Wi Dirt Racin

(Francis Creek)- With 146 cars jam packing the pits Saturday night; racing was the real deal with hard fought races just to make the feature events. The IMCA Modifieds have had a stacked field all year long and Benji LaCrosse has finally notched his belt with a win.

Other winners included John Heinz(IMCA Stockcars) J.J. Anderson(IMCA Sportmods) Charlie Sancinati(Grand Nationals) Jerry Winkler(Street Stocks) and Matt Brehmer(4 Cylinders).

Many drivers with multiple feature wins sat on their trailers to watch the IMCA Modified main event. Mike Wedelstadt opened as the leader with R.M. VanPay running in the second spot. A couple of cautions in the first three laps kept the field on the back bumper of the leader. Benji LaCrosse started twelfth on the field and charged his way through the field. A final caution allowed Johnny Whitman to join the fun up front with eight laps to go. VanPay used a great restart to get around both LaCrosse and Wedelstadt for the lead. LaCrosse shot into second with Whitman right behind. LaCrosse was the first to catch VanPay and made his move outside with six laps remaining. LaCrosse evened up with VanPay and used the momentum from the top of the track to drive to victory. LaCrosse picked up his first win of the season with Whitman securing second over VanPay late in the race. Mike Mullen came back from an opening lap incident and beat Wedelstadt to the checkered flag for fourth.

The IMCA Stockcar feature saw two cautions before they completed a lap. Greg Wichman and Troy Muench started in a battle to be the front runner early. Scott Stewart added his machine to make a 3 wide battle for the lead. The trio stayed three wide with Stewart finally grabbing enough bite to take the lead on lap five. John Heinz and Rod Snellenberger picked their ways through the field and joined Stewart up front. Heinz was able to run low and grab the lead from Stewart as a caution flew with eight laps remaining. Snellenberger snatched the second spot from Stewart on the restart and the winning battle ensued. Snellenberger did all he could to get around Heinz. Snellenberger rubbed the bumper on a few occasions to let Heinz know he was there. Heinz stayed strong and showed why he was the two-time defending champ. Heinz took the checkered flag in front of the point leader Snellenberger. Stewart would beat Troy Muench to the line for third. Luke Lemmens finished top five in the feature for the fourth time in four features this year.

A rough feature event in the IMCA Sportmod Feature saw six caution flags but great passing throughout the event. Mark Howe seemed to be in control of the event early on and put distance on the competition. Each caution would allow the field another chance at him. Halfway through the race Mark Howe would have mechanical woes and have to end his night behind the wall. A green, white, checker finish was called setting up a final restart to determine the winner. J.J. Anderson jumped up with Brian Bruechert making a dash outside. Bruechert ran out of laps and Anderson picked up the impressive win. Bruechert grabbed second even after a rough opening to the feature event seeing his car damaged. Greg Potts drove the wheels off his car as he started sixteenth and finished third. Brandon Long finished fourth. Tracy Wassenberg was a man on the move also having started twentieth and finishing fifth.

The defending champion, Kevin Naidl graced his presence in front of the Grand National feature at the drop of the green flag. Naidl would lead through a lap four caution. Charlie Sancinati made his way to the front after starting seventh on the field. Sancinati would pass Naidl and start to distance himself. Dan Sorce came into second after a final caution but could never track down the leader. Sancinati picked up the win in front of Sorce. Shawn Schmitt had a great night as he finished third. He increased his point lead after Chad Ninmer had problems. Naidl would run to his best finish of the season in fourth. Ben Stumpf picked up the fifth spot.

Kelly Rabe lead the opening lap of the Street Stock feature but Josh McDonald wanted it more and made the pass on lap two. McDonald and Mike Conard would put on a great mid-race battle for the fans as they continued to go side by side. The battle up front would allow Jerry Winkler and Shawn Haydon to move up and into the top four. Conard would snatch the lead away from McDonald only to have Winkler cruise by on the outside. Winkler who started twelfth would lead the remainder of the feature to pick up the win. Conard had another strong run and finished second. Shawn Haydon finished third and now is the point leader after Paul Diefenthaler ran into problems late in the feature. McDonald settled for fourth after being the early race leader. Matt Reinke had a solid fifth place finish.

Scott Johnson was the early leader of the 4 Cylinder feature. Matt Brehmer started sixth and quickly came behind the leader. Brehmer would take the lead around the halfway point of the race and never look back. Brehmer picked up his third win of the season. Johnson settled for second. Justin Erickson and Ben Meyerhofer finished third and fourth in their first races this year at the speedway. Alex Seidl rounded out the top five.

There is NO RACING next Saturday Night, May 24th. Instead, The IRA Sprint Cars will be racing next Sunday Night, May 25th. The IMCA Hobby Stocks will be running a sanctioned race. The INEX Legends cars and Vintage cars will also be competing. Racing starts at 6 p.m.

IMCA Modified Feature- 1. Benji LaCrosse 2. Johnny Whitman 3. R.M. VanPay 4. Mike Mullen 5. Mike Wedelstadt

Consy- 1. Jeremy Christians

Heats- #1 1. Mike Klenz 2. Tony Wedelstadt
#2 1. Mike Wedelstadt 2. VanPay
#3 1. Eric Scribner 2. Eric Van Iten

IMCA Stockcar Feature- 1. John Heinz 2. Rod Snellenberger 3. Scott Stewart 4. Troy Muench 5. Luke Lemmens

Heats- #1 1. Larry Karcz Jr 2. Stewart
#2 1. Rick Mahlberg 2. Greg Wichman

IMCA Sportmod Feature- 1. J.J. Anderson 2. Brian Bruechert 3. Greg Potts 4. Brandon Long 5. Tracy Wassenberg

Consy #1 1. Robby Thiel
#2 1. Colten Van Hierden

Heats- #1 1. Andy Kleczka 2. Race Van Pay
#2 1. Jake Maurer 2. Hunter Parsons
#3 1. Anderson 2. Long
#4 1. Kevin Bethke 2. Beau Handschke

Grand National Feature- 1. Charlie Sancinati 2. Dan Sorce 3. Shawn Schmitt 4. Kevin Naidl 5. Ben Stumpf

Heats- #1 1. Stumpf 2. Naidl
#2 1. Nick Strobbe Jr 2. Sancinati

Street Stock Feature- 1. Jerry Winkler 2. Mike Conard 3. Shawn Haydon 4. Josh McDonald 5. Matt Reinke

Heats- #1 1. Winkler 2. Andrew Mehlberg
#2 1. Sawyer Haese 2. Conard
#3 1. Haydon 2. Reinke

4 Cylinder Feature- 1. Matt Brehmer 2. Scott Johnson 3. Justin Erickson 4. Ben Meyerhofer 5. Alex Seidl

Heats-#1 1. Johnson 2. Tony Fletcher
#2 1. Brehmer 2. Meyerhofer

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