<-- BACK TO NEWS Mother
Nature Provides a Lightning Fast Track for Eagle Valley Speedway By
Gene Harmelink Sunday
night racing had to wait a bit for Mother Nature as she put on an
impressive show of lightning near Eagle Valley Speedway.
Once a brief shower was over the track was repacked for a night of
racing that would prove to be a bit unusual with a lightning fast track. In
the WISSOTA/Amsoil Midwest Modified Division, the front row was made up of
heat winner, Jeff McDonald, and Scott Erickson.
McDonald put on an impressive move as he shot to the lead while
Erickson settled for second. Dalton
Yohnk, who had started third, hung onto third while Brad Hudson, who had
started sixth, moved quickly up to fourth and Josh Smith dropped a spot to
run fifth. After
two successive cautions, occurring prior to the completion of lap six,
both involving a number of cars with several, including the car of heat
winner, Jared Loos, who had been on the move from his eighth-place
starting spot, retiring to the pits, racing resumed.
Josh Smith showed a burst of speed on the restart and quickly moved
from third to take the lead, while McDonald settled briefly for second and
then slowly faded. As
Smith continued to lead, Brad Hudson, whose car had suffered transmission
problems in his heat race, continued to hang on for second, Scott Erickson
clung to third, Matt Leer ran fourth after starting tenth and Bryan
Bisonette used a higher line as he ran fifth after starting fourteenth.
With
five laps to go, Michael Truscott, who had started fifth, moved up to
fourth, after running seventh for a time, and Shane Halopka, who had
started ninth, moved to fifth. With
two laps to go Smith was still in the lead, Hudson was still challenging
for first, Erickson reclaimed third, Leer reclaimed fourth and Bisonette
settled in for fifth. That
then turned out to be the final finishing order of the top five. The
next division of the track was the WISSOTA/Amsoil Super Stock Division
with Rick Hallquist and Shawn Huse on the front row. With no laps into the books, there was a caution for a
spinning Chad Johnson in turn two. With
racing set to resume, the lights went out in turn two (unrelated to the
Johnson spin). After a
fifteen minute delay or so, the lighting was restored and racing resumed,
but not for long as Rick Hallquist spun in turn two on the restart.
Hallquist’s car was removed on the hook and racing once again
resumed. Huse
saw his chance and took the lead on the restart with last week’s feature
winner and Sunday night heat winner, Mark Stender, giving chase.
But wait, we need another caution (fortunately, the last) as rookie
driver Andy Cimfl’s car came to rest in turn four prior to the
completion of lap two. Once
racing resumed, so did the lead for Huse.
Stender was not going to let Huse get far as they raced nose to
tail until lap sixteen when Stender’s car washed up the track.
Stender lost four or five car links, but Huse and Stender had
enough of a lead over the remained of the field that it didn’t matter
for their positions. Once
Stender regained his composure, he was off for the chase one more time. While
all the attention was being given to the two front runners, there was
plenty of action in the remainder of the field as heat winner, Mike
Keller, had been steadily moving up from his seventh-place starting spot
to take third by lap seven and Curt Myers captured fourth after starting
eighth. Steve Hallquist, who
had started third, was running fifth with Eric Olson slipping a bit after
running fourth or fifth for much of the race. With
three laps to go, Huse hung on to first, Stender was still attempting to
unseat him while Keller and Myers battled for third and Steve Hallguist
continued to run fifth. On
the white flag lap, Myers pulled off moving Rich Bishop up to the fifth
spot after he ran sixth or seventh for much of the race after he started
ninth. In
the end, it was Huse with the win, Stender following with his car’s
front end up to Huse’s rear wheels, with Keller, Steve Hallquist and
Bishop close behind. The
WISSOTA/Amsoil Modifieds took to the track next and at the drop of the
green flag were off with Luke Schilling and Darrel Hazelton on the front
row. As Hazelton was going
down the back stretch his car momentarily got loose, Hazelton appeared to
correct and heat winner, Craig Thatcher, seized the opportunity coming
from his fourth-place starting spot in an attempt to pass on the outside,
coming into turn four. Unfortunately,
Hazelton had not corrected completely, washed up in the turn and Thatcher
had nowhere to go. Thatcher
ended up impacting the turn four wall with his car sustaining heavy
damage. Thatcher’s car went
off on the hook and Hazelton drove off into the pits after being charged
with the caution. A
second caution, prior to the completion of a lap involved the cars of
Shaun Kreyer, Rich Loftus and Aric Lindberg.
Loftus required a pit stop to change a flat tire, Kreyer continued
as did Aric Lindberg. Although
it was not readily apparent to officials or fans, Lindberg said he was
responsible for the caution so he gets the good sportsmanship award of the
night for telling track officials to charge him with the caution.
In the end this good deed proved to be his undoing—no good deed
goes unpunished! On
the restart, Keith Tourville shot to the front, three wheeling his car
around the track. Schilling
gave chase, while, Mike Anderson, who had started sixth, and Kevin Adams,
who had started seventh, were attempting the move to the front. By
lap three, Anderson had taken the lead, Tourville was running second,
Adams was third, Schilling was fourth and Cory Crapser, who had started
ninth, was fifth. Prior to
the completion of lap seven, Crapser had passed Schilling but then spun in
turn four with an assist from Schilling.
