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Speltz Wins On Last Lap Pass At Fox Ridge
By Pat Rohn
Friday, August 22, 2003….Arcadia WI……A large crowd was treated to a very
good night of racing at Fox Ridge Speedway last Friday night. They were
treated to a very talented WISSOTA Super Stock field, the first appearance
ever of the Hornets, and one of the most exciting finishes ever at Fox Ridge
in the WISSOTA Modifieds.
When the WISSOTA Modifieds took the green flag at the start of the feature,
you had to wonder whether it would be track points leader Karl Fenske, or Bob
Timm, who has won the last three WISSOTA Modified features at the Ridge, to be
the first to the checkered. The two have dominated the features for most
of the year. Friday night, however, there would be a little
surprise.
With Fenske holding the pole for the start, you had to figure that he was
going to run away from the field like a scared rabbit. At the drop of
the green, Fenske did get a good jump and opened up a lead on Winona’s Rick
Hauser but Eau Claire’s Ron Mahder was able to keep the two leaders in his
sights. On lap five, Lonnie Earney and Steve Speltz tangled between
turns three and four, bringing out the yellow. It took a while to pry
the two cars apart, and when they were finally freed, Speltz headed for the
pits immediately and it appeared as if his night was finished.
As it turned out, the only problem with Speltz’s ride was a flat right front
tire. With a good bit of pit work, he was able to return to the track
before the restart. However, having gone to the pits, Speltz was
relegated to the back of the field.
Fenske jumped to the lead on the restart, followed by Mahder, Hauser, and Timm.
By lap 12, Mahder was able to catch and pass Fenske for the lead. With
six laps to go, Timm passed Fenske for second and took off in hot pursuit of
Mahder. Meanwhile, Speltz had come all of the way from the back of the
pack on lap five to fourth on lap 14. At that point it looked as if
Mahder had the feature in the bag. Despite Timm’s efforts, he was not
able to close the gap on the leader. Speltz got past Fenske into the
third spot with four to go. Just as the leaders entered turn one on lap
17, Mahder’s suspension broke and he was forced to drop to the inside of the
track, giving Timm the lead. Looking at Timm’s recent history at the
track, you had to figure that he would be headed to his fourth consecutive
WISSOTA feature win. Even Speltz remarked after the race that he figured
a second place finish behind Timm would be a good finish. That thought
though did not preclude Speltz from putting pressure on Timm.
With two to go, Speltz was right on Timm’s back bumper. The two
drivers were running the same line, so it seemed that it would be impossible
for Speltz to get by Timm. Fortunately for Speltz though, coming out of
turn four to take the checkered flag, Timm dropped about a half car width
lower than he had been running, opening the door for Speltz. Speltz
pulled along side of Timm and at the flag stand beat Timm by about 1 ½
feet. The tremendous finish brought out a huge roar from the
crowd.
In the Modified heats, John Doelle and Rick Hauser powered their Dirt Duelers
to wins. Doelle had a particularly impressive run in his heat.
The Super Stocks ran a full field, with several very talented drivers making
guest appearances at the Ridge. 16 year old Cory Mahder was back after a
two week absence, attempting to regain the magic he displayed in capturing his
first ever Super Stock feature. Danny Thomas, Kevin Adams, Steve and
Rick Hallquist were on hand to challenge the regular Fox Ridge drivers as well
as Mark Strobel who made the long pull all the way from Waukesha, WI.
At the start of the WISSOTA Super Stock feature you definitely got the feeling
that this race would not be for one who was weak of heart. At the drop
of the green, front row sitters Rod Dregney and Matt Durnin exchanged paint
through turns one and two and all of the way down the back stretch. As
the two battled for the upper hand, Winona’s Troy Brand held third and
positioned himself to take over if either of the front two made a
mistake. On lap four, Brand was able to slip below the two front runners
to take the lead.
You had to hold your breath at times as the extremely competitive field was
running so closely together. On several occasions, it appeared as if
there would be a major altercation. However, to everyone’s surprise,
the race went green to checkered, giving testement to the quality and ability
of the drivers involved.
Shawn Huse, who has been among the hottest drivers at Fox Ridge as of late,
had worked his way all of the way up from his starting 11th spot, made a great
run as the race was winding, down, but was unable to catch Brand and Dregney.
Troy Langowski and Kelly Anderson rounded out the top five.
In the first Super Stock heat, Dan Nissalke was able to launch into the lead
like a rocket on the first lap while the second starting row tandem of Nick
Herrick and Steve Hallquist soon joined him in a three way battle for the
lead. Herrick caught Nissalke on lap three and the two raced side by
side for the remainder of the race, with Herrick finally gaining the upper
hand on the back stretch of the last lap and eventually beating Nissalke by a
car length.
In the second Super Stock heat Danny Thomas and Kevin Adams got good starts
with the first lap being a wild and wooly adventure for several of the
participants. At one point, Adams, Brand, and Huse were all on the verge
of loosing it, but all three were able to regain control of their cars.
