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First Time Wins Highlight A Busy Night At Fox Ridge
(Arcadia, WI) – FOX RIDGE SPEEDWAY began the month of June with an extremely
busy night at the track – combining special events for the ‘Race for a
Cure’ tie in with the American Cancer Society’s local ‘Relay for Life’
event, as well as double features for the USRA Modifieds due to a late rain
the previous week.
After pre-race ceremonies for the American Cancer Society events, the on-track
action began with the make-up USRA feature from last week’s rain shortened
program. Winona’s Karl Fenske was hoping to extend his three-feature winning
streak to four-in-a-row, but a mechanical failure early in the event dowsed
his hopes, “I broke a steering link,” commented a dejected Fenske.
With Fenske out of the picture, the slate was wiped clean and the top spot was
opened for a new winner. Current point leader Brad Waits was more than willing
to fill that open position. Waits led the way to the finish to collect his
second feature victory of the 2005 season!
Langowski Exploits Opportunity for Win
After suffering through less than stellar results over the past few weeks,
Fountain City, WI’s Gary Wiersgalla appeared to have exorcised the demons
that had cursed his recent visits to FOX RIDGE. “We’ve been working on
this car a lot this week,” commented Wiersgalla after the evening’s
WISSOTA Super Stock feature, “It’s been nothing but struggles the last few
weeks, but tonight, even in the heat race, I could tell that we’d made some
changes for the better.”
After finishing second in his heat, Wiersgalla took his #52 to the front of
the pack in the evening’s feature. With the checkered flag appearing to be
almost undeniably his, the unthinkable happened, coming through turns three
and four on his way to the white flag, Wiersgalla bobbled, jumped the cushion
and struggled to keep his car under control up in the ‘marbles’. The
opening was all veteran Troy Langowski needed to collect his first feature win
of the 2005 season. “That feature was mine, and I just gave it too him. All
I had to do was hit my marks.” Lamented a visibly frustrated Wiersgalla,
“We got the waiving green for two laps to go and I thought, ‘just keep
doing what you’re doing.’ So what’d I do, I messed up my entry into
(turn) three.”
Langowski has been at this racing game for a long time, running a close second
throughout the closing laps, he knew how to race Wiersgalla. “I could see
that Gary was pushing exiting the corners – actually, it looked like a lot
of guys were having that problem.” Explained a jubilant Langowski after the
feature, “I was running a comfortable line right behind Gary. I think if I
was in front of him I would have been able to turn even quicker laps, but this
isn’t NASCAR, we don’t knock a guy out of the way for a win. I won’t
race like that.
“Gary jumped the cushion,” continued Troy, “and I really didn’t have
to do anything but run my line. While he was struggling up in the marbles I
just cleared him with my regular line and took the lead.”
Wiersgalla confirmed Langowski’s assessment of his end of the incident,
“I’d been tight off the turns, so I really had to lean it into the turns
pretty hard to get the car to rotate and turn for the exit, that last entry
into (turn) three I felt the front jump the cushion and I knew I was in
trouble.”
Wiersgalla settled for a heart-breaking second with Travis Wagner completing
the top three. First time winner Justin Sass (first heat race) finished a
strong fifth in the feature event.
Krause Collects his Second
Travis Krause collected his second WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature win for
the 2005 season by holding off a hard charging Jeff Brauer (winner of the
first heat race).
The battle to the win came after an extremely tense 30 minute red flag session
which followed a turn three collision between Mondovi, WI’s Matt Steffen and
second heat race winner Harlan Morehart.
While leading the feature Morehart spun out in turn four in front of the
entire field. As the field began evasive maneuvers to avoid Morehart’s #17
the Eyota driver appeared to attempt turning his car around in hopes of
getting out of the racing groove. Unfortunately, Morehart turned right into
the oncoming #7 of Steffen. The near head on collision, with Steffen still
near race pace, created a solid impact that hushed the crowd and momentarily
knocked Steffen on conscious.
With some safety bars apparently caved in up on Steffen, the local first
responder crew was called to the Speedway for use of their ‘Jaws of Life’
unit. After the constricting metal was cleared away, Steffen was able to climb
from the car under his own power complaining only of a wrist injury. Steffen
was transported to a local hospital for precautionary measures.
Dean Hoffman completed the top-three battle at the checkered flag.
Hanson wins both on and off the track
Alma, WI racer Danny Hanson proved that he is a winner both on and off the
track Friday night. After starting from deep in the 18-car field, Hanson
proved that he would race through the traffic by turning his tenth place
starting position in his second feature win of the season.
Stockton, MN’s Shawn Wehlage, returning to the track after a self-imposed
one-week hiatus, battled his way to the front and challenged Hanson for the
lead over more than the last half of the event. Wehlage tried the low, middle
and high grooves in just about every mathematically possible combination but
couldn’t cement a pass for the lead.
After winning the evening’s opening heat, Wehlage settled for the #2
finishing spot before a fierce battle for third – won by Arcadia’s Kylan
Gamez. Second heat race winner Michael Conrad finished fifth just behind Tom
Hund.
