Houdek Tops Midwest Modified Feature
By Bill Nelson
June 12, 2004
Spring Valley MN

Another night in the books at Deer Creek Speedway and another night of racing with Mother Nature.  Rains hit the track about 7:00.  After some foot racing on the front stretch during the delay as racers and fans ran for a little cash the equipment was brought onto the track to try and work it back in.  Just after 9:00 the super stocks came onto the track for their heat race and the racing continued after the 2-hour delay on the John Hardy's Bar-B-Q sponsored night.  It has been a season of adversity and hopefully the weather will start to co-operate with the racing for a while.

Travis Krause took the early lead in the WISSOTA Street Stock feature with second row starter Shaun Wehlage moving up into the second spot.  Early in the race these two pulled significantly away from the third place car of Fred Prudoehl.  Darran Jonsgaard, Dennis Davis and Bobby Kilby were racing hard for the fifth position.  Davis took the fifth spot as Scott Olson and Steve Eischens moved up to race with Jonsgaard and Kilby for the sixth spot.  Coming out of four during their battle some of the cars got together with Jonsgaard hitting the front stretch wall and Olson climbing the wall by the flagstand and skidding down the straight until the car came back down.  On the restart Wehlage pulled alongside of Krause a couple times as they pulled away from the field.  The front two ran nose to tail for the last five laps as Wehlage was unable to get around Krause as the field ran mostly single file for the remaining circuits.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds were afflicted with the yellow fever but when the green was out there were some great battles on the track.  Bob Bunne and Greg Pfeifer Jr. ran side by side for the first two laps after pacing the field to the green flag.  Pfeifer took the point as the first caution flew.  Ron Houdek used the high side on the restart to pull along of Bunne for second.  Albert Wytaske was closely following Houdek towards the front.  Two laps later Houdek powered by Pfeifer on the high side to take over the top spot.  Wytaske used the low line to move into the second spot later that lap.  These two drivers started putting some daylight between them and the field as the pack had a lot of great competition for position through the field racing three wide most of the way around the track.  A late race restart set up a Green, White, and Checker dash to the finish.  After taking the white flag, Wytaske pulled under Houdek and exiting 2 the two cars touched sending Houdek into the wall.  The race was flagged caution/checker with Wytaske sent to the rear and Houdek taking a win.

Brian Kiehne is looking strong as of late in the Dwarf cars and rocketed from his front row starting spot to the early lead.  Tate Bestor moved into second as Rick Utley and Jeff Jech raced for the third spot.  David Marso and Mike Gaines had a good battle going on for the fifth spot as the field spread out around the track.  These two raced clean for most of the race with Drew Jech following closely behind them.  Kiehne pulled out to almost a full straight until the only caution of the event flew.  On the restart Utley moved low on the track and got under Jech for the third spot.  Kiehne kept pulling away coming home with his second straight win.

The WISSOTA Super Stocks had the clay flying over the wall tonight as they clicked off some pretty quick laps.  Troy Langowski who has been very quick whenever at the track this year in his homebuilt super stock.  Langowski got the good draw and started on the pole for the feature event.  Dave Haberman came to life after a couple laps and moved to the top of the track and started to pick off cars.  After starting twelfth, Haberman pulled into the third spot at the half way point.  Adam Stockhausen was having a great run in second and had put enough distance between him and the field that Haberman would have a hard time trying to catch him.  The final caution of the event waved with five laps remaining.  Haberman used the restart to clear Stockhausen but in front of them Langowski put about a dozen car lengths between them as he headed for another checker flag.

The USRA Modifieds came into the night with their streak of five different winners in the first five races.  The feature saw Trevis Underdahl starting in the front row with Brad Waits.  Exiting two they were joined by Nate Wasmund as they ran three wide until Underdahl got the lead at the line.  Behind the top five there were fierce battles for just about every spot on the track.  Bruce Angst, Waits and Karl Fenske locked horns for the third spot until Wasmund slipped up the track in front of them allowing them to go four wide out of four.  The only caution came out as Darin Toot and Bobby Sorensen's cars locked together in turn three.  Underdahl continued to run strong up front as Angst and Waits battled it out for second.  Bob Timm and Mike Sorensen worked up from the middle of the pack to run behind them.  Eventually Waits pulled out into the second spot as Underdahl continued to dominate on the high side of the track as he pulled out to a crowd favorite win.  Six winners in six nights of racing action in the USRA modified class.

