|
Friday Night Fun At Fox Ridge Speedway
by Dan Bailey
(ARCADIA, Wisconsin) - - The thing that is so enjoyable about racing is that
no matter how a driver’s performance of past events might influence fans
expectations for future results, no one really knows who will finish where
until the checkered flag flies.
A driver who’s struggled over the first half of the season might figure out
the exact setup tweak necessary to suddenly propel his right to consistent
finishes at or near the front of the field for the second half of the season.
And, of course, the reverse of that example is possible as well.
A driver who’s dominated in the past, might suddenly find himself struggling
for a top-five finish.
DUELLMAN DEFEATS
After a 2004 season that saw Winonan Les Duellman win every single regular
season feature, except one, that he started – a total of nine regular season
feature wins in 10 starts – 2005 has not been quite as successful.
It hasn’t been a failure my any measures (six top-five finishes, 7 top-10s,
in seven starts) but, up until Friday July 29th, he was winless in his seven
feature race starts.
That all changed with a charge from the outside of the third row in Friday’s
USRA Feature. Pole sitter Brad Waits grabbed the lead with the drop of the
green flag and lead the opening five laps. Duellman, however, was hooked up
and racing toward the front.
With Waits riding the very top of the high FOX RIDGE banking, Duellman dropped
to the bottom and the two veterans put on an riveting 5-lap side by side
battle for the lead! Half way through that battle, Duellman worked past Waits
for the lead – Waits wasn’t about to roll-over and simply give up the
lead, and continued to challenge for the top spot until a lap eight restart
allowed Duellman to pull away for good.
“I’d been watching the track progress through the earlier features,”
commented Duellman, “So, we were making small adjustments through the night
right up until the start of our feature.”
Those changes were spot-on and gave Duellman a ride that responded exactly as
he’d wanted, and expected. “I (ran) low to get past cars for position,”
explained Duellman, “But then once I got free, I’d use that high line
cause it was just SO smooth.”
Waits was relegated to a second place finish with Mick Glenn putting on one of
his strongest displays in recent memory to battle through the field for a
third place finish, “It’s taken us a while to figure this car out,”
explained a jubilant Glenn, “But we’ve been making improvements every week
and tonight we’re seeing that work pay off.”
HUSE WINS SUPER FEATURE
After a couple weeks of what seemed like nothing but bad luck, Bloomer, Wi’s
Shawn Huse returned to the location where the 2005 season started for him way
back in April – the FOX RIDGE SPEEDWAY Victory Lane.
“Oh, these last couple of weeks have been tough,” Huse commented,
reflecting on the prematurely shorted features brought about by bad breaks
over the previous weeks, “We had that throttle linkage break, then that bad
wreck last week pretty much broke just about everything on the right front
corner of the suspension – it was really nobody’s fault, just a pile up
that collected me.”
But, Friday night, Huse battled back to where he belongs, leading every lap of
the 15-lap WISSOTA Super Stock feature to collect his second feature win of
the 2005 season.
The opening three laps were a nice battle with local youngster Travis Wagner,
who picked up the very first checkered flag of his career earlier in the
evening, winning the night’s second heat-race. But Huse was able to take
sole possession of the top spot and race on to the win.
Rodney Dregney worked through the field for a second place finish, with first
heat race winner Troy Brand finishing third.
KRAUSE CRUISES TO WIN
And outside second row starting position was not enough to keep Travis Krause
out of the lead by the end of lap number one. Krause dispensed with the front
row of Matt Steffen and Dan Hesch, and went on to lead laps one through
fifteen of the WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature.
Running right down around the apron, Krause pulled away for a comfortable lead
and a well deserved win, “Well, I didn’t really want to run down low,”
smiled Krause after the win, “but that’s where the car handled the
best.”
First heat race winner Jeff Brauer worked the field for a second place finish
with Bob Bautch grabbing third.
HANSON AGAIN
Alma, Wisconsin driver Danny Hanson is having a ‘career year’ through
2005. Ten heat race wins and four feature checkered flags were pumped up
another notch to eleven and five respectively compliments of yet another
‘clean sweep’ in the WISSOTA Street Stock division Friday night.
The opening three laps of the Street Stock feature were lead by Eau Claire’s
Adam Wilken, then it was Hanson’s turn. Working past Wilken’s #21 Hanson
moved to the front and lead the remainder of the event.
