Wi Dirt Racin

J. Tienor

Friday, July 20th, Manitowoc, WI. – With the start of events delayed some track maintenance to provide the racers the best possible conditions and the fans the best show we can, the drivers did not disappoint in the feature events with drivers running every part of the track to move to the front.

GRAND NATIONALS
Last weeks winner Tim Warner absent and a inversion of 4 set Kevin Naidl (Reedsville) on the pole with Brian Gilles (Plymouth), Brad Juckem (Chilton), Steven Ruh (Elkhart Lake), Ryan Minster (Sheboygan), and Dan Schumacher (Milwaukee) in the top 6 for the start. Gilles grabbed the lead with Naidl and Ruh settling into position behind him. Juckem got around Ruh on Lap 2 and Naidl on Lap 3, but cut a tire and spun in turn 2 on Lap 5 to bring out the first caution. Gilles led them back to green with Ruh, Minster, Naidl and Schumacher trying to chase him down. Don Schumacher broke into the top 5 on Lap 8, just before another yellow, this time Naidl spun out causing the slow down. Gilles again led the field to green, Ruh, Minster, and Dan & Don Schumacher with Mark Kuhfuss (Sheboygan) in 6th. The final caution came out on Lap 14 as Chris Gilson planted the rear of his car into the Turn 2 rail, bringing on a lengthy clean up. Back under green, the orange and black machine of Gilles held on to the lead for the final 5 lap sprint, picking up another win. Ruh was the runner up, followed by Minster, Dan Schumacher, Naidl, Kuhfuss, Sean Mueller (Plymouth), Don Schumacher, Juckem, and C. Gilson. Minster, Ruh, and Dan Schumacher in a 3 way tie for hard charger honors.

HEAT 1 – 1, Brad Juckem. 2, Kevin Naidl. 3, Ryan Minster. 4, Don Schumacher. 5, Mark Kuhfuss. 6, Chris Gilson.
HEAT 2 – 1, Brian Gilles. 2, Steven Ruh. 3, Daniel Schulmacher. 4, Sean Mueller. 5, Michael Gilson. 6, Ken Glander.
FEATURE – 1, Brian Gilles. 2, Steven Ruh. 3, Ryan Minster. 4, Daniel Schulmacher. 5, Kevin Naidl. 6, Mark Kuhfuss. 7, Sean Mueller. 8, Don Schumacher. 9, Brad Juckem. 10, Chris Gilson. 11, Michael Gilson. 12, Ken Glander.

IMCA SPORTMODS
JJ Anderson (Pulaski) started in the 11th position after he won the Sportmods initial appearance last week. A 10 car inversion scrambled the field for the main event, putting Chad Kaminski (Luxemburg) on the pole, and Jared VanLaanen (Green bay), Jesse Brey (Two Rivers), Jason Jach (Shawano), Tyler Hackett (Algoma), and Eric Scribner (subbing for Cole Fenske) in the top 6. On Lap 1 Chad Vetting (Manitowoc) brought out a fast yellow as he tried to avoid a mess in front of him. Kaminski led, but on the next attempt at a start, Rob Krall spun in Turn 1. Kaminski led the field down again, with VanLaanen, Brey, Jach, and Scribner in the top 5. Brey brought out another yellow on Lap 3 as he spun in Turn 3 after losing a huge amount of fluid out of his car. Kaminski again led them to green, with VanLaanen, Jach, Hackett, and Zeke Bishofberger (Fort Atkinson) into the top 5. Hackett and Bishofberger made huge moves through the pack with Anderson in tow. Bishofberger grabbed the lead on Lap 6, Hackett moved into 2nd behind him a lap later. Brian Bruechert (Kewaunee) moved all the way to 3rd from 8th on the grid on Lap 12. With 3 laps to go it was still Bishofberger, Hackett, Bruechert, Scribner, and Kaminski, but that changed quickly as on the next lap, the bright red machine of Bishofberger spit the driveshaft ending his race. Hackett picked up the lead on the restart and would win the sprint to checkers with Bruechert, Scribner, Jach, Kaminski, Anderson, and Krall finishing the race. Hard charger honors to Anderson and Bruechert picking up 6 spots with runner-up Hackett with 4.

