Menomonie WI, June 8 – Brandon Jensen and Travis Anderson etched their names in the record book at the Red Cedar Speedway as both earned their first ever career feature wins at the speedway to highlight the racing action on a steamy Friday night. Other feature winners Friday included John Kaanta, Steve Thomas, Cody Kummer and Jeremy Dahl.
The open wheel classes provided the historic feature wins with Jensen started on the outside pole and leading all the way for his first ever Modified win at the Dunn County oval. He got the jump on Mark Hessler and led the early going with Cory Williams then taking over the second spot. Brent Prochnow and Mike Anderson were racing hard for position with Craig Thatcher on the move after starting in the fourth row.
Jensen continued to show the way with a comfortable lead over Williams as Thatcher worked his way into the third spot with Anderson squeezing past Prochnow to gain a position.
The lone yellow of the event flew with eleven laps complete and on the green, as Jensen again resumed the top spot, Thatcher drove under Williams to take over second. He began to close on Jensen as the laps ran down and took a couple shots on the low side of the leader. While he was able to get close on a couple of occasions, Jensen held solid in his high side groove and raced home to the win with two car lengths to spare. Williams finished a solid third with Prochnow regaining fourth from Anderson on the final lap.
Travis Anderson had a tougher go of it in the Midwest Modifieds, not taking the lead until the twelfth of fifteen laps in the feature race. For the first eleven laps, second year driver Kerry Halopka showed the way and he was looking good for his first ever feature win until the yellow flag spoiled his party. Anderson had worked his way into second after starting fifth as there had been a wild scramble for position behind Halopka with drivers swapping positions on nearly every corner.
Jake Stai, Jake Smith, Grant Southworth, Nick Koehler, Ryan Viltz and Cory Crapser were all part of a swarm of drivers battling hard for the third spot as Anderson trailed Halopka who continued to lead.
A spin on lap twelve provided the only yellow flag of the feature race and proved to be Kerry Halopka’s undoing. On the green he left a hole on the bottom and Travis Anderson blasted through the opening to take over the lead. As Halopka tried to hold on, they went three wide for the second spot and again on the next lap. Anderson continued to hold the lead as he drove on to the noteworthy win with Crapser using a low side move on the final lap to shot into second. Viltz, in his first appearance here this year, raced home third after starting ninth with Koehler and Shane Halopka completing the top five.
The other first time winner, though just for the year and not his career, was Kaanta, who passed Chad Mahder on lap seventeen for the lead in a nonstop Late Model main event. The Late Model feature was a two car battle all the way and not decided until near the end of the event. Mahder started on the outside pole and used the high side to take the early lead after a brief battle with Greg Nippoldt for position. Kaanta started in the third row and quickly moved up, dispatching Rick Hanestad and Cory Mahder and then driving past Nippoldt for second.
As Chad Mahder continued to ride the cushion, Kaanta closed in and began the first of a series of attempts to slip under the Eau Claire driver. Lap after lap, Kaanta would power into turn three and try and drive under Mahder for the lead, but each time Chad would slip past again on the high side with Kaanta tucking in behind him again. Lap after lap the joust would continue, with the leaders breathtakingly close as they exited turn four.
Finally, with only three laps left, Kaanta got enough of a run down the back chute that he was able to slip under Mahder and clear him for the lead. Chad tried to fight back and stayed glued to John’s rear bumper the rest of the way, but he couldn’t muster the muscle needed to regain the lead as he settled for the runner up position. Jake Redetzke made a late race charge from the fourth row to take third and began to reel in the leaders at the end while Nippoldt had his best run at fourth ahead of Scott Gilberts.
The Super Stock feature was all Steve Thomas as he raced to his second feature win of the year at Red Cedar. He started on the outside pole and quickly put distance on the field, despite two early caution flags for minor spins. Once the racing resumed, Aaron Wilson tried the low side and put some pressure on Thomas briefly, but Steve eventually began to pull away and Wilson was forced to move back to the high side.
Ben Hillman moved up after starting eighth and briefly edged past Tom Karis for third, but eventually the dominant high side saw Karis regain the spot and Hillman forced to jump back to the top side too. The twelve laps ran off nonstop and Thomas continued to dominate with the top four spots remaining unchanged with Jesse Redetzke completing the top five.
Kummer earned his third Street Stock win of 2012 as he slipped past Keith Tourville in the early going and once in front, held off the pack the rest of the way for the win. Tourville received plenty of early pressure from Mike Knudtson before he claimed the top spot until Kummer found an opening and shot into the lead. While Cody continued to hold the top spot, there was some heavy scrambling for position behind him as Tourville, Knudton, Ron Hanestad, Troy Fransway and Adam Soltis were all jockeying for track position.
Soltis got turned around with six laps remaining which necessitated the second and final yellow of the event. Kummer continued to maintain the lead on the green and held his spot as he raced on to the win with Soltis coming through late to take second ahead of Hanestad, Tourville and Fransway.
The Pure Stock main led off the feature parade and while there was plenty of jockeying for position, there was also a lot of banging which resulted in two yellow flags before the first lap could be completed. When everything was sorted out, Dahl, who had started last in the small field, found an opening and shot into the lead.
