Powercom Speed Zone Report
by Dave Buss
July 13, 2004
One of the top dirt track drivers in the state made a surprise visit to
the Speed Zone on Tuesday night as Pete Parker competed for the first
time at the Zone in a Budweiser Modified. However, it would be the 10s
of Jay Schraufnagel stealing the show with another impressive win in the
Budweiser A-Main. While in the Gibbsville Cheese INEX Lengends Joel
Wyttenbach would put an end to Eric Barth's dominance at the Speed Zone.
Other feature winners for the night would include Trevor Schmidt, Ron
Koenig, and Scott Sohrweide.
Brain Drexler looked like the man to beat in the Budweiser A Main but
the dreaded Yellow flag proved to be no friend. Drexler grabbed the lead
from Charlie Ewald and began to pull away from the field, however, every
time he seemed to get some breathing room the caution flag would allow
the field to close up on to his rear bumper. Meanwhile, the action
behind him was hot and heavy as a pair of 10 cars were making their
move. The 10s of Schraufnagel and the 10p of Parker were slicing and
dicing their way through the competition . After a great side by side
battle for the lead it would be the 10s of Schraufnagel grabbing the
lead and the win. Parker definitely got the feel of his Modified as he
was able to work his way from 12th to the 4th at the checkered flag. The
top five at the line were Schraufnagel, Russ Reinwald, Benjamin
Brinkman, Parker, and Travis Spaulding.
The crowd would get a big surprise in the Gibbsville Cheese INEX Legend
A - Main as Joel Wyttenbach grabbed the lead on lap number one and ran
away from the field. The surprise would come when Eric Barth, who has
dominated the Legends field this year at the Speed Zone, would spin
while running in second position and have to retire from the race. But
it may not have mattered as the only thing that seemed to slow the
Wyttenbach machine were a few caution flags. Wyttenbach would weather a
Green White Checkers finish and grab the win with Danny Martinez, Kevin
Brill, Warren Ropp, and Joe Johnson rounding out the top five.
Trevor Schmidt would have to work for his win in the American Auto
Sales Street Stock A - Main as he began the race deep in the field.
Early on it would be Rich Garb and Jerry Winkler who looked like they
were going to run away from the rest of their competitors but Shawn
Haydon had other plans and worked his way into the battle. Further back
it was Tim Reichenbereger and Schmidt working the high and low lines and
moving towards the front. At about the halfway point Reichenberger and
Schmidt would sit second and third behind Winkler as the yellow flag
came out. On the restart Reichenberger would dive to the inside through
corners three and four and grab the lead. Schmidt would take advantage
of another caution as he engaged in a side by side battle with
Reichenberger down the backstretch eventually grabbing the lead. The
battle would remain heated but on Lap 16 Reichenberger would spin
entering corner two and fall to the back of the field. Schmidt would
cruise to the victory with Jerry Kope, Winkler, Garb, and Mark Schultz
following him across the line.
Steve Seitz would grab the early lead in the Miller Lite Grand National
A-Main with Brett Wenzel right on his rear bumper. A lap 5 caution would
change everything though as the feild was bunched up tight for a
restart. It would take Scott Sohrweide, making his 2004 debut at the
Speed Zone two laps to charge to the front and on lap 6 he would grab
the lead. Sohrweide would briefly relinquish the lead to Wenzel on lap 7
but on lap 9 he would take it back and never look back. The first time
visitor would take the checkers as Seitz, Terry Van Roy, Bob Cullen,
and Wenzel chased him across the line.
The Corporate Impressions/Signmakers A-Main started out as a
father-daughter battle between Loren and Amanda Rangeloff. Amanda would
get the best of the battle for the early laps but the dou would hit
double trouble when Amanda's car got loose exiting corner four and Loren
would make contact sending her into the outside wall. She would be able
to walk away from the hard hit. Loren Rangeloff would be deemed the
cause and be sent to the back of the feild. After the restart, Jasper
Drengler would grab the lead and most thought he would drive away with
the win. However, Ron Koenig had other plans and began to track Drengler
down. In one of the best battles this year at the Speed Zone Koenig and
Drengler would swap the lead back and forth. In the end it would be
Koenig leading Drengler, Kip Klawitter, L. Rangeloff (who made an
impressive run from the back), and Mike Klawitter to the checkers.
Racing returns next week to the Speed Zone, be sure to stop out as
American Auto Sales displays a Matt Kenseth's Nextel Cup car.
