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Lepak Edges Check for Super Late Victory!
Hintz Hustles to Hat Trick Victory!!
By Jeffrey Sachse |
August 13, 2004;
Plover, WI - It took
just three laps and a couple fast maneuvers for Jeremy Lepak to work is way to the lead of
the Super Late Model main event on Kwik Trip Night at the races. But it took a nerve
racking 37 more laps and some excellent restarts to keep Allen Check at bay to collect the
checkered flag in the event at Golden Sands Speedway. For Lepak, the win was his
third feature of the 2004 season on the high-banked third mile oval.
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Jeremy Lepak paced must of the Super Late Model
main event, holding onto the lead until the checkered taking his third feature win of the
2004 season at Golden Sands Speedway.
Jeremy Lepak (#20) was stalked by Allen Check
(#20) throughout much of the Super Late Model feature race.
Greg Back (#62) took the opening lead in the
Super Late Model feature, while Jeremy Lepak (#40) and Benjamin Brinkman (#94) did battle
for second.
Mark Eswein (#71) works the low groove to pass Jason Weinkauf late in the race.
Eswein the current point leader in the Super Late Model division is closing in on
another track title.
Matt Wisz (#1) debuted a sharp looking Super Late Model, but encountered the front
wall during the consolation race severely damaging the machine.
Eugene Gregorich Jr. (#14) brought home a victory in the Super Late Model
semi-feature contest.
Brandon Selle (#98) carries the American flag after setting fast time in the Super
Late Model division.
Tim Hintz (#1) has become a familiar sight in victory lane having earned his third
straight Super Stock feature victory.
Tim Hintz (#1) works past fast qualifier Shawn
Stelzer (#40) enroute to winning the Super Stock feature.
Shawn Stelzer (#40) helped his cause in the
title chase by setting fast qualifying honors in the Super Stock division.
Eric Nelson (#94) captured the Pure Stock feature victory and seems headed toward
the division title.
Kevin Teske (#27) rebounded from a heat race accident in the 4 cylinder class, to
take the victory in the feature contest.
Late in the race Kevin Teske (#27) was stalked by John Flick (#9) and Mike
Oehmichen (#87), but Flick and Oehmichen would tangle allowing Teske to squirt away for
the victory. |
In Super Stock action, a late race caution gave Tim Hintz a shot at victory.
In a two lap shoot-out Plowman took advantage of a slip by race leader Tim
Plomwan to charge by into the lead on the final lap, and earn his third straight Super
Stock feature race. The Pure Stock contested turned into a duel between point leader
Eric Nelson and Frank Calabrese, with Nelson prevailing and adding to his point margin.
Completing the evening's events, Kevin Teske scored a well deserved win in the 4
cylinder class. Teske was involved in an accident which saw him slam into the front
stretch wall in his heat race. Rebuilding the car, Teske was able to make the green
flag from the feature. He inherited the lead after a mid-race caution and was able
to hold on and score the victory in the main event.
Bemjamin Brinkman sat on the pole for the start of the 40 lap Super Late Model contest,
but it was outside front row starter Greg Back taking the opening lead, as Brinkman fell
back on the inside. As the opening round completed Lepak would squirt past Brinkman
for second, with Allen Check following into third.
Lepak would stay in the high groove and pull alongside Back for the lead on lap three
before charging into the top spot down the backstretch. Back would stay close to
Lepak, and began to reassert himself closing back up on Lepak's rear bumper ad Check
continued to follow in third. Joe Krzykowski had climbed into the fourth slot and
Jeff Weinfurter ran fifth as laps clicked off in rapid fashion.
A caution for a Mark Mackesy spin in turn one on lap nine brought out the first caution
of the race, after contact between he and Eugene Gregorich Jr., who earlier won the
semi-feature. The event resumed with Back again challenging Lepak for the top spot,
attempting to use the high groove of the track to mount a challenge.
Lap 13 would prove unlucky for Back, who slipped in the outside lane while challenging
for the top spot, spinning in turn three. The spin elevated Check to second and
Weinfurter to third.
Lepak was back to setting quick pace at the drop of the green with Check looking for a
way to the front. Weinfurter was also looking for a way to advance testing the low
line in effort to move forward. On lap 19 several cars began to tangle on the
backstretch, and as a result Krzykowski would take a wild slide through the grass heading
into turn three.
