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Gregorich Takes Fourth In
A Row!
By
Brian Back and Woody Eckes |
July 22, 2006;
Marshfield, WI: - Mother Nature tried to postpone the RZ
Builders for a second time this season. Fortunately after a
short, but strong rain shower, the Bill Sherman Memorial races
went on with incident. Point leader Chris Weinkauf set fast time
for the CarQuest Super Late Models. Matt Pyburn was quickest in
the CarQuest Super Stocks and later took the feature win. Dave
Knauf took fast time and the feature win in the 1-Man Cruisers.
Pure Stock driver Gary Haarklau took fast time and the feature
win.
The nineteen car super late model feature was
led to the start by Ben Pettis and John Froelich. Pettis grabbed
the lead, and pulled the field for the opening half. Dean
LaPointe and Cale Laessig also followed Pettis past Froelich,
earning them second and third place respectively. Deep in the
field, Eugene Gregorich Jr. began an impressive charge to the
front. From his 14th place starting position, he found his way
to fourth place by lap seven. Three laps later, he had passed
Laessig and LaPointe and began to chase the leader. Fast
qualifier Chris Weinkauf also moved forward, finding himself in
fifth by lap 11, at the rear bumper of Laessig. On lap 14,
Gregorich took the lead from Pettis with an impressive high side
pass. The front five began to distance themselves from the
field. On lap 17, Mark Kraus made a move to the inside of Jason
Weinkauf for sixth, followed closely by Jay VanDerGeest. Jason
Weinkauf was not prepared to surrender seventh as he battled
fiercely on the high side for several laps with VanDerGeest
finally completing the pass with three laps to go. Laessig made
several attempts to the inside of LaPointe throughout the race,
but wasn’t able to complete the pass. At the checkered flag,
Gregorich captured his fourth feature in a row, followed by
Pettis, LaPointe, Laessig and Chris Weinkauf.
The super stock feature saw the high line charging early as
Randy Meyer led Chad Scholl and Randy Emmerich to the front.
Matt Pyburn and Wes Coon quickly advanced from the rear, getting
to fifth and sixth by lap five. On lap six, Emmerich took second
from Scholl, only to drop out a few laps later with mechanical
difficulties. Pyburn and Coon continued to move forward with a
series of bottom side passes on Travis Zvolena and Scholl,
putting them in second and third by lap 12. Points leader Brian
Weinfurter closed on the front pack quickly, passing to fourth
on lap 13, and looking for the leaders. On lap 14 lapped traffic
became a factor as Meyer, Pyburn and Coon passed the battling
cars of Luke Bravener and Scott Simons three-wide through the
middle. Two laps later, Pyburn caught Meyer and made a low side
pass off turn four to take the lead. Lapped traffic came into
play one more time on lap 20 as Mark Langreck spun into Marv
Flick on the entrance of turn three, narrowly missing the leader
Pyburn, as he passed three-wide on the high side. As they
crossed the stripe, Pyburn led Meyer, Coon, Weinfurter, and
Scholl to the finish.
Ten fearless motorcyclists didn’t let a little rain slow down
their show tonight on the blacktop. 62 year young Ron Bean from
Wisconsin Rapids showed the young guns the way home in the first
heat tonight on his Donahue Super Sports 450 Yamaha. The second
heat was lead from the green flag by Marshfield’s Cliff Eckes
Jr., but a spill by Duluth’s Randy Ruffi brought out the red
flag, but after a quick inspection of his bike and body, he
lined back up for the restart. Eckes once again led the pack in
the early going, but Ringle’s Mark Zeidler would not be denied
and put his 450 Honda into the top spot for the fast heat win.
All riders transferred to the 10 lap final. On the first start
attempt, some of the riders were quicker than the flagman,
requiring a restart with the offenders put on the back row. The
next time everyone was successful taking off, and they all
hurtled into turn one with a blaze of sparks off their steel
skid-shoes, and a fight for position going on immediately
between Ringle’s Mark Zeidler, Hatley’s Steve Kasten and
Marshfield’s Cliff Eckes for the lead. Zeidler chose the high
line and started to stretch out his lead over his two closest
pursuers, for his first victory on the blacktop this year.
Results: 1. Mark Zeidler HON 2. Steve Kasten YAM 3. Cliff Eckes
Jr. YAM 4.Troy Johnson ROT 5.Ron Bean YAM 6.Randy Ruffi YAM 7.
Craig Lewis YAM 8.Woody Eckes YAM 9. Craig Nigh HON 10. Duwayne
Montgomery ROT
By Woody Eckes
The 1-Man Cruiser/Junkyard Warrior feature was three-wide from
the drop of the green flag, with Ryan VanDerLeest taking the
lead on the high side going into turn one. Travis Paul also
moved up several positions on the opening lap, slicing through
the middle of the field. As they crossed the stripe on lap one,
Todd Hoeper and Paul split the leader VanDerLeest with Hoeper
assuming the lead into turn one. Paul challenged Hoeper to the
high side, but was unable to take advantage and settled for the
second position. Wayne Dietz and David Knauf moved from the rear
to the third and fourth position by lap four and began to
challenge the leaders. Contact between Paul and the challenging
Dietz on lap six allowed Knauf to take second place on the high
side. One lap later, Dietz passed Paul to take third. Dietz made
slight contact with the front straight wall two laps later
allowing Paul to close back in. Knauf also moved to the high
side of leader Hoeper on lap nine, only to drop back. With three
to go, he challenged again and completed the pass one lap later.
At the finish it was Knauf, Hoeper, Dietz, Paul and Justin
Moore.
The Pure Stock feature was lead into turn one by polesitter
Richard Delis Jr. Gary Haarklau, starting dead last, made an
amazing four wide pass out of turn two to assume third place at
the end of lap one. He quickly roared to the lead by lap two,
passing both Delis and Jeff Behrens. Behind Haarklau, Kyle
Gennet and Behrens split the second place car of Delis, with
Gennet taking the inside, and the second position. As Behrens
completed the pass for third, Shawn Carpenter also closed in on
Delis on lap five, and attempted a pass to the high side. At the
front Gennett began to challenge the leader Haarklau with three
to go ,making a strong move to the high side. Gennett pulled
nose to nose with one and a half laps to go before a slip in the
backstretch caused him to fall a car length behind. Gennett
could only get back to the rear bumper cover of Haarklau by the
checkered, followed in third by Behrens, and Delis. Ron
Kundinger slipped into fifth as Carpenter spun while receiving
the white flag.
Next Saturday, July 29th is the return of the HOSS Hoosier
Outlaw Winged Sprints, sponsored by Martinovich Trucking, WAXX
104.5 and Rock N Roll To Go. Featuring HOSS Outlaw Winged
Sprints, Limited Late Models, 4-Cylinders, 1-Man Cruisers,
Junkyard Warriors and Pure Stocks. Grandstand gates open at 5
p.m., time trials at 5:30, racing starts at 7 p.m. Marshfield
Super Speedway is located 3.5 miles west of Marshfield on County
Road H with weekly Saturday night stock car racing April through
September. Adult grandstand admission is $15.00, Students ages
10-15 yrs. $5.00 and under 10 yrs FREE with a parent. No Sunday
rain date.
Everyone 16 yrs and older may sign up FREE every race night to
win the 2006 Dodge Charger Pace Car.
For
complete RACESTAT Computer Results Click Here
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