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Seegert Wins First WISSOTA Late Model Main; Ritchie Wins Again
By Bert Lehman
Shawano, WI (Aug. 14, 2004) - As the racing season starts to wind down at the
Shawano Speedway, Gordie Seegert won his first WISSOTA Late Model feature of
the year. Jeremie Hedrick and Jason Czarapata each won their second feature of
the year in the IMCA Modified and IMCA Stock Car divisions. Justin Ritchie won
his seventh Limited Late Model feature.
Todd Flannery used his pole position starting spot to grab the early lead over
Randy Markwardt, Gordie Seegert, Doug Blashe and Pete Parker in the WISSOTA
Late Model feature. Seegert quickly moved into the second spot on the second
lap, and began his pursuit of Flannery. Seegert caught Flannery a couple laps
later, while Parker also grabbed the fourth spot. Flannery fended off Seegert
for a couple laps, but gave up the lead to Seegert on lap eight. Troy
Springborn also joined the top five at this time.
Once Seegert claimed the lead, he began to build himself a comfortable lead.
With Seegert firmly in the lead, Parker began closing the gap on Markwardt for
third place. With only a few laps remaining, Parker and Springborn were
battling it out for the fourth position, when the first and only caution came
out. As the race was about to go green again, Parker pulled into the pits.
Seegert maintained his lead on the restart, while Markwardt moved to second
Tim Buhler to third, Springborn to fourth and Flannery falling to fifth.
That’s the way it ended, with Seegert winning his first feature of the year
at the Speedway.
In the IMCA Modified feature, Joe Haferkorn jumped out to the quick lead over
Greg Stelse, Dave Diemel, Jeremie Hedrick and Eric Scribner. With Hedrick
running the high groove, he began advancing on the front cars, taking over the
second spot on the third lap, and grabbing the lead one lap later. Haferkorn
faded a bit, letting Diemel settle into the second spot. Craig Bartz was also
running the high groove, and was also advancing through the field taking the
third spot on lap six.
Hedrick built himself a comfortable lead over the next few laps, as Diemel
built up some distance over the third place car of Bartz, while Mike
Wedelstadt and Benji LaCrosse rounded out the top five. A caution came out
with only a couple of laps remaining, leaving it a shootout to the end.
Hedrick continued to lead in the restart, with Bartz moving up to second and
Diemel falling to third. Hedrick led the rest of the way, taking the win, with
Bartz, Diemel, Wedelstadt and Arneson following.
Jon Wolf took the early lead in the IMCA Stock Car feature over B.J. Giese,
Tyler Rasmussen, Kevin Lamberies and Jeff Brehmer. Giese applied pressure on
Wolf during the first few laps, but Wolf was able to maintain his lead. The
first and only yellow flag flew on lap six. Wolf continued to lead on the
restart, but Jason Czarapata, Larry Karcz, Lamberies and Rod Snellenberger all
joined the top five and were looking to advance.
Czarapata pulled to the outside of Wolf and grabbed the lead with six laps
remaining. Snellenberger followed one lap later, with Karcz also following on
the next lap. This left Czarapata, Snellenberger and Karcz to battle it out
over the final couple laps. Czarapata held on for the win, with Snellenberger,
Karcz, Wolf and Lamberies following.
A couple of cautions slowed the action early in the Limited Late Model
feature. Once the action got going, Tony Wudstrack found himself in the lead
with Jeff Curtin, Mike Kunschke, Justin Ritchie and Bob Schmidt following.
Larry Drefahl took the fifth spot from Schmidt on lap five. After several
tries, Ritchie passed Kunschke for third place, and set his sight on the
second place car of Curtin.
As Wudstrack continued to lead, Ritchie caught Curtin and made a high-side
pass for second place. As the laps began to dwindle, Ritchie was gaining on
Wudstrack, and was right on Wudstrack’s rear bumper as they took the white
flag. Ritchie ducked underneath Wudstrack in corners three and four. It was
then a drag race to the finish line, with Ritchie taking the win.
Racing action will continue next Saturday night, with the action starting at
6:30 p.m. For more information about the Shawano Speedway, visit www.shawanospeedway.com
RACING SUMMARY
WISSOTA LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Gordie Seegert, 2)Randy Markwardt, 3)Tim Buhler,
4)Troy Springborn, 5)Todd Flannery, 6)Luke Roffers, 7)Tom Naeyaert, 8)M.J.
McBride, 9)Doug Blashe, 10)Mark Mitchell. FIRST HEAT: 1)Pete Parker,
2)Springborn, 3)Naeyaert. SECOND HEAT: 1)Flannery, 2)McBride, 3)Buhler.
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE: 1)Jeremie Hedrick, 2)Craig Bartz, 3)Dave Diemel, 4)Mike
Wedelstadt, 5)Lance Arneson, 6)Benji LaCrosse, 7)Eric Scribner, 8)Wade Schutt,
9)Eric Van Iten, 10)Eddie Muenster. FIRST HEAT: 1)Arnerson, 2)John Berna,
3)Shawn Froelick. SECOND HEAT: 1)Bartz, 2)LaCrosse, 3)Jeremy Hodkiewicz. THIRD
HEAT: 1)Wedelstadt, 2)Diemel, 3)Julie McDermid. FOURTH HEAT: 1)Schutt,
2)Hedrick, 3)Kevin Ferfecki. FIFTH HEAT: 1)Scribner, 2)Joe Haferkorn, 3)Mark
Koweleski.
IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE: 1)Jason Czarapata, 2)Rod Snellenberger, 3)Larry Karcz,
4)Jon Wolf, 5)Kevin Lamberies, 6)Jeremy Christians, 7)Tyler Rasmussen, 8)Dan
Michonski, 9)Jeff Brehmer, 10)B.J. Giese. FIRST HEAT: 1)Karcz, 2)Christians,
3)Michonski. SECOND HEAT: 1)Czarapata, 2)Lamberies, 3)Kyle Fredrick. THIRD
HEAT: 1)Snellenberger, 2)Shannon Volkman, 3)Giese.
LIMITED LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Justin Ritchie, 2)Tony Wudstrack, 3)Jeff Curtin,
4)Mike Kunschke, 5)Larry Drafahl, 6)Luke Uttecht, 7)Jesse Peebles, 8)Bob
Schmidt, 9)Chad Hohn, 10)Nate Yonker. FIRST HEAT: 1)Curtin, 2)Ritchie,
3)Wudstrack. SECOND HEAT: 1)Drafahl, 2)Uttecht, 3)Kunschke.
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