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Richert Wins In WISSOTA Sprints Return, Timm Dominates For 3 In A Row At Fox Ridge
August 8, 2003…Arcadia WI…..A huge crowd turned out for Golden Plump
Chicken, Trempealeau and Jackson County Crime Stoppers Family Night at the
Races. A good car count combined with quality racing would ensue.
The night progressed at a good pace, with the 11 heat races going green to
checkered and only two minor skirmishes resulting in two brief caution periods
during the features.
The WISSOTA Sprints made their return to Fox Ridge Speedway tonight with a
field of 13. The Sprint field may have been small, but they didn't
disappoint the large crowd on hand.
Jerry Richert of Forrest Lake MN, started from the pole in the feature and
took off like a scared rabbit. Jimmy Kouba of Byron, MN was the only
driver that was capable of keeping Richert in his sights. The remainder
of the pack was competitive, with most of the cars waging a tough battle for
third on back.
Richert had stretched his lead on Kouba to nearly an entire straight away
until a lap 6 spin by Chuck Swenson, who made the long haul all of the way
from Watertown, SD, brought out a brief caution.
On the restart, Richert again opened up a big lead, and the race stayed that
way until with about 4 laps to go. Kouba found a groove to his liking
and gradually began to reel Richert in. Coming out of turn four on the
next to last lap, Kouba pulled along side Richert. Richert was able to
pull ahead again, but between turns one and two, he bobbled, allowing Kouba to
once again pull along side. The two raced that way down the back stretch
until Richert gained a slight advantage in turn three. As the two came
out of turn four, Richert led Kouba by about four car lengths. Kouba
once again shot into the low groove, eliminating any lead the Richert had and
as the two came into the checkered, they were side by side. In fact, it
was so close, that both cars went into victory lane, each driver thinking that
they had won. As it turned out, Richert edged Kouba by about one foot at
the line. Richert and Kouba were followed across the line by Curt Lund
of Redwood Falls, MN,Joe Kouba of Lino Lakes, and Alan Gilbertson of Kasson.
The Sprint heats were uneventful with Richert taking the first heat and Brett
Geldner of St. Peter MN, the second heat.
In another final lap showdown feature, Eau Claire's Cory Mahder was able to
claim his first ever WISSOTA Super Stock feature win on a remarkable fourth to
first move on lap 18 of the 20 lap feature.
The Super Stock field was filled with quality cars, featuring eight of the top
30 cars in the national points race.
The rookie Super Stock driver started the feature from the pole. However, it
was no cake walk as outside pole sitter, Gary Wiersgalla battled door to
door with the young Eau Claire driver. The two were still able to
pull away from the rest of the pack because of the intense battles being waged
among several of the drivers. Eventually, track points leader Troy Brand
was able to break out into third, while Shawn Huse, Rod Dregney, and Nick
Herrick waged a three wide fight for fourth.
On lap eight, Herrick's ride broke down, allowing Huse to sit by himself in
fourth. On lap nine, Wiersgalla moved into sole possession of first with
Mahder trailing closely behind. On lap 10, Brand caught and passed
Mahder for second. Huse meanwhile, was able to get into his customary
high line and quickly closed ground on the three in the lead group.
With five laps to go, Huse was able to catch the front three cars. The
group of four fought closely for the next three laps with Wiersgalla still in
the lead. As the group came out of turn four to take the white flag,
they were four wide with Mahder trailing the other three by a slight
margin. It was then that Mahder shot to the bottom of the track,
vaulting himself into first. From there, he was able to open a slight
lead on the other three and went on to gain his coveted first feature.
Wiersgalla crossed the line in second with Huse, Brand, and Steve Hallquist
rounding out the top five.
The Super Stock heats were won by Shawn Huse, Justin Sass, and Nick Herrick.
In the first heat, Huse was followed across the line by Dennis Earney with
Brand and Wiersgala going at it for third. Brand eventually edged
Wiersgalla at the line.
In heat two, Sass beat Winona's Troy Langowski by about a car length to win
his first Super Stock heat race.
Nick Herrick captured the third heat ahead of Tim Johnson, who had traveled
all of the way from Brainerd, MN. Hallquist finished third with Kelly
Anderson edging out Mahder by about a foot for fourth.
In the WISSOTA Modified Class, it was once again "Bob Timm Night" as
the Winona driver once again dominated the field, completing his third
consecutive sweep.
A very good group of Modifieds was on hand to challenge Timm. Knapp,
WI's Craig Thatcher was among those to challenge Timm's dominance. In
fact, it was Thatcher that was the last driver other than Timm to win the
Modified feature at Fox Ridge when Thatcher beat Timm for the checkered at
last month's USMTS show. In that event, Thatcher checked out on the
field with Timm finishing a distant second.
This time however, it was Thatcher that was doing the chasing as Timm took his
third consecutive feature. In fact, Timm's dominance was so great, that
as the race ended, he had lapped all but eight cars of the 21 car starting
field.
