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Dripps Wins Third Modified Feature Of The Season
By Bill Nelson
(July 24) Spring Valley Mn. - A very unusual temperature day greeted a huge
crowd at Deer Creek Speedway on Saturday afternoon. 138 cars checked
into the back gate with temperatures in the middle 70's. The event was
sponsored by Brad Skifter the local Pioneer Seeds dealer in Southeast
Minnesota. Featherlite also was sponsoring the added purses for the USRA
modifieds and the WISSOTA Late Models as their special races were being ran
after the rainout on July 3rd.
During the course of the night the track got progressively blacker with some
of the cars literally scraping the wall around the track. With the extra
laps ran by these two classes and a few sessions of misting the track the show
was still completed early with everyone out of their seats by 10:20.
The WISSOTA Street Stock feature found local hotshoe Travis Krause battling
with Chuck Nerland and Jamie Johnson early on for the lead in a three wide
battle down the backstretch on the first lap. Krause took the point
going into three and never looked back. Shaun Wehlage and Tom McEldowney
were locked up early on for the fourth position. With twelve laps to go
Nerland was sitting just inside of Johnson as they continued their battle for
second. After loosing a little ground early on in their battle Wehlage
continued to lock horns with McEldowney. These two stayed in it together
until seven laps were left and Wehlage finally cleared into the fourth spot.
With five to go Neland finally moved into the second spot but Krause was too
far out front to catch. Krause came home with the win, Nerland second
and Johnson with his best run of the season in second.
The Classic Dwarf cars pulled onto the track for their feature event with
Brian Kiehne and David Marso pacing the field. Marso got
crossed up in turn one on the start but everyone was able to avoid him and the
race continued green. Kiehne was unable to pull away from the second
place
running car of Craig Shaw early on. Two laps later however Shaw pulled
up with a broken driveshaft and was clipped by Rick Utley who in turn was hit
by Todd Kiehne. Todd took a little tumble as the car flipped over.
Everyone was okay but those three were unable to continue. On the
restart Kiehne led again with Tate Bestor and Kevin Bigalk racing for
second. Corey Whalen moved into a three car battle after taking the
fourth position away from Jim Dahle. Whalen and Bestor pulled away from
the rest of the field as they were in hot pursuit of Kiehne up front.
The top three raced hard for the win with each racer taking their turn at the
front during the last five laps of the race. Kiehne held the advantage
on the white flag lap going into three and four. Bestor moved to the top
of the track and ran Kiehne down coming to the line completing the pass and
taking the win by less than a foot at the line.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds hit the track with Joe Wernecke moving into the lead
early on. Wernecke pulled away from the field during the caution free
event and he needed his entire early race margin at the end. Tom
Paulson, Craig Bentzin had a good race at the beginning for the second spot
with Scott Huinker, Bob Bunne and Albert Wytaske directly behind them.
The field
ran three wide early as Bentzin slipped up allowing those four drivers to
battle for second. These four wheeled their machines hard until Wytaske
took over the spot with eight to go. As Wytaske cleared the battle Nick
Kramer, Ron Houdek and Jerry Young joined the ranks in the battle for third.
The five drivers battled hard to the finish as Wytaske chased down the leader
Wernecke. Wernecke held on for the win by three car lengths over Wytaske.
This was probably the best Midwest modified race this year with two and three
wide battles all over the track and impossible to keep up with all of the
action.
Adam Stockhausen moved from his outside front row starting position to take
the lead exiting turn two in the WISSOTA Super Stock feature. Cole
Queensland set up shop in second with Bill Clemens working on him while
running in third. Queensland pulled up to Stockhausen two laps later
trying to take over the lead. They ran side by side for two laps until
Queensland took over the position. Two laps late Clemens moved alongside
of Queensland for the front position. The two ran side by side for three
laps until Clemens took over up front. Brad Peterson was also having one
of his best runs of the season working into the third spot early on.
With six laps remaining Schatney Sanders came alive and moved up into the top
five to battle for spots. With five to go Sanders moved past Queensland
for the second position. Clemens held on for the win with Queensland
third.
The 40 lap USRA modified race was a great one this week with extra money up
for grabs. Some touring drivers stopped by for a visit after returning
from a Friday night show. Johnny Bone Jr. from Pea Ridge Arkansas
started out with the early lead after holding off Bob Timm early on.
Tommy Myer moved into the third spot as Bone started to put a little distance
on the field. Jay Ihrke and Brad Waits moved up to battle with Myer while
twelfth starting Corey Dripps worked into the top five with 10 laps
down. Waits moved into the third spot followed closely by Dripps.
Myer pulled up with 20 to go for a broken tie rod. On the restart Dripps
moved up into a race with Bone for the top spot as Ihrke, Todd Scharkey and
Tim Donlinger duked it out for third. Donlinger started eighteenth on
the field and was definitely charging through the field. With seventeen
to go Dripps went under Bone to take the lead. Todd Scharkey and Brad
Waits were flying around the top side of the speedway with sparks flying from
the chariots as they danced their right rear quarters off the wall. Mike
Sorensen started fifteenth and was working his way up front as he battled with
Ihrke and Timm for the sixth position. 10 laps remained in the field as
Dripps caught up to a big pack
of slower traffic allowing Donlinger to start making up some big ground.
