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Buhler Wins WISSOTA Late Model Main, Van Straten Repeats In IMCA Stock Car Main At Shawano
By: Bert Lehman
Shawano, WI (July 26, 2003) - There were 110 cars on hand Saturday night, as
the Shawano Speedway continued its racing season. Tim Buhler won the WISSOTA
Late Model feature, with Mike Wedelstadt winning the IMCA Modified feature.
Travis Van Straten took home the win in the IMCA Stock Car feature, while Luke
Uttecht won the Limited Late Model feature.
Mark Weisnicht jumped out to the early lead over Doug Blashe, Lonnie Hoefts,
Tim Buhler and M.J. McBride in the 20-lap WISSOTA Late Model feature. McBride
moved to third on the next lap, with Terry Casey joining the top five by
grabbing the fourth spot. Casey then kept progressing to the front, getting by
McBride on the third lap. Weisnicht continued to lead the next several laps,
with Casey moving up to second, McBride to third, Troy Springborn to fourth
and Dave Jessen to fifth. Then on lap seven, McBride passed Casey in turns one
and two. Casey battled back, and McBride went spinning coming out of turn two.
Casey was ruled the cause of the incident, while McBride headed to pit lane to
change a flat rear tire.
When the race was restarted, Springborn grabbed the lead from Weisnicht, with
Buhler, Jessen and A.J. Diemel all in pursuit. It stayed that way for the next
couple laps, before Diemel passed Jessen for fourth. Springborn pulled out to
a good-sized lead before several cautions slowed the action late in the race.
The race was restarted with three laps to go, in the shortened race due to the
time limit running out. On the final restart, Springborn’s car did not get
up to full speed, as the rest of the field zoomed by him. Buhler moved from
third to first at this time, and led the remaining laps, to win his second
feature of the year. He was followed by Weisnicht, Terry Anvelink, Jessen and
Gordie Seegert.
In the IMCA Modified feature, Mike Knapp pulled out to the quick lead over
Brad Moeller, John Berna, Eric Scribner and Jerry Muenster. A caution on the
third lap then slowed the action. Moeller grabbed the lead on the restart,
leaving Knapp to battle side-by-side with Berna before another caution came
out. When the race was restarted, Mike Wedelstadt moved to the front, and
raced Moeller side-by-side for the lead. Wedelstadt led that lap, but Moeller
kept fighting back, and reclaimed the lead on the next lap. H e led the race
for two more laps, with Wedelstadt challenging for the lead each lap.
A couple cautions slowed the race over the next couple laps. When the race was
restarted for the final time, Wedelstadt was able to make the pass on Moeller
for the lead. Berna continued in third with Scribner and Muenster following.
Once in the lead, Wedelstadt took control of the race, as Moeller wasn’t
able to mount a challenge for the top spot. It was Wedelstadt’s third win of
the season. Moeller, Berna, Scribner and Muenster followed him across the
line.
Brandon Czarapata grabbed the lead on the second lap of the IMCA Stock Car
feature, while Brian Bruechert, Travis Van Straten and Tony Seefeldt raced
three-wide. Van Straten then took control of the second spot, dropping
Bruechert to third. By the end of lap four, Czarapata began pulling away from
the rest of the field, with Van Straten, Bruechert, Jeremy Christians and
Shannon Volkman following. The next few laps saw Van Straten begin to close in
on Czarapata, while Bruechert and Christians duked it out for third.
By the time half the race was in the books Van Straten had pulled up to
Czarapata’s rear bumper. Two laps later, they were racing side-by-side for
the lead. Van Straten used an outside pass to gain the lead with five laps
remaining. Once in the lead, Van Straten began to pull away from Czarapata. It
was Van Straten’s race, as he went on to win his second feature of the year,
and his second in a row at the Speedway. Czarapata, Bruechert, Christians and
Volkman followed him across the line.
