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Powercom Speedzone
By: Cresta Buss
July 8, 2003
On a cool and comfortable night of racing, fans enjoyed some fast action and
interesting races. Only 2 days after a special at the track during
the weekend, more than 70 drivers and pit crews showed to once again take to
the track to edge their way closer to a Powercom Speedzone championship.
For the second time at the Powercom Speedzone in Oshkosh, the cruisers
appeared and put on a fantastic show. The uniqueness of the Cruisers
class is there are two individuals in the car with the driver having control
of the brake and steering wheel and the passenger having control of the
gas. This setup makes for an interesting race. As the race got
underway, the 8D of Joe DeStefano Sr. and Joe DeStefano Jr. took the lead with
the 66P of Doug Pasbrig and Al Stippich and the 13K of Tonya Krueger and Pat
McComb battling it out for the second place spot. As the race matured
and became more interesting, some of the cars were just trying to find the
right chemistry between partners, while the 66P and 13K continued to maintain
side by side racing right down to the checkered flag. When the checkered
was thrown, the 66P “Blue Light Special” partners were the victors.
The 13K partners were second, the 8D partners taking third, and the 30G of Bob
Gigstead and 64B of Paul Berndt rounding out the fourth and fifth place spots
respectively (names of partners for fourth and higher positions were not known
at time of press release).
In the Golf Central/Jurassic Valley Dirt Devil division the 24 of Loren
Rangeloff took the early lead with Jasper Drengler and Chris Cottrell
following right behind. After a heated battle between Drengler and
Rangeloff, Drengler emerged the victor and widened his lead with Rangeloff and
Cottrell battling it out for second behind. Debris on the track caused a
caution late into the race making some of the drivers happy to see that
Drengler could not widen his lead more than he already had. With the
race back underway, the 01 car of Drengler jumped out ahead of the pack and
widened his lead once again. The 00 of Cottrell and 24 of Rangeloff
again battled it out for the second spot. At the checkered, Cottrell
emerged as the second place victor and the Rangeloff claimed the third
position. Mike Mueller took fourth position with Dustin Schwandt
claiming the fifth spot.
In the Quick Sign/Corporate Impressions Hobby Stock division, Korey Krupp
jumped to the lead as the race got underway. As the cars turned down the
back-chute, Korey Krupp, D.J. Rindt, and Rick Long went three wide with Rick
Long emerging as the victor out of turn 4. The 52 of Bob Voight also
wanted a piece of the action as he moved his way up to the second spot to
battle with D.J. Rindt. The 42 of Korey Krupp seemed to have some
problems and fell back to fourth position. On lap 5 of the race, D.J.
Rindt decided it was time to make his move and went to the outside to maintain
his second place spot. Korey Krupp also decided he wanted to move back
up into the pack and went outside as well but couldn’t quite get a groove
and maintained his fourth place spot. On lap 7, again the cars were
three wide on the back-chute, this time allowing Bob Voight to emerge the
first place car but on the front stretch, Rick Long would have none of that
and took his first place spot back again. As the checkered place fell,
Rick Long placed first, Bob Voight second, Korey Krupp third, D.J. Rindt
fourth and Ross Losse rounding out fifth.
The Grand National Feature was an exciting race to watch and gave the fans
something to cheer about. As racing got underway and the green flag
fell, Kevin Rank took the lead with a flock behind him. Down the front
stretch on the first lap, a car got loose and caused a big stir sending the
top points leader, Bob Cullen into the pit area for the night. After the
caution, the 8R of Kevin Rank stayed the leader with the 26N of Dan Nelson
right behind. On lap 4, the 26N and 8R were side by side on the front
stretch making room for the 7G of Brian Gilles to take the lead. On lap
10, the 55F of Andy Fuhrmann battled it out with Rank to take the third
spot. As the white flag dropped, Gilles was in the lead with Dan Nelson
trailing. There wasn’t enough time though for Nelson to catch up as Gilles
drove on to take the win. The win gave Brian Gilles his first win of the
season at the Powercom Speedzone. Second place was taken by Dan Nelson,
third went to Andy Fuhrmann, fourth to Kevin Rank and fifth place was Matt
Yancey.
As the American Auto Stocks Division got underway, Ken Feavel took the lead
but Gary Neau stayed on the outside to battle only to fall into the second
spot on the first lap. Down the front stretch, Scott Solomon lost
control of this car and lost a tire as Frank Foremiller smashed into him also
losing a tire. After the cleanup of Solomon’s and Foremiller’s cars
and the race continued, Ken Feavel emerged as the leader once again with Mike
Rauchle right behind. Trevor Schmidt wanted a piece of the action and
worked his way up from starting near the back of the pack to fourth position
in 6 laps. The next couple of laps would produce some fine racing and
allowed for the 1S car of Trevor Schmidt to move to the front of the pack in
only 10 laps. Dale Averkamp also wanted some of the action as he moved
his way to second with Mark Schultz and Dave Averkamp battling it out for the
third position. Gary Neau worked his way back up to first but lost a
tire as he battled Trevor Schmidt and Dale Averkamp for the first position.