Donlinger got alongside a couple times but could not complete the pass. Dripps
came home with the $1000 prize while Donlinger received $1200 courtesy of CJ
Auto Sales who kicked in an extra $400 for the second place car.
Jeff Matjeka was the strongest late model early one as they WISSOTA Late
models ran for the $1200 first place check. Jon Chrest looked strong
early on also and was running soundly in second. Matthees started his
charge through the field after starting eighth on the grid and was battling
Brad Waits for third with ten laps complete. With thirty five laps left
Matthees worked under Chrest for second while Waits and Mark Teske were side
by side for fourth. Waits was running extremely high and lost out after
scraping the wall one too many times. Teske moved under him as he
bounced off the wall and the two made contact. Waits was unable to
continue. On the restart Matthees took control of the race while Teske
ran a couple laps before clearing Matjeka for second. Behind the front
two a great battle with Chrest, Paul Novotny, Nick Herrick and Troy Brand was
raging on while most eyes were on the race up front. Teske worked
a couple different lines
but Matthees held strong. Late in the race a caution flew for the broken
driveshaft of Chrest. Matthees continued to lead on the restart with
Teske getting next to him a couple times. Coming to the white flag Teske
got a strong run on the top side of the track and the two crossed the line
side by side. Teske used the run to take home the win and the first
place money.
It was another exiting night of racing action at the Southern Minnesota
Speedplant. Next week's racing will feature all 6 classes in action on
the Dan Sween-Ken Stevens-Frenchy-Art Navarro, Snap on Tools Dealer
Night. Also special thanks to track sponsors Valley Trailer Sales, Joel
Bigelow and Sons Enterprises, EZ Chassis and Fabrication, Eastwood Auto Works,
Kramer
Motorsports, Olmstead National Bank, Firstone, Renew Salon, Jeff O'Connor, R.
J. Werner & Reich Concrete
WISSOTA Late Models
Feature-Mark Teske, Lance Matthees, Jeff Matjeka, Nick Herrick, Troy Brand,
Barry Underdahl, Steve Yaggy, Paul Novotny, Josh Mattick, Jerry Bloom
Heat 1-Brad Waits, Novotny, Teske, Herrick, Jon Chrest
Heat 2-Matjeka, Matthees, Underdahl, Bloom, Bob Timm
USRA Modifieds
Feature-Corey Dripps, Tim Donlinger, Johnny Bone Jr, Todd Scharkey, Mike
Sorensen, Brad Waits, Bob Timm, Jay Ihrke, Ben Anderson, Dann Olson
"B" Main-Ryan Ruter, Trevis Underdahl, Bruce Angst, Jeff Rollinger,
Dave Siercks
Heat 1-Dripps, Olson, Tommy Myer, Bone Jr., Anderson
Heat 2-Ihrke, Doug Hillson, Hank Rollinger, Neil Eckhart, Gary Schmidt
Heat 3-Waits, Timm, Jesse Frericks, Scharkey, Sorensen
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature-Bill Clemens, Schatney Sanders, Cole Queensland, Brad Peterson, Troy
Langowski, Adam Stockhausen, Dustin Nelson, Dave Haberman, Matt Durnen, Jeremy
Reinke
Heat 1-Haberman, Nelson, Clemens, Gary Wiersgalla, Cole Queensland
Heat 2-Peterson, Durnen, Sanders, Langowski, Stockhausen
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature-Joe Wernecke, Albert Wytaske, Ron Houdek, Tom Paulson, Bob Bunne, Nick
Kramer, Craig Bentzin, Jerry Young, Scott Huinker, Brian Hernandez
"B" Feature-Vince Corbin, Harlan Morehart, Greg Pfeifer Jr., Larry
Nelson, Dean Hoffman
Heat 1-Wytaske, Houdek, Young, Mike Paulson, Tyler Clark
Heat 2-Terry Timmerman, Bunne, Tim Siercks, Derrick Bridley, Ryan Weber
Heat 3-Huinker, Wernecke, Paulson, Joe Bunne, Gary Wilde
Heat 4-Bentzin, Kramer, Bryan Siercks, Hernandez, Johnny Magnum
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature-Travis Krause, Chuck Nerland, Jamie Johnson, Shaun Wehlage, Danny
Hanson, Tom McEldowney, Ron Rucker, Steve Eischens, Greg Erickson, Mike Sample
Heat 1-Fred Prudoehl, Hanson, McEldowney, Krause, David Gustafson
Heat 2- Wehlage, Johnson, Nerland, Kevin Newell, Ron Rucker
Classic Dwarf Cars
Feature-Tate Bestor, Brian Kiehne, Corey Whalen, David Marso, Matt
Aarsvold,Drew Jech, Jim Dahle, Eric Wiste, Kevin Bigalk, Joel Kath
Heat 1-Craig Shaw, Whalen, Todd Kiehne, Bigalk, Gavin Wangen
Heat 2-Brian Kiehne, Marso, Rick Utley, Bestor, Jech
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