Aussie Tops Superior Speedway IRA Show
Laursen Sweeps Late Model Show

By Jerry O'Brien  June 4, 2004  Superior, WI.

Australian native Brook Tatnall was the class of the field Friday night June 4th at the Superior Speedway taking the lead on lap eight of 30 scheduled. Tatnall ran away and hid in traffic after moving up from the inside of row three to slip past early leader and pole sitter Joe Roe.

At the green flag Roe shot out to the lead and quickly put a straight away bulge on second place man and outside pole starter Randy Anderson who was trailed by Mark Toews, Travis Whitney, Ricky Logan and Tatnall. Roe had such a huge lead that five laps into the event he was beginning to lap the field which proved to be his downfall. Tatnall was on a roll, soon worked his way into the second spot and took the measure of Roe for the lead. With 13 laps down, the red flag flew stopping action immediately as Scott Biertzer and local driver Leigh Thomas tangled when the differential gears broke in Biertzer's car causing both to flip down the front stretch. Neither driver was injured but both cars appeared to be extensively mangled. When the event resumed Tatnall quickly moved away from the pack with Roe, Anderson, Logan and Toews still in the top five. Tatnall scooted out to a big lead and was soon lapping once again. The event would go to the finish with no more problems as Tatnall's lead expanded in traffic. Roe was unchallenged with ten laps remaining but Anderson's third place would fall to a charging Logan.  Toews was trying to hold off Whitney for fifth in a good battle. Tatnall won going away over Roe and Logan while Anderson maintained fourth. Toews was able to fight off  Whitney to finish fifth.  Team mates Kim Mock and Mike Kertscher were able to advance from the B Main where they had finished first and second, to top ten finishes with Mock in 8th and Kertscher 10th. 10th starting Jim Melis was 7th and Steve Meyer was 9th.

It looked as though the track record might be in danger as fifteen or thirty-four scheduled to take time trials timed in in the thirteen second range. The track record was set in 2000 by Donny Goeden at 12.958 seconds around the four tenths mile high banked oval.  The closest to the record was Kim Mock who turned the fastest time to the night at 13.338 seconds.

Also on the program were the WISSOTA late models who ran a 20 lap feature. On hand were 22 cars to run for the weekly payoff. In a departure from normal procedure the late Models also timed in with Todd Gehl turning the quick lap at 16.26 seconds.

Steve Laursen started from the pole with Darin Meierotto to this outside. At the green Laursen shot into the lead but Meierotto came back and, for the first  two or three laps the two hod shoes traded slide jobs with each taking a brief lead over the other. Laursen was able to break away from Meierotto while Nick Nelson was third, Jeff Broking fourth and Tim McMann fifth. A quarter of the way into the event Laursen had pulled away and was dominating while ninth starting Joel Cryderman was on the move and worked his way into fifth.  Jeff Provinzino was also moving forward ahead of Cryderman and, as Laursen began to lap the field, the half way point was quickly reached. Laursen led Meierotto, Nelson, Provinzino and Cryderman with Broking and Tom Nesbitt trailing the front five. Just when it appeared that the 20 laps would go by with no caution periods a large piece of debris was spotted on the track and the caution flag appeared.  When racing resumed Provenzino and Cryderman overwhelmed Nelson to take third and fourth respectively. With two laps remaining the caution flag again appeared setting up a shootout when Trent Follmer backed into the second turn wall. Laursen went on to take the win over Provinzino and Cryderman who had both gotten by Meierotto. Broking slipped by Nelson to take fifth.

Results:
IRA Sprints (34 cars) (Fast Time Kim Mock 13.338 seconds)
Heat 1: Scott Uttech, Travis Whitney, Joe Roe, John sernett, Kurt davis, Kim Mock, John haeni, Johnny Bridges.
Heat 2: Ricky logan, Mike Stefka, Jim Melis, Mark Toews, Leigh Thomas, Ty Bartz, Dave Uttech, Andy Hunt.
Heat 3: Scott Biertzer, Brooke Tatnall, Bill Warren, Wayne Mojeski, Scott Neitzel, Matt Folstad, Joe Kouba, Matt Wasmund
Heat 4: Shayne Dayney, Steve Meyer, Randy Anderson, Ryan Irvin, Rusty Egan, Mike Kertscher, Dan Owings, Fred Ebler.

B Main: Mock, Kertscher, Haeni, Thomas, Davis, Wasmund, D Uttech, Neitzel.

Feature: (1-10) Tatnall, Roe, Logan, Anderson, Towes, Whitney, Melis, Mock, Meyer, Kertscher.
(11-22) Neitzel, Haeni, Sernett, Modjeski, Jason Johnson, Davis, S Uttech, Stefka, D Uttech, Warren, Biertzer, Thomas.

WISSOTA Late Model (22 cars) (Time Trial fast time Todd Gehl 16.26 seconds)
Heat 1: Gehl, Darrell Nelson, Nick Nelson, Tyler Keyser, Bill Byholm, Rick Hanestad, Bob Slater, Kevin Mudrak
Heat 2: Steve Laursen, Joel cryderman, Jef Broking, Tim McMann, Mike Nutzmann, Andrew McKay, Bob Broking
Heat 3: Jeff Provinzino, Darin Meierotto, Trent Follmer, Tom Nesbitt, Steve roseen, Kevin Carlson, Ken Kincaid

Feature: (20 laps) (1-10) Laursen, Provinzino, Cryderman, Meierotto, J Broking, N Nelson, Hanestad, Nesbitt, D Nelson, Keyser 
(11-22) McMann, Nutzmann, Roseen, Byholm, Slater, McKay, Carlson, Gehl, B Broking, Kincaid, Follmer, Mudrak.