Peterson and Chesley are Victorious on Opening Night of Legendary 100 at CLS
09/12/07
By Greg Parent
The opening night of the Legendary 100 was held at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Wednesday evening September 12 featuring a full racing program in the DTRA street stock and Midwest modified divisions. A strong field of 50 street stocks and 85 Midwest modifieds were on hand, as clear skies provided a pleasant afternoon but cool late summer evening. At the conclusion of the 22 event race program, Chris Peterson stood in Victory Lane for the street stock division while 2007 DTRA National Champion Greg Chesley took top honors in the Midwest modified main event.
Heat race action in the street stock division got underway with the first of five races kicking off the 2007 edition of the annual mid September gathering at the Cedar Lake Speedway. Passing points would be utilized in the heat races in both divisions with the top 18 cars locked into the main event while the remaining cars would have to run in a B Main. Butch Kummer led all the way in the nonstop first heat topping Joe Potter and Jim Geringer who started 8th. The second heat featured a great battle all race long amongst the top three cars, as Keith Tourville held off Ron Hanestad and Jason Vandekamp for the win. 2007 DTRA National Champion Steffen Snare took the lead on lap 4 of the third heat from Steve Bemboom and raced ahead of the field for the win. Bemboom and 7th starter Butch Madsen trailed. Jimmy Randall blasted into the lead on the opening lap of the fourth heat and never looked back. Michael Truscott and Nathan House, from the back of the pack, completed the top three. The final street stock heat race was a quick 10 lap affair with the Kisling team cars garnering the top two positions. Kori Richter bested 8th starter Shane Kisling while Gary Pischke settled for third.
A large field of Midwest modifieds would require eight heat races. After the lineup was jumbled slightly when pole sitter Taylor Leuthner jumped the initial start, Ryan Olson charged into the lead from the outside front row enroute to the win. Young Troy Berends and 10th starter Jeremy Kerzman followed in a race that was slowed under caution three times. Brad Hudson showed the field the way for 10 laps in the second heat with defending DTRA 100 champion Brady Peterson in second and 8th starter Jim White in third. 2006 CLS track champion Justin Schill was quick in the third heat, as he raced in front of Jonny Zastrow and rookie Skeeter Estey. With 32 feature wins already recorded in the 2007 season, Dustin Strand took the lead from George Sniezek on the second lap of the fourth heat on his way to victory. Sniezek held off Travis Krause for second. Rookie Adam Archer worked his way past leader Alan Bohlman on lap 6 of the fifth heat and fended off the challenges of Bohlman who kept this race close to the end. 11th starter Jason Miller, driving a Ray Olson owned machine, moved up eight positions to finish third. The sixth heat was a very good one. Patrick Sobolik jumped into the lead from his outside row one starting spot, but it was the fourth row starters Dan Wheeler and Greg Chesley who were on the move. Following a lap 4 caution, the battle for the top three spots was very entertaining. Sobolik managed to narrowly defeat Chesley at the line with Wheeler a close third. Rookie driver A. J. Roschen raced to an apparent victory in the seventh heat, but in post-race tech was DQed for having an illegal tire (too soft) on his car. This handed the win to Erik Peterson who had a spirited battle with Vince Corbin and Nate Szymoniak for what would have been the second place position. The final heat race saw Curt Myers come from 7th to the lead on lap 6. Paul Fontecchio led the first five circuits and settled for second but kept the pressure on Myers. Bruce Belland moved up six spots to finish third.
With heat race action in the books, the Race of Champions for the street stock division rolled out on to the track. This 10 lap race featured the top eleven cars in the DTRA National point standings. All eleven were on hand, and the race was lined straight up. After an opening lap caution required a complete restart, Keith Tourville came from fourth to first in one lap. His lead only lasted one lap though, as Steffen Snare powered by on lap 2 for the lead. Tourville and Jason Vandekamp battled for second for a couple of laps before Vandekamp set his sights on the leader. Vandekamp was able to close in on Snare in the waning laps. Steffen Snare held off Vandekamp by less than a car length for the win. Tourville, Ron Hanestad and Chris Peterson completed the top five.
