Halopka Dominates in Menomonie
Brad Erickson
Menomonie, Wisconsin, August 20, 2021. The Red Cedar Speedway held its last track point night of 2021 as season track points champions were crowned in all six divisions. It was the MDA Fill the Boot Night with the Menomonie Fire Department and was sponsored by Keyes Chevytown and Mars Race Cars. Feature winners on the evening included Mark Hessler, Shane Halopka, Dan Nissalke, Brandon Mehrwerth, Parker Anderson, and Bradley York.
The WISSOTA Late Model season points were won by Sam Mars of Menomonie, Wisconsin. The top five included Jake Miller, Mark Hessler, Jim Carlson, and John Kaanta. At heat time, it has Sam Mars and Greg Nippoldt earning checkered flags. Aaron Wilson drove from the pole position to the lead in the feature and was looking solid out front. However, third starting Mark Hessler was finding his groove very high on the speedway. He began to quickly close in on the leader, pass for the point, and stretch his advantage out front to a straightaway.
Greg Nippoldt was getting stronger as the race went on and moved himself into second and began closing the gap somewhat on the leader. There was not near enough time or laps as it was Hessler at the checkered flag by a very solid margin over Nippoldt as Wilson drove home in third. Nick Panitzke finished fourth over fifth finishing Jim Carlson.
As dominating as his 2021 season has been, the WISSOTA Modified season points champion was Ashley Anderson from Elk Mound, Wisconsin. It is a testament of consistency when it is realized Daniel Bargender only fell a mere 15 points shy of that championship, finishing second overall. The remaining top five included Shane Halopka, Cory Williams, and Adam Ayotte.
The heats were won by Ashley Anderson and Dave Cain. There was no doubt about the feature though as Shane Halopka moved from the outside of row one and drove hard on the high side to nearly a half track lead before a late yellow flag closed the pack back up. On the restart, Halopka was unshaken, and he drove back out to a solid advantage on his way to the checkered flag and a dominating win.
Behind Halopka, Adam Hensel drove solidly in second for a great deal of the race. The restart saw a scramble for what was going to be the runner up position as spots two through seven drove in a tight formation and swapped positions several times. It was Daniel Bargender securing second place as Tyler Peterson finished third. Dave Cain came on strong late to finish fourth over Hensel in fifth.
Again, in dominating fashion, Jesse Redetzke of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, took home the 2021 track championship in the WISSOTA Super Stocks. Rick Hallquist, Bart Steffen, Andrew Davis, and Dylan Leu rounded out the top five. Friday night, Redetzke and Bart Stephen hoisted the checkered flag after their heats.
At feature time, Brandon Clemens looked solid from the pole position as he secured the lead and put some distance on the next five cars who battled in tight formation, including going three and four-wide for the runner up position. Sixth starting Tom Karis broke away from the pack and began to run down the leader. Just as Karis showed himself on the front stretch, and Clemmons got up on the wheel to fend him off, Clemens unfortunately broke and coasted into the backstretch infield.
Karis was solid out front, but he had brought seventh and eighth starting Dan Nissalke and Jesse Redetzke through the pack with him. Nissalke was able to overtake Karis for the lead but the top three remained in tight formation. On the final lap, a lap car stacked the leaders up and made a tense situation, but they navigated it well and finished one, two, three. Andrew Davis had a fine run in fourth and Bart Stephen finished in fifth.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds season points were won by Chippewa Falls’ Kennedy Swan by a tight twelve points over JD Ford. The championship was not decided until the finish of the feature this evening. The remainder of the top five included Kyle Kirberger. Jay Richardson, and Travis Anderson.
The three heats were won by Shadow Kitchner, JD Ford, and Jesse Bryan. In the feature, Brandon Mehrwerth drove from the pole position out to the lead early, and it was an advantage he never relinquished all the way to the checkered flag. Initially, Cody Borgeson ran second, but fifth starting Jesse Bryan raced to his bumper and used a low groove pass to take the position.
After starting seventh on the field, Kennedy Swan made her way through the pack into third and began to work on Bryan for the runner up spot. Ninth starting JD Ford was on a mission to try to win a race and a track championship as he pounded the cushion up high and was the fastest car on the track at the moment. A quick caution slowed the pace and reset the field and Mehrwerth would bring the field back to green with Bryan and Swan in the second row and Ford and tenth starting Ashley Mehrwerth a row behind them.