The beginning of the Limited Late Model feature saw Luke Uttecht grab the
early lead from his outside front row starting spot. Brian Jensen, Jeff
Curtin, Jesse Peebles and Mike Kunschke were all in pursuit of Uttecht.
Several cautions slowed the action over the next few laps, with Curtin being
eliminated during one of the cautions. Uttecht remained in the lead on each
restart.
With Uttecht still in the lead with five laps remaining, Justin Ritchie moved
into the runner-up position, dropping Jensen to third. Kunschke and Bob
Schmidt were in pursuit of the top three cars. Uttecht would not be denied, as
he went on to win his first feature of the year. He was followed by Ritchie,
Jensen, Kunschke and Schmidt.
Eddie Jung, racing a 1985 Honda Accord, won the Four/Six Cylinder Street
Eliminator competition, while Jeff Olson won the Eight Cylinder competition
with a 1969 Camaro.
Racing action continues next Saturday night, with the MSA 360 Sprint cars also
on hand. For more information about the Shawano Speedway visit www.shawanospeedway.com.
RACING SUMMARY
WISSOTA LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Tim Buhler, 2)Mark Weisnicht, 3)Terry Anvelink,
4)Dave Jessen, 5)Gordie Seegert, 6)A.J. Diemel, 7)Nick Anvelink, 8)Randy
Markwardt, 9)M.J. McBride, 10)Todd Flannery. FIRST HEAT: 1)McBride, 2)Terry
Casey, 3)Jessen. SECOND HEAT: 1)Seegert, 2)Weisnicht, 3)Buhler. THIRD HEAT:
1)Troy Springborn, 2)Markwardt, 3)Ron Berna.
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE: 1)Mike Wedelstadt 2)Brad Moeller, 3)John Berna, 4)Eric
Scribner, 5)Jerry Muenster, 6)Eddie Muenster, 7)Joe Haferkorn, 8)Ron Figlinski,
9)Kevin Ferfecki, 10)Art Siefert. FIRST CONSI: 1)Siefert, 2)Dennis Young,
3)Ferfecki. SECOND CONSI: 1)Figlinski, 2)E. Muenster, 3)Chad Wilcox. FIRST
HEAT: 1)Wade Schutt, 2)Jerry Muenster, 3)Brad Rohloff. SECOND HEAT: 1)Mike
Knapp, 2)Shannon Ninham, 3)Sean Jerovetz. THIRD HEAT: 1)Dave Diemel,
2)Wedelstadt, 3)Kyle Myers. FOURTH HEAT: 1)Scribner, 2)Tom Haferkorn, 3)Jared
Siefert. FIFTH HEAT: 1)Moeller, 2)Berna, 3)J. Haferkorn.
IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE: 1)Travis Van Straten, 2)Brandon Czarapata, 3)Brian
Bruechert, 4)Jeremy Christians, 5)Shannon Volkman, 6)Jerry Wilinski, 7)Rod
Snellenberger, 8)Larry Karcz, 9)Dan Michonski, 10)Jeff Owens. FIRST CONSI:
1)Owens, 2)Jason Czarapata, 3)Steve Kastning. FIRST HEAT: 1)B. Czarapata,
2)Karcz, 3)Michonski. SECOND HEAT: 1)Van Straten, 2)Christians, 3)Tony
Seefeldt. THIRD HEAT: 1)Snellenberger, 2)Bruechert, 3)Tim Vande Hei.
LIMITED LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Luke Uttecht, 2)Justin Ritchie, 3)Brian Jensen,
4)Mike Kunschke, 5)Bob Schmidt, 6)Jesse Peebles, 7)Chad Hohn, 8)Jim
Gilbertson, 9)Brian Raddant, 10)Nate Yonker. FIRST HEAT: 1)Jeff Curtin,
2)Ritchie, 3)Peebles. SECOND HEAT: 1)Uttecht, 2)Tony Wudstrack,
3)Schmidt.
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