Fox Ridge Speedway Crowns 2004 Mid-Season Champions
June 18, 2004

(Ardcadia, Wis.) - Mid-Season Championships.

Just the mention of the special event can put an extra little spark into the eyes of racers. Winning the feature and being crowned Mid-Season Champion can put a brighter smile on a driver's face, add a little extra height to the spring in their step.

It's almost hard to believe, but this past Friday night, June 18th, was the half-way point of the 2004 season at FOX RIDGE SPEEDWAY; the Mid-Season Championships. And the drivers were ready to work and race just a bit harder for the win, and the associated bragging-rights that come along with the evening's checkered flag.

Duellman's Rocky Road To Victory
For one of Friday night's winners, the road to victory consisted of much more than just the hard-fought on-track battle that the fans witnessed. When Les Duellman climbed from behind the wheel of his #0 USRA Modified in Victory Lane it not only brought him the Mid-Season Championship, it was also the crowning exclamation point at the end of an evening of struggles and hard work of which every single fan in attendance was unaware.

During the evening's practice hot-lap session, Duellman's ride looked very fast. Then, surprisingly, Duellman failed to show up on track for his heat race. Little did the crowd know, that back in the pits Duellman's crew, along with help from many others, were thrashing - turning wrenches at a furious pace in an effort to assure that Duellman would even be able to be on track for the evening's feature.

"The car was good tonight", replied Duellman, in response to a young fans questioning after his win, "but I'll tell you what though, all the credit has to go to my pit crew and Jimmy Brink." Pointing over to a greasy oily heap lying on the ground next to his hauler, Duellman began to explain just what had transpired in the time between his fast hot lap session and him smiling as the flash bulbs lit up Victory Lane. "We changed engines between hot laps and the feature"

"I dropped a valve right at the end of hot laps," Duellman explained, "Ben and Adam Lehnertz drove all the way back to Winona and picked up a (brand new) motor that was dropped off just last night. They brought it all the way back over here (to Fox Ridge Speedway), we put it in and had it running about five minutes before our feature began!"

"I couldn't get out on the track for my heat because by that time the bad engine was already out," the smiling Winona racer explained to the young fan, "at that time all I would have had was 'Flintstone power' and that wasn't going to get me anywhere."

"Once the new engine was here Randy Lehnertz, Jim Brink, myself, and Larry Jacob all got to work on getting it into the car." continued Duellman, "It was a lot of work, those guys deserve all the credit tonight. There were five people around the motor as it was being put together. There were so many arms reaching every which way … you couldn't even have slipped a piece of paper in there."

Duellman worked all the way from the back of the field to take the lead from second heat race winner Karl Fenske at about the mid-way point of the feature and was never contested for the lead again. After leading the early laps of the feature, Fenske was passed by first heat race winner Rick Hauser and settled for a third place feature finish.

Hauser's second place feature finish was wrapped in irony so thick that you could only find it in the confines of a dirt-track pit area where the intense competition is matched only by the equally high levels of sportsmanship and comradery. For it was one of Hauser's own pit crew members who was deeply entwined in the flailing arms that had replaced Duellman's engine, which had propelled him to the win. "Kind of funny when you think about it," Hauser smiled later that night after the evening's show was done, "It was one of my own pit crew who helped someone else win the feature while I finished second."

Brand Steels Win On Final Lap
The last time Rodney Dregney was on the track, his evening came to an end with a broken racecar that could barely be loaded onto the trailer. Friday night, after winning the second heat race, it appeared that the Mondovi driver was ready to redeem himself with a turn around performance that would hand him his first feature win and the Mid-Season Championship to boot.

Troy Brand, however, had other plans.

Starting from the Pole Position, Dregney jumped out to an immediate lead and appeared on his way to Victory Lane. Starting from the inside of the fourth row, defending point champion Troy Brand had a handful of VERY fast cars between himself and the lead.

