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Points Races Tight At Chateau Raceway as Championship Battles
In Stretch Run
by: Matthew Grage
LANSING, MN (July 17) - The 2009 Regular Points Season of AMSOIL Dirt Track
Racing Series action is into its stretch run at Chateau Raceway in Lansing,
Powered By Miners Outdoor Power and Recreation of Blooming Prairie. After
Friday Nights show just six points nights are left to decide Track Champions
before all the Fall Specials are rolled out. Heading into the night there
were several very tight battles to keep track of. The closest race was in
the "Pizza Ranch Pure Stocks" where Kylie Kath of Owatonna entered the night
with a five point lead over Jason Newkirk of Austin. Stacy Krohnberg of
Walters and Brandon Shaner of Owatonna entered the night thirteen and
twenty-one points back respectively. Brady Krohnberg of Walters who had been
leading the points up until last week when he took the night after he and
his wife welcomed there new child during the week sat fifth in points over
fifty markers back. In a very tight "S and S Auto Salvage Junior Hornet"
class Jacob Stark held a seven point advantage over Brandon Vogt of Rose
Creek entering the night, while in the Senior Division Mike Blowers of
Waseca leads second place Gary Stahl of Kasson by a whopping forty-five
points. Kaitlyn Stark of Austin sits third a full one-hundred-sixteen points
back but just eleven points ahead of the classes other top lady driver
Briana Grinstead of Austin.
Just twenty-five points separated the top four drivers in the "Power 96
WISSOTA Midwest Modified" division entering the night. Brandon Davis of
Medford, currently second in the National WISSOTA Points Race brought a
fifteen point lead over Albert Wytaske of Lansing into the night. Blooming
Prairie's Bryan Hernandez was sitting sixteen back with AJ Wiste of Adams
twenty-five points out. Wytaske is currently seventeenth in the National
Points race with Wiste in twenty-fourth, and Hernadnez in twenty-ninth. Greg
Pfeifer Junior of Austin entered the night twenty-fifth in the National
Points Race. The "Farm Boy BBQ WISSOTA Super Stock" chase looks to be a
three man chase between Cole Queensland of Grand Meadow, Jeff Brauer of
Rochester and Ryan Siegle of Grand Meadow with Queensland coming into the
night fourteen markers up on Jeff and twenty-three ahead of Ryan. Cole has
also been doing well in the National Points Race for the class as well
sitting fifth Nationally, Brauer sixth, and Siegle thirty-first in the
National standings. In "RS Auto Rebuilders WISSOTA Street Stock" action AJ
Zvorak of Blooming Prairie has a nice cushion of forty-three points over
Jesse Stahl of Austin who sits second. AJ is also looking strong in the
National Chase sitting seventh in those standings. Tyler Peterson of
Hollandale who sits third in the points at Chateau Raceway in the class sits
sixteenth in the National picture. The maximum points any driver in any of
these classes can get on any single night is fifty-six so theres still room
for changes.
In the "French's Repair and Fabrication USRA Modified" points chase Doug
Hillson of Blooming Prairie took over the top spot last week and entered the
night with a forty-nine point lead on Mike Sorensen of Rochester. Mike had
lead the points much of the season before missing last week with mechanical
issues. Sorensen, also fell from the lead in the National USRA Modified
Points Standings to second last week, was not in action again Friday night.
With a different points system than the other classes, the USRA system
starts with one-hundred points for a feature win and drop all the way down
to a low of just forty-five points, that fourty-nine point lead Hillson has
isn't as big as it sounds. Ben Mattick of Hayfield, sitting third in the
Track Stanidngs eighty-three points back could still jump to the top in one
night if somebody would fail to show up or qualify for a feature.
With another nice field of cars filling the pits with all the regulars and
some new faces the stage was set for another exciting night of racing
action. The field did a nice job of putting on a clean show as a minimum of
yellow flags flew during the night and the show was run off in just over
two-and-a-half-hours, with people on there way home just after ten-o-clock.
Doing there part to keep the show moving along were the "Power 96 WISSOTA
Midwest Modifieds" as just one short caution late in the race was the only
blemish on an otherwise great race. AJ Wiste started outside front row and
quickly took his machine to the front with Greg Pfeifer Junior running
second. While Wiste was setting sail out front Bryan Hernandez was picking
his way through the field. Bryan started back in row four and was running
seventh after the first lap. He quickly jumped into the top five and was up
to fourth on lap five. Over the next six laps he worked the high side of the
track to move up to second behind Wiste. As they completed lap twelve they
were nose to tail. Heading into turn one he stayed on the high side and
worked his way up beside AJ coming out of turn two. He carried the momentum
down the back straightaway and moved out to the lead, a lead he would hold
the rest of the way, despite the late caution. It was his third feature win
of the season at Lansing. Brandon Davis out dueled Wiste for second over the
final laps. Jerry Young of Blooming Prairie came home fourth ahead of
Pfeifer. Heat wins went to Pfefier and Mark Wytaske of Austin who made his
first start of the year in the class. Hernandez's win left him fifteen
points back of Davis. Albert Wytaske took the night off and fell back to
fourth in points.
