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Eswein Captured Mid-Season Title, Extends Point Lead in Lates! Brooks
Finds Luck on Way to Super Stock Victory!
By Jeffrey Sachse |
June 25, 2004;
Plover, WI - An
evening of fireworks and great racing were played out before fans on Union Night at Golden
Sands Speedway. The Mid-Season championship events saw current Super Late Model
point leader Mark Eswein capture his first feature win of the 2004 season during their 50
lap main event. In Super Stocks, Mike Brooks, had one kind of luck up until this
evening...bad. Whatever changes were made as he repaired his machine after an
accident a week ago proved to be the correct ones, and with a little luck on his side this
week, he outsprinted Tim Plowman, to score his first main event win of the year.
Scott Strigel captured the top honors this evening in the Pure Stock event after fending
off a last lap challenge by Troy Engman. Mike Oehmichen rounded out the evening's
winners, coming from the tail of the pack to the lead in the closing stages of the 4
cylinder race to gain the victory.
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Defending track champion and current point
leader Mark Eswein topped the action in the Mid-Season championship main event for his
first weekly feature win of 2004 at Golden Sands Speedway.
Mark Eswein (#71) works the outside lane to pass Brian Back (#61) for the lead
during the Super Late Model main event.
Joe Krzykowski (#77) slips under Mark Van (#66) for the lead during the closing
laps of the Super Late Model semi-feature race. Krzykowski would take the win with
Van finishing second.
Chris Weinkauf (#75) took top qualifying honors for the second straight week in
Super Late Model action.
After a string of bad luck, Mike Brooks (#25) changed his fortunes with a victory
in the Super Stock feature contest.
The battle for second was hard fought to the finish in the Super Stocks, with Tim
Hintz (#1), Shawn Stelzer (#40) and Tim Plowman (#80).
Defending division champion Shawn Stelzer (#40) paced qualifying for the Super
Stock division.
Mike Oehmichen (#87) took the lead late in the race in the 4 Cylinders, winning the
feature for the second straight week.
Scott Strigel (#46) was in victory lane after the checkered flag flew in the Pure
Stock feature event.
Scott Strigel (#46) led Troy Engman (#99) to the finish in the Pure Stock feature
race. |
Polesitter Brian Back brought the field to the green flag in the Super Late Model
headliner as 17 cars began their 50 lap jaunt. Back would run wheel to wheel with
Burton Brown for the first two laps before gaining the advantage. Eswein running the
high line quickly maneuvered into the third position before the completion of the second
lap. Staying in the high groove, Eswein reeled in Brown and after a brief battle came away
with the second position.
Back was still setting the pace with Eswein in tow on lap eight when the only caution
of the contest flew when Brandon Selle slipped off the top of the track in turn one on the
eighth lap.
This left Back, Eswein, Brown, Keith Bohmsach and Benjamin Brinkman atop the
leaderboard on the restart. Back and Eswein would pull away from the field, as
Bohmsach maneuvered past Brown on the outside for third as lap ten passed. Out front Back
had his hands full as Eswein looked both high and low for a way to the front. Eswein
would use the high groove to wheel in alongside Back and after a couple laps of door to
door racing surged into the lead. Back would drop in behind Eswein and the pair
would motor away from third place runner Bohmsach.
At the halfway point of the race Eswein found himself still in the lead, though Back
stayed tight on his rear bumper Bohmsach continued to hold the third position, followed by
Jeff Weinfurter and Jason Weinkauf in the top five spots. Unfortunately Weinfurter would
drop from the contest moments later with mechanical difficulties turning the fourth
position over to Weinkauf.
The unhindered by any additional slowdowns it became apparent that the win would be
decided between Eswein and Back who stretched their advantage to a dozen car lengths over
Bohmsach with ten laps to go. Though Back could stay on Eswein's rear bumper he was
unable to muster the speed to attempt a pass. Over the final few laps Eswein
would manage to build a small two car length advantage which he held to the checkered to
take the victory. Back would settle for second. Weinkauf would slip under Bohmsach
for third with two laps to go in the contest to score the position. Bohmsach would
settle for fourth after a strong run, followed by Jeremy Lepak who finished the race in
fifth after taking the position in the closing stages of the race.
Mike Brooks would gain the advantage over polesitter Ken Soyka at the start of the
Super Stock main event, which was extended to 35 laps this evening for the Mid-Season
championships. Brooks immediately began to build and advantage on the field, leaving
the battles for position to be contested behind him.
Soyka held down the runner-up spot as a fast moving trio of cars including Tim Hintz,
fast qualifier Shawn Stelzer and Tim Plowman began to work their way through the pack.
Hintz caught Soyka for the runner-up spot on lap 15 powering into the position and
bringing Stelzer and Plowman with him into third and fourth respectively.