After a brief caution for debris, Brand got past Thomas for the lead while
Huse moved into third.
With Brand in the lead, Huse got past Donny Drew into second. Huse, who
has been riding the cushion religiously of late, began his chase of
Brand. Brand however, was using the same groove, making it impossible
for Huse to get by with the few laps remaining. Brand, Huse, and Drew
remained in those positions at the end of the heat with Kelly Anderson and
Dennis Earney in fourth and fifth.
Cory Mahder was able to display his magic touch at the Ridge in the third
heat, jumping from seventh to second in one lap. Mahder moved into a
battle with Jason Johnson for the lead. The two raced side by side until
lap five, when Mahder gained the upper hand, going on to take the win over
Johnson, Troy Langowski, and Rod Dregney.
In the WISSOTA Street Stocks, Danny Hanson, Shawn Wehlage, and Travis Krause
gained heat wins.
At press time, the results of the WISSOTA Street Stock feature were
unavailable.
Bud Pehler and Jeff Ringenberg captured WISSOTA Midwest Mods heats while
Ringenberg took the win in the feature over Phillips,WI’s Scotty
Anderson. Anderson put on a hard charge for the top spot in the feature,
but was unable to catch Ringenberg.
Going into this Friday’s track championship, Dover MN’s Dan Fagerlind
leads Ringenberg by a mere one point in the Midwest Mods class.
The crowd was treated to an entertaining special event on Friday night.
The 4 cylinder Hornets made their first appearance ever at Fox Ridge.
The Hornet class is a huge crowd favorite at the La Crosse Fairgrounds
Speedway with fields often numbering over 100 cars. The economy class is
entertaining and gives everyone a chance to live out their dreams of driving a
race car. On Friday, the field of Hornets was around thirty cars since this
was mostly an experiment to determine if the cars could make the transition
from Asphalt to dirt. By the way several of the cars performed, the
transition shouldn’t be too difficult.
The 28 car feature was won by Scott Krohn of Holmen followed by Steve Dwyer of
La Crosse, Terry Kolsrud of Waukon IA, Charlie Schwabenbauer also of Holmen,
and Eric Komperud of Galesville.
Management stated afterwards, that they are considering the Hornets for more
events in the future.
This Friday Night, Fox Ridge Speedway will host their Third Annual Track
Championships. Kids 12 and under will be admitted free.
Fox Ridge Summary August 22, 2003
SUMMARY
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature – Steve Speltz, Bob Timm, Karl Fenske, Ben Anderson, Rick
Hauser, Bob Fort, John Doelle, Ron Britian, Gary Doelle, Jason Marten,
Heat 1 –Doelle, Anderson, Speltz, Ron Mahder, Lonnie Earney
Heat 2 – Hauser, Fenske, Timm, Fort, Daffinson
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature –Troy Brand, Rodney Dregney, Shawn Huse, Troy Langowski, Kelly
Anderson, Matt Durnen, Dan Nissalke, Don Drew, Gary Wiersgalla, Cory Mahder
Heat 1 – Nick Herrick, Nissalke, Steve Hallquist, Kelly Anderson, Dennis
Earney
Heat 2 – Brand, Huse, Drew, Durnen, Danny Thomas
Heat 3 – Mahder, Jason Johnson, Langowski, Dregney, Jon Duffy
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature – Jeff Ringenberg, Scott Anderson, Dan Koziol, James Pehler, Dan
Fagerlind, Harlan Morehart, Tom Brink, Quinn Arnoldy, Lonnie Seipel, Mark
Durnen
Heat 1 –Pehler, Paul Niznik, Morehart, Arnoldy, Dareck Volkman
Heat 2 – Ringenberg, Anderson, Koziol, Brink, Leigh Volkman
WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature – Results not available at press time.
Heat 1 – Danny Hanson, Brad Dennis, Fred Prudoehl, Cory Hanson, Matt
Wolfe
Heat 2 – Shaun Wehlage, Kylan Gamez, Ron Hanestad, Dave Nastvold, Daryll
Foegen
Heat 3 –Travis Krause, Tom Hund, Andy Bohnstengel, John Laumb, Rick Loppnow
Hornets
Feature – Scott Kronn, Steve Dwyer, Terry Kolsrud, Charlie Schwauenbauer,
Eric Komperud, Kevin Tuner, Klonecki/Andre, Dan Hundorf, Ryan Happel, Corey
Klink
Heat 1 – Dwyer, Gary Towner, Paul Bakke, Happel, Ryan Ruhbusch
Heat 2 – Kronn, Schwabenbauer, Shane Anderson, Carrol Hundorf, Richard
Fladhammer
Heat 3 – Kolsrud, Komperud, Brooke Bakke, Nate Towner, Mike Peters
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