The green flag saw Brandon Mehrwerth remaining in control, but Jesse Bryan’s car didn’t respond as earlier, and he began to fade. Swan overtook second as Ford ran up high in third. Ford found himself slapping the turn three wall hard a few different times as he aggressively scrambled to move forward. As the laps ticked off, twelfth starting Brandon Jensen reminded the field he was there as he drove into the top five.
It was Brandon Mehrwerth to the checkered flag in an impressive win as Swan finished second and secured her first championship at 14 years of age. Jensen was able to overtake Ford as they finished third and fourth over the fifth finishing Ashley Mehrwerth in an all SSR Race Cars chassis top five.
The WISSOTA Street Stock track points champion title was won solidly by Andrew Hanson of Iron River, Wisconsin. Adam Soltis finished second over Dustin Doughty, Cole Richards, and Danny Richards. The single heat saw Hanson carry the checkered flag. At feature time, there was a close battle early as Adam Solis led as both Parker Anderson and Hanson pressured for the point. It was Anderson earning the position and driving to his 29th feature win of the season over second finishing Hanson and Soltis in third. Derek Baskin was scored in fourth.
The RCS Hornets season points were won by Jeremy Johnson from Elmwood, Wisconsin. The top five included Venessa Seipel, Scott Cooper, Roy Cooper and Levi Price. Tonight, Bradley York swept the action in the heat and feature. He started the heat in fifth but quickly found the lead and never relinquished the same on his way to the checkered flag. Behind him, Scott Cooper and Levi Price had a fine battle with Cooper earning the second position. Vanessa Seipel came home in fourth and Randy Stensgaard finished in fifth.
The Red Cedar Speedway returns Friday, August 27, 2021, for the Season Championship races. Quality Auto Body and Snap-On by Aaron Wold will sponsor the racing action. Heats will be lined up by season points and the features straight up by the heat finishing order. All six classes with the T.L. Sinz Plumbing Late Models, Southworth Chevrolet Modifieds, Union Trailer Sales Super Stocks, Tim’s Automotive Machine Midwest Modifieds, Conrad’s Auto Salvage Street Stocks, and Value Implement Hornets will be in action.
After the August 27th races, the Red Cedar Speedway will take a break until it returns September 24 and 25, 2021, for the 41st Annual Punky Manor Challenge of Champions. It will be presented by Bill’s Distributing, Tim’s Automotive and Machine, Mars Race Cars, and Prochnow Family Farms. Friday night will include the heat action for the WISSOTA Late Models, WISSOTA Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks, WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, and the WISSOTA Street Stocks. Saturday night will include the 2021 Red Cedar Speedway Hall of Fame inductions and the semi features for each class followed by the feature events.
WISSOTA LATE MODEL Feature (20 Laps): 1. 13-Mark Hessler[3]; 2. 55N-Greg Nippoldt[4]; 3. 92-Aaron Wilson[1]; 4. 22-Nick Panitzke[6]; 5. 7C-Jim Carlson[8]; 6. 68-Mike Prochnow[10]; 7. 28-Sam Mars[7]; 8. 14-Robbie Johnson[9]; 9. 65-Jake Miller[5]; 10. (DNF) 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Sam Mars[2]; 2. 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[3]; 3. 65-Jake Miller[5]; 4. 92-Aaron Wilson[4]; 5. 14-Robbie Johnson[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 55N-Greg Nippoldt[1]; 2. 22-Nick Panitzke[3]; 3. 7C-Jim Carlson[2]; 4. 13-Mark Hessler[5]; 5. 68-Mike Prochnow[4]
