A Cool Night in a Hot Valley

By Gene Harmelink  
Photos By Chris Burback

                Despite cool temperatures and a previous night of rain, Eagle Valley hosted its second night of racing for the 2008 season on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11.  The track motto “Where the Valley Heats Up” certainly held true as the fans and racers were treated to a hot night of racing on a smooth and very fast track. 

Owner Jerry Weigel expressed concern prior to the feature races that he may have watered the track too much and he regretted the extra packing time and effort the racers had to put in to get the track in racing shape.  In spite of that,  he appreciated the efforts of the drivers, Weigel said, “I don’t like it when racecars have to pack the track.”  In the end, though, all the effort paid off and the feature track was one of the best Eagle Valley has had.

                Once again there was a nice group of cars on hand to do battle with a total car count of 91 cars in the pits.  The WISSOTA, AMSOIL racing program kicked off with three heats of Midwest Modifieds taking to the track.

                In feature action, WISSOTA Midwest Modified heat winner Josh Smith (#21J) was on the pole and was off to an early lead with the rest of the field in tow.  Smith led the race for the first ten laps with heat winner, Michael Truscott (#22) who had started second and Shane Halopka (#3jr) who had started fourth, in hot pursuit.  Truscott lost the handle on his car during lap nine and spun coming out of turn four.  In spite of the spin, Truscott was able to continue and no caution was called, but there must have been a problem with his car as he made one more lap and then pulled off leaving Halopka in pursuit of Smith.  During lap ten, Chad Manor (#89) spun and a caution ensued.  That caution was all Halopka needed to take the advantage and at the drop of the green Halopka sped off passing Smith taking the lead.  Halopka quickly put distance between himself and the rest of the field, but a caution after lap thirteen for an incident involving the #29 of heat winner, Ronnie Rihn, who had started third and was running third, but had just passed Smith for second and the #21J of Josh Smith, who was running third at the time and trying to get back to second, gathered up the field one more time.  The caution resulted in Smith being sent to the back and Rihn getting the second spot.  With two laps remaining Halopka proved to be too much for Rihn and the rest of the field and Halopka went on to take the checkered flag resulting in Halopka’s third win of the year.  Rounding out the top five were: Scott Duval (#35) who had started fifth, Scott Erickson (#15e) who had started seventh and Dan Svee (#76s) who had started eighth.  In honor of Mother’s day it was fitting to see Halopka joined by his mother in a victory lane picture.

                The WISSOTA Super Stocks were up next with Jeff Dregney (#44D) and Eric Olson (#1e) on the front row.  Olson was off to an early lead with Dregney in close pursuit followed by Chad Zastrow (#28z) who had started third and Mark Stender (#27s) who had started fourth.  Olson continued to lead and kept putting more distance between himself and the rest of the field.  As Zastrow began to fade out of the picture, Mike Keller (#31) who had started fifth and Curt Myers (#91) who had started eighth,  began moving up.  By lap thirteen, Olson had the field covered by a full straight while Keller had moved up to second with Dregney dropping to third.  Aaron Wilson (#92) who had started seventh,  had methodically worked his way up to fourth while Myers continued to run fifth.   Mark Stender who had dropped back earlier in the race was making a comeback and by lap eighteen had worked his way back up to fifth while Dregney faded to sixth.  At the checkered, Olson had won by a comfortable margin with Keller giving him a run for his money.   Rounding out the top five were:  Wilson, Myers, and Stender.

                While the WISSOTA Super Stocks and WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds had put on fantastic shows in their feature, the WISSOTA Modified action was even more fast and furious .  The Modified feature began with Jake Hartung (#05) and heat winner Craig Thatcher (#91) on the front row.  As many expected, Thatcher was off to a quick start and immediately took the lead with a very quick Mike Anderson (#57) who had started fourth,  in hot pursuit.  During the first six laps the top two remained the same, but there was plenty of shuffling going on in the remainder of the field with heat winner Kevin Adams (#40) who had started third,  giving Anderson all he could handle.  Meanwhile Hartung dropped back a bit, but Rich Loftus (#11x) who had started sixth had worked his way up to fifth.  A quick caution after lap six for a spinning Adam Eckes (#71x) who spun coming out of turn four, bunched the cars back up with Thatcher still in the lead. Adams passed Anderson on the restart and Loftus moved up to take fourth while Hartung hung on to fifth.  With seven laps to go, Adams was within a car length of Thatcher with Anderson, Loftus and Hartung following closely behind.  With five laps to go Adams had worked his way up to Thatcher’s driver door, but was unable to make the final drive by.  With Adams threatening and making things just a bit too uncomfortable, Thatcher put the pedal to the metal and strengthened his lead to a few car lengths.  At the checkered it was Thatcher with the win followed by Adams, Anderson, Loftus, and Hartung.