HEAT 1 – 1, Brian Bruechert. 2, Zeke Bishofberger. 3, Jason Jach. 4, Tyler Hackett. 5, Brad Lautenbach. 6, Chad Vetting.
HEAT 2 – 1, JJ Andersen. 2, Cole Fenske. 3, Jesse Brey. 4, Jarred VanLaanen. 5, Chad Kaminski. 6, Rob Krall
FEATURE – 1, Tyler Hackett. 2, Brian Bruechert. 3, Cole Fenske. 4, Jason Jach. 5, Chad Kaminski. 6, JJ Andersen. 7, Rob Krall. 8, Zeke Bishofberger. 9, Chad Vetting. 10, Jarred VanLaanen. 11, Jesse Brey. 12, Brad Lautenbach. (DNS).

MSA 360 SPRINTS
With last weeks winner Danny Schlafer not in attendance and an inversion of 4 spun by the big wheel, some fast cars made up the front of the MSA 360 Main Event. Ben Schmidt (Howards Grove) held the pole position with Scotty Thiel (Sheboygan), Jeremy Schultz (Beaver Dam), Shane Wenninger (Kewaskum) and Randy Brunette (Chilton) filling out the top 5 at the green flag. Schmidt led the first lap, and the race was immediately slowed by a red flag on Lap 2 for Mark Krueger (Green Bay) flipped in Turn 2, and the cars of Jeff Wilke (Genoa), Lee Schroeder (Plymouth) and John Krebsbach (Cascade) were also involved. Wilke and Krueger were done for the night while the other 2 drivers continued on. Schmidt retained the lead on the restart, with Thiel and Schultz putting on a clinic behind them. Wenninger dropped a few positions as Kyle Marten (Sheboygan Falls) raced into the top five on Lap 4. Schmidt began lapping drivers on Lap 12, and racing became tighter as the rest of the top 5 had to fight their way through behind him. At the mid-point it was still Schmidt holding the top spot, with Thiel, Schultz, Brunette, Marten, and Tony Wondra (Campbellsport) in the top 6. The final caution slowed the race on Lap 25 after Mike Fuerst (Richfield) spun in Turn 4 in front of the oncoming leader. Schmidt led them to the final green, with Schultz, Thiel, Marten and Brunette in the top 5. Thiel, Schultz, and Marten switched positions several times in the final 5 laps, although they could not chase down Schmidt, who took home another checkered flag, followed by Thiel, Schultz, Marten, Wondra, Kevin Karnitz (West Bend), Wenninger, Brunette, Randy Sippel (Elkhart Lake), and Paul Pokorski (West Bend). Hard Chargers for the race were Karnitz and Pokorski picking up 5 spots each and runners up Marten and Wondra with 4 each.

HEAT 1 – 1, Jeremy Schultz. 2, Ben Schmidt. 3, Tony Wondra. 4, Kyle Marten. 5, Dave Lisowe. 6, Don Kiel. 7, Mike Fuerst.
HEAT 2 – 1, Scotty Thiel. 2, Randy Brunette. 3, John Krebsbach. 4, Kevin Karnitz. 5, Scott Mohs. 6, Jeff Wilke.
HEAT 3 – 1, Shane Wenninger. 2, Randy Sippel. 3, Tim Haddy. 4, Mark Krueger. 5, Paul Pokorski. 6, Lee Schroeder.
FEATURE – 1, Ben Schmidt. 2, Scotty Thiel. 3, Jeremy Schultz. 4, Kyle Marten. 5, Tony Wondra. 6, Kevin Karnitz. 7, Shane Wenninger. 8, Randy Brunette. 9, Randy Sippel. 10, Paul Pokorski. 11, Tim Haddy. 12, John Krebsbach. 13, Dave Lisowe. 14, Don Kiel. 15, Mike Fuerst. 16, Lee Schroeder. 17, Scott Mohs. 18, Mark Krueger. 19, Jeff Wilke.