While Dregney lead the field, Brand got busy working through the field. By the mid-way point in the event Brand was second and closing in on Dregney. The final five laps were a nose to tail battle for the lead and Brand tucked in behind Dregney and literally pestered him until an opening appeared.

The opening did, indeed, appear as the two raced to the white flag. "I'm just a little guilty of hitting that last corner just a little too hard," Dregney commented afterwards, "I kept telling myself, just get in comfortably. You know, don't over drive it, because they can't go through you, they've got to go around you. But, that last corner I got into turn three just a little too hard and drifted up the banking and he (Brand) was able to get up along side of me."

"I charged as hard as I could to catch him," explained Brand after stealing the win, "Then all I could do is follow him and wait for an opening." As Dregney had described, that opening appeared on the final lap. "I hated steal it there at the end, but, I'd worked to hard to feel guilty about taking it." chuckled Brand as he walked over to Dregney's pit stall to congratulate him on his strong run, "But he (Dregney) raced so clean it was fun. That's the way I like racing."

Winonan Jon Duffy enjoyed a strong night at 'The Ridge' finishing second in his heat before grabbing a third place feature finish just in front of first heat race winner Dan Nissalke.

Hund Picks Perfect Night For First Feature Win
Earlier this season we profiled Tom Hund and his 'Army of One' (that would be himself) getting his #10 WISSOTA Street Stock prepared and to the track each night. During that interview Tom commented, "I haven't gotten that first feature win yet…. I just keep trying to run up front and pretty soon I'll have that feature win."

Friday night Hund's smile was one of the biggest in the upper mid-west. In one night Hund was crowned Mid-Season Champion and had put an end to his winless feature streak dating all the way back to 1999, his first year behind the wheel of a stock car.

"My first feature win EVER!" Hund smiled after collecting the win, "Now that was fun. It didn't matter where I ran the car; it worked. It did what ever I wanted and needed it to do."

After winning his heat race, Hund's feature win was a generally fun race to watch as well. Starting from the outside of the fourth row, the Fountain City, WI racer worked through a tight crowd, passing some high and some low before catching and finally passing three time track champion Travis Krause to put him in second behind race leader, and second heat race winner, Andy Bohnstengel. Moments later Hund was around Bohnstengel's #25 and on his way to the checkered flags. 

No Challengers For Hesch
Dan Hesch's #E85 was second to none Friday night. Thanks to jackrabbit like jumps on restarts, Hesch was not once challenged for the lead after he got his car out front.

Hesch made it a clean sweep on the evening picking up the feature win (and Mid-Season Championship title) after winning the first heat race. Eyota, MN was well represented in the top three at the end of the feature as Jeff Ringenberg and Harlan Morehart finished second and third respectively.

Second heat race winner James "Bud" Pehler fought back after an late race flat tire to finish fifth.

Knopps Beats Johnson - Twice
Jordan Johnson put forth a valiant effort, but, not matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't get past Chippewa Falls' Mike Knopps. In both the lone Pure Stock heat, and the evening's feature event, Johnson followed Knopps from the first lap all the way to the checkered flag. Johnson looked high and he looked low, but not once was he able to pass Knopps' #93.

Knopps and Johnson finished one-two in both the heat race and the feature.

Fox Ridge Speedway Arcadia, Wis.
Friday's Results
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIEDS
Feature - 1. Dan Hesch, Arcadia; 2. Jeff Ringenberg, Eyota, Minn.; 3. Harlan Morehart, Eyota, Minn.; 4. Dean Hoffman, Eyota, Minn.; 5. James Pehler, Fountain City, Wis.; 6. Scott Smith, Hudson, Wis.; 7. Bob Fort, Fountain City, Wis.; 8. Clint Wittlieff, Oronoco, Minn.; 9. Tom Brink, Winona; 10. Dan Fagerlind, Dover, Minn.; 11. Jim Brink, Winona; 12. Leigh Volkman, Rushford, Minn.; 13. Ryan Olson, Strum, Wis. Heat 1 - 1. Hesch; 2. Morehart; 3. Fagerlind; 4. J.Brink; 5. Fort. Heat 2 - 1. Pehler; 2. Ringenberg; 3. T.Brink; 4. Volkman; 5. Smith.