From that point, he pulled away for an easy win which was his second of the season at Red Cedar. Scottie Schoettle came on for second as he held off Randy Burton, Jesse Bryan and Krysta Swearingen the rest of the event.
Next Friday night, June 15th, racing action continues with the first green flag to wave at 7 p.m. The Hornets will make their third appearance of the season at the track and the Late Models will take the night off.
SUMMARY
Red Cedar Speedway
Menomonie, WI
June 8, 2012
WISSOTA Late Models
20 lap Feature – John Kaanta(Elk Mound), Chad Mahder(Eau Claire), Jake Redetzke(Eau Claire), Greg Nippoldt(Roberts), Scott Gilberts(Menomonie), Rick Hanestad(Boyceville), Cory Mahder(Elk Mound), Mike Prochnow(Menomonie), Steve Isenberg(Marshfield), Kerry Hanson(Baldwin), Justin Ochsner
8 lap Heat 1 – Redetzke, Ch. Mahder, Gilberts, Hanestad, Isenberg, Ochsner
Heat 2 – Prochnow, Co. Mahder, Kaanta, Nippoldt, Hanson
WISSOTA Modifieds
18 lap Feature – Brandon Jensen(Hammond), Craig Thatcher(Knapp), Cory Williams(Spring Valley), Brent Prochnow(Colfax), Mike Anderson(Colfax), Ross Prochnow(Boyceville), Matt Leer(Bruce), Mark Gerth(Menomonie), Kevin Adams(Cameron), Jesse Glenz(Cadott), Robby Bunkelman, Mark Hessler, Rich Lofthus, Jay Richardson, Robbie Johnson, Don Brightbill, Steve Hallquist, Keith Tourville
8 lap Heat 1 – Anderson, Thatcher, Glenz, Lofthus(Bloomer), Bunkelman(Abbotsford), Hallquist, Richardson, Gerth, Adams
Heat 2 – Williams, B. Prochnow, Hessler(Menomonie), Jensen, Leer, R. Prochnow, Brightbill, Johnson, Tourville
WISSOTA Super Stocks
18 Lap Feature – Steve Thomas(Menomonie), Aaron Wilson(Menomonie), Tom Karis(Menomonie), Ben Hillman(Menomonie), Jesse Redetzke(Eau Claire), Jason Forehand(Eau Claire), Luke Plank(Eau Claire), Mike Keller(Menomonie), Brad Johnson(Wilson), Brad Edington(Elk Mound), Rick Hallquist, Chad Johnson, Bart Steffen, Jim Harris
8 lap Heat 1 – Hillman, Redetzke, Keller, Karis, Forehand, Hallquist, C. Johnson
Heat 2 – Wilson, Thomas, Edington, Plank, Steffen(Eau Claire), Harris, B. Johnson
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds
15 lap Feature – Travis Anderson(Colfax), Cory Crapser(Chippewa Falls), Ryan Viltz(Chetek), Nick Koehler(Bloomer), Shane Halopka(Greenwood), Jake Smith(Eau Claire), Grant Southworth(Bloomer), Kerry Halopka(Wheeler), Mike Truscott(Chippewa Falls), Clark Swartz(Bloomer), Jake Stai, Justin Supri, Mark Thomas, Jake Smeltzer, Josh Smith, Kevin Smeltzer, Al Stettner, Brad Spence, Mitch Anderson, Crystal Hansen
6 lap B Feature – Supri(Eau Claire), J. Smeltzer(Menomonie), Spence(Spring Valley), M. Anderson(Spring Valley), Hansen(Augusta), James Green, Lance Leu
8 lap Heat 1 – Viltz, Ja. Smith, K. Halopka, Jo. Smith(Eau Claire), Swartz, J. Smeltzer, Supri, Leu
Heat 2 – Koehler, T. Anderson, S. Halopka, Thomas(Menomonie), Stettner(Newport MN), Spence, Hansen, M. Anderson
Heat 3 – Stai(New Auburn), Crapser, Southworth, Truscott, K. Smeltzer(Menomonie), Green, Luke Shackleton
WISSOTA Street Stocks
15 lap Feature – Cody Kummer(Medford), Adam Soltis(Ladysmith), Ron Hanestad(Glenwood City), Keith Tourville(Dairyland), Troy Fransway(Elk Mound), Mike Knudtson(Osseo), Ralph Stark(Withee), Jared Lindner(Greenwood)
8 lap Heat – Kummer, Soltis, Knudtson, Hanestad, Tourville, Fransway, Ashley Husby, Lindner, Stark
Pure Stocks
10 lap Feature – Jeremy Dahl(Knapp), Scottie Schoettle(Osseo), Randy Burton(Menomonie), Jesse Bryan(Menomonie), Krysta Swearingen(Little Canada MN), Bill Skoug(Osseo), Dustin Doughty(Ladysmith), Kory Hathaway(Elmwood)
6 lap Heat – Doughty, Skoug, Burton, Schoettle, Bryan, Hathaway, Rod Ryba, Dahl, Swearingen