Points Championship still up for grabs!
With only one point race to go, the point championship in the WISSOTA Pure Stock class at Eagle River Speedway is still up for grabs.
Going into Friday Night’s race, Eagle River’s Jake Ison had a 2 point margin over Rhinelander’s Jason Eisel, 622-620. Isabelle Valeria was 3rd with 575 points, and right behind her was Eagle River’s Bryce Wick with 574,
This set the stage where the Heat Race on Friday night could play a part as to who will win the class, and the top 4 point standings.
Ison came through with a win in his Heat holding off Eisel. Wick won his Heat, and Valeria took a 3rd in her Heat. This gave Ison a 3 point lead over Eisel going into the Feature, and bumped Wick ahead of Valeria for 3rd in the points.
Ison came back to win the Feature, with Eisel taking a 2nd. This gives Ison a 5 point lead going into the final point race of the season this coming Friday Night. The preceding week’s feature winner and defending champion, David Blackberg took 3rd, with Valeria taking a 4th. Ethan Holm’s 5th enabled Valeria to hold a 1 point lead over Wick for 3rd in the points, 614 to 613.
One would have to go all the way back to 2011 to find someone other than Jesse Aho as the WISSOTA Midwest Modified class champion. While Aho took the Feature, it was Marcus Dunbar’s 2nd place finish that gave the fellow Upper Peninsula racer 643 points going into the final point night of the year. Aho has 564 points. The 79 point difference clinches the 2017 Eagle River Speedway Midwest Modified class championship.
Rhinelander’s ‘Flying’ Ryan Valeria had already clinched the WISSOTA Street Stock class championship going into the night. That didn’t stop the defending class champion from making a return trip to the Auto Value Victory lane. Once again it was Argonne’s Dustin White taking a second.
Earlier in the night, Eagle River’s Ron VanDusen took advantage of Valeria’s spin-out to win the Heat Race.
On the subject of ‘spinning out,’ once again Woodboro’s Cory “Cowboy” Allen was leading before losing control in the Speedway Truck class. Allen still had a shot at the class championship as he was trailing Summit Lake’s Herb Dettman by 33 points. Right behind Allen in 3rd was Eagle River’s James Koga, 35 points shy of Dettman.
Allen took the Heat, but in the Feature it was Koga that got the win. Dettman goes into the final night with 513 points, Allen and Koga are both at 479 points.
“I kept searching for some ‘bite’ in the feature. Track was turning black, but somehow I held on to get the win,” commented Koga. “With (Cory Allen) Cowboy and I tied for 2nd, it’s going to be fun this coming Friday Night!”
The ‘Family Affair’ Sprint 600 class had father defeating son, as Jerry Reif kept his son Jake in check to win that feature. Dylan Larson took a 3rd while his older brother Denver took a 4th. Dylan clinched the class championship, as the defending champion, Ty Springer did not race on Friday Night. The younger Larson had a 42 point lead going into the night and ends the night with 596 points. Denver moves up to 2nd place in the points by tallying 529 points going into the final night of racing for points.
Another class where there will be a new class champion is in the Junior Sprints. While the defending class champion, Dustin Kangas took the Feature and a second to Josie Rae Reif in the Heat, it is the consistent performance of 1st year racer, 9 year old Cole Stella of Minocqua that leads Kangas by 51 points, 636 to 585.
An emotional moment took place in the Auto Value Victory lane when Kangas’s older brother, Private Jonathon Kangas, on leave from the Army, surprised his younger brother by giving him the victory flag. Dustin and Jonathon hugged each other in front of their proud parents, Ray and Heather Kangas of Phelps.
“Dustin really missed his older brother. Dustin had no idea that Jonathon was back and at the track,” stated Heather Kangas.
What turned out to be some of the closest and most exciting races of the night was in the Spectator 1-on-1 races. The feature had Lake Geneva’s Chris Platzke edging out Wausau’s Eric Breitenfeldt in the first two races in a best of 3 showdown.