WISSOTA MODIFIEDS Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 3JR-Shane Halopka[2]; 2. 10-Daniel Bargender[4]; 3. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[6]; 4. 2C-Dave Cain[7]; 5. 44-Adam Hensel[1]; 6. 81-Ashley Anderson[8]; 7. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[3]; 8. 18-Mark Hanson[5]; 9. R2-Jason Richardson[11]; 10. T40-Danny Thomas[12]; 11. 71-AJ Roschen[10]; 12. 27H-Steve Hallquist[9]; 13. W-Cory Williams[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Ashley Anderson[5]; 2. 10-Daniel Bargender[3]; 3. 44-Adam Hensel[2]; 4. 18-Mark Hanson[1]; 5. 27H-Steve Hallquist[4]; 6. R2-Jason Richardson[7]; 7. (DNF) W-Cory Williams[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Dave Cain[4]; 2. 3JR-Shane Halopka[1]; 3. 04JR-Adam Ayotte[2]; 4. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[5]; 5. 71-AJ Roschen[6]; 6. T40-Danny Thomas[3]
WISSOTA SUPER STOCK Feature (18 Laps): 1. 22-Dan Nissalke[7]; 2. 92-Tom Karis[6]; 3. 207-Jesse Redetzke[8]; 4. 20*-Andrew Davis[5]; 5. 2-Bart Steffen[2]; 6. 78K-Dexton Koch[10]; 7. 26H-Rick Hallquist[3]; 8. 8-Matthew Larson[4]; 9. 11X-Jason Schill[9]; 10. 14L-Dylan Leu[12]; 11. 77-Wayne Bignell[11]; 12. 15-Jonathan Dachel[13]; 13. (DNF) 71-Brandon Clemens[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Bart Steffen[1]; 2. 26H-Rick Hallquist[7]; 3. 8-Matthew Larson[3]; 4. 71-Brandon Clemens[4]; 5. 11X-Jason Schill[5]; 6. 77-Wayne Bignell[2]; 7. 15-Jonathan Dachel[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 207-Jesse Redetzke[2]; 2. 22-Dan Nissalke[5]; 3. 92-Tom Karis[1]; 4. 20*-Andrew Davis[3]; 5. 78K-Dexton Koch[6]; 6. 14L-Dylan Leu[4]
WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIED Feature (15 Laps): 1. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[1]; 2. 18S-Kennedy Swan[7]; 3. 121B-Brandon Jensen[12]; 4. 343-JD Ford[9]; 5. 17-Ashley Mehrwerth[10]; 6. 2-Kyle Kirberger[8]; 7. 21B-Jesse Bryan[5]; 8. B37-Cody Borgeson[2]; 9. 27-Corey Mehrwerth[14]; 10. 68-Shadow Kitchner[6]; 11. 89L-Tyler Lamm[13]; 12. R1-Jay Richardson[11]; 13. 89-Matt Klukas[3]; 14. 39-Travis Hallquist[16]; 15. 21-Reese Schlosser[15]; 16. 15-Caden Neisius[19]; 17. 03X-Bob Carver Jr[17]; 18. 61-Andrea Keeney[18]; 19. (DNF) 37-Travis Anderson[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Shadow Kitchner[1]; 2. 2-Kyle Kirberger[5]; 3. 89-Matt Klukas[3]; 4. 17-Ashley Mehrwerth[6]; 5. 89L-Tyler Lamm[2]; 6. 39-Travis Hallquist[4]; 7. 15-Caden Neisius[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 343-JD Ford[3]; 2. 18S-Kennedy Swan[2]; 3. B37-Cody Borgeson[1]; 4. R1-Jay Richardson[4]; 5. 27-Corey Mehrwerth[6]; 6. 03X-Bob Carver Jr[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21B-Jesse Bryan[1]; 2. 37-Travis Anderson[4]; 3. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth[5]; 4. 121B-Brandon Jensen[6]; 5. 21-Reese Schlosser[3]; 6. 61-Andrea Keeney[2]
WISSOTA STREET STOCK Feature (15 Laps): 1. 27P-Parker Anderson[4]; 2. 9-Adam Soltis[2]; 3. 20-Andrew Hanson[3]; 4. (DNF) 10-Derek Baskin[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Andrew Hanson[3]; 2. 9-Adam Soltis[1]; 3. 27P-Parker Anderson[4]; 4. 10-Derek Baskin[2]
HORNETS Feature (10 Laps): 1. 1-Bradley York[5]; 2. 9SR-Scott Cooper[3]; 3. 21P-Levi Price[4]; 4. 42-Vanessa Seipel[1]; 5. (DNF) 17-Randy Stensgaard[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Bradley York[1]; 2. 21P-Levi Price[4]; 3. 9SR-Scott Cooper[5]; 4. 17-Randy Stensgaard[2]; 5. 42-Vanessa Seipel[3]
