Swartz,
Truscott, Myers, and Anderson WISSOTA Winners at Eagle Valley Speedway
By
Gene Harmelink
Photos By Chris Burback
“But, Baby it’s cold outside”--Obviously we are unable to
control Mother Nature. On
Memorial Day night, the temperature at race time was in the mid-seventies,
but by feature time the temperatures had dropped to the mid-forties with a
stiff wind from the north—brrrrrr!
Fortunately the racing for the night was hot enough to keep a nice
crowd of spectators glued to their seats, some of us to the bitter end!
It also had to be very cold in the race cars for the 98 drivers who
blazed their way around the track.
Feature racing action began in the WISSOTA/Amsoil Midwest Modified
division with Reid Tiegs (1a) and Josh Smith (21j) on the front row.
With the drop of the green flag everyone was fighting for position
with Josh Smith leading the pack. As
the cars were coming out of turn three, Smith lost a rear wheel sending it
careening toward turn four. Fortunately,
the wheel caused no major problems and Smith pulled off the track, his
night done. With Smith in the
infield, there was a total restart with Michael Truscott (22), who had
started third, inheriting the pole. Truscott
was off and running, taking advantage of his new starting postion and led
with challenges from Ronnie Rihn (29), heat winner of heat four, who had
started fifth and ran second for the first ten laps.
By the end of lap eleven, winner of heat three, Shane Halopka
(3jr), who had started eighth, and had been picking off cars during the
first ten laps, moved into second and gave chase to Truscott.
Truscott, though, had two things going in his favor—a substantial
lead and momentum. Halopka’s
best efforts were not enough, as Truscott went on to take the win. The top five were: Truscott,
Halopka, Rihn, Scott Duval (35, who had started seventh, and Bryan
Bisonette (00).
With a field of fourteen cars, the WISSOTA/Amsoil Super Stocks were
next to the starting line for their feature race with Paul Erikson (4) and
Jeff Dregney (44D) in the front row. At
the drop of the green, Erikson was off to a quick lead, with Dregney
following closely behind. Two laps into the feature, Chad Zastrow (28z), who was
running seventh, spun coming out of turn one, causing the first caution.
In an attempt to avoid Zastrow, Mike Keller (31), who was running
eighth at the time, made a defensive move to the infield, damaging his car
and ending his night. On the
restart, Erickson again jumped out to the lead with Eric Olson (1e), who
had started sixth, in pursuit. Olson
did pass Erikson at the end of lap four, but Erikson reclaimed the lead
for laps five through eight and Olson had to settle back to second.
Meanwhile, back in the pack, heat winner, Curt Myers (91), who had
started eighth, was working his way up and by lap eight had passed Olson
for second. By the end of lap
nine, Myers had passed Erikson. With
a restart, after a brief delay for an incident between Mark Stender (27)
and Jeff Dregney, which sent
Dregney to the back, Myers again dominated, taking the lead, with heat
winner, Shane Kisling (6), moving
up to second from his fourth-place starting position, but Erickson and
Olson had not yet given up and reclaimed their spots to give chase to
Myers. Myers proved to be too
much for the rest of the field and took the win.
The top five were: Myers,
Erikson, Olson, Kisling, and Steve Hallquist (27h), who had started
thirteenth.
Up next, the mighty WISSOTA/Amsoil
Modifieds with Jay Richardson (R1) and Jake Hartung (05) in the
front row. Hartung shot to an
early lead with Richardson threatening.
By lap two, Richardson had passed Richardson, but Richardson was
not to be denied and made the pass by lap three, leading the next two
laps. Not to be outdone, Hartung again passed Richardson and led
for the next three laps. Back
in the pack, Ryan Aho (33) was working his way up from his sixth-place
starting spot and had worked up to third.
A caution for a spinning Cory Crapser (07) gave Aho the opportunity
he was looking for and by the end of lap eight, Aho had taken the lead
with Hartung and Mike Anderson, who had started fifth, at his heels.
Aho continued to lead with Anderson picking up second by lap
sixteen. Anderson
passed Aho for one lap during lap seventeen, but Aho regained the lead,
with Anderson seemingly going to have to settle for second.
With just one lap left to go and Aho in the lead, Anderson gave it
one last try and screamed past Aho, coming out of turn four for the win.
The top five were: Anderson, Aho, Rich Loftus (11x), who had started fourth, and
Kevin Adams (40), who had started seventh.
The WISSOTA/Amsoil Street Stocks were up next for their feature,
with Scott VonHaden (14) and heat winner, Jay Kesan (12) on the front row.
Kesan was off to a quick lead with Von Haden dropping back to
fourth and heat winner, Mike Conrad (M76), moving up to second.
The order remained the same for the top two spots, with Kesan
showing the way and Conrad right on his bumper.
Clark Swartz (18), who had started third was still running third,
Von Haden was running fourth and Adam Soltis (9), who had started eighth,
was running fourth. A caution
just prior to the completion of lap nine for Conrad, whose car stopped
coming out of turn one after losing a wheel, changed the running order a
bit with Kesan still in the lead, Swartz in second, VonHaden in third,
Soltis in fourth and Butch Kummer, who had started sixth, in fifth.
Kesan continued to lead, Kummer dropped out of the top five to be
replaced with Gary Kasperek (2) moving up to fifth.
Kesan led the remainder of the race with the exception of the one
lap that really counts, when he was passed by Swartz.
The top five were: Swartz,
Kesan, Von Haden, Kasperek, and Soltis.
The Eagle Valley Pure
Stocks were up next with what could be best explained as self-inflicted
mayhem. This feature was
plagued with cautions, not caused so much by accidents, but by cars
spinning and other one car incidents. By this time the temperatures were extremely cold and the
attention span of the drivers may have been affected? In any event, the final outcome was Jason Lang (61) taking
the win, with George Richards (5R) in second, Doug Wojcik (3D) in third,
Jeremy Robinson (16R) in fourth and Allen Amborn (11) in fifth.
One more Hornet joined the ranks for Eagle Valley Hornets this week
for their feature.. Travis Anderson (37) again dominated the Hornet feature,
easily taking the win with Brittany Olson (08) having to settle for
second. Rounding out the
feature were: Rocky Kempe
(50), Jerry Zebro (4Z), Mackenzie Olson (25) and Chad Anderson (58C).
Be sure to keep
Sunday, June 1 on your schedule is when the races will be sponsored by B.D.
Roycraft Excavating featuring WISSOTA Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks, WISSOTA
Midwest Modifieds, WISSOTA Street Stocks, EVS Pure Stocks, and EVS Hornets. Pits
open at 4:00 PM with a cut off time of 5:30 PM.
Hot laps begin at 5:30 PM with Racing at 6:00 PM.