Beaver Dam, WI – August 23, 2008.
Saturday night at Charter Raceway Park there were
fireworks on the track and in the sky as all five divisions took to
the 1/3 mile oval and Bartolotta fireworks blasted off in the air on
fan appreciation night. With just two nights of racing left and
several championships still up for grabs, the action was fast and
furious as the drivers raced for every point they could get.
The Grand National division, with just seven points separating the
top two drivers in the chase for the championship provided a lot of
drama in their Feature event. Todd Ascherien picked up his first
feature win of the year leading all 20 laps and holding off a charge
from Tommy Moore over the last 10 laps and a green, white checker
shootout to end the race. Behind them, the drama involved current
points leader Don Sorce and second place Roger Lee. Lee had the
upper hand starting nine spots in front of Sorce. Both drivers
patiently picked their way through traffic and as lap eight was
completed, Lee was running third and Sorce sixth. Sorce continued to
move upward through the field while Lee tried to get past second
running Moore. As the field completed lap 12, Lee was still third,
but with Sorce right on his rear bumper in fourth. After several
unsuccessful attempts to get by Moore on the inside, Lee jumped to
the outside on lap 15. Lee was just about to make a pass on Moore as
Nathan Persha spun in front of the leaders on lap 18 setting up a
two lap shootout. Going into turn two on lap 19, Sorce was able to
inch past Lee. Down the backstretch the two drew even and Lee went
into three with more momentum and looked like he would get the upper
hand. However, he had too much speed and got the back end around too
far and spun the car in turn four. Sorce continued on picking up
third place. Lee finished a disappointing ninth.
Jesse Kanas picked up another Feature win in the Street Stock
division, his fourth of the year taking the lead on lap four and
pulling away for a relatively easy win. The event started off rough
with Andrew Araco losing a tire coming out of turn two and the tire
going all the way down the backstretch bring out the caution. Matt
Bedkar, in his best run of the year held the lead for a brief time
until Kanas got by on lap four. Jeremy Schwoch, looking for his
fifth Feature of 2008, was on the move in his number 79 and put
Bedkar down to third when he got past him on lap six. Roger Frank
lost his tire on lap 11 bringing out another caution and bunching up
the field. The next six laps saw a great battle between Schwoch and
Kanas with Schwoch having the upper hand on lap 17. Brandon Paitrick
spun his car right in front of the leaders but everyone was able to
make it by without incident. Following the restart, Kanas retook the
lead and held on for the win. Schwoch finished second but was later
disqualified in tech inspection give Matt Bedkar a second place
finish.
In the Legend division, Joel Wyttenbach continued his fantastic run
the second half of the season with his third win in a row. Robert
Lever took an early lead over Brian Peterson before Peterson got by
him on lap three. Watching the battle was Wyttenbach and Greg
Hartlaub. Wyttenbach, as usual, was one of just a few Legend cars
using the outside lane and was able to make it work on lap four to
get by for the lead. However, the yellow came out on lap seven
erasing the lead he had built. Peterson got by him on the restart
and Wyttenbach got involved in a heated battle with Eric Barth and
Joe Johnson with all three coming across the line within inches of
each other. Barth gained the advantage the next lap with Wyttenbach
third and Johnson fourth. Tom Fraser and Dallas Ross got together
the following lap bringing out another caution. A couple of laps
later, following the restart, Barth jumped to the lead as Peterson
developed a flat tire. Following Barth to the front was Johnson and
Wyttenbach. As the laps went by, Wyttenbach’s car started to get
better and on lap 16 got by Barth. Barth was unable to regain the
lead and had to settle for second. Johnson completed the event in
third.
Eddie LeMay Jr came into the night 37 points behind Jay Schraufnagel
in the race to the championship. At the end of the night, he had cut
the lead in half and now trails by just 19 going into the final
night next week. Jim Zdroik finally looked like he figured out the
track as he definitely had the strongest car over the first half of
the race. Taking the lead on lap three, Zdroik was able to keep his
car down on the bottom of the speedway. Schraufnagel, starting
outside row six quickly made his way toward the front and was right
behind Zdroik, when mechanical problems forced him to the pits on
lap five. Schraufnagel would return later in the event but would not
finish. LeMay, made his first crack into the top five on lap seven
as he and Mitch McGrath excited the fans with some side by side
racing. As lap ten went into the record books, it was Zdroik, LeMay,
Frank Firari and Joe McGrath. The final caution of the night came
out for Robbie Schmid on lap 11 bunching the field up again. LeMay
went right to work on Zdroik and got by on the outside and went on
to the win. Zdroik had to hold off a furious charge from Tim
Lemirande to finish second. Lemirande, who early in the event got
way up on two wheels but didn’t roll over, completed the race in
third.
The final racing event of the night resulted in Jim Merkel picking
up the win in front of Steve LeMay and Robert Nelson. The race,
caution free, was never really in doubt as Merkel picked up his
first Feature win.
Next week, Charter Raceway Park will have all 5 regular divisions
competing in the final night of racing for 2008. 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, Craig Priewe, Tim Lemirande, Brian Crapser
B MAIN 1 Mike Miller, Robbie Schmid, Don Scheffler, Scott Crowbridge,
Geoff Zdroik
A MAIN Eddie LeMay Jr, Jim Zdroik, Tim Lemirande, Mitch McGrath, Joe
McGrath, Frank Firari, Schoenberger, Brian Crapser, Craig Priewe,
Don Scheffler
LEGENDS
HEATS Joe Johnson, Eric Meyer, Brian Peterson
B MAIN Warren Ropp, Jeff Steenbergen, Luke Polzin, Mike Mueller,
Dallas Ross
A MAIN Joel Wyttenbach, Eric Barth, Joe Johnson, Kevin Brill, Greg
Hartlaub, Aaron Muhle, Robert Lever, Luke Polzin, Phil Van Tatenhove,
Bethany Wyttenbach
DIRT DEVILS
HEAT Steve LeMay, Tim Draheim
A MAIN Jim Merkel, Steve LeMay, Robert Nelson, Matt Janke, Kevin
Allard, Tim Draheim, William Young, Brian Vinney, Dylan Reinhard,
Randy Allard
STREET STOCKS
HEATS Aaron Streblow, Jesse Kanas
A MAIN Jesse Kanas, Matt Bedker, Aaron Streblow, Nate Gross, Gordon
Schultz, Craig Lepple, Joe Brenner, Austin Zdrok, Eric Beattie, Jeff
Schepp
GRAND NATIONALS
HEATS Don Schumacher, Todd Ascherien
A MAIN Todd Ascherien, Tommy Moore, Don Sorce Jr, Will Sorce, Craig
Boettcher, Ross Stalter, Don Schumacher, Curt Beek, Roger Lee,
Nathan Persha