After winning the on-track action, Hanson proved that he’s a winner off the
track as well by donating his portion of the evening’s purse to the American
Cancer Society’s ‘Relay for Life’ event being celebrated at the
speedway!
Frericks Flys to the Feature win
Pine Island racer Jesse Frericks twisted every ounce of power out of his #52
en route to his first ever USRA Modified feature win. Spending a majority –
if not the entirety – of the feature event with his left front tire floating
up and off of the racing surface, Frericks held off challenges early in the
event by Mick Glenn and later by point leader, and the evening’s earlier
feature winner Brad Waits, to score the victory.
“Awww, that thing was hooked UP down low in (turns) one and two. I could
have run high down there (one and two) but I figured it was working so well
down around the bottom, why mess with it.” Commented the smiling Frericks
after the win, “We came here a couple weeks ago as nothing more than a test
run actually, but now, yeah, I think we’ll be coming back.”
Waits commented on Frericks’ line (low in one and two then very high in
three and four) “I could have worked down low too like Jesse, but you
can’t pass ‘em if you’re just following ‘em. So I ran up top in
(turns) one and two.” And the top line was incredibly fast “Man, that
cushion was HUGE. But, in some places it would break down – or roll over, so
you’d lay the car up against it to ride it through the turn and all of a
sudden it wasn’t there anymore to support you, then it’d be back –
you’d re-grab it and go.”
Waits settle for second followed closely by Winonan Bob Timm in third and
second heat race winner Les Duellman in fourth.
Two-in-a-row for Thompson
Melrose, WI Hornet driver Mike Thompson collected his second feature win in as
many weeks by thwarting all effort of second heat race winner Mike Bornitz to
pass for the lead. Thompson actually lost the lead for a bit, but worked back
to the front to grab the win.
Bornitz was followed across the line by Ryan Happel in third place and third
heat race winner Justin Yahnke in fourth.
High-Speed racing action resumes next Friday night with FASTENAL COMPANY night
at FOX RIDGE SPEEDWAY. Visit the official FOX RIDGE SPEEDWAY web site for more
details
6/3/2005 - Fox Ridge Speedway Results
USRA Modifieds
A-Main 01 -- 1. Jesse Frericks, Pine Island, Minn.; 2. Brad Waits,
Zumbrota, Minn.; 3. Bob Timm, Winona, Minn.; 4. Les Duellman, Winona, Minn.;
5. LeRoy Scharkey, Rochester, Minn.; 6. John Doelle, Arcadia, Wis; 7. Kerry
Ledebuhr, Winona, Minn.; 8. Jason Marten, Mondovi, Wis; 9. Gary Doelle,
Fountain City, Wis; 10. Paul Hamernik, Winona, Minn.; 11. Jessie Maynard,
Minnesota City, Minn.; 12. Rick Hauser, Winona, Minn.; 13. Matt Sweeney,
Waukon, Iowa; 14. Karl Fenske, Winona, Minn.; 15. Mick Glenn, Minnesota City,
Minn.; 16. Les Jonsgaard, Winona, Minn..
Heat 01 -- 1. Fenske 2. Hauser 3. Hamernik 4. Ledebuhr 5. Glenn 6. G.
Doelle 7. Maynard 8. Timm
Heat 02 -- 1. Duellman 2. Scharkey 3. Waits 4. Frericks 5. Sweeney 6. J.
Doelle 7. Marten 8. Jonsgaard
WISSOTA Super Stocks
A-Main 01 -- 1. Troy Langowski, Winona, Minn.; 2. Gary Wiersgalla,
Fountain City, Wis; 3. Travis Wagner, Arcadia, Wis; 4. Dan Nissalke, Winona,
Minn.; 5. Justin Sass, Alma, Wis; 6. Shawn Huse, Bloomer, Wis; 7. Kelly
Anderson, Hager City, Wis; 8. Dan Arneson, Eleva, Wis; 9. Jon Duffy, Winona,
Minn.; 10. Kevin Glander, Pepin, Wis; 11. Jeff Dregney, Eleva, Wis; 12. Wyatt
Wolfe Jr, La Crosse, Wis; 13. Rodney Dregney, Mondovi, Wis; 14. Mark Strobel,
Holmen, Wis; 15. Jesse Lutz, Winona, Minn.; 16. Troy Brand, Winona, Minn.; 17.
Dennis Earney, Cochrane, Wis; 18. David Nastvold, Galesville, Wis.