The previous week’s feature winner, Kylan Gamez, put forth an impressive
effort to work up onto Hanson’s rear bumper, and actually pull up along side
on several occasions, but Gamez was not quite able to work past for the win.
Gamez settled for second with Michael Conrad, battling back from a hard wreck
the previous week, to an impressive third place finish.
NIEDERKORN WINS FIRST
Ettrick, Wisonsin driver Roger NiederKorn picked up his first feature win of
the 2005 season by holding off challenges by point leader, and first heat race
winner, Mark Bornitz in the 12-lap 4-Cylinder Hornet feature.
“B-Feature” winner Ryan Happel stunned the crowd by racing from the tenth
row starting position to a third place finish!
Racing resumes next Friday night, August 5th, with Kid’s Night at FOX RIDGE
SPEEDWAY. Gates open at 5 pm with the hot laps starting at 7 and the first
green flag at 7:30. Check out the official web presence of FOX RIDGE SPEEDWAY
at www.foxridgespeedway.com
for more details.
7/29/2005 - Fox Ridge Speedway Results
USRA Modifieds
A-Main 01 -- 1. Les Duellman, Winona, Minn.; 2. Brad Waits, Zumbrota,
Minn.; 3. Mick Glenn, Minnesota City, Minn.; 4. John Doelle, Arcadia, Wis; 5.
Ron Britain, Winona, Minn.; 6. Hank Rollinger, Buffalo City, Wis; 7. Karl
Fenske, Winona, Minn.; 8. Bobby Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.; 9. Jason Marten,
Mondovi, Wis; 10. Dan Hesch, Arcadia, Wis; 11. Rick Hauser, Winona, Minn.; 12.
Gary Doelle, Fountain City, Wis; 13. Paul Hamernik, Winona, Minn.; 14. Harlan
Morehart, Eyota, Minn.; 15. Kerry Ledebuhr, Winona, Minn.; 16. Matt Sweeney,
Waukon, Iowa.
Heat 01 -- 1. K. Ledebuhr; 2. B. Sorensen; 3. G. Doelle; 4. M. Glenn; 5.
J. Doelle; 6. D. Hesch; 7. P. Hamernik; 8. K. Fenske.
Heat 02 -- 1. L. Duellman; 2. B. Waits; 3. J. Marten; 4. H. Rollinger;
5. R. Britain; 6. H. Morehart; 7. M. Sweeney; 8. R. Hauser.
WISSOTA Super Stocks
A-Main 01 -- 1. Shawn Huse, Bloomer, Wis; 2. Rodney Dregney, Mondovi,
Wis; 3. Troy Brand, Winona, Minn.; 4. Dennis Earney, Cochrane, Wis; 5. Gary
Wiersgalla, Fountain City, Wis; 6. Travis Wagner, Arcadia, Wis; 7. Jon Duffy,
Winona, Minn.; 8. Troy Langowski, Winona, Minn.; 9. Dan Arneson, Eleva, Wis;
10. Jesse Lutz, Winona, Minn.; 11. Justin Sass, Alma, Wis.
Heat 01 -- 1. T. Brand; 2. D. Earney; 3. G. Wiersgalla; 4. T. Langowski;
5. J. Sass; 6. J. Lutz.
Heat 02 -- 1. T. Wagner; 2. R. Dregney; 3. S. Huse; 4. J. Duffy; 5. D.
Arneson.
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
A-Main 01 -- 1. Travis Krause, Buffalo City, Wis; 2. Jeff Brauer, Eyota,
Minn.; 3. Robert Bautch, Winona, Minn.; 4. Ryan Olson, Strum, Wis; 5. James
Pehler, Fountain City, Wis; 6. Dan Hesch, Arcadia, Wis; 7. Dean Hoffman, Eyota,
Minn.; 8. Tom Brink, Winona, Minn.; 9. Matt Steffen, Mondovi, Wis; 10. Joel
VonHaden, Trempealeau, Wis.
Heat 01 -- 1. J. Brauer; 2. D. Hesch; 3. M. Steffen; 4. J. Pehler; 5. J.
VonHaden.
Heat 02 -- 1. R. Olson; 2. T. Krause; 3. R. Bautch; 4. D. Hoffman; 5. T.
Brink.