The green returned with Lepak, Check, Weinfurter, while Jason Weinkauf and current
point leader Mark Eswein make up the top five runners. In similar fashion to earlier
restarts Lepak would take control of the pace. The fourth and final slowdown of the
race occurred for a tangle between Pete Kempf and Monte Gress, which did significant
damage to the Gress machine which needed assistance from a wrecker to leave the racing
surface.
This setup a eight lap sprint to the finish. On the final restart, Lepak again
was able to repel the challenges of Check who continued to look for a weakness in Lepak's
line. Weinfurter held fast to third as Weinkauf experiments with the outside line to
try and gain third, this allowed Eswein to move under Weinkauf and steal away the fourth
spot with just 6 laps to go.
Out front Lepak's final challenge cam on the last lap as Check ducked to his inside.
Coming off the final turn, Lepak was able to retain his momentum in the outside
line and reach the finish line by half of a car car length over Check. The battle
for third between Weinfurter and Eswein went down to the wire with Weinfurter holding the
spot. Eswein would settle for fourth and Weinkauf claimed fifth.
The Super Stock main event has just a pair of slowdowns. Tim Zuehlke burst into
the opening lead with Scott Hamel in tow, as the lead duo began to separate themselves
form the field very quickly. Roger Stanczyk would work into the third spot on lap
four.
Out front Zuehlke and Hamel were providing fans with a thrilling battle as Hamel went
both high and low looking for a way by Zuehlke. Current point leader Tim Plowman
would reach the fourth spot on lap nine, before continuing his charge and working by
Stanczyk for third on lap 12. Meanwhile the evenings fast qualifier, Shawn Stelzer
and the winner of the past two feature, Tim Hintz were following Plowman through the pack.
The event had a major shakeup on unlucky lap 13, as the battle for the lead came to an
end with a spin by Zuehlke. As he was spinning Zuehlke was hit by Dave Neitzke,
whose car suffered major front end damage. Hamel was noted for contact which caused the
spin and both he and Zuehlke restarted the race from the read of the field while Neitzke
retired from the event.
This left Plowman in the lead for the restart and Plowman quickly went to work on
building a substantial lead on his rivals. Stanczyk would restart second followed by
Stelzer, Hintz and Jason Blenker who was driving a new machine held down the fifth spot.
Hintz would go to work on advancing nosing under Stelzer for third on lap 17, and then
working past Stanczyk for second on the following lap. Plowman's lead at this point
was a dozen car lengths, and both he and Hintz separated themselves from the pack behind
them.
As the race began to wind down, Hintz was able to narrow the gap only slightly, and it
became apparent that Plomwan would win the contest if not for mechanical difficulty or a
caution. Unfortunately for Plowman, the yellow flag flew for just the second time
when Dan Gollen spun with two laps to go on the front stretch.
This placed Hintz on Plowman's rear bumper for the restart. As the race resumed
Hintz applied the pressure. Plowman, bobbled a bit off turn two allowing Hintz to
squirt by for the lead as they accepted the white flag. Hintz would reach the finish
line first for the victory. Plowman settled for second, followed by Kirsling who
turned in a strong showing in his first appearance of the season. Stanczyk would hold onto
fourth with Stelzer, the evening's fast qualifier coming home in fifth.
Pure Stock action turned into a three car shoot-out between current point leader Eric
Nelson, Frank Calabrese and Scott Strigel. Dean Aschbacher paced much of the early
going in the contest until the aforementioned trio swept by before the midway point of the
contest. Nelson would set the pace the remaining distance, all while Calabrese and
Strigel raced in close formation behind him waiting for a slip.
The slip never came and the lead trio reached the finish in formation with Nelson
edging Calabrese and Strigel for the victory. Shane Floistad would come home in fourth
followed by Andrew Hintz.
The 4 cylinder feature proved to be an exciting contest, as Matt Hansen lead the early
going. John Flick, who earlier on his heat race and set fast time would reach the
front by lap five, but due to his exceeding the track breakout rule by turning laps much
quicker than his qualifying effort he was moved back two spots under a yellow flag flown
near the mid-portion of the race. This placed Kevin Teske in the lead.
