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Eagle Valley Racers Celebrate
By Ed Reichert
Tilden WI, January 19 – A nice sized crowd of racers, crews, families and friends joined Eagle Valley Speedway promoters Janis and Jerry Weigel to celebrate the 2007 racing season and look forward to 2008 Saturday night at Schreck’s Place.
The top drivers in all six classes that regularly compete at EVS were honored as well as the rookies of the year in each class. The top three drivers in the new Hornet class were recognized with trophies and other awards as well at the top ten drivers in the other five divisions.
Honored as the Hornet champion was Travis Anderson of Colfax. Other drivers receiving awards in the Hornets were Ryan Garnett of Elk Mound and Brandon Gleiter of Alma.
Anderson and Garnett tied for the track lead with six feature wins apiece. The top ten in the Pure Stocks was led by Tommy Richards of Mondovi. The rest of the top ten included his brother Danny of Mondovi also, Mike Knudtson of Osseo, third brother George Richards also of Mondovi, Jason Lang of Sheldon, Josh Smith of Eau Claire, Crystal Hanson of Augusta, Mike Harshman of Chippewa Falls, Don Perdue of Lonsdale MN and Kyle Bitney of Chippewa Falls. Tommy Richards led the way with eleven feature wins in the division.
WISSOTA National Street Stock Champion Cory Crapser won the EVS Street title as well. The Eau Claire native was trailed by Jay Kesan of Weyerhaeuser, Adam Soltis of Ladysmith, Dave Keyeski of Chippewa Falls, Mike Truscott of Chippewa Falls, Bobby Kaufman Jr of Rice Lake, Bob Wood of Cadott, Keith Tourville of Star Prairie, Matt Wolfe of Mondovi and Ron Hanestad of Glenwood City. National runner up in the Midwest Modified division Shane Halopka from Medford was crowned the point champion at EVS. Next in line behind him were Matt Leer of Bruce, Brad Hudson of Chippewa Falls, Mark Hanson of Chippewa Falls, Ronnie Rihn of Bloomer, Dalton Yohnk of Galesville, Kyle Johnson of Eau Claire, Wayne Dean of Fall Creek, Bryce Johnson of Turtle Lake and Cory Crapser of Eau Claire. Hanson led the way with four feature wins.
Veteran Mark Stender of Holcombe was the 2007 Super Stock champion. He was followed by Mike Keller of Menomonie, Chad Zastrow of Cadott, Eric Olson of Ladysmith, Ryan Olson of Chippewa Falls, Steve Hallquist of Eau Claire, Curt Myers of Cameron, Rick Hallquist of Eau Claire, John Feirn of Chippewa Falls and Chad Johnson of Colfax. Myers led the way with four feature wins.
Todd Siddons topped the field of Modified drivers to win the point title in that division. The remainder of the top ten included Scott Duval of Bloomer, Mike Anderson of Colfax, Shaun Kreyer of Hayward, Bryan Nayes of Chippewa Falls, Craig Thatcher of Knapp, Kevin Adams of Cameron, Dave Baxter of Eau Claire, Kent Baxter of Dorchester and Shane Halopka of Medford.
Named as the rookies of the year were Travis Anderson, Colfax- Hornets; Josh Smith, Eau Claire- Pure Stocks; Bobby Kaufman Jr, Rice Lake- Street Stocks; Ronnie Rihn, Bloomer- Midwest Modifieds and Bryan Nayes, Chippewa Falls-Modifieds. The was no rookie of the year honored in the Super Stocks.
Promoter Jerry Weigel announced that while there had been some rumors, all six classes including the Street Stocks would return as a part of the weekly racing program for 2008. Negotiations on the schedule for 2008 are ongoing and the World Dirt Racing League Late Models, Interstates Racing Association Sprint Cars and WISSOTA Challenge Series Late Models are all expected to appear at the track. Weigel is hoping to meet with officials of the Rice Lake Speedway and Red Cedar Speedway to clarify the Pure Stock rules so that cars can race at all three tracks under unified rules. Weigel also announced that the 2008 season opener is scheduled for Sunday, April 13th .
For updates on the 2008 season and a finalized schedule, check at the speedway website, www.eaglevalleyspeedway.net |