Mars Wins Fourth Mahder 55 at Red Cedar Speedway
by Ed Reichert
Menomonie WI, Aug. 13 – For the fourth time in the five year history of the Duane Mahder 55, Jimmy Mars came home the winner of this prestigious Late Model event held Friday night at the Red Cedar Speedway. Mars, who’s winning streak of three straight Mahder 55 wins was interupted last year by Kevin Adams when the race was held at the Rice Lake Speedway due to the Red Cedar Speedway being closed all year due to Pandemic issues, was back at his home track again Friday night and he drove past Pat Doar on lap fourteen and would then lead the rest of the way to earn $5,555 for his fifty five lap victory.
With a fine field of thirty seven drivers signing in to race, four heat races and two B Features would set the twenty six car starting field that would include provisionals Mike Prochnow and Steve Hucovski.
The top eight drivers in passing points redrew for their starting positions and Doar, who redrew the pole, would take off strong in the early going, building up a sizable lead over James Giossi and Jake Redetzke. Mars would be one of the few to move to the high side of the track immediately and early on it cost him as he slipped back to seventh spot in the field.
However, the top groove soon speeded up and when that happened, Mars would come flying forward through the field at a remarkable pace as he picked off driver after driver on the top side of the track. By lap thirteen he had moved to second with A.J. Diemel following his path as he moved up in the field also.
The first yellow was triggered with thirteen laps completed when John Kaanta blew a tire and spun in turn one, collecting Dustin Sorensen and Rick Hanestad. Kaanta would return after changing a tire while Sorensen was also able to drive away from the wreck. Hanestad, however, would need a wrecker’s assistance and would be done for the evening.
When racing returned, it took Mars just one lap to move back to the high side and blast past Doar into the lead. Redetzke would be on the move also as he took over second from Doar. Jesse Glenz, who was running fourth at the first stoppage, had a bad restart and lost positions to Diemel and Nick Anvelink who blew past him down the back chute.
Lap twenty four saw a scheduled fuel stop be called for with fuel only allowed and at this point it was Mars over Redetzke, Doar, Diemel and Anvelink.
The race quickly restarted and within a few laps the drivers had migrated from the top side of the track to a lower groove as the track started to take rubber and most drivers lined up on the lower side. Doar went to the top in a bold move when the green reappeared and blew by Redetzke for second and made a strong attempt to retake the lead from Mars. He got close but just couldn’t quite get the extra boost he needed to make the pass and when he started to fade back away from Jimmy, he dropped to the lower groove and settled into second.
It would be a strategy game from this point on as Mars caught the back of the field and the top five lined up close behind each other but no one was able to make a passing attempt.Mars actually let the cars at the back of the pack pull away from him as he slowed to give himself more room and then picked the pace back up. The top ten runners at this point were pretty much settled in and while each waited for the other to make a mistake and get out of the fast groove, no one slipped up and passing diminshed at this point.
One more yellow was triggered with forty seven laps completed when Giossi got into a back marker he was trying to put a lap down and that car spun with Giossi suffering nose piece damage. He tried to continue racing but when the last eight laps were ran off, he quickly pulled out of the groove and headed for the pits.
The last yellow gave Mars all the racing room he needed and when the green reappeared, he drove away from the field and would have to deal with no challenges in the remaining laps as he would drive on for a dominating win. Doar would go on to finish a strong second over Redetzke with Diemel and Anvelink completing the top five. The second five would consist of Glenz, Challenge Series point leader Darrell Nelson, Chad Mahder, who’s father is honored in this race and came from the back of the pack after changing a tire on lap fourteen, Jeff Massingill and Steve Laursen. Eighteen starters would still be running at the conclusion of the race, all on the lead lap.
Mars’ check would be for $5,555 in honor of Mahder’s number #55 out of a totol Late Model purse of over $42,000, much of which was collected by Scott “Bulldog” Anderson, a long time family friend who has made it his mission to organize this race and lead its fundraising efforts each year.
The next racing action at Red Cedar Speedway will be this coming Friday night, August 20th with the last point show of the 2021 racing season. All six classes that normally race at the track will be in action with the scheduled starting time being 7 pm. Check the speedway face book page for updates on this event and for the rest of the 2021 racing season at the track.