Crapser was given his spot back and Schilling restarted in the
back. Crapser completed one
more lap and then spun on his own, pulled into the infield and was done
for the night. By
lap seven, Anderson and Adams were on their way to checking out.
By lap thirteen the duo had stretched their lead to the full length
of the track with Tourville running a distant third followed by Shaun
Kreyer, who had started dead last, and heat winner, Mark Hanson, who had
started fifth. Lap
sixteen saw Anderson and Adams dueling for first with Kreyer running
third, Tourville in fourth and Hanson still in fifth.
There was a caution with two laps remaining for contact between
Lindberg and Bruce Belland. Belland’s
night ending with a wrecked car and Lindberg’s night ended as well as he
was charged with his second caution. The
last two laps saw Anderson and Adams in a very tight battle for the win
with Anderson being the victor. Rounding
out the top five were: Kreyer,
Hanson and Tourville. The
WISSOTA/Amsoil Street Stock numbers were down some from previous weeks,
but that didn’t mean that there would not be a spirited fight for the
win. The front row of
the feature saw heat winner, Tommy Richards, and last week’s feature
winner, Matt Wolfe, ready to spring into action. At
the conclusion of lap one, Mike Conrad had assumed the lead from his
third-place starting spot, Richards was running second, Jay Kesan, who had
started fourth, was running third, and Clark Swartz, who had started
fifth, was running fifth. A
caution after the completion of lap three for a spinning Wolfe in turn
four reset the field as Scott VonHaden drove off into the pits (unrelated
to the caution). Another
caution before the completion of another lap occurred when Swartz spun
between turns one and two collecting Crystal Hanson in the process.
Swartz drove off into the pits and Hanson continued. On
the restart, Richards took the lead, with Conrad in pursuit.
Kesan was running third, Hanson was fourth and Wolfe ran fifth.
There was one more caution for a spinning Hanson in the front
stretch, prior to the completion of lap eight.
Hanson ran one more lap and then retired to the pits. Richards
resumed the lead which he held for one lap and then Kesan took the lead
for one lap. Richards and
Kesan fought tooth and nail for the next few laps running door-to-door
with Richards finally succeeding in taking the win.
Kesan had to settle for second, Conrad for third and Wolfe for
fourth. In
the Eagle Valley Pure Stock Division, Pat Smith and Cody Kummer lead the
field to the feature. Kummer
was off to an early lead, leading the first four laps.
By lap five, Doug Wojcik, fresh off a win at Rice Lake the night
before, assumed the lead with Kummer dropping to second followed by Danny
Richards, George Richards, and Will Hargreaves. Wojcik
continued to lead as the field settled down behind him.
With two laps to go, Wojcik was still in the lead followed by Danny
Richards, George Richards, Kummer and Zach Manley, who had moved up from
ninth. Meanwhile back in the
back a bit, Mitchell Johnson, celebrating his birthday, was having his
best run ever moving up from thirteenth to ninth. The
race ended with Wojcik taking his second win of the weekend, Danny
Richards in second, George Richards in third, Kummer in fourth and Manley
in fifth. George Richards was
docked two spots for jumping the start, so the official top five finish
was: Wojcik, Danny Richards,
Kummer, Manley, and George Richards. The
Eagle Valley Hornets were last up to see action with increased numbers
requiring two heats on Sunday night.
Mackenzie Olson and heat winner, Bob Anderson, lead the field to
the starting line. Bob
Anderson was off to a quick lead with Travis Anderson, who had started
eighth, hot on his heels. Bob
Anderson led the first five laps of the feature and was then passed by
Travis Anderson for the lead. Meanwhile,
Jerry Zebro had been patiently waiting, running in third, while heat
winner, Brittany Olson, who had started sixth, had moved up to fourth and
her sister, Mackenzie, settled in for fifth. Travis
Anderson continued to lead, expanding his lead considerably.
With two laps to go Travis Anderson’s car began to slow and with
one lap to go, had dropped to fourth.
Bob Anderson took over the lead and won the feature followed by
Brittany Olson, Zebro, Mackenzie Olson and Mike Peters, who had started
fifth and made a last minute dash to the flag. With
the rain delay and the lighting delay, the show ran about an hour and a
half longer than normal. The
fans, a very large crowd of them, hung in there and saw the program
through to the end. Kudos to
the fans for their patience! Racing
resumes on Sunday, June 29, when the races will be presented by River
Country Coop. Also, keep
Sunday, July 6, open on your schedule when the WISSOTA Late Models return
to Eagle Valley for a Dart Challenge Series race.
A special weekend follows on July 13 when Eagle Valley will be
“Racin for a Reason”. Be
there “WHEN THE VALLEY HEATS UP”! Hot
laps are at 5:30 with racing starting at 6:00 and as always there is a kid’s
bike giveaway every Sunday night, sponsored by Kelly Oium Well Drilling
& Pump Service and Chris Oium Blacktopping. SUMMARY Eagle Valley Speedway WISSOTA Modifieds WISSOTA Super Stocks WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds WISSOTA Street Stocks Eagle Valley Pure Stocks Eagle Valley Hornets |