BUZZ-saw
July 18, 2008 St. Croix Falls, WI
After suffering through an agonizing seventh rain-out of the season on July 11, Kopellah Speedway was back in action last Friday in hot and humid weather. Several familiar faces, along with one new face, graced the Speedway's Victory Lane before the night was over.
WISSOTA Modified pilot Kevin “Buzzy” Adams made the short trip west from his Cameron, WI, race shop to Kopellah Speedway for the the sixth time this summer. And for the sixth time, he made the tow back home with the winner's check. Outside pole starter Mike Kelley Jr. paced the field for the opening lap, but a slight push in turn two on lap two was all the opening Adams would need. Adams shot underneath Kelley and from there, the rout was on. While Adams was walking away, the battle for second was another Kopellah dandy. Third in the season long points chase coming into the night, Tim VanMeter was on Kelley's rear bumper by lap five. As the laps ticked off, Adams would scoot further into the night while VanMeter would try various strategies to steal the runner-up spot from Kelley. A pair of late race cautions didn't help, as each restart saw Kelley maintain his firm grip on the position. Finally, with just two lap remaining, VanMeter made his charge and made it stick. Adams finished several car lengths out front and VanMeter held off Kelley for second. Current track points leader Mike Mueller came home in fourth place ahead of Scott Splittstoesser.
On a night that saw a handful of runaway winners, the tightest battle for the win occurred in the WISSOTA Amsoil Dirt Track Series Street Stock division. Renewing their championship battle from one year ago, Chanda Fjorden Nord and Jeff Heintz spent the final 16 laps of their 20-lap main event in a real nail-biter. Fjorden Nord dashed to the point in front of pole starter Trisha Nyren, who could only hold off defending track champion Heintz for three laps before settling into third. On a night that had current WISSOTA national points leader Allen Gessell Jr. on hand, Nyren ran one of her best races of the season in maintaining a top three spot. Adam Soltis, a consistent top-five runner on Sunday nights at Eagle Valley Speedway in Jim Falls, WI, and Gessell were reduced to battling it out for fourth place honors while Nyren ran smooth and consistent in third. In the battle up front, Heintz emptied his bag of tricks trying a multitude of lines in an effort to pass Fjorden Nord for the win, but the Luck, WI, pilot countered every move with a steady wheel and an easy throttle. The checkers waved with Heintz right on Fjorden Nord's bumper, as Fjorden Nord nabbed her third Kopellah feature win of the season, and fifth overall. With Nyren third, Soltis eventually won out in the battle with Gessell for fourth.
The runaway theme returned for the WISSOTA Super Stocks. Luke Strandlund led the opening four circuits from his outside row one starting position. But with "Fred the Ford" back-up power still under the hood of Strandlund's #26x, the Mora, MN, hot shoe was going to need some help from lady luck. The luck ran out on lap five as Cory Davis assumed the point before dropping out just one lap later. From there, defending track champion Dan Gullikson took over. Once out front, Gullikson left little doubt in what was an eventual win. But most of the crowd had their eyes glued to the duel that played out over countless laps for second place. Strandlund and his reserve motor spent the remainder of the race in a slug fest with John Remington for runner-up honors. Through turns one, two and three, Strandlund would build a precarious two to three car length advantage over Remington. Then, in turn four, the advantage would completely disappear as the duo came out of turn four in a dead heat on every lap – only to have Strandlund claw back to a more comfortable margin, just to have it evaporate again in turn four. For over a dozen laps the pair kept the crowd on the edge of their seats, and in the end, ol' Fred brought Strandlund home in second just barely ahead of Remington. Gullikson's victory was his third of the season at Kopellah Speedway and seventh overall in WISSOTA Amsoil Dirt Track Series competition.