“We had a good turnout of spectators racing and they really put on a great show,” commented track promoter, Kevin Dawson. “We had that SUV where the hood came up and the driver kept racing, without being able to see what was in front of him!”
The final night of racing for track and national WISSOTA points will be this coming Friday Night. In case of rain, the final point night will be a part of the tracks special night of ‘features,’ and the first ‘gauntlet’ race on September 8th.
Eagle River Speedway Aug 25, 2017 Results
WISSOTA Midwest Modified Feature: 1) Jesse Aho, Toivola, (MI); 2) Marcus Dunbar, Wakefield, (MI); 3) Tad Schoonover, Eagle River; 4) Jonathon Miller, Eagle River; 5) Steve Altman, Mercer; 6) Frank Gasperini, Eagle River; 7) Jesse Raffaelli, Toivola, MI.
WISSOTA Midwest Modified Heat: 1) Schoonover; 2) Aho; 3) Miller; 4) Altman; 5) Raffaelli; 6) Gasperini; 7) Dunbar.
WISSOTA Street Stock Feature: 1) Ryan Valeria, Rhinelander; 2) Dustin White, Argonne; 3) Rob Rodziczak, Rhinelander; 4) Bruce Stanley, Merrill; 5) Ron VanDusen, Eagle River; 6) David Scott, Ewen, (MI).
WISSOTA Street Stock Heat: 1) Vandusen; 2) Rodziczak; 3) White; 4) Stanley; 5) Valeria
WISSOTA Pure Stock Feature: 1) Jake Ison, Eagle River; 2) Jason Eisel, Rhinelander; 3) David Blackberg, Eagle River; 4) Isabelle Valeria, Eagle River; 5) Ethan Holm, Crandon; 6) Bryce Wick, Eagle River; 7) Don Scharf, Eagle River; 8) Spencer Bolte, Eagle River; 9) Ryan Brown, Eagle River; 10) Tristan Valeria, Eagle River.
WISSOTA Pure Stock Heat 1: 1) Wick 2) Blackberg; 3) Holm; 4) Scharf; 5) Tristan Valeria
WISSOTA Pure Stock Heat 2: 1) Ison; 2) Eisel; 3) Isabelle Valeria; 5) Bolte; 6) Brown
Speedway Truck Feature: 1) James Koga, Eagle River; 2) Herb Dettman, Summit Lake; 3) Josh Drivas, Hazelhurst; 4) Ron Vernick, Harshaw; 5) Dustin Koga, Land-O-Lakes; 6) David Hughes, Harshaw; 7) Cory Allen, Woodboro;
Speedway Truck Heat 1: 1) Allen 2) Drivas; 3) Dustin Koga; 4) Vernick; 5) Dettman 6) James Koga; 7) Hughes; 8) Jake Diefentehaler, Harshaw.
600 Winged Sprint Feature: 1) Jerry Reif, Deerbrook; 2) Jake Reif, Deerebrook; 3) Dylan Larson, Shiocton; 4) Denver Larson, Shiocton; 5) Mya Towne, Boulder Junction.
600 Winged Sprint Heat: 1) Denver Larson; 2) Jerry Reif; 3) Jake Reif; 4) Dylan Larson
Junior Sprint Feature: 1) Dustin Kangas, Phelps; 2) Josie Rae Reif, Deerbrook; 3) Cole Stella, Minocqua; 5) Josh Nevoraski, Minocqua; 6) Peyton Towne, Boulder Jct., 7) Katherine Towne, Boulder Junction.
Junior Sprint Heat: 1) Reif; 2) Kangas 3) Stella 4) Nevaroski 5) Peyton Towne; 6) Katherine Towne
Spectator One-on-One Champion: 1) Chris Platzke, Lake Geneva. 2) Eric Breitenfeldt, Wausau.
Comments
comments