WISSOTA Street Stocks
A-Main 01 -- 1. Danny Hanson, Alma, Wis; 2. Kylan Gamez, Arcadia, Wis;
3. Michael Conrad, Independence, Wis; 4. Chuck Nerland, Rochester, Minn.; 5.
Andy Bohnstengel, Winona, Minn.; 6. Matt Wolfe, Mondovi, Wis; 7. Adam Wilken,
Eau Claire, Wis; 8. Darryll Foegen, Cochrane, Wis; 9. Dennis Davis, Fountain
City, Wis; 10. Erik Kanz, Winona, Minn.; 11. Roger Conrad, Independence, Wis;
12. Gerald Schultz, Arcadia, Wis; 13. Tom Hund, Fountain City, Wis; 14. Cory
Hanson, Black River Falls, Wis; 15. Dan Bork, Alma, Wis; 16. Tagge Pape,
Arcadia, Wis.
Heat 01 -- 1. D. Hanson; 2. T. Hund; 3. D. Foegen; 4. K. Gamez; 5. C.
Hanson; 6. M. Wolfe; 7. T. Pape; 8. D. Bork.
Heat 02 -- 1. C. Nerland; 2. D. Davis; 3. A. Wilken; 4. M. Conrad; 5. A.
Bohnstengel; 6. E. Kanz; 7. R. Conrad; 8. G. Schultz.
Hornets
A-Main 01 -- 1. Roger Niederkorn, Ettrick, Wis; 2. Mark Bornitz, Holmen,
Wis; 3. Ryan Happel, Holmen, Wis; 4. Brad Duellman, Dodge, Wis; 5. Robert
Carpenter, Black River Falls, Wis; 6. Charlie Schwabenbauer, Holmen, Wis; 7.
Coty Slawson, Ettrick, Wis; 8. Rich Niederkorn, Galesville, Wis; 9. Gary
Towner, Galesville, Wis; 10. Mike Fordbord, Lakeville, Minn.; 11. Mike
Thompson, Melrose, Wis; 12. Rick Slawson, Ettrick, Wis; 13. Joel Hesch,
Arcadia, Wis; 14. Mike Krause, Buffalo City, Wis; 15. Tommy Richards, Mondovi,
Wis; 16. Michael Peters, Whitehall, Wis; 17. Dan Carpenter, Black River Falls,
Wis; 18. Mike Skroch, Independence, Wis; 19. Steve Dwyer, LaCrosse, Wis; 20.
Steve Bryn, Arcadia, Wis; 21. Wayne Maug, Eleva, Wis; 22. Alan Van Vleet,
Galesville, Wis; 23. Aaron Towner, Trempealeau, Wis; 24. Scott Kronn, Holmen,
Wis.
B-Main 01 -- 1. R. Happel; 2. R. Slawson; 3. S. Bryn; 4. M. Thompson; 5.
T. Richards; 6. D. Carpenter; (Top Six Finishes Transfer Up To The A-Main) 7.
Kyle Franson, Strum, Wis; 8. Danny Richards, Mondovi, Wis; 9. Kris Oium, Eleva,
Wis; 10. Corey Klink, Fountain City, Wis; 11. Brandon Gleiter, Alma, Wis; 12.
Nathan Kummer, Mondovi, Wis; 13. James Clark, Winona, Minn.; 14. Derrick
Hammer, Galesville, Wis; 15. Chris Gilbertson, Trempealeau, Wis; 16. Mike
Gilbertson, Trempealeau, Wis; 17. Chad Kosidowski, Cochrane, Wis.
Heat 01 -- 1. M. Bornitz; 2. B. Duellman; 3. J. Hesch; 4. C. Slawson; 5.
C. Schwabenbauer; 6. A. Towner; 7. R. Slawson; 8. T. Richards; 9. D. Richards;
10. J. Clark; 11. C. Kosidowski; 12. D. Hammer.
Heat 02 -- 1. A. Van Vleet; 2. Ro. Niederkorn; 3. M. Skroch; 4. Ri.
Niederkorn; 5. M. Krause; 6. W. Maug; 7. S. Bryn; 8. D. Carpenter; 9. B.
Gleiter; 10. C. Klink; 11. N. Kummer; 12. K. Oium.
Heat 03 -- 1. S. Dwyer; 2. R. Carpenter; 3. S. Kronn; 4. G. Towner; 5.
M. Fordbord; 6. M. Peters; 7. M. Gilbertson; 8. C. Gilbertson; 9. M. Thompson;
10. R. Happel; 11. K. Franson.
|
|
|
