Stapleman, Kirsling, Pyburn top season championship races at Sands!
By Amy Kolo

September 1, 2000; Plover, WI -  A huge storm passed through right before the gates opened on the Coca-Cola Season Championship. The rained cleared, but the weather was a little on the cooler side. This didn’t stop the faithful fans from showing up for the last point’s race. Short Trax Jr. Fan Club races were held off due to the weather. Coca-Cola gave out tons of prizes.

The fans were the big winners! On the left, winner of the Marathon Travel's Jamaican Trip for 2 Mary Szymkowiak and Pam, Marathon Travel rep. Other cool gifts were given away by Coca-Cola which included a Coca-Cola raft which was won by Zachery Beyer and his dad, while Coca-Cola inflatable chair was won by Andrew Overfelt (center photo).

Congratulations to Mary Szymkowiak winner of the Marathon Travel’s Jamaican Trip for Two.

Because of the rain time trials were cancelled and the cars were then lined up by points. The first lap had a lot of cars into the pits due to someone’s rear end leaking. When the race finally got underway, The Marathon Travel’s car, Scott Beyer, took the early lead. Frank Nitzke and Todd Stapleman were right behind him. Nitzke got around Beyer by the sixth lap. A caution came out on the seventh lap for Doug Drost, as he spun coming out of the turn.

Todd Stapleman (#77) earned his second Super Late Model feature event of the season after fending off the challenges of Mark Eswein.

At the restart, Stapleman stole the lead from Nitzke. Mike Budleski and Jeremy Lepak were slowly making there way to the front of the pack. Other fast runners, Chris Wimmer, Mark Eswein and Allen Check were also fighting their way to the front. For a 50-lap event, Stapleman had a lot more laps to complete, especially with all the fast runners slowly moving up on his tail. Wimmer started flying through pack to catch the leader. Another yellow came out on lap 33 as Doug Drost took his racer into the pits.

Stapleman held on to his lead but Budleski was trying to take it away. A yellow came out again on lap 37, with Jeff Weinfurter and Judd Brandl. Brandl went into the pits. At the restart Stapleman once again maintained his lead, but Wimmer took the second spot from Budleski, Eswein followed suit and sent Budleski even farther back. Lepak lost a cylinder and started falling back position after position. With only ten laps left, Stapleman hammered it. Eswein got around Wimmer for the second spot. Wimmer wasn’t going to give up that easily.

Jeff Weinfurter (#3) didn't have a good start to his evening as he left the track and hit the wall off turn one.   Weinfurter was able to complete repairs to his car in time to compete in the feature race where he finished tenth.

Eswein just could not catch Stapleman. As the white flag fell, Wimmer took the second spot away from Eswein. It looked like almost a dead heat. As the checkered fell, Stapleman took the lead with Wimmer in second and Eswein in third. Congratulations to Todd "The Gun" Stapleman the night’s season champion. A big congratulations to Mark Eswein the 2000 Season Champion

Jason Kirsling (#99) avoided the bad luck which plagued him the past couple weeks and flew to a convincing win in Super Stock action!

The Super Stocks thirty-lap feature was also full of excitement. Bernie Fritz started out with the lead, but was quickly overtaken by Shawn Stelzer. Jason Kirsling and Alan Sankey also moved up from the back of the pack. By the twelfth lap, Kirsling took the lead away from Stelzer. By this time all the fast runners were in the front of the pack. A caution came out on lap sixteen between, Jim Cormack, Larry Schultz, Carl Saylor, and Cary Lyons.

Everyone ended up in the pits except for Larry Schultz. Kirsling maintained his lead but Keith Bohmsach maneuvered his way into the second position. The battle had been on all year between Kirsling and Bohmsach. Randy Storlie had made it up to the fourth position but spun on lap 23 sending him to the rear of the field. Kirsling maintained his lead, but Sankey stole the second spot away from Bohmsach.

Moving up!  Jason Kirsling (#99) uses the outside line to slip past Mike Doughty (#52) and Alan Sankey (#3) on his way to winning the Super Stock feature event.

This only lasted a few short laps, as Bohmsach made his way around Sankey. It was a five-lap dash to the finish, Kirsling took the checkered, a long waited win as he had been having troubles with his car mechanical, and some from wrecks. Bohmsach took the second spot with Sankey in third. Congratulations to Jason Kirsling the night’s season champion, and to Keith Bohmsach the 2000 Season Champion.

Matthew Pyburn (#71) completed a successful season with a run to the checkered flag in Pure Stock action.  Pyburn had to run down Jared Back for the lead in the closing laps.  Pyburn was able to make the pass and sprint home for the win.

The pure stocks displayed another bang em’ up run. Young Jared Back took the lead, and wanted the win bad, but Matt Pyburn passed him by the sixteenth lap. Back tried hard to get around Pyburn for the lead, but just wasn’t able to. Chris Brooks and Duane Robinson moved up the pack to join the leaders, as cars in the rear of the field started showing very un-sportsman like behavior. Pyburn took the win with Back in second and Brooks in third. Congratulations to Matt Pyburn, the night’s season champion. A big congratulation goes out to Brad Scholze the 2000 Season Champion.

David Pagels (#409) had just slipped past Wes Coon during the Super Stock semi-feature when is motor expired.   Here Pagels fights for control while Coon retakes his former position.

Don’t miss the action next Friday for Friday Nite Raw. Super Late Models and Super Stocks team together to win big bonus money. Call the track for more details.

For complete RACESTAT Race Results Click Here!