As the green flag flew, Flick and Mike Oehmichen, the division point leader became
tangled in turn two, forcing another quick caution. Flick rejoined the race at the
rear of the field, while Oehmichen retired from the race.
The final restart saw Teske, whose car was missing a fair amount of sheet metal after
his meeting with the wall during a earlier heat race, continue to set the pace.
Teske would take his injured machine to the win and victory lane. Jenny Nitzsche
would stalk him to the checkered but was never able to mount a serious challenge for the
top spot and settled for second, while Hansen, Rick Brandl and Randy Polansky completed
the top five.
Next Friday evening at Golden Sands Speedway is Fabco Equipment Night at the races.
The show will feature all four divisions of racing with a full program of
Super Late Model, Super Stock, Pure Stock and 4 Cylinders activities. To round out the
evening the ever popular 2-Man Cruisers will take to the raceway for their second to last
appearance of the year. The 2-Man Cruisers will next appear at the Eve of
Devastation on September 10th for their championship point night.
Friday evening shows begin with qualifying at 6:30 p.m., and racing at 7:45 p.m.
Golden Sands Speedway "Central Wisconsin's Power Playground" is located
between Wisconsin Rapids and Plover, Wisconsin on Highway 54. For additional
information please call (715) 423-4660 or consult the track website at www.goldensandsspeedway.com
For
complete RACESTAT Race Results Click Here!
Late Models
40 Lap Feature: 1.) Jeremy Lepak; 2.)
Allen Check; 3.) Jeff Weinfurter; 4.) Mark Eswein; 5.) Jason Weinkauf; 6.) Brian Back;
7.) Brandon Selle; 8.) Mark Mackesy; 9.) Chris Weinkauf; 10.) Joe Krzykowski
20 Lap Semi-Feature: 1.) Eugene Gregorich Jr; 2.) Burton Brown;
3.) Keith Bohmsach; 4.) Nicholas Anderson; 5.) Rene Scheinoha
12 Lap Consolation: 1.) Mike Leopold; 2.) Dave Cabelka; 3.)
Elliott Weiler; 4.) Dave Philipps
First 12 Lap Heat: 1.) Leopold; 2.) Philipps; 3.) Joel Schulz
Second 12 Lap Heat: 1.) Wayne Cottrell; 2.) Anderson; 3.) Bohmsach
Third 12 Lap Heat: 1.) Gregorich; 2.) Brady Baldry; 3.) Monte
Gress
Fourth 12 Lap Heat: 1.) C. Weinkauf; 2.) J. Weinkauf; 3.) Eswein
Fast Qualifier: Selle, 12.336 Seconds
Super Stocks
30 Lap Feature: 1.) Tim Hintz; 2.) Tim
Plowman; 3.) Jason Blenker; 4.) Roger Stanczyk; 5.) Shawn Stelzer; 6.) Mike Brooks; 7.)
Dennis Schmidt; 8.) Brad Scholze; 9.) Matt Pyburn; 10.) David Pagels
15 Lap Semi-Feature: 1.) Pagels; 2.) Wally Kallman; 3.) Bert
Soyka; 4.) Randy Storlie; 5.) Brian Schmutzer
First 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Storlie; 2.) Daniel Braun; 3.) Soyka
Second 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Schmutzer; 2.) Tim Zuehlke; 3.) Brooks
Third 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Stanczyk; 2.) Dave Neitzke; 3.) Hintz
Fast Qualifier: Stelzer, 13.501 Seconds
Pure Stocks
20 Lap Feature: 1.) Eric Nelson; 2.)
Frank Calabrese; 3.) Scott Strigel; 4.) Shane Floistad; 5.) Andrew Hintz; 6.) Harvey Vera
Fast Qualifier: Nelson, 15.220 Seconds
4 Cylinders
15 Lap Feature: 1.) Kevin Teske; 2.)
Jenny Nitzsche; 3.) Matt Hansen; 4.) Rick Brandl; 5.) Randy Polansky; 6.) Aaron Philipps
10 Lap Heat: 1.) John Flick; 2.) Mike Oehmichen; 3.) Nitzsche
Fast Qualifier: Flick, 15.330 seconds |