Heat 01 -- 1. Sass 2. Wolfe Jr 3. Nastvold 4. Wagner 5. Arneson 6. Brand
7. Duffy 8. Strobel 9. Earney
Heat 02 -- 1. Langowski 2. Wiersgalla 3. R. Dregney 4. Huse 5. Nissalke
6. Anderson 7. J. Dregney 8. Lutz 9. Glander
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
A-Main 01 -- 1. Travis Krause, Buffalo City, Wis; 2. Jeff Brauer, Eyota,
Minn.; 3. Dean Hoffman, Eyota, Minn.; 4. Robert Bautch, Winona, Minn.; 5. Tom
Brink, Winona, Minn.; 6. Dan Hesch, Arcadia, Wis; 7. ‘Bud’ Pehler,
Fountain City, Wis; 8. Ben Anderson, Winona, Minn.; 9. Clint Wittlief,
Oronoco, Minn.; 10. Dan Fagerlind, Dover, Minn.; 11. Joel VonHaden,
Trempealeau, Wis; 12. David Kruckeberg, Zumbrota, Minn.; 13. Leigh Volkman,
Rushford, Minn.; 14. Ryan Olson, Strum, Wis; 15. Matt Steffen, Mondovi, Wis;
16. Harlan Morehart, Eyota, Minn..
Heat 01 -- 1. Brauer 2. Anderson 3. Hoffman 4. Krause 5. Pehler 6. Brink
7. VonHaden 8. Kruckeberg
Heat 02 -- 1. Morehart 2. Fagerlind 3. Olson 4. Bautch 5. Hesch 6.
Steffen 7. Wittlief 8. Volkman
WISSOTA Street Stocks
A-Main 01 -- 1. Danny Hanson, Alma, Wis; 2. Shaun Wehlage, Stockton,
Minn.; 3. Kylan Gamez, Arcadia, Wis; 4. Tom Hund, Fountain City, Wis; 5.
Michael Conrad, Independence, Wis; 6. Fred Prudoehl, Winona, Minn.; 7. Darryll
Foegen, Cochrane, Wis; 8. Wayne Dean, Fall Creek, Wis; 9. Jack Nissalke,
Winona, Minn.; 10. Adam Wilken, Eau Claire, Wis; 11. Gerald Schultz, Arcadia,
Wis; 12. Dan Bork, Alma, Wis; 13. Roger Conrad, Independence, Wis; 14. Andy
Bohnstengel, Winona, Minn.; 15. Dennis Davis, Fountain City, Wis; 16. Erik
Kanz, Winona, Minn.; 17. Matt Wolfe, Mondovi, Wis; 18. Tagge Pape, Arcadia,
Wis.
Heat 01 -- 1. Wehlage 2. Bohnstengel 3. Gamez 4. Foegen 5. Kanz 6. Wolfe
7. Schultz 8. Wilken 9. Pape
Heat 02 -- 1. M. Conrad 2. Prudoehl 3. D. Hanson 4. Hund 5. Dean 6.
Davis 7. Nissalke 8. Bork 9. R. Conrad
Hornets
A-Main 01 -- 1. Mike Thompson, Melrose, Wis; 2. Mark Bornitz, Holmen,
Wis; 3. Ryan Happel, Holmen, Wis; 4. Justin Yahnke, Sparta, Wis; 5. Robert
Carpenter, Black River Falls, Wis; 6. Coty Slawson, Ettrick, Wis; 7. Roger
Niederkorn, Ettrick, Wis; 8. Kyle Franson, Strum, Wis; 9. Tommy Richards,
Mondovi, Wis; 10. Chris Gilbertson, Trempealeau, Wis; 11. Dan Hundorf,
Minnesota City, Minn.; 12. Gary Towner, Galesville, Wis; 13. Mike Krause,
Buffalo City, Wis; 14. Jim Schermerhorn, Coon Valley, Wis; 15. Joel Hesch,
Arcadia, Wis; 16. Rich Niederkorn, Galesville, Wis; 17. Richard Schilling,
Eleva, Wis; 18. Mike Gilbertson, Trempealeau, Wis; 19. Alan Van Vleet,
Galesville, Wis; 20. Jared Simon, Eau Claire, Wis; 21. Rick Schermerhorn, La
Crosse, Wis; 22. Scott Kronn, Holmen, Wis; 23. Ron Hestekin, Strum, Wis; 24.
Dan Carpenter, Black River Falls, Wis.
B-Main 01 -- 1. C. Slawson 2. Hesch 3. M. Gilbertson 4. D. Carpenter 5.
Krause 6. J. Schermerhorn (TOP SIX TRANSFERRED UP TO A-MAIN) 7. Michael Peters
8. Chad Simonson 9. James Clark 10. Corey Klink 11. Chad Kosidowski 12.
Brandon Gleiter 13. Brady Dehnke 14. Aaron Towner 15. Rick Slawson
Heat 01 -- 1. Kronn 2. Happel 3. Schilling 4. Hundorf 5. Ri. Niederkorn
6. Van Vleet 7. M. Gilbertson 8. D. Carpenter 9. Krause 10. Hesch 11. M.
Peters
Heat 02 -- 1. Bornitz 2. Simon 3. Franson 4. C. Gilbertson 5. Hestekin
6. Ro. Niederkorn 7. Gleiter 8. Kosidowski 9. Klink 10. Simonson 11. R.
Slawson
Heat 03 -- 1. Yahnke 2. Thompson 3. R. Carpenter 4. R. Schermerhorn 5.
T. Richards 6. G. Towner 7. Dehnke 8. A. Towner 9. C. Slawson 10. J.
Schermerhorn 11. Clark
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