The WISSOTA Late Models were hauling the mail on the fast track tonight.  Barry Underdahl moved into the lead early on as the rest of the field found their favorite lines behind him.  After a couple quick yellows the field settled in for a longer run for the checkers.  Brad Waits and Bob Timm ran side by side for a couple laps until Timm was able to take over the position.  Jeff Matjeka was running in the fourth spot at the very bottom of the track with everyone else running the high line.  Timm had a good run going up front and started to square off the corners and was finally able to pull under Underdahl.  Over the last five laps Waits and Teske were also able to move around Underdahl.  Bill Stettner moving up from the fourteenth spot to make a top five finish.

Tuesday night the United States Modified Touring Series comes to the track sponsored by Tolly's Time Out of Austin, Dave Syverson Ford and Minnesota Corrigated of Albert Lea.  On Saturday night the WISSOTA Sprint Cars pull onto the track for their only visit of the season sponsored by Freedom Exteriors of Rochester.  Both events will feature some great racing action.

Special thanks to track sponsors Valley Trailer Sales, Schmidt Trucking, Trimbles, 1st State Back, Brekke Fireplace Shoppe, Nate's Outdoor Rec, Hillcrest License Bureau, Brauer Roofing and South Main Auto Service for their help.  Also a special thanks to the drivers and all of those who helped work on the track over the weekend to get some more racing action in on the High Banked Southern Minnesota Speedplant.


WISSOTA Late Models
Feature - Bob Timm, Brad Waits, Mark Teske, Barry Underdahl, Bill Stettner, Jon Chrest, Paul Novotny, Ben Mattick, Jerry Bloom, Jim Carlson

Heat 1- Timm, Teske, Jeff Matjeka, Mattick, Bloom
Heat 2 - Carlson, Waits, Chrest, Underdahl, Steve Yaggy

USRA Modifieds
Feature - Trevis Underdahl, Brad Waits, Bob Timm, Mike Sorensen, Bruce Angst, Todd Klees, Tim Donlinger, Nate Wasmund, Dan Bohr, Hank Rollinger

Heat 1- Sorensen, Dave Siercks, Wasmund, Jay Poidinger, Dennis Hillson
Heat 2- Angst, Karl Fenske, Waits, Steve Wetzstein, Darin Toot
Heat 3- Bobby Sorensen, Timm, Underdahl, Rollinger, Lonnie Earney

WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature- Troy Langowski, Dave Haberman, Adam Stockhausen, Chris Klinger, Dustin Nelson, Kevin Hager, Matt Durnen, Schatney Sanders, Dan Nissalke, Bobby Swanson

Heat 1-Langowski, Nelson, Klinger, Stockhausen, Nissalke
Heat 2- Bill Clemens, Hager, Sanders, Mark Oeltjenbruns, Durnen

WISSOTA Midwest Modified
Feature -Ron Houdek, Greg Pfeifer Jr., Bob Bunne, Gary Nordine, Joe Wernecke, Joe Bunne, Tim Siercks, Mike Paulson, Vince Corbin, Harlan Morehart

"B" Feature -Craig Bentzin, Jim Struckman, Sam Siskow, J. Bunne, M. Paulson

Heat 1 -Siercks, B. Bunne, Pfeifer Jr., Houdek, Brian Hernandez
Heat 2 -Albert Wytaske, Corbin, Jacob Dahle, Wernecke, Morehart
Heat 3 -Jerry Young, Nordine, Ryan Weber, Matt Larson, Bryan Siercks

WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature -Travis Krause, Shaun Wehlage, Fred Prudoehl, Mike Sample, Steve Eischens, Chuck Nerland, Tom McEldowney, Jeff Nelson, Bobby Kilby, Rob McGregor

Heat 1 -Krause, Wehlage, Prudoehl, Nelson, Kilby
Heat 2 -Darran Jonsgaard, Jason Gabrielson, Dennis Davis, Scott Olson, Sample

Dwarf Cars
Feature -Brian Kiehne, Tate Bestor, Rick Utley, Jeff Jech, David Marso, Mike Gaines, Corey Whalen, Drew Jech, Todd Kiehne, Curtis Luhmann

Heat 1- Dave Lewison, Bestor, D. Jech, J. Jech, Gaines
Heat 2 -B. Kiehne, Utley, Whalen, Marso, Jim Dahle