After the caution, Schmidt took the lead once again with Dale Averkamp working
the outside groove and trying to take the first spot from Schmidt. As
Dave Averkamp and Jeff Jahnke battled behind the leaders for third, the
leaders were the ones to watch. Dale Averkamp and Trevor Schmidt went
side by side throughout the remaining laps of the race. It was a photo
finish as the checkered was thrown with Trevor Schmidt taking the win and Dale
Averkamp finishing a very close second. Dave Averkamp finished third,
Mark Schultz finished fourth and Jeff Jahnke rounded out the fifth position.
As always, the Suburban Motors Harley Davidson/Buell Modified drivers put on a
good show for the fans at Powercom Speedzone. As the green flag fell,
the 39 of Dennis Schultz took the lead with a pack of cars right behind with
numerous positions up for grabs. On lap 6, a spin near the back of the
pack caused a caution and slowed down Schultz’s lead. After the
caution, Schultz stayed the leader but Jay Schraufnagel wanted the lead and
ended up in second position near the end of the lap. Schraufnagel
eventually took the lead and made a nice cushion for himself for a couple of
laps. Another spin caused a caution, tightening the field once again on
lap 13, but it didn’t stop Schraufnagel from emerging the leader once
again. The story of the night though was that of the track points leader
Tim Lemirande. After a crash into the wall in his heat and eventually
making his way up in the Modified B-Main race to advance to the feature,
Lemirande, once again emerged as the leader in the sixteenth lap when
Schraufnagel’s car broke and was sent to the pits. Nearing the end of
the race, there were plenty of positions up for grabs as many cars started to
battle it out with each other. Nick Woods and Dennis Schultz battled for
the second position with Schultz coming out the victor for second as the
checkered flag fell. Nick woods took third with Andy Voigt and Russell
Reinwald placing fourth and fifth respectively. In the victory lane
interviews, Lemirande thanked his crew and Jay Schraufnagel for the hard work
and great friendships that seemed to work in his favor.
With the middle of the season nearing, there is plenty of racing action taking
place at the Powercom Speedzone in Oshkosh, WI and The Raceway@Powercom Park
in Beaver Dam, WI. For season updates, point standings, track articles
and driver features visit The Powercom Speedzone and The Raceway@Powercom Park
web page at www.wismotorsports.com.
Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson/Buell Modifieds
A-Main (1-10) – Tim Lemirande, Dennis Schultz, Nick Woods, Andy Voigt,
Russell Reinwald, Scott Lewis, Dan Miller, Steve Kloehn, Ryan Besaw, Victor
Duket
B-Main (1-3) Charlie Ewald, Timothy Robbins, Eugene Gregorich
Heat 1 – Ryan Besaw, Heat 2 – Nick Woods, Heat 3 – Russell Reinwald
Grand Nationals
A-Main (1-10) – Brian Gilles, Dan Nelson, Andy Fuhrmann, Kevin Rank, Matt
Yancey, Troy Weich, Jim Gilbertson, Rex Karner, Keith Schommer, Tim Doehling
Heat 1 – Brian Gilles, Heat 2 – Robert Cullen
American Auto Sales Stocks
A-Main (1-10) – Trevor Schmidt, Dale Averkamp, Dave Averkamp, Mark Schultz,
Jeff Jahnke, Richard Admundson Jr., Jerry Kope, Dan Wirl, Jason Kienast, Pat
Tanner
B-Main (1-3) – Tim Montonati, Patty Winkler, Brian Long
Heat 1 – Mike Rauchle, Heat 2 – Tim McBrair, Heat 3 – Ken Feavel
Quick Sign/Corporate Impressions Hobby Stocks
A-Main (1-7) – Rick Long, Bob Voight, Korey Krupp, D.J. Rindt, Ross Losse,
Rich Wojahn, Chad Choy
Heat 1 – Rick Long
Golf Central/Wingers/Jurassic Valley Dirt Devils
A-Main (1-10) – Jasper Drengler, Chris Cottrell, Loren Rangeloff, Mike
Mueller, Dustin Schwandt, William Angermeyer, Patrick Klawitter, Ryan
DeStefano, David Fischer, Amanda Rangeloff
Heat 1 – Jasper Drengler, Heat 2 – Chris Cottrell
Team Cruisers
A-Main (1-7) – Doug Pasbrig and Al Stippich, Tonya Krueger and Pat McComb,
Joe DeStefano Sr. and Joe DeStefano Jr., Rick Bruckiewicz, Paul Berndt, Matt
laubenstein, Bob Gigstead
(partner names were not available for places 4 –7 at time of press release)
Heat 1 – Doug Pasbrig and Al Stippich
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