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Rain Doesn’t Put the Brakes on Racing at the PowerCom Speedzone
By Cresta Buss
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2003
As fans and drivers filled up The PowerCom Speedzone in Oshkosh, WI on Tuesday
night, the clouds moved in and the rain started to fall. For about 15
minutes, the rain came down, steadily, but the track workers continued to pack
the track in hopes the rain would stop. Indeed, the rain stopped
and the races were in full gear and action packed as ever. Waste
Management night at the PowerCom Speedzone was a success for some, while other
drivers wished the rain would have continued.
For the second time at the PowerCom Speedzone, the INEX Legends were back with
some of the drivers coming as far away as Maryland to give the crowd an
exciting show. As the green flag fell, Jacob Slotten took the lead to be
followed and chased down by Aaron Rake and Kevin Brill. On Lap 2, Brill
wanted the lead spot and took it over from Slotten, only to be challenged by
Rake for the 1st position. Rake was the victor in the battle, which sent
Brill to second and Slotten to third. Towards the middle of the pack,
there was a challenge for 6th place between George Giesen, Warren Ropp, and
Ken Schimmel. On lap 6, Slotten saw his luck pass as his car broke and
went up into the wall causing the first caution of the race. Slotten was
still running third at the time. As the race got underway again, Brill
maintained his lead with a battle in the back for 3rd place between Greg
Hartlaub and Eric Barth. Eric Barth was the victor but had better luck
that time than his heat finish of last when his car broke as well.
Halfway through the race, Barth started to make his move for the lead spot and
challenged Brill along with Rake being a contender in that battle. Barth
took the first position with Rake following in tow and Brill falling to
third. Hartlaub also made is move on Brill sending him to the fourth
position in the final laps of the race. As the white flag fell, Barth
and Rake continued to battle for that lead position with a side by side race
on the back stretch. Out of turn 4, Barth maintained his lead only by a
car length with Rake ending second, Hartlaub placing third, Brill finishing
fourth, and Ropp rounding out fifth.
The Golf Central/Jurassic Park Dirt Devils put on a good show, as always, with
a young driver taking the checkered flag. As the race started, Matt Hoge
took the lead and would never relinquish it even though he felt some pressure
but not enough to make him nervous. As Hoge widen his lead on every lap,
there was some racing going on behind between the 24 of Rangeloff and 26 of
Schwandt for the 2nd place position. For the 3rd position, Cottrell,
Drengler, Schultz and Mueller were in a heated battle with each other on lap 5
with Drengler being the victor. Schultz was black flagged for rough
driving in that incident and would take his car back to the pits on lap
6. On lap 8, Rangeloff got loose on turn 2 and Drengler saw that as his
opportunity to move up to 2nd position. As the checkered flag fell, Hoge
held onto his lead with Drengler finishing in 2nd position. A battle for
the third position was on out of turn 4, as the M00 car of Mueller couldn’t
quite stay running and coasted to the 5th position. Angermeyer and Schwandt
saw the opening and sandwiched Mueller for the 3rd and 4th positions,
respectively.
In the Quick Sign/Corporate Impressions Hobby Stock A-Main, Bob Voight took
the early lead as the green flag fell with the 97 of Rick Long right
behind. Rick Long’s luck would also run out as he fell off the pace
and fell to 6th position when his car ran into problems. D.J. Rindt
quickly moved up to 2nd position when Rick Long ran into trouble but would
quickly feel some heat, as the 4 of Jim Bangart wanted the 2nd position as
well. Rindt would then have to fight a battle for the 3rd position with
Korey Krupp and would relinquish his 3rd place position and fall to 4th.
Halfway through the race, Bangart would close the gap on Voight and eventually
take the lead with a side-by-side battle on the front stretch in lap 7.
Voight and Bangart raced side by side for the next couple of laps and finally
when the white flag fell, Bangart overtook the lead and finished for the first
time this season in 1st position. Voight took the 2nd position, with
Korey Krupp placing 3rd, Rick Long 4th, and Karl Thiede rounding out fifth.