By this point Brooks had built up a dozen car length lead. Over the next several
laps it became apparent Brooks would be able to maintain the cushion as Hintz was unable
to close the gap from his runner-up spot. The last thong Brooks wanted to see was a
caution flag appear, but unfortunately that's exactly what happened with six laps to go in
the event when Wally Kallman spun in turn three.
This allowed the field to close on his rear bumper and the top five saw Brooks, Hintz,
Plowman, Stelzer and Dave Neitzke at the head of the back when the green flag returned.
Brooks would bolt back to the lead with a good restart and his efforts were further helped
when Plowman moved alongside Hintz to challenge for second. This allowed Brooks to
pull away and take the victory by three car lengths. The battle between Hintz and
Plowman went down to the wire, with Plowman winning the drag race by a couple feet off the
final turn to earn second. Hintz took third followed by Stelzer and Neitzke.
After an opening lap tangle slowed the Pure Stock contest Scott Strigel worked his way
to the lead. For much of the contest his lead was a comfortable one until the
closing laps when Troy Engman began to close the gap, reaching Strigel's rear bumper with
two laps to go. Strigel was up to the challenge however and was able to repel the
challenge by Engman to score the victory. Engman, Michael Gwidt, Frank Calabrese and
fast qualifier Eric Nelson made up the top five finishers.
The Pure Stock main event saw Matt Hansen out front for much of the distance with
Thomas Masephol holding second. However Mike Oehmichen, who was involved in the
events only caution on the opening lap was charging from dead least through the field.
He annexed the second position from Masephol with six laps remaining in the contest
and began to slice into the lead Hansen had built. Hansen, hindered slightly by
lapped traffic, found his lead down to less than a car length with two laps to go.
Oehmichen dove to the bottom of the track and powered his way past for the top spot as the
white flag flew, holding the lead for the final lap to score the win. Hansen would
take second followed by Masephol, Jenny Nitzsche and Torey Nitzsche in the top five.
Next Friday evening is a huge evening of racing with be filled with thrills and spills
as the first trailer race of the 2004 season will be held. The objective is to tow a
trailer around the track as quickly as possible while competitors try and knock each
others trailer off the tow viechle. In addition a full program of racing will be
presented in the Super Late Model, Super Stock and Pure Stock divisions.
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
50 Lap Feature: 1.) Mark Eswein; 2.)
Brian Back; 3.) Jason Weinkauf; 4.) Keith Bohmsach; 5.) Jeremy Lepak; 6.) Allen Check; 7.)
Burton Brown; 8.) Monte Gress; 9.) Chris Weinkauf; 10.) Mark Mackesy
20 Lap Semi-Feature: 1.) Joe Krzykowski; 2.) Mark Van; 3.) Eugene
Gregorich; 4.) Rene Scheinoha; 5.) Chad Devine; 6.) John Totzke Jr.
First 12 Lap Heat: 1.) Joel Schulz; 2.) Kasey Chase; 3.) Nicholas
Anderson
Second 12 Lap Heat: 1.) Pat Williams; 2.) Devine; 3.) Van
Third 12 Lap Heat: 1.) Dillon Kralovetz; 2.) Bohmsach; 3.) Mackesy
Fourth 12 Lap Heat: 1.) Eswein; 2.) Benjamin Brinkman; 3.) J.
Weinkauf
Fast Qualifier: C. Weinkauf, 12.222 Seconds
Super Stocks
35 Lap Feature: 1.) Mike Brooks; 2.)
Tim Plowman; 3.) Tim Hintz; 4.) Shawn Stelzer; 5.) Dave Neitzke; 6.) Colin Wilcott; 7.)
Scott Hamel; 8.) Brad Scholze; 9.) Galen Manternatch; 10.) David Pagels
15 Lap Semi-Feature: 1.) Matt Pyburn; 2.) Matt Raykowski; 3.) Tim
Zuehlke; 4.) Don Cline; 5.) Roger Stanczyk
First 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Zuehlke; 2.) Dale Robinson; 3.) Marc
Baldwin
Second 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Pyburn; 2.) Raykowski; 3.) Cline
Third 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Brooks; 2.) Ken Soyka; 3.) Wilcott
Fourth 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Galen Manternatch; 2.) Hintz; 3.) Plowman
Fast Qualifier: Stelzer, 13.435 Seconds
Pure Stocks
20 Lap Feature: 1.) Scott Strigel; 2.)
Troy Engman; 3.) Michael Gwidt; 4.) Frank Calabrese; 5.) Eric Nelson; 6.) Christopher
Rindfleisch
First 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Strigel; 2.) Shane Floistad; 3.) Al Bartels
Second 10 Lap Heat: 1.) Gwidt; 2.) Calabrese; 3.) Nelson
Fast Qualifier: Nelson, 15.363 Seconds
4 Cylinders
15 Lap Feature: 1.) Mike Oehmichen; 2.)
Matt Hansen; 3.) Thomas Masephol; 4.) Jenny Nitzsche; 5.) Torey Nitzsche; 6.) Kevin Teske |