Wi Dirt Racin

Shawano,WI,4/30/16—A hardy crowd of fans turned out to see 132 competitors duke it out on the venerable half mile.  Troy Springborn, Brian Mullen, Kevin Bethke, and Grant Kastning each won their first feature of the year at Shawano, while Travis VanStraten won his second in a row. 

“The Blaze” Doug Blashe took the lead at the drop of the green flag in the Late Model feature, while Troy Springborn moved to second.  Blashe was able to keep Springborn at arm’s length through lap 13.  The following lap though Springborn got underneath Blashe to take over the lead.  A caution after lap 15 bunched the field back up.  On the restart, Springborn continued to lead, while Nick Anvelink advanced to second.  Another caution after lap 21 set up a four lap shootout to the finish.  Springborn would hold off Anvelink for the win.  Anvelink has one win and two second place finishes on the year so far.  Blashe, Tom Naeyaert, and Mike Mullen rounded out the top five.

Kevin Feck took off like a rocket at the start of the IMCA Modified feature race.  While the ageless Jerry Muenster moved into second.  By lap 5, eighth place starter Brian Mullen worked his way up to third on the track while Feck and Muenster continued to run first and second.  A scary incident on the front stretch on lap 6 slowed the pace of the race and eliminated numerous cars from the race.  Once the race went back to green Mullen passed Muenster right off and set his sights on Feck for the lead.  Mullen got to the inside of Feck on lap 8 to take the lead away.  Feck soon pulled to the pits with problems moving Lance Arneson to second.  Arneson, who started the race in fourteenth pestered Mullen for the duration of the race, but Mullen was not to be denied on his way to victory lane.  Matt Oreskovich finished third. While Iowa invader Darin Duffy crossed the line in fourth.  Brian Joski completed the top five.

Outside front row starter Aaron Stolp led the opening lap of the IMCA Stock Car feature prior to Brandon Czarapata racing from sixth to the lead on lap 2.  Stolp continued to follow Czarapata while Mike Schmidt moved to second.  From the start of the race Travis VanStraten steadily moved forward.  By lap 9 VanStraten made his way past Schmidt to move into the top three.  Two laps later VanStraten passed Stolp for second and set his sights on Czarapata.  A caution after lap 13 did Czarapata no favors as it allowed VanStraten to restart on his back bumper.  When the race went back to green, Czarapata and VanStraten raced door to door for the lead while a three wide battle for third began between Schmidt, Stolp, and Rod Snellenberger.  Czarapata and VanStraten continued to race side by side for the lead until lap 17 when VanStraten finally pulled ahead for the lead.  Czarapata tried multiple lines to get past VanStraten but could not muster a pass for the lead.  Entering turn 3 on the final lap there was contact in the three wide battle for third.  Schmidt and Stolp spun in front of the rest of the field causing a huge pile up at the end of the back straight away.  Schmidt and Josh Mroczkowski were transported to the hospital.  As per social media both drivers are okay.  VanStraten won his second consecutive feature with Czarapata, Schmidt, Snellenberger, and Gary Kasperek completing the top five.

Brianna Ambroziak led the first nine laps of the IMCA Sport Mod feature before eleventh place starting Kevin Bethke was able to make the pass for the lead.  Bethke led the remainder of the race that ran green to checkered without a caution.  Jordan Barkholtz made a late race charge to finish second.  Zach McKinnon took third, Jason Jach finished fourth, and Chris Budzban passed Ambroziak on the final lap to take fifth.

Grant Kastning passed Calvin Stueck for the lead on lap 10 of the Mighty Four feature to secure the win.  Stueck finished in second, Aaron Milavitz was third, Hollie Welch fourth, and Matt Brehmer crossed the line in fifth.

Racing will continue next Saturday night with a 6:30 start time.  Spectator Eliminators are scheduled to compete as well.  More Information can be found online at www.shawanocountyfair.net.

Race Summary:

Late Model Feature: 1)Troy Springborn, 2)Nick Anvelink, 3)Doug Blashe, 4)Tom Naeyaert, 5)Mike Mullen, 6)Tim Buhler, 7)Brett Swedberg, 8)David Fieber, 9)Taylor Scheffler, 10)Jared Siefert.

Heat 1: 1)Mullen, 2)Jeff Curtin, 3)Mark Rose.

Heat 2: 1)Anvelink, 2)Blashe, 3)Naeyaert.

 

IMCA Modified Feature: 1)Brian Mullen, 2)Lance Arneson, 3)Matt Oreskovich, 4)Darrin Duffly, 5)Brian Joski, 6)Jerry Muenster, 7)Beetle Bailey, 8)Cole Petit, 9)Johnny Whitman, 10)Andy Kleczka.

Last Chance Qualifier 1: 1)Mark Weisnicht, 2)Petit, 3)Kyle Kudick.

Last Chance Qualifier 2: 1)John Berna, 2)Kleczka, 3)Chris Engels.

Heat 1: 1)Jerry Wilinski, 2)Marcus Yarie, 3)Muenster.

Heat 2: 1)Whitman, 2)Bailey, 3)Duffy.

Heat 3: 1)Joski, 2)Mitch Stankowski, 3)Kevin Feck.

 

IMCA Stock Car Feature: 1)Travis VanStraten, 2)Brandon Czarapata, 3)Mike Schmidt, 4)Rod Snellenberger, 5)Gary Kasperek, 6)Vern Stedjee, 7)Dan Michonski, 8)Tom Riehl, 9)Junior Karcz, 10)Harley Simon.

Last Chance Qualifier 1: 1) Luke Uttecht, 2)Ray DePew, 3)Eric Zwirschitz.

Last Chance Qualifier 2: 1)Josh Mroczkowski, 2)Joe White, 3)Dylan Heilmann.

Heat 1: 1)Karcz, 2)Riehl, 3)Snellenberger.

Heat 2: 1)Michonski, 2)Czarapata, 3)Stedjee.

Heat 3: 1)Kurt Schwalbach, 2)Brian Ambrosius, 3)Kyle Frederick.

Heat 4: 1)VanStraten, 2)Aaron Stolp, 3)Schmidt.

 

IMCA Sport Mod Feature: 1)Kevin Bethke, 2)Jordan Barkholtz, 3)Zach McKinnon, 4)Jason Jach, 5)Chris Budzban, 6)Brianna Ambroziak, 7)Logan Fleischman, 8)Jordan Bartz, 9)Cody Hudson, 10)JJ Anderson.

Last Chance Qualifier 1: 1)Kyle Raddant, 2)Bill Edler, 3)Elijah Koenig.

Last Chance Qualifier 2: 1)Matt Valiquette, 2)Brandon Nygaard, 3)Brekken Kleinschmidt.

Heat 1: 1)Jach, 2)Brian Bruechert, 3)Fleischman.

Heat 2: 1)McKinnon, 2)Anderson, 3)Barkholtz.

Heat 3: 1)Ambroziak, 2)Hayes, 3)Bethke.

 

Mighty Four Feature: 1)Grant Kastning, 2)Calvin Stueck, 3)Aaron Milavitz, 4)Hollie Welch, 5)Matt Brehmer, 6)Brad Wedde, 7)Dalton Nelson, 8)Kasey Gross, 9)Dylan Pingel, 10)Matt DeWilde.

Heat 1: 1)Stueck, 2)Kastning, 3)Brehmer.

Heat 2: 1)Welch, 2)Milavitz, 3)Pingel.

Heat 3: 1)Lucas Hacker, 2)Wedde, 3)Jason Hopinka.