The first heat race had a few yellows, but Kelly Estey paced the
field for 10 laps to earn the win over Shawn Peterson and seventh starter Dave
Lear. With defending track champion Dave Cain on the outside of the
front row for heat #2, it was basically a matter of who would finish
second. Scott Splittstoesser moved forward from his fifth starting spot
to finish there behind Cain with Darrell Nelson coming from seventh to
third. Following a spin in turn 4 on the opening lap, Troy Girolamo
raced from the back to earn the all-import fourth place and final redraw
position in heat #2. The third heat saw Shaun Kelley return to action
after injuring a motor on practice night in his Mopar powered modified.
Shaun would lead the opening lap. Tyler Keyser powered by on lap 2 and
appeared headed to victory. On the final lap fifth starter Jason Miller
thrilled the crowd with turn 4 pass for the win ahead of Keyser. Ron
Schreiner came from seventh to third.
The 24 car DTRA Late Model field would see three eight car heats.
Veteran driver Tom Nesbitt raced ahead of fellow Canadian Joel Cryderman to
lead the opening lap of the first heat. Cryderman took the lead for good
on lap 2 with Nesbitt staying close. Pat Doar blasted away from the
field from his outside front row starting spot in heat #2, as a good battle
for the second and fourth spots took place for several laps. Brent
Larson held off Don Shaw for second. The final heat race of the night
had Ashley Anderson on the pole in his first night out in his new MasterSbilt.
Ashley looked strong in leading all the way for the win over Steve Laursen.
Late-arriving Tom Thompson was making his first CLS appearance in several
years, and he raced forward from the back to finish fourth behind Mike
Hesselink.
One B Main would be necessary in the DTRA Midwest Modified division.
Nine cars of the scheduled thirteen made the call to battle for the top six
transfer positions. Former street stock driver Mike Conrad led the first
three laps before Lonny Louschke took the point. Jim Schweitzer moved
past Louschke on lap 9 to lead the final two circuits for the win in the
nonstop race. It was then time for some light blade work on the track
along with some moisture being laid down to get ready for feature race action.
On the freshly prepared surface, a 17 car starting grid took the green flag in
the DTRA Street Stock division. A very good race quickly developed for
the top five positions between Jason Vandekamp, Jeff Heintz, Shawn Kammerud,
Chris Peterson and Allen Gessel Jr. A caution with 5 laps in the books
found 14th starter Keith Tourville up to 8th place. Vandekamp led Heintz
on the restart, but Chris Peterson was on the move passing Kammerud and then
Heintz one lap later to run second. The final yellow flew for debris on the
track with 7 laps completed. Two laps after going green, Peterson moved
past Vandekamp for the lead with Gessel working to get by Heintz and Kammerud.
The leaders worked some lapped traffic and Vandekamp nearly repassed Peterson
on lap 11. Peterson was able to put just a little bit of distance
between himself and Vandekamp during the next couple of laps. Gessel
managed to race past Vandekamp on lap 14 for second. Chris Peterson
scored his first victory of the season followed by Gessel, Vandekamp, Heintz
and Tourville in what turned out be a very good 15 lap street stock main
event.
A 24 car field started the 15 lap DTRA Midwest Modified main event.
Looking to make it two straight wins in two weeks at CLS, Ryan Olson found his
redraw number very much to his liking. Pacing the field from the pole,
Olson quickly moved into the lead followed by last year's DTRA 100 winner
Brady Peterson. With Olson up front, some very good racing took place
for the next several positions. The lone caution waved with five laps in
for a spin in turn 4. Checking the progress under the yellow, fans could
see that Erik Peterson, Greg Chesley and Dan Wheeler were on the move.
Andy Jones raced into second but soon 9th starter Peterson was applying the
pressure. The two drivers had a good battle for a couple laps before
Peterson moved by. On lap 8 Chesley had moved from 12th to 4th.
Three laps later the fleet #97 machine moved past Andy Jones for third.
While Olson continued to pace the field, Chesley passed Peterson on lap 13 and
quickly began closing the gap. Dan Wheeler was also progressing forward
from his 13th starting spot. On the final lap, Chesley moved right
behind Olson. On the final turn, Chesley, who was looking for his third
win of the season, pulled alongside Olson. The two blasted off turn 4
with Olson winning by just a couple of car lengths over Chesley.
Peterson rode home in third while Wheeler moved past Jones for fourth late in
the race. Ryan Olson made it back-to-back wins, but there were several
cars making nice gains forward in this very competitive division.
With two entertaining features already completed, the DTRA Super Stocks came
trackside for their 20 lap feature race. Last week's winner Mark
Chamernick and Charlie Weber comprised the front row. Weber grabbed the
early lead running up top on the cushion. Larry Boumeester was looking
for his second CLS win of the 2007 season and wasted no time in moving past
Chamernick for second. Boumeester, running below the cushion, drove past
Weber on lap 4 for the lead. The first of five cautions slowed the pace
with five laps in when Dan Carlson spun in turn 4 following a power steering
failure. Carlson retired from the race. During this caution,
second place runner Charlie Weber had a right rear tire go flat. Weber's
crew was able to change it and get him back on the track for the
restart. After three cars got together on the restart, the race returned
to green flag action with Mike Loomis now applying some serious pressure on
leader Boumeester on laps 6 & 7. Loomis, who was also running the
high side, moved past Boumeester coming off turn 4 to lead lap 8. At
this point, many of the cars had migrated up top to find some bite against the
cushion. The strong winds had helped to dry the track out and it was
getting slick in the middle to bottom lanes. Another spin on lap 10
bunched the field up for the restart. Boumeester was right on Loomis,
but he too had moved up to the top groove. During the next five laps,
Mike Weber and Tim Borgeson had a good battle for the fifth spot behind J B
Stortz. With Charlie Weber nearing the top 10 again, suddenly he slowed
on lap 15 in turn 4 and drove slowly down the frontstretch. The full
field was quickly upon his car and the yellow waved shortly thereafter just as
seventh runner Jake Hiatt spun around, with some help, in turn 2. The
caution was called on the 26w of Weber, so all cars remained in their running
positions. Loomis continued in first with Boumeester and Chamernick
behind. The final caution flew two laps later when Ronnie Malecki broke
a rear axle and spun around in turn 3 minus his left rear wheel. The
three lap dash to the checkers saw only the fifth spot change hands.
Mike Loomis went on to record his very first career CLS victory in the super
stock division followed by Boumeester, Chamernick, Stortz and Borgeson.
In another career first, young Jake Hiatt got his first top ten finish when he
rode home 8th at Jeff Stacken 's checkered.
The popular DTRA Modified division brought a strong 25 car starting field to
the line. The preferred line certainly appeared to be the high
side. Darrell Nelson jumped into the lead from his pole starting
position and raced to the cushion in front of Troy Girolamo. Dave Cain
moved past Girolamo for second on lap 3, but Nelson had already built up a
comfortable margin. Tyler Keyser went to third on lap 6 with Girolamo
holding down the fourth spot. A spin with nine laps scored brought the
field under the first caution. Things would not go so well after this,
as seven more cautions would eventually cause the race to be reduced to 15
laps from the scheduled 20. On the restart, Girolamo broke a driveshaft.
Announcer Chris Stepan indicated that this was the third time this season that
had happened to the #2G car. When the green flag replaced the yellow,
Jason Miller was moving forward from his 10th starting position. Miller
ran fifth on lap 11 and then fourth on lap 12. Lap 12 proved to be the
real problem, as it seemed like the race just could not get going after a spin
brought the field under yellow for a third time, then a fourth time for
debris, and then a fifth time when Kelly Estey and Ron Schreiner made contact
in turn 2. Estey brought his car pitside after running in sixth while
Schreiner tagged the tail. We still weren't done with lap 12 yellow
fever though. A spin in turn 4 brought out the sixth yellow. One
lap later another spin in turn 2 saw the seventh yellow. It would be a
green-white-checker to the finish, but not before a final caution waved on lap
14 for another spin. This would set the stage for the two lap dash to
the finish. Up until this point, leader Darrell Nelson had not been
seriously challenged for the top spot. That would change. On the
final lap, Nelson jumped the cushion in turn 4 and Dave Cain seized the
opportunity to race underneath him. The pair raced side-by-side to the
checker with Nelson edging out Cain by about a foot. Tyler Keyser held
strong to finish third while Jason Miller completed his march forward in
fourth. Joey Jensen rounded out the top five.
As Darrell Nelson celebrated his modified victory, his late model was already
loaded up after breaking during hot laps. This meant a 23 car field
would take the green in the 30 lap DTRA Late Model feature race. Tom
Nesibtt and Pat Doar brought the field to the starting line. Pat Doar on
the outside of row one is pretty much the story. Doar had a strong car
all night long and this race would be no different. Doar was gone up
front and started getting into lapped traffic on lap 9. Meanwhile, the
battle behind him saw Joel Cryderman advancing from his 8th starting
spot. The first caution came with 14 laps in when second place runner
Tom Nesbitt came to a stop in turn 2. His familiar blue #1 car was
silent and pushed pitside. Ron Schreiner was now in second with
Cryderman third and Tom Thompson fourth. During the next seven laps,
Schreiner and Cryderman waged a good battle for the runner-up spot with Doar
pulling away again. Cryderman got by Rapid Ron for second on lap
21. On lap 22, the cars of Don Shaw and Rick Egersdorf made contact in
turn 2. Shaw headed to the pits while Egersdorf got his spot back in the
running order. Doar again drove away from the field on the
restart. With 24 laps completed, the fine run by Tom Thompson came to
end when his power steering failed and his black #12 car scraped the
backstretch wall and came to a halt in turn 3. Thompson's car sustained
enough damage to require a ride on the hook to the pits. Two laps after
the race went green, Ashley Anderson moved past Schreiner into third. A
final caution slowed the pace on lap 27 for a spin in turn 1, setting up a
three lap run to the finish. Doar completed his sweep for his second
straight late model win in front of Cryderman and Anderson. Brent Larson
got by Schreiner on the final lap to grab the fourth place spot. A tip
of the hat to Brent Mueller who raced his crate engine late model to a 13th
place finish.
