Wi Dirt Racin

It was the final point’s night of the season this past Friday Night at Eagle River Speedway. Winning his 4^th consecutive WISSOTA Midwest Modified Points Championship was the Upper Peninsula’s Jesse Aho. Aho also won the Feature, a race that had special meaning to him.

“I wanted to win that feature and the championship real bad for Bob (Kleinschmidt) and Arbor Vitae Marine,” commented Aho.

Bob Kleinschmidt, known as Bobby-0, recently passed away. It was this past Friday Night that Kleinschmidt was honored through the Bobby-0 SPIRIT Award. Winning the first Bobby-0 SPIRIT Award was the late Mark Glembin.

Aho had been driving the Bobby-0 Car for the last month, after his 25 car was totaled in an accident at Eagle River Speedway.

“My dad had been working on the 0 car since we were given the chance to race it for the rest of the year. The 0 car and the 25 are two totally different cars. That didn’t matter as my goal was to put that 0 car in the Victory Lane tonight, and win the championship,” stated Aho.

Aho has since purchased the 0 car and will be racing that car in the WISSOTA Race of Champions at Dakota State Fair Park on September 19^th.

Winning the WISSOTA Street Stock Points Championship was Tomahawk’s Nate Langberg. However it was Eagle River’s Ryan Valeria that won the Feature. Valeria looked to be cruising along to an easy win, as Michigan’s Jordan Kurtti was in a struggle to get around his ‘back-up’ car, driven by his friend and team-mate, David Blackberg.

Even when Kurtti was finally able to pass Blackberg, it appeared that Valeria had built up an insurmountable lead. That is an insurmountable lead for many racers, not for the defending class champion. With 3 laps to go, Kurtti was right on the tail of Valeria. Valeria didn’t move off of the groove that put him in the lead, even though the inside line was open for Kurtti.

“All of us in the Tower were waiting for Kurtti to grab the inside line, but he just couldn’t get close enough or get the ‘bite’ he needed to go down low,” replied Eagle River Speedway’s, Kevin Dawson.

Valeria held his line and got the win.

The most exciting race of the night took place in the Micro Sprint 600 Feature. West Bend’s Andy Rein got an early lead. Lap after lap, Rein kept extending his lead. Then with 3 laps to go, Dylan Larson hit the wall coming out of the hair-pin third turn. Larson was not injured, but that put Deerbrook’s Jake Reif right behind Rein on the re-start.

The 2 were hitting speeds of over 80 MPH and racing side by side. Then on the final turn to the checkered flag the two collided. Neither was able to finish the race, thus leaving the win to Jake’s father, Jerry Reif.

Ty Springer of Eagle River had already clinched the point’s championship going into the final night. His younger sister, Tommi Jo, became the first gal to win a points championship, as she won the Junior Sprint Points Championship. Neither one of the Springer’s raced on Friday Night.

Winning the Junior Sprint Feature in his final point’s race in this class at the legendary Tri-Oval of Eagle River Speedway was Lake Tomahawk’s Hunter Tingley. Josie Rae Reif battled with Conover’s Dayton Rein for 2^nd place.

The Feature race that had the crowd at the edge of their seat was the 17-car Pure Stock race. While many thought the race would come down to the Class Champion, Tomahawk’s CJ Hedges, Jr, or the Heat Winners; Jake Ison, Michael Brown, or Nick Paoli.

Ironwood, Michigan’s Nick Paoli had car problems and left the Feature early. Hedges, Ison, and Brown started in the middle of the packed field. Ison worked his way through traffic to get the lead midway through the race. With all the cars bunched up in the middle of the field, Ison was building a substantial lead.

Then the caution came out when Dustin White and Fritz Scharf connected in the front stretch. That put Eagle River’s David Blackberg right behind Ison, and right behind Blackberg was Brown and Hedges.

Then with only a couple laps to go, Blackberg got the lead, and held on for the win.

“When you look at all the cars on the track, and to see cars lapping cars, it was amazing to see what David (Blackberg) did. He won that race totally by his driving,” replied Eagle River Speedway Track Announcer, Skip Schulz.

Hedges defended his Pure Stock point’s championship through his 4^th place finish in the Feature.

It will be this coming Friday Night that Eagle River Speedway will have Fan Appreciation Night. Admission will only be $5.00. The Spectator one-on-one races will make a return, along with the Quads/ATV’s. Racing at the challenging Tri-Oval for the first time this summer will be the Pro Trucks. The track will also have the IMCA Sport Quads race against the WISSOTA Midwest Modified. Pure Stock cars from different tracks will be competing, along with the Street Stock cars. The Micro Sprint 600’s and Junior Sprints will also end the season by racing this coming Friday Night. Hot laps will begin at 7:00 pm CT.

Eagle River Speedway, 9/4/15 Results

WISSOTA Midwest Modified Feature:

1. Jesse Aho, Toivia (MI)
2. John Kallas, Hurley
3. Tadd Schoonover, Eagle River
4. Jonathon Miller, Eagle River
5. Duane Dunbar, Marenisco (MI)
6. Guy Carley, Eagle River

WISSOTA Midwest Modified Heat:

1. Schoonover
2. Dunbar
3. Aho
4. Carley
5. Miller
6. Kallas

WISSOTA Street Stock Feature:

1. Ryan Valeria, Eagle River
2. Jordan Kurtti, Bruce Crossing
3. David Blackberg, Eagle River
4. Nate Langberg, Tomahawk
5. Rob Rodziczak, Rhinelander
6. Jason Jenson, Eagle River
7. Ryan Glembin, Eagle River
8. Kelly Knuteson, Osceola
9. Ken Valeria, Eagle River

WISSOTA Street Stock Heat:

1. Ryan Valeria
2. Blackberg
3. Kurtti
4. Rodzicak
5. Ken Valeria
6. Langberb
7. Knuteson
8. Jenson
9. Glembin

Micro Sprint 600 Feature:

1. Jerry Reif, Deerbrook
2. Jered Cech Rhinelander
3. Andy Rein, West Bend
4. Jake Reif, Deerbrook
5. Fred Suchy, Woodruff
6. Emily Portschym Plymouth
7. Denver Larson, Shiocton
8. Dylan Larson, Shiocton

Micro Sprint 600 Heat 1:

1. Cech
2. Jerry Reif
3. Denver Larson
4. Suchy

Micro Sprint 600 Heat 2:

1. Jake Reif
2. Rein
3. Dylan Larson
4. Portschy

ERS Pure Stock Feature:

1. David Blackberg, Eagle River
2. Jake Ison, Eagle River
3. Michael Brown, Tomahawk
4. CJ Hedges, Jr., Tomahawk
5. Dennis Lacrosse, Jr., Eagle River
6. Isabelle Valeria, Eagle River
7. Jason Eisel, Rhinelander
8. Frank Gasperini, Eagle River
9. Ron Drake, Jr., Phelps
10. Don Scharf, Eagle River
11. Louis Malluege, Merrill
12. Fritz Scharf, Eagle River
13. Gunner Orcutt, Tomahawk
14. Ethan Holm, Crandon
15. Mike Heikkila, Iron River
16. Dustin White, Eagle River
17. Nick Paoli, Ironwood (MI)

ERS Pure Stock Heat 1:

1. Ison
2. Eisel
3. Lacrosse
4. Malluegge
5. Heikkila
6. Fritz Scharf

ERS Pure Stock Heat 2:

1. Brown
2. Scharf
3. Hedges, Jr.,
4. Drake, Jr.,
5. Blackberg
6. Holm

ERS Pure Stock Heat 3:

1. Paoli
2. Isabelle Valeria
3. White
4. Gasperini
5. Orcutt

Junior Sprint Feature:

1. Hunter Tingley, Lake Tomahawk
2. Josie Rae Reif, Deerbrook
3. Dayton Rein, Conover

Junior Sprint Heat:

1. Tingley
2. Reif

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