Greg Chesley left little doubt as to why he is the 2007 national champion, as he ran a solid 10 laps in the DTRA Midwest Modified Race of Champions to earn top honors. Ryan Olson, Andy Jones, Dan Wheeler and Dustin Strand trailed. The top eleven cars were also on hand in this division, as the Race of Champions returned to this type of event after a long absence.
Following a brief break for some track maintenance to knock down the cushion a bit, the first of five B Mains headed trackside. The street stocks would need two B Mains while the Midwest modifieds would require three. Gary Pischke led the first ten laps of the first street stock B Main, but it was 2006 DTRA Rookie of the Year Ryan Kostreba moving by on lap 11 for the lead and eventual win in this 15 lap race. Cory Crapser also got by Pischke for second while Pischke was able to hold off Kylan Gamez for the third and final transfer spot to the feature. The second street stock B Main saw the first red flag of the evening wave for a hard crash on the backstretch. Kris Peterson lost a left right tire and slammed into the wall while Scott Herrick also made hard contact with the concrete, causing significant damage to the right front of his car. Both drivers were okay. The race was reduced to 10 laps by time limit, and it was Cory Rosen leading all the way. Chanda Fjorden-Nord raced her way past several cars to earn the second place finishing position ahead of Steve Eggersgluess.
Andy Jones led all the way in the first Midwest modified 15 lap B Main. Taylor Leuthner got past Vince Corbin for the second and final transfer spot to the feature. Trailing Corbin was Wayne Troseth and Cory Williams. Skeeter Estey led the first three laps of the second B Main before Alan Bohlman blasted by. Estey kept it close though and soon found himself under pressure from Jason Gross. With a few yellow flags keeping things tight up front, the race was reduced to 12 laps. Bohlman defeated Estey for the win with Gross, Travis Krause and Ronnie Rihn rounding out the top five. The third B Main had some problems and was shortened to 10 laps by the time limit. Rookie Klye Jumbeck led the first eight laps before Troy Jordan moved by. In a two lap dash to the finish, Jordan raced ahead of Jumbeck for the win while Bryan Lepier, Paul Fontecchio and Jesse Ogston would be watching the main event. It was now time for championship feature race action to get underway.
The street stocks were up first and the starting grid was loaded with talent for their 20 lap feature event. Shane Kisling charged from his pole starting spot into the lead on the opening lap with Nathan House and Steffen Snare close behind. Two laps into the race, the red flag flew when something broke on Mike Conrad’s car and caused him to roll over while exiting turn two. Conrad was okay. Kisling continued to lead with Snare now in second and 8th starter Chris Peterson already in third ahead of House, Jim Geringer and Keith Tourville. Eight green flag laps later the race was under caution for debris on the frontstretch. The top three cars remained the same, but it was Chris Peterson putting on an amazing display of power and driving on the restart. Peterson came from third to first and charged into the lead by the end of lap 11. Peterson proceeded to distance himself from the field while several cars battled for positions a little further back and fans kept their attention on 18th starter Jason Vandekamp and 21st starter Cory Crapser. Those two drivers were moving forward as the laps rolled by. Another red flag waved with 18 laps in when Nathan House rolled over several times at the end of the frontstretch and ended up in the pit exit lane right side up. House was okay. This erased the huge lead Peterson had built and set up a two lap dash to the finish with Kisling and Tourville looking to get past. Chris Peterson was able to hold off Shane Kisling by a few car lengths to earn a very satisfying victory for the local Somerset, Wisconsin driver. Peterson later reported in his Victory Lane interview that his car had dropped a cylinder on the last restart and he was happy to see the checkered flag waving. Kisling finished second with Keith Tourville third. Jason Vandekamp came from 18th to finish fourth while Cory Crapser was the hard charger coming from 21st to ride home in fifth place at the end. Jim Geringer, Steffen Snare, Kori Richter, Cory Rosen from 20th, and Jeff Heintz completed the top ten. Richter, Rosen, Heintz and Chanda Fjorden-Nord moved up one spot in the top ten when seventh place finisher Steffen Snare failed to scale and go to the tech area following the race. Snare was disqualified, but he had already locked up the national championship prior to this race. A protest following the race saw Jason Vandekamp tore down. Vandekamp’s car was found to be legