Mass, Lewison And Krause Repeat As Winners
By Bill Nelson
April 17, 2004 Spring Valley Mn

A beautiful Saturday afternoon brought a very good field of 144 cars checked into the pit area at Deer Creek Speedway.  This week found a little drier track as the crew tried to push through the racing events when weather popped up on the radio screen around 9:00 limiting the amount of misting done throughout the night.  The track was very smooth and quick again tonight as the cars put on some great racing action for the nice crowd on hand.  The rain did finally fall shortly after 10:00 ending the racing action just as the WISSOTA Late Model feature was pulling onto the track. Next week there will be double features in the Late Model division.

I need to start this week's article with some bad news to report.  Merle Krause the owner of Oronoco Auto parts and an avid supporter of both Deer Creek Speedway and many drivers died in a car accident on Tuesday night.  Krause sponsored many local drivers including USRA modified drivers, Mike Sorensen, Neil Eckhart and Jesse Frericks along with Midwest Modified driver Derrick Bridley.  Merle will be missed by all of us at Deer Creek Speedway.

The Culvers WISSOTA Street Stocks pulled onto the track for their 15 lap feature first.  Dan Gullikson pulled out into the early lead with Travis Krause in tow in the second spot.  On the completion of the second lap a pack of cars running three wide for the fifth spot came out of four when Brad Dennis running in the middle of the pack got loose and collected a couple cars for the first and only caution of the event.  On the restart Jim Gullikson moved up into the top four as Dan and Krause resumed their battle. On the completion of the third lap Gullikson held the point by a fender and Krause pulled alongside to challenge for the top spot.  These two battle back and forth for four laps until Krause gained the advantage at the stripe.  By this time Shaun Wehlage had worked up from his fifth starting spot and followed Krause by into the second spot as Jim Gullikson pulled up to battle with Dan for the rest of the feature.  Charlie Novak, Steve Hinz and Jason Gabrielson had a great battle going for the fifth spot as the white flag flew.  Mike Sample got in trouble on the back stretch on the white flag lap and rolled onto his roof and was hit head-on upside down. The red flag came out and the race was called at that point, and all drivers involved were okay.  Krause came home with his second straight feature win with Wehlage second and Dan Gullikson third.

The Pine Cone Restaurant Modified Lites came out for their feature event next with Brian Kiehne and Mike Gaines pacing the field.  At the completion of lap one Dave Lewison moved into the top spot followed by Kiehne, Gaines and Tate Bestor.  Matt Aarsvold and Jeff Jech had a good battle going early on for the fifth spot.  Jech took over the fifth spot as Lewison continued to pull slightly away each lap.  Kiehne pulled out comfortably into the second spot at Bestor, Jech and Gaines battled for the third spot.  At the checkers it was Lewison by a straight, followed by Kiehne and Gaines.

The Pine Cone Restaurant WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds had some great three wide battles throughout the pack.  Greg Pfeiffer Jr. moved into the lead at the completion of the first lap.  The field continued to race hard throughout the field until the fourth lap when the only caution of the event came out with a spin by Sam Siskow.  On the restart Pfeiffer jumped back out into the lead with Jerry Young and Ryan Weber battling each other working into the second and third spots.  With eight laps left to go in the feature Pfeiffer worked into a 10 car lead with the pack racing hard behind him. At the stripe it was Pfeiffer coming home with his first feature win of the season, Young second and Weber third.  James White worked his way up from a B feature into the eighth position.

The Culvers WISSOTA Super Stocks came out for a very entertaining feature event.  Dave Mass made the long haul pay off with a front row starting spot and used that to his advantage to take the point at the drop of the green. Ryan Aho moved into second with a power move on the outside edge of the track on the second lap.  A couple quick cautions and restarts slowed the pace down.  When the race was resumed the pack was two and three wide for the next three laps behind Mass and Aho.  With five laps down in the twenty lap feature Bill Clemens moved up into the top five after starting thirteenth.  On the next lap Clemens worked under Schatney Sanders for the fourth spot.  Up front Aho starting to work on Mass which allowed Troy Langowski closed up on the front runners to make a three car battle out of it.  At the halfway point Aho moved to the outside of Mass at the line but was unable to complete the pass.  Mass slowly pulled back away and with three laps to go Clemens pulled into the pits.  At the finish it was Mass with his second win in a row, Aho second and Langowski third.

The Bigelow Enterprises USRA modifieds pulled on the track with Karl Fenske and Bob Timm setting the pace.  Fenske took the lead at the green and on the back stretch Bruce Angst slowed up against the wall stacking up a bunch of cars with the car of Chris Johnson getting tipped over onto his lid.  Chris was fine and after a little cleanup the race was resumed.  On the restart Fenske led, nineteenth starting Jay Ihrke found the top of the track to his liking and worked up into the top five as a four wide battle for the fourth spot ensued.  Ihrke took over the fourth spot as the fifth place battle moved into a three car battle.  With fifteen to go Timm started to pressure Fenske for the top spot around the bottom of the track.  Up on the top Mike Sorensen and Ihrke were flying around the top and pulled up to battle with the leaders as the caution came out for Fenske spinning out of turn two.  On the restart with eleven to go Sorensen slipped up in two and Todd Klees coming from the twentieth starting spot and Joey Schaeffer moved into the top four.  Klees and Ihrke battled side by side for a few laps until Klees took over the second spot and was gaining on Timm.  With three to go Klees pulled off into the infield ending a great run.  Sorensen and Ihrke continued to battle with Timm up front taking the win.  Sorensen finished second and Ihrke third.

The Insty Prints WISSOTA Late Model feature event fell victim to rain just as the race took the green flag.  Next week there will be double features in the Late Model class.

This week's racing action was sponsored by Tiny's body Shop of Austin and K.C. Lawncare of Lyle MN.  Also a special thanks to Track Sponsors Bill Funk Trucking, Kuehn Motor Company for the 2000 Chevy Pace Truck, the Thein Well Company, Tolly's Timeout, Ziemetz Motors and Isenberg Equipment.  Next weeks racing activities are being brought to you by Sorensen Restoration and Custom Woodworking of Wabasha.

RESULTS
Wissota Late Models
Heat 1 - Nick Herrick, Jon Chrest, Brad Waits, Barry Underdahl, Paul Novotny
Heat 2 - Ben Mattick, Lance Matthees, Jeff Matjeka, John VanMinsel, Jerry Bloom

Feature - Rained out, to be run next weekend

USRA Modifieds
Heat 1 - Bruce Angst, Nate Wasmund, Joey Schaefer, Brad Waits, Jesse Frericks
Heat 2 - Dave Siercks, Karl Fenske, Mike Sorensen, Trevis Underdahl, Dennis Hillson
Heat 3 - Tim Donlinger, Bob Timm, Lonnie Earney, Ben Anderson, Jay Poidinger
B-Feature - Jay Ihrke, Todd Klees, Brian Shaw, Neil Eckhart, Bobby Sorensen

Feature - Timm, M. Sorensen, Ihrke, Wasmund, Waits, Schaefer, Eckhart, B. Sorensen, Poidinger, Hillson, Fenske

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Heat 1 - Dave Mass, Kevin Hager, Chris Klinger, Cole Queensland, Bill Clemens
Heat 2 - Ryan Aho, Mark Oeltjenbruns, Schatney Sanders, Zach Schultz, Tyler Rubin
Heat 3 - Todd Heinrich, Troy Langowski, Matt Durnen, Adam Stockhausen, Dave Haberman

Feature - Mass, Aho, Langowski, Heinrich, Hager, Dan Nissalke, Sanders, Dustin Nelson, Dave Haberman, Matt Durnen

WISSOTA Midwest Mods
Heat 1 - Greg Pfeiffer Jr., Nick Kramer, Kevin Yeager, Brian Hernandez, Tim Siercks
Heat 2 - Terry Timmerman, Ron Houdek, Ryan Weber, Mark Anderson, Jim Struckman
Heat 3 - Harlan Morehart, Jerry Young, Dave Bjorge, Vince Corbin, Dean Hoffman
Heat 4 - Joe Wernecke, Troy Jordan, Tyler Clark, Sam Siskow, Derrick Bridley
B-Feature - James White, Siercks, Mike Paulson, Jacob Dahle, Dane Durbin

Feature - Pfeifer Jr., Young, Weber, Timmerman, Houdek, Wernecke, Clark, White, Morehart, Paulson

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Heat 1 - Charlie Novak, Travis Krause, Jim Gullikson, Fred Prudoehl, Greg Wright
Heat 2 - Steve Eischens, Shaun Wehlage, Brad Dennis, Steve Hinz, Billy Michaelson
Heat 3 - Dan Gullikson, Jason Gabrielson, Chuck Nerland, Mark Hovland, Scott Olson

Feature - Krause, Wehlage, Gullikson, Gullickson, Novak, Gabrielson, Hinz, Prudoehl, Hovland, Eischens

Mod Lites
Heat 1 - Matt Aarsvold, Mike Gaines, Jeff Jech, Drew Jech, John VanMinsel
Heat 2 - Dave Lewison, Tate Bestor, Brian Kiehne, Bob Bunne, Corey Whalen

Feature - Lewison, Kiehne, Gaines, Bestor, Jech, Aarsvold, Drew Jech, Bunne, VanMinsel, Whalen