Beaver Dam, WI – June 14, 2008.
After two weeks off, the regular five divisions of
cars were back on the dirt at Charter Raceway Park. Despite all the
rain over the past week or so, the track started off very dry and it
took drivers a while to get used to the conditions. However, track
management put extra water down part way through the heats and prior
to the first feature event which turned the track into a very
raceable surface.
The A-Main for the Street Stocks put on a great show in their
headline event with Nate Gross taking early advantage of his pole
position to lead the first three laps. Lap three however, belonged
to Jon Schultz as he worked past Gross bringing Noah Schepp with him
and dropping Gross to third. Aaron Streblow and Jerry Winkler passed
Gross and held the third and fourth spots respectively on lap four.
Streblow was able to move into the second spot on lap seven dropping
Schepp to third. Over the next eight laps, Jerry Kope worked his way
up to the third spot following a spirited battle with Matt Bedkar
who also had moved into the top five. Bedkar was able to get past
Kope for good on lap 17 and finished third behind Schultz and
Streblow.
Don Sorce continued his domination in the Grand National division
and picked up his third straight win. He had his work cut out for
him as he started in the ninth position. Lap number one belonged to
Will Schumacher followed by Roger Lee and Dan Schumacher. Lee used
the outside to move past Will on lap two and looked like a man on a
mission and started to put some distance between him and the two
Schumachers. Sorce made his first appearance in the top five on lap
five just before the yellow came out for Bryan Monday. The caution
allowed the cars to bunch up behind Lee. On the restart, Sorce got a
fantastic jump and leaped over both Schumachers into second place at
the end of lap six. It took Sorce just one more lap to get past Lee.
Lee, however, battled back and retook the lead on lap eight. Sorce
got it back on lap nine and never looked back. He went on to the win
with Lee finishing second, Tommy Moore third and Todd Ascherien
fourth.
A full field on Legend cars took the green for their 20 lap feature
but Greg Hartlaub brought out the yellow on the first lap. Following
the restart, Brian Peterson led Brad Weber, George Giesen and Joe
Johnson to the line as the field completed lap number four. Weber
was able to take over the top spot on the following lap and would go
on to the win. It wasn’t easy though as Peterson, Johnson and Eric
Barth stayed right on his tail. Battling for positions two through
four though, took their toll on the cars and they ran out of laps to
track down Weber.
After having their problems getting the heats going, the Modified
A-Main went the distance with minimal caution periods. Starting
outside of row 1, Craig Priewe jumped in front of Joe McGrath at the
start to lead lap number one. Also moving in front of McGrath was
Frank Firari. The running order after five laps was Priewe, Firari,
McGrath and Dave Schoenberger. The top four would stay the same
until lap 14 when Nick Firari brought out the yellow flag. Just two
laps after the restart, Eric Schribner moved into the top four as
McGrath faded following a bad restart. Mitch McGrath brought out the
yellow again on lap 16 when he went around. After the green came out
again, Priewe led the field to the checkered flag, leading all 20
laps. He was followed by Frank Firari, Schoenberger and Scribner.
The final event of the evening was the Dirt Devil feature. Jim
Merkel took his turn at the top for lap one but his time there was
short-lived as Matt Janke overtook him on lap three. Tim Draheim
also quickly moved up in the running order and was up to second as
they completed the third lap. At the halfway point, Janke still held
the top spot followed by Draheim, Kevin Allard and Steve LeMay.
Draheim waited until the final circuit to get past Janke and steal
the win. Janke finished second and Allard third. After picking up
the checkered flag, a tire that had been damaged earlier in the
event came off as LeMay entered turn one and the car rolled over
ending up on it’s roof. LeMay was unhurt.
Next week, Charter Raceway Park all five divisions will race again
with all uniformed Boy Scouts and Scout leaders will get in for
free. Pits open at 3:30 and the main gates open at 4:30. Racing is
scheduled to start promptly at 6:30. Contact the track office for
more information at 920-382-7858.
MODIFIEDS
HEATS Jay Schraufnagel, Joe McGrath, Eric Scribner, Mitch McGrath
B MAINS Jeremy Christians, Russ Reinwald
A MAIN Craig Priewe
LEGENDS
HEATS Brad Weber, Brian Peterson
A MAIN Brad Weber
DIRT DEVILS
HEAT Steve LeMay
A MAIN Tim Draheim, Matt Janke, Kevin Allard
STREET STOCKS
HEATS Jerry Winkler, Roger Frank
A MAIN Jon Schultz
GRAND NATIONALS
HEATS Will Schumacher, Ross Stalter
A MAIN Don Sorce Jr, Roger Lee, Tommy Moore, Todd Ascherien