The "Farm Boy BBQ WISSOTA Super Stocks" ran a caution free feature with Jeff
Brauer picking up his second Chateau Raceway feature win of the season. Greg
Mattick of Hayfield held the early lead until Brauer caught and passed him
on lap four. Cole Queensland who started in row three picked his way up to
second by lap seven but by than Brauer had a nice lead and with the race
running caution free had no chance of reeling him back in. Mattick held on
for third ahead of Josh Bartel of Kasson and Harland Morehart of Eyota.
Despite the feature win Brauer fell to seventeen points back of Queensland.
Ryan Siegle meanwhile was off for the night which may turn the points race
into a dual between just Cole and Jeff.
In the "RS Auto Rebuilders WISSOTA Street Stock" Main event AJ Zvorak came
up with his fourth feature win of the season at Lansing. Jesse Baer of
Minnesota Lake started on the front row and took the early lead with Tyler
Peterson, Dan Holland of Brownsdale, and Zvorak dropping in line behind him.
The trio ran several laps side by side, switching positions several times
during the course of each lap. The battle for second came to a head on lap
six when Holland ended up spinning out of the middle of the battle as they
came pass the flagstand. The races only caution put Dan to the rear with
Zvorak moving up to second behind Baer. Off the restart Jesse did a nice job
of protecting his line as AJ kept the heat on. With four laps to go Zvorak
shot high in turn one than dove to the bottom of turn two to pull along side
Baer for the lead. The two ran side by side all the way around to the flag
stand with AJ leading the lap by a nose. As they headed back through turns
one and two again side by side Zvorak got a good run off the bottom of two
and cleared Baer for the outright lead and went on to score the win. Jesse
came home second followed by Peterson, Mitch Thompson and Jason Barber, both
of New Richland. Holland and Thompson claimed the classes heat wins.
Zvorak's win meanwhile pushed his lead in the points race up to fifty-one
points.
There was a change at the top of the points race in the "Pizza Ranch Pure
Stock" class. Jason Newkirk turned a heat win and a fifth place finish in
the feature into a seven point swing going from down five to up to over
Kylie Kath. Kath managed just a fifth place finish in his heat and a eighth
place finish in the feature. In that main event it was a big night for
Dustin Sletten of Owatonna. Sletten came on late to score his first Chateau
Feature win. Sletten lead the opening lap before Dylan Nelson of Freeborn
found his way by him to take over the lead. After falling back to second
Dustin had his hands full with Brandon Shaner. With three laps to go Sletten
shook off Shaner and moved to the outside of Nelson coming out of turn two
to regain the lead. As they came back to the line with two to go Nelson was
hanging tough trying to challenge back when suddenly smoke and steam came
pouring out from under the hood of his machine sending him out of the race
in a disappointing twelfth place. Sletten held off Shaner for the win with
Sammie Fromm of Owatonna coming home third followed by Wayne Bellrichard of
Albert Lea and Newkirk. The clases other heat win went to Adam Godeke of
Hollandale.
In "Frenches Repair and Fabrication USRA Modified" action Doug Hillson took
advantage of a front row starting spot to pick up his second feature win of
the season and pad his points lead. Hillson now leads Ben Mattick by
ninety-two points. Todd Scharkey of Kasson came out of row two to move to
second at the drop of the green flag and chased Doug the entire race but
could not pull up on him to make any kind of a threat. Ben Mattick worked
out of row four to come home third ahead of Tommy Myer of Blooming Prairie
and Jason Krohn of Slayton. Krohn took home a heat win in his first
appearance at the track this season with the other heat win being claimed by
Josh Mattick of Austin.
The "S and S Auto Salvage Hornet" Features went to Mike Blowers in the
Senior Division and Garitt Wytaske of Lansing in the Junior Division.
Blowers padded his points lead with a pair of wins on the night as he also
scored the heat win for the class. Blowers now has ten feature wins this
season including now nine nights where he swept both heat and feature wins.
Paul Kroneman of Austin came home second after leading the first five laps
of the race. Wytaskes win meanwhile was his second feature win of the year
in the Junior Division. Garitt started outside front row and lead flag to
flag for the win. Jake Bigelow of Hayfield made a last lap pass of Jacob
Stark to take second. Brandon Vogt came home in fourth followed by Matt
Brooks of Austin. Starks lead over Vogt stayed at seven points while Wytaske
shaved a couple points off his third place deficit to close to within
thirteen points heading into the stretch run.