Thatcher might have been more of a challenge, but he had to battle his way
through the very competitive group while Timm was fortunate enough to draw the
pole in the redraw.
Give Thatcher credit, he had to work his way past, Ron Mahder, Brent Prochnow,
Karl Fenske, John Doelle, and Les Duellman to get a shot at Timm. But
with Timm's recent mastery of the Fox Ridge track, it would be next to
impossible to catch him,
Prochnow, Fenske, Duellman, Scott Duval of Bloomer, Rick Hauser, and Dan Hesch
were all on the lead lap at the end of the feature.
Timm beat Thatcher, Ben Anderson, Ross Prochnow, and Hesch in the first
heat. In the second heat, Brent Prochnow took the checkered ahead of
Lonnie Earney, Bloomer's Scott Duval, and the Winona tandem of Ron Britian and
Rick Hauser.
In heat three, Duellman was able to hold off Fenske, Doelle, Ron Mahder, and
Steve Speltz.
The most exciting race in the Street Stock division was the 3rd heat.
Danny Hanson took an early lead from the outside pole with Dave Nastvold in
hot pursuit. By lap three, Shawn Wehlage had broken out and was tracking
down the two leaders. Wehlage caught Nastvold on lap four to move into
second. By lap five he was challenging Hanson for the lead. Hanson
however, was not going to relinquish the spot easily as the two battled
through lap seven with Nastvold lurking in third. As Wehlage and Hanson
were side by side coming out of turn four to start lap eight, Nastvold shot
past the two with a daring three wide move and into first place.
Nastvold was able to gain a slight margin and went on to win with Wehlage and
Hanson finishing second and third respectively.
In the Street Stock feature, Wehlage vaulted past Hanson, Andy Bohnstengel,
and heat one winner Jeremy Sommer to take the lead on lap two. A lap
four spin by Sommer brought out the first caution of the night. On the
restart, Wehlage sped off to a big lead while Travis Krause joined Hanson in
pursuit of the leader. By lap 10, Mike Prochnow who had won the second
heat, joined the two. Hanson, Prochnow, and Krause proceeded to battle
for the remainder of the race while Wehlage cruised to an easy win.
Prochnow and Krause were able to get by Hanson while Arcadia's Kylan Gamez
finished a very respectable fifth, having working his way all of the way up
from the 14th starting spot.
A nice addition to the program on Friday's Family night was an old favorite,
kids rides at intermission. Nearly 150 kids participated in the event
while a good number of cars were gracious enough to provide the
transportation. It was evident by the smiles and waves from the kids
that this was a memory that will last a lifetime. The track management
asked to thank all of the drivers that participated for their help. It
appeared to some, that the drivers were having as much fun as the
kids.
Next Friday, August 15th, the USMTS Modifieds will once again visit Fox
Ridge. The USMTS does a very good job of showmanship, not to mention
providing very good racing with drivers coming from up to five different
states.
The Management at Fox Ridge also asked to announce that for the remainder of
August, kids 12 and under will be admitted free.
Fox Ridge Summary August 8, 2003
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature - Bob Timm, Craig Thatcher, Brent Prochnow, Karl Fenske, Les Duellman,
Scott Duvall, Rick Hauser, Dan Hesch, Ben Anderson, Steve Speltz ,
Heat 1 - Timm, Thatcher, Anderson, Ross Prochnow, Hesch
Heat 2 - Brent Prochnow, Lonnie Earney, Duvall, Ron Britian, Hauser
Heat 3 - Duellman, Fenske, John Doelle, Ron Mahder, Steve Speltz
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature - Cory Mahder, Gary Wiersgalla, Shawn Huse, Troy Brand, Steve
Hallquist, Rod Dregney, Tim Johnson, Kelly Anderson, Scott Duvall, Dennis
Earney
Heat 1 - Huse, Earney, Brand, Wiersgalla, Ken Davis
Heat 2 - Justin Sass, Troy Langowski, Dregney, Dan Arneson, Don Drew
Heat 3 - Nick Herrick, Johnson, Hallquist, Cory Mahder. Kelly Anderson
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature - Shaun Wehlage, Mike Prochnow, Travis Krause, Danny Hanson, Kylan
Gamez, Andy Bohnstengel, Brad Dennis, Darryll Foegen, Dave Nastvold, Dennis
Davis
Heat 1 - Sommer, Bohnstengel, Krause, John Baumb, Rick Loppnow
Heat 2 - Prochnow, Tom Hund, Fred Prudoehl, Dennis, Gamez
Heat 3 - Nastvold, Wehlage, Hanson, Foegen, Wolfe
WISSOTA Sprints
Feature - Jerry Richert Jr., Jimmy Kouba, Curt Lund, Joe Kouba, Alan
Gilbertson, John Nelson, Bill Boles, Brett Geldner, Ryan York, Al Harcrave
Heat 1 - Richert, Jimmy Kouba, Geldner, Joe Kouba, Joseph Kouba
Heat 2 - Gilbertson, Bill Boles, Lund, Chuck Swenson, Nelson
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