As always, the Suburban Motors Harley Davidson/Buell Modifieds would give the
fans an enjoyable show of racing. As the green flag fell, Brian Stern
took the lead with Dennis Schultz right behind. On the first lap, corner
4, Schultz took over the lead from Stern who felt more pressure from behind
from the 03 car of Brad Rohloff. On lap 2, a tangle on turn 4 caused the
track guard tire to bounce into the way of traffic. After the track was
cleared, Schultz retook his lead with Tim Lemirande making his way through the
pack moving up to the 3rd position with pressure from Chris Engels and Dan
Miller. A second caution in the race allowed Lemirande to catch up to
Schultz and battle for the first position as the race once again got
underway. Schultz maintained his lead but on lap 10, another unlucky
break for Schultz sent him to the pits and he would not return. After
the caution for Schultz, Lemirande would move up to the 1st position with
Miller moving into second and Engels sliding into third. Engels and
Miller would start to feel the heat as Brad Rohloff and Travis Spaulding
wanted to contend for the 2nd and 3rd place positions. As Rohloff and
Spaulding battled it out for the 2nd position, Miller cruised past to overtake
the 2nd position sending Rohloff to 3rd and Spaulding to 4th. Engels
would then battle it out with Spaulding for the 4th position and when the
checkered fell, Spaulding would finish in 5th. The 1st and 2nd positions
was not as easy as Lemirande would have hoped as he and Miller were only a
bumper apart when Lemirande gave a final push for 1st.
In the American Auto Stocks division, the 47 of Alan Long and 03 of Shawn
Hayden would take turn 2 side by side in the battle for the 1st
position. Bill Genz in the 37 also battled for the first position but
fell to 3rd when he checked up around the corner. Genz would then battle
Long for the first position and would take the lead on the backstretch on lap
3. Trevor Schmidt moved his way up through the back and middle of the
pack to move into second and would eventually overtake the first position from
Genz on lap 7. Towards the middle of the pack there were some smaller
battles taking place for the 4th position between Richard Admundson Jr. and
Long and also between Jeff Jahnke and Jerry Kope for the 6th position.
As the race neared completion, Long and Kope continued to fight it out for the
3rd and 4th positions. As the checkered flag fell, Trevor Schmidt held
onto his lead with Genz placing 2nd, Long in 3rd, Kope in 4th and Frank
Foremiller in 5th. After the race, when technical inspections take place
of the top 5 finishers, it was revealed that the 37G of Bill Genz, the 2nd
place finisher, and the 9F of Frank Foremiller, the 5th place finisher, were
disqualified for mechanical violations. This would leave the 2nd and 5th
places vacant as the rule states no one moves into those positions if a
position is disqualified.
For more racing news and highlights for the PowerCom Speedzone in Oshkosh, WI
and The Raceway@Powercom Park in Beaver Dam, WI visit WWW.WISMOTORSPORTS.COM.
Suburban Motors Harley Davidson/Buell Modified Division
A-Main (1-10) Tim Lemirande, Dan Miller, Brad Rohloff, Chris Engels, Travis
Spaulding, Brian Drexler, Ryan Besaw, Scott Lewis, Andy Voigt, Steve Kloehn
B-Main 1 – Jim Zdroik B-Main 2 – Benjamin Brinkman
Heat 1 – Dennis Schultz, Heat 2 – Brian Stern, Heat 3 – Andy Voigt, Heat
4 –Scott Lewis
Quick Sign/Corporate Impressions Hobby Division
A-Main (1-9) Jim Bangart, Bob Voight, Korey Krupp, Rick Long, Karl Thiede,
Ross Losse, Rich Wojahn, D.J. Rindt, Ken Nelson
Heat 1 – Bob Voight
Golf Central/Jurrasic Park Dirt Devil Division
A-Main (1-11) Matt Hoge, Jasper Drengler, William Angermeyer, Dustin Schwandt,
Mike Mueller, Amanda Rangeloff, Loren Rangeloff, Jon Schultz, Chris Cottrell,
Patrick Klawitter, Todd Welsing
American Auto Stocks Division
A-Main (1-10) Trevor Schmidt, Bill Genz - DQ, Alan Long, Jerry Kope, Frank
Foremiller - DQ, Jeff Jahnke, Gary Neau, Richard Admundson Jr., Dan Wirl,
Shawn Haydon
B-Main 1 – Shawn Frelich
Heat 1 – Richard Admundson Jr., Heat 2 – Jerry Kope, Heat 3 – Trevor
Schmidt
INEX Legends
A-Main (1-10) Eric Barth, Aaron Rake, Greg Hartlaub, Kevin Brill, Warren Ropp,
Richard Cromheecke, Marc Davis, Adam Reed, Matt Wichman, George Giesen
Heat 1 – Kevin Brill, Heat 2 – Aaron Rake
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