                It was a tough act to follow, but the WISSOTA Street stocks, nineteen cars strong, had one heck of a race as well.  Unfortunately, this race began with a thud when pole sitter, Dave Keyeski (#17) was sent to the back prior to completion of the first lap for causing a spin out.  That put Clark Swartz (#18), who was spun, in a much better position for the restart.  On the restart, Swartz was off to a quick lead with Adam Soltis (#9) who had started fifth, heat winner Matt Wolfe (#67W) who had started second, Gary Kasperek (#2) who had started fourth and heat winner Allen Gessell, Jr (#32x) who had started sixth, in hot pursuit.  Swartz continued to lead but the field behind changed often with Kasperek taking the second spot four laps into the race and holding on to second until lap eleven when he passed for the lead.  Unfortunately, Kasperek’s lead was short-lived as Swartz once again passed Kasperek to take the lead back with three laps to go.  Kasperek then began to fade a bit and Gessell, Jr. took the second spot.  At the checkered flag it was Swartz, Gessell, Jr, Mike Conrad (#M76) who did a great job working his way up from a ninth-place starting spot, Soltis, and Ron Hanestad (#71h) who had quietly worked his way up from his eleventh-place starting spot.  In the end, though, it was Gessell, Jr. who was awarded the win as Swartz was disqualified for an illegal suspension.  The result was another clean sweep for Gessell, Jr. who is really on a role early in the 2008 racing season.

                The Eagle Valley Pure Stocks got off to a slow start with two successive cautions.  With those cautions out of the way, racing action continued caution-free.  Heat winner, Jason Lang (#61) started fourth, but was off to an early lead and led the entire race with a car that appeared to be on cruise control.  George Richards (#5R) ran a strong second for the first four laps of the race, but had to eventually settle for third.  Heat winner, Danny Richards (#3R) started seventh and quickly moved up to take the second spot with six laps in the books.  Jordon Johnson (#97) started fifth and ran fourth for most of the race, while Cody Kummer (#12) did a nice job of moving up through traffic from his ninth-place starting spot to finish fifth.

                Just five Hornets were on hand to race on Sunday night.  It was a clean sweep for Brittany Olson (#08) as she quickly moved up in the feature to take the lead from her third-place starting spot.  Travis Anderson (#37) did all that he could to mount a charge to the front from his fifth-place starting spot, but Olson was just too fast.  Mackenzie Olson (#25) finished third after coming from fourth and having a spirited battle for some time with fourth-place finisher Rocky Kempe (#50).  It appeared Kempe’s car may have suffered some mechanical woes as he slowed a bit toward the end of the feature.  Rounding out the field after starting on the pole was Matt Marvin (#93).

                That concluded the night’s racing and a great night of racing it was.  Racing continues on Sunday, May 18 when the races will be presented by the Cesspool Cleaner Company.  Put Monday, May 26 on your calendar for an Eagle Valley Special.

 

SUMMARY

Eagle Valley Speedway

Jim Falls, WI

May 11, 2008

 

WISSOTA Modifieds

20-Lap Feature:  Craig Thatcher, Kevin Adams, Mike Anderson, Rich Loftus, Jake Hartung, Pat Doar, Shaun Kreyer, Tim Alexander, Mark Hanson, Mark Blood, James Cimfl, Bryan Nayes, Adam Eckes, Eric Pember, Paul Knauf

Heat 1:  Thatcher, Hartung, Loftus, Pember, Doar, Hanson, Nayes, Eckes

Heat 2:  Adams, Alexander, Anderson, Blood, Cimfl, Kreyer, Knauf

WISSOTA Super Stocks

15-Lap Feature:  Eric Olson, Mike Keller, Aaron Wilson, Curt Myers, Mark Stender, Jeff Dregney, Chad Zastrow, Shane Kisling, John Feirn, Shawn Huse, Steve Hallquist

Heat 1:  Myers, Keller, Zastrow, Dregney, Kisling, Huse

Heat 2:  Olson, Feirn, Stender, Wilson, Hallquist

WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

15-Lap Feature:  Shane Halopka, Ronnie Rihn, Scott Duval, Scott Erickson, Dan Svee, Mike Brennan, Brad Hudson, Matt Leer, Mark Clements, Mike Brenny, Dalton Yohnk, Jesse Glenz, Jeremy Houle, Corey White, Josh Smith, John Moravec, Chad Manor, Josh Appel, Michael Truscott, Cole Neitzel

Heat 1:  Smith, Halopka, Erickson, Clements, White, Houle, Glenz, Koehler

Heat 2:  Truscott, Duval, Svee, Leer, Hudson, Neitzel, Manor, E Apple

Heat 3:  Rihn, Brennan, Brenny, Yohnk, Moravec, J Apple, Broker

WISSOTA Street Stocks

15-Lap Feature:  Allen Gessell, Jr., Mike Conrad, Adam Soltis, Ron Hanestad, Matt Wolfe, Gary Kasperek, Tommy Richards, Sam Frankhauser, Dan Bork, Scott VonHaden, Jeff Antczak, Crystal Hanson, Dave Keyeski, Russell Hurst, Sam Averbeck, Kim Korstad, Kevin Vought, Don Perdue, Clark Swartz