USRA MODIFIEDS
Feature - 1. Les Duellman, Winona; 2. Rick Hauser, Winona; 3. Karl Fenske, Winona; 4. Ron Britain, Winona; 5. John Doelle, Arcadia; 6. Jonah Daffinson, Galesville, Wis.; 7. Ben Anderson, Winona; 8. Gary Doelle, Fountain City, Wis.; 9. Jason Marten, Mondovi, Wis.; 10. Jeremy Jonsgaard, Winona; 11. Tim Donlinger, Rochester, Minn. Heat 1 - 1. Hauser; 2. J.Doelle; 3. Britain; 4. Anderson; 5. Jonsgaard. Heat 2 - 1. Fenske; 2. Daffinson; 3. Marten; 4. G.Doelle; 5. Duellman.

PURE STOCKS
Feature - 1. Mike Knopps, Chippewa Falls, Wis.; 2. Jordan Johnson, Augusta, Wis.; 3. Josh Rud, Osseo, Wis.; 4. Michael Harsh, Eau Claire, Wis.; 5. Bill Benish, Chippewa Falls, Wis.; 6. Mike Knudtson, Osseo, Wis.; 7. Matt Helgeson, Arcadia; 8. Shawn Krousey, Winona. Heat - 1. Knopps; 2. Johnson; 3. Harsh; 4. Benish; 5. Knudtson.

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS
Feature - 1. Tom Hund, Fountain City, Wis.; 2. Andy Bohnstengel, Winona; 3. Travis Krause, Buffalo City, Wis.; 4. Corey Breitung, Prior Lake, Minn.; 5. Kevin Hager, Kellogg, Minn.; 6. John Laumb, Rushford, Minn.; 7. Danny Hanson, Alma, Wis.; 8. Darryll Foegen, Cochrane, Wis.; 9. Chuck Nerland, Rochester, Minn.; 10. Fred Prudoehl, Winona; 11. Kylan Gamez, Arcadia; 12. Brad Dennis, Winona; 13. Dennis Davis, Fountain City; 14. Michael Conrad, Independence, Wis.; 15. David Nastvold, Galesville, Wis.; 16. Tagge Pape, Arcadia; 17. Richard Theisen, Arcadia. Heat 1 - 1. Hund; 2. Nastvold; 3. Hanson; 4. Breitung; 5. Foegen. Heat 2 - 1. Bohnstengel; 2. Krause; 3. B.Davis; 4. Laumb; 5. Prudoehl.

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS
Feature - 1. Troy Brand, Winona; 2. Rodney Dregney, Mondovi, Wis.; 3. Jon Duffy, Winona; 4. Dan Nissalke, Winona; 5. Shawn Huse, Bloomer, Wis.; 6. Kevin Glander, Pepin, Wis.; 7. Kevin Hager, Kellogg, Wis.; 8. Dan Arneson, Eleva, Wis.; 9. Dennis Earney, Cochrane, Wis.; 10. Travis Wagner, Arcadia; 11. Jeff Dregney, Eleva, Wis.; 12. Jesse Lutz, Winona; 13. Gary Wiersgalla, Fountain City, Wis.; 14. Justin Sass, Alma, Wis.; 15. Wyatt Wolfe Jr., La Crosse, Wis.; 16. Lee Jonsgaard, Winona; 17. Troy Langowski, Winona. Heat 1 - 1. Nissalke; 2. Sass; 3. Huse; 4. Earney; 5. Hager. Heat 2 - 1. Dregney; 2. Duffy; 3. Brand; 4. Arneson; 5. Wiersgalla.