Chateau Raceway will feature a special treat for the fans next week as the
"Budweiser Clydesdales" will be making a stop at the track. Schott's
Distributing will be presenting the Hitch Team with fans getting a chance to
get an up close look at the world famous team in full dress, wagon and all.
Fans are encouraged to bring there cameras and get out to the track early as
its not known how long they will want to keep the team out there with the
noise from the cars once the show gets underway.
Race time is set for 7:30. Another special treat for the kids will be the
yearly "Christmas In July" giveaways where the "Jolly Old Soul" himself has
been known to take a break from his summer vacation to stop by the track for
the festivities. Santas arrival has not been confirmed yet but with him
having been there the last two years for the "Christmas In July" night its
hoped he'll make an appearance.
Results
Pizza Ranch Pure Stocks
Feature - Dustin Sletten-Owatonna, Brandon Shaner-Owatonna, Sammie Fromm-Owatonna,
Wayne Bellrichard-Albert Lea, Jason Newkirk-Austin, Adam Godeke-Hollandale,
Ryan Henderson-Holmen WI, Kylie Kath-Owatonna, Stacy Krohnberg-Walters,
James Weber-Austin, Brady Krohnberg-Walters, Dylan Nelson-Freeborn, Samantha
Stark-Austin, Matt Miller-Austin
Heat 1 - Newkirk, Henderson, S Krohnberg, Nelson, Kath, Miller, Weber
Heat 2 - Godeke, Sletten, Shaner, Fromm, Bellrichard, B Krohnberg, Stark
RS Auto Rebuilders WISSOTA Street Stocks
Feature - AJ Zvorak-Blooming Prairie, Jesse Baer-Minnesota Lake, Tyler
Peterson-Hollandale, Mitch Thompson-New Richland, Jason Barber-New Richland,
Rick Lisowski-West Concord, Jesse Stahl-Austin, Scott Olson-Rochester, Dan
Holland-Brownsdale, Ross Spitzer-Dodge Center, Ryan Goergen-Stacyville IA,
Brent Holland-Glenville, Mike Kohn-Hollandale
Heat 1 - D Holland, Zvorak, Baer, Goergen, Olson, Spitzer, Lisowski
Heat 2 - Thompson, Peterson, Stahl, Barber, B Holland, Kohn
Power 96 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature - Bryan Hernandez-Blooming Prairie, Brandon Davis-Medford, AJ Wiste-Adams,
Jerry Young-Blooming Prairie, Greg Pfeifer JR-Austin, Billy
Steinberg-Kasson, Mark Wytaske-Austin, dave Stevens-Albert Lea, Harland
Morehart-Eyota, Travis Wytaske-Rochester, Kevin Toot-Albert Lea, Taylor
Ovrebo-Wells
Heat 1 - M Wytaske, Wiste, Steinberg, T Wytaske, Morehart, Toot
Heat 2 - Pfeifer JR, Davis, Hernandez, Young, Ovrebo, Stevens
Farm Boy BBQ WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature - Jeff Brauer-Rochester, Cole Queensland-Grand Meadow, Greg Mattick-Hayfield,
Josh Bartel-Kasson, Harland Morehart-Eyota, Brett Dulas-Waseca
Heat 1 - Queensland, Mattick, Brauer, Bartel, Morehart, Dulas
French's Repair and Fabrication USRA Modifieds
Feature - Doug Hillson-Blooming Prairie, Todd Scharkey-Kasson, Ben Mattick-Hayfield,
Tommy Myer-Blooming Prairie, Jason Krohn-Slayton, Josh Mattick-Austin,
Darwyn Karau-Kasson, Greg Jensen-Albert Lea, Tom Paulson-Kasson, Jeremy
Misgen-Ellendale, Wally Bustad-Austin, Dustin Steinbrink-Austin, Dave
Wytaske JR-Mapleview, Matt Olson-Albert Lea
Heat 1 - Krohn, B Mattick, Karau, Scharkey, Hillson, Misgen, Steinbrink
Heat 2 - J Mattick, Myer, Olson, Jensen, Bustad, Paulson
S and S Auto Salvage Junior Hornets
Feature - Garitt Wytaske-Lansing, Jake Bigelow-Hayfield, Jacob Stark-Austin,
Brandon Vogt-Rose Creek, Matt Brooks-Austin, Cole Lonergan-Dexter
Heat 1 - Bigelow, Vogt, Stark, Wytaske, Lonergan, Brooks
S and S Auto Salvage Senior Hornets
Feature - Mike Blowers-Waseca, Paul Kroneman-Austin, Michael Wytaske-Lansing,
Briana Grinstead-Austin, Kaitlyn Stark-Austin
Heat 1 - Blowers, Kroneman, Wytaske, Grinstead, Stark
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