Racing action concluded at 10:45pm on a cool and extremely windy night, but we
were fortunate to be racing as several other area tracks succumbed to the
weather. Racing continues next Saturday night May 12 with a full program
of action getting underway at 6:30pm at the 3/8 mile high-banked Cedar Lake
Speedway. Be sure to come out and enjoy a Saturday evening of dirt track
racing on Mothers Day weekend. See you at the races for our fifth night
during the 2007 season!
Race Results:
DTRA Impact Printing Late Models
Heat 1 Cryderman, Nesbitt, Schreiner,
Breeschoten, Egersdorf, Carlson, Keeney, Raboin
Heat 2 Doar, Larson, Shaw, Patchen, Nutzmann,
Emerson, Hipsag, Wennen
Heat 3 Anderson, Laursen, Hesselink, Thompson,
Huckovski, Mueller, Martire, Nelson
Feature Doar, Cryderman, Anderson, Larson, Schreiner,
Breeschoten, Egersdorf, Nutzmann, Laursen, Hesselink, Emerson, Hipsag,
Mueller, Patchen, Hucovski, Keeney, Wennen, Carlson, Thompson, Shaw, Nesbitt,
Raboin, Martire
DTRA Amsoil Modifieds
Heat 1 Estey, Peterson, Lear, Jensen, Brightbill,
Froehlich, Gross, Mueller, Loveday
Heat 2 Cain, Splittstoesser, Nelson, Girolamo,
Gross, Carlson, Kelley Jr., VanMeter, Uotinen
Heat 3 Miller, Keyser, Schreiner, Kelley, Schill,
Grube, Magistad, Doriott
Feature Nelson, Cain, Keyser, Jensen, Peterson, Gross,
Splittstoesser, Lear, Carlson, Grube, Loveday, VanMeter, Schill, Magistad,
Kelley Jr., Gross, Mueller, Brightbill, Kelley, Schreiner, Doriott, Estey,
Froehlich, Girolamo
DTRA Sunoco Super Stocks
Heat 1 Weber, Carlson, C Weber, Loomis, Hiatt,
Dondelinger, Emerfoil, Preston , Malecki, Bruggeman
Heat 2 Boumeester, Gullikson, Storz, Chamernick,
Borgeson, Wiome, Obermueller, Gorka, Rivard, Campeau
Feature Loomis, Boumeester, Chamernick, Storz,
Borgeson, Weber, Gullikson, Hiatt, Dondelinger, Gorka, Wiome, Obermueller,
Campeau, Preston, Emerfoil, Bruggeman, Rivard, Malecki, C Weber, Carlson
DTRA Midwest Modifieds
Heat 1 Peterson, Olson, Loos, Peterson, Wheeler,
Siercks, Conrad, Patterson, Inman, Larson, Lepinski
Heat 2 Schill, Perry, Chesley, Gross, Alsaker,
Thom, Louschke, Schweitzer, Trog, Hillukka
Heat 3 Jones, Fontecchio, Estey, Schultz, Gorka,
Corbin, Potvin, Nelson, Johnson, Schweitzer
B-Feat Schweitzer, Louschke, Inman, Patterson,
Conrad, Trog, Larson, Lepinski, Potvin
Feature Olson, Chesley, Peterson, Wheeler, Jones,
Schill, Loos, Peterson, Perry, Estey, Alsaker, Gross, Siercks, Corbin,
Fontecchio, Schweitzer, Louschke, Patterson, Thom, Trog, Gorka, Schultz,
Inman, Conrad
DTRA Street Stocks
Heat 1 Berry , Vandekamp, Debarnardeaux, Heintz,
Berglund, Loss, Larson, Raboin, Miller
Heat 2 Kammerud, Peterson, Gessel Jr., Schmidt,
Chambliss, Howland, Clapp, Tourville, Korstad
Feature Peterson, Gessel Jr., Vandekamp, Heintz,
Tourville, Kammerud, Debernardeaux, Berry, Schmidt, Howland, Berglund, Loss,
Chambliss, Miller, Larson, Korstad, Raboin
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