WDLMA LATE MODELS
After heavy contact with the backstretch guardrail severly damaged the car of Mark Rose (Elcho), there were 16 Late Models left to battle for the feature win. Russ Scheffler started 11th on the grid after his recent victory, and the 4 car inversion put Ron Stroika (Mukwonago) on the pole, while Rick Scheffler (Waukesha), Tom Naeyaert (Shawano), Tim Buhler (Glenbuelah), Craig Schueffner (Sheboygan Falls) and Jim Schmidt (Cleveland) rounded out the top 6 starters. Rick jumped out front from his outside starting position, while Schueffner and Naeyaert started their own battle for 3rd behind Stroika. Russ went immediately on a mission and climbed to 5th by Lap 3, while Billy Rezutek (Big Bend) was running the high and wide line in 6th. Turk Letizia caused the only slowdown during the Main Event after he spun in Turn 2, just after Rick had started lapping cars. Rick led the gang to the green, followed by Stroika, Schueffner, Naeyaert, and Russ, with Billy “the Kid” still holding onto 6th. Naeyaert headed right to the bottom on the restart and burrowed underneath Schueffner for 3rd and set his sights on Stroika, finally getting around him with Schueffner following him through, pushing Stroika back to 4th. Russ Scheffler, Rezutek, and Justin Schmidt (Cleveland) were in the extreme high groove, spoilers just inches from the guardrails as they battled their way forward. Halfway through Rick Scheffler was still on point with Naeyaert giving him all he could handle, Schueffner running the middle line with Russ on the high side, and Stroika in the top 5. The Menominee Casino machine of Naeyaert finally powered around Rick on Lap 18, and he continued the slide back to 4th as both Schueffner and Russ got around him a lap later. Naeyaert began putting lapped cars between him and his pursuers, building a little room for him to stretch the lead and take the win. Schueffner followed him across in 2nd, with Russ and rick Scheffler, Buhler, Stroika, Justin Schmidt, Jim Schmidt, Rezutek, and Turk Letizia rounding out the top 10. Russ took hard charger honors picking up 8 spots, while Justin picked up 6 positions.

HEAT 1 – 1, Tom Naeyaert. 2, Tim Buhler. 3, Craig Schueffner. 4, Billy Rezutek. 5, Jim Schmidt. 6, Turk Letizia. 7, Justin Schmidt. 8, Scott Haugstad. 9, Dakota Geiger.
HEAT 2 – 1, Russ Scheffler. 2, Rick Scheffler. 3, Ron Stroika. 4, Frank Geiger. 5, Jim Letizia. 6, Eric Michaels. 7, Mark Rose. 8, Jim Juneau.
FEATURE – 1, Tom Naeyaert. 2, Craig Schueffner. 3, Russ Scheffler. 4, Rick Scheffler. 5, Tim Buhler. 6, Ron Stroika. 7, Justin Schmidt. 8, Jim Schmidt. 9, Billy Rezutek. 10, Turk Letizia. 11, Frank Geiger. 12, Jim Letizia. 13, Scott Haugstad. 14, Dakota Geiger. 15, Jim Juneau. 16, Eric Michaels. 17, Mark Rose (DNS).

STREET STOCKS
Another 4 car inversion, and previous winner Jerry Winkler deciding to race elsewhere, set up the Street Stock Feature with Jeff Bender (Plymouth) on the pole, and the rest of the top 6, Brian Vinney Jr. (Oshkosh), Bradley Ruh (Elkhart Lake), Douglas Engleking (Menominee Falls), Dave Gauger (Two Rivers) and Bomber Graycarek (Two Rivers). Vinney Jr. grabbed the first lap lead, with Bender and Ruh in his tire tracks, and Bender grabbing the lead a lap later. Before another lap was completed caution flew for Engleking after contact caused his left rear to go down and spin in Turn 4. Ruh grabbed the lead after the restart, with Vinney Jr., Bender, Ray Fuller (Manitowoc), and Mark Schultz (). Schultz got around Bender at the halfway point, bringing Gauger with him and set off after Ruh. With 5 to go Schultz passed Ruh for the lead and Justin Lindner (Hortonville) moved into 4th behind Gauger. Schultz rolled under checkers for the win in his first visit this year. Ruh, Gauger, Lindner, Bender, Fuller, Engleking, Mike Zitzer (Sheboygan), Graycarek, and Vinney Jr. Hard Charger to Schultz picking up 8 positions.

HEAT 1 – 1, Douglas Engleking. 2, Bradley Ruh. 3, Brian Vinney Jr.. 4, Jeff Bender. 5, David Gauger. 6, Jerry Brickner. 7, Justin Lindner. 8, Mike Zitzer. 9, Mark Schultz. 10, Ray Fuller.
FEATURE – 1, Mark Schultz. 2, Bradley Ruh. 3, David Gauger. 4, Justin Lindner. 5, Jeff Bender. 6, Ray Fuller. 7, Douglas Engleking. 8, Mike Zitzer. 9, Jerry Brickner. 10, Brian Vinney Jr.