The WISSOTA features got off to a rather blue start, or more accurately yellow, as the Midwest Modified main event was slowed by six caution flags. While not as dominant as a few other feature winners, Vince Corbin took his “new to him” car from the outside of the front row and into the early lead. After a lap one caution eliminated Dan Wheeler, John Remington moved up to Wheeler's third row spot on the restart and jumped up to the second position after only one lap. Through all of the cautions, Corbin's new ride was strong enough to hold down the point, while things were fast and furious behind him. Along with Remington, rookies Josh Bazey and Sampson Haseltine, Tim Swanson, Vernon Arnt and Mike Haseltine, as well as heat race winners Bryce Johnson and Clayton Wagamon, all employed a wide array of racing lines battling for the next six finishing positions. After the final yellow flag preceding a green-white-checkered finish, Vince Corbin would lead every lap in picking up his second feature win of the season. Corbin was all smiles in the pits afterwards, elated with how the “new” car was working. “This is only our second night out with this car,” noted the grinning victor, “she's not real pretty, but she goes!” Remington bested Sampson Haseltine at the line for second with Johnson coming home fourth. Running a clean race paid off handsomely for a pair of seventh row starters. Vernon Arnt took the green flag 14th on the starting grid and cracked the top five at the finish, and his seventh row starting mate, Corey Fogleson had the best run of his rookie campaign finishing in sixth place.
The Kopellah Pure Stocks took to the track for their main event with Rodney Jacobson and Jesse Lutgen pacing the field. At the drop of the green, third row starter Steven Johnson bolted into the lead through the opening set of turns. David Leaf was the early runner-up while the fourth row starters Mike Dyrdahl and Danny Richards worked their way towards the front. Dyrdahl slipped past Johnson to take over the lead on lap six, with Richards following suit on the next circuit. Just one lap later, Richards worked around Dyrdahl and led the remaining laps. Richards, however, failed to report immediately to the scales after the race and was subsequently disqualified, handing the win to Dyrdahl. The revamped finishing order had Johnson finishing second and Steve Baker in third. Rookies Ben Johnson and David Leaf rounded out the top five.
The only group able to complete their feature without a caution was the Kopellah Hornets. Tagging along with big brother Allen Jr., Nate Gessell made just his second visit of the season to Kopellah Speedway a worthwhile trip. Taking off from the outside of the front row, Gessell jumped out to the early lead with pressure from fourth starting Alec Nesbit. Mechanical gremlins forced Nesbit to retire on lap six, giving the task of chasing down Gessell to Doug Fick. Fick, behind the wheel of Kevin Bradwell's #95 for the evening, had to also contend with the charging hotrod of Jacob Christiansen. Christiansen and Fick dueled while Gessell ran smooth and alone out front, and with just two laps remaining, Christiansen moved up to second in lapped traffic. At the checkers it was Gessell who was the only non-repeat winner of the evening, ahead of Christiansen, Fick, Tyler English and Andy Kruse.
Racing action resumes this Friday night, July 25, with Classic Car Night. The Northern Vintage Stockcar Racers will be on hand for their second visit of the season. Dave Lepper and Ken Varing were the feature winners during the club's first visit to the Speedway last May, and both drivers are scheduled to be on hand to defend their titles. More information on the Northern Vintage Racers is available on the web at www.northernvintageracers.com. Racing is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., for race day weather updates, current point standing and directions to the Speedway, please visit the track's website at www.kopellahspeedway.net.
Race Summary:
Hornets, Feature: Nate Gessell, Jacob Christensen, Doug Fick, Tyler English, Andy Kruse, Pamela Lutgen, Alec Nesbit, Damon Stusek
Pure Stocks, Feature: Michael Dyrdahl, Steven Johnson, Steve Baker, Ben Johnson, David Leaf, David Swearingen, Jesse Lutgen, Fabian Jackson, Matthew Skipper, Thomas Lutgen, Rodney Jacobson, Danny Richards
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, Feature: Vince Corbin, John Remington, Sampson Haseltine, Bryce Johnson, Vernon Arnt, Corey Fogleson, Rob Caho Jr, Kyle Matuska, Clayton Wagamon, Jake Miller, Michael Haseltine, Tim Swanson, Josh Bazey, Doug Merrill, Mike Gibson, Dan Wheeler
WISSOTA Street Stocks, Feature: Chanda Fjorden Nord, Jeff Heintz, Trisha Nyren, Adam Soltis, Allen Gessell, Robert Lowe, Kyle Howland, Steve Lowe, Tim Baxter
WISSOTA Super Stocks, Feature: Dan Gullikson, Luke Strandlund, John Remington, Greg Alling, Cory Davis, Tim Baxter
WISSOTA Modifieds, Feature: Kevin Adams, Tim VanMeter, Mike Kelly Jr, Mike Mueller, Scott Splittstoesser, Marc Johnson, Tony Gates, Mike Raboin, James Cimfl, Jason Schill, Shawn Kelley