WISSOTA LATE MODEL
Structural Buildings Inc A Feature 1 (55 Laps): 1. 28M-Jimmy Mars[6]; 2. 11-Pat Doar[1]; 3. 27-Jake Redetzke[5]; 4. 58-AJ Diemel[8]; 5. 15A-Nick Anvelink[9]; 6. 7X-Jesse Glenz[3]; 7. 44-Darrell Nelson[10]; 8. 55C-Chad Mahder[19]; 9. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill[21]; 10. 519-Steve Laursen[16]; 11. 22P-Nick Panitzke[2]; 12. 70-Justin Ritchie[24]; 13. 55N-Greg Nippoldt[11]; 14. 7C-Jim Carlson[22]; 15. 85-John Kaanta[13]; 16. 28-Sam Mars[14]; 17. 3-Brett Swedberg[23]; 18. 68-Mike Prochnow[26]; 19. (DNF) 11G-James Giossi[4]; 20. (DNF) 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[18]; 21. (DNF) 19-Dustin Sorensen[7]; 22. (DNF) 15-Steve Hucovski[25]; 23. (DNF) 22E-Kevin Eder[12]; 24. (DNF) 71-Rick Hanestad[15]; 25. (DNF) 31-Travis Budisalovich[20]; 26. (DNF) 14-Robbie Johnson[17]
Richmond Gear B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 55C-Chad Mahder[1]; 2. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill[2]; 3. 3-Brett Swedberg[4]; 4. 90-Lance Matthees[3]; 5. 92-Aaron Wilson[7]; 6. 21XC-Joel Collins[10]; 7. 89-Scott Meeds[5]; 8. 15-Steve Hucovski[8]; 9. (DNF) 13-Mark Hessler[6]; 10. (DNF) 44X-Jarrett Loe[9]
Race West Awards B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 31-Travis Budisalovich[2]; 2. 7C-Jim Carlson[3]; 3. 70-Justin Ritchie[8]; 4. 81-Troy Springborn[6]; 5. 68-Mike Prochnow[7]; 6. 21F-Gunner Frank[4]; 7. 65-Jake Miller[9]; 8. 51-Randy Gullixson[1]; 9. 21-Todd Frank[5]
Joe Provo Racewear Heat 1 (12 Laps): 1. 7X-Jesse Glenz[9]; 2. 15A-Nick Anvelink[3]; 3. 58-AJ Diemel[10]; 4. 71JR-Buddy Hanestad[1]; 5. 31-Travis Budisalovich[4]; 6. 90-Lance Matthees[5]; 7. 21F-Gunner Frank[7]; 8. 13-Mark Hessler[8]; 9. 70-Justin Ritchie[6]; 10. 44X-Jarrett Loe[2]
Dirt Track Supply Heat 2 (12 Laps): 1. 19-Dustin Sorensen[2]; 2. 44-Darrell Nelson[1]; 3. 27-Jake Redetzke[6]; 4. 55N-Greg Nippoldt[7]; 5. 519-Steve Laursen[8]; 6. 55C-Chad Mahder[9]; 7. 21-Todd Frank[4]; 8. 92-Aaron Wilson[5]; 9. 15-Steve Hucovski[3]
Best Western Hotel Resorts Heat 3 (12 Laps): 1. 11G-James Giossi[1]; 2. 22P-Nick Panitzke[6]; 3. 28-Sam Mars[4]; 4. 22E-Kevin Eder[7]; 5. 14-Robbie Johnson[8]; 6. 51-Randy Gullixson[9]; 7. 89-Scott Meeds[3]; 8. (DNF) 65-Jake Miller[5]; 9. (DNS) 21XC-Joel Collins
Structural Buildings Inc Heat 4 (12 Laps): 1. 11-Pat Doar[1]; 2. 28M-Jimmy Mars[8]; 3. 71-Rick Hanestad[3]; 4. 85-John Kaanta[7]; 5. 6M-Jeffrey Massingill[2]; 6. 7C-Jim Carlson[5]; 7. 3-Brett Swedberg[6]; 8. 81-Troy Springborn[4]; 9. 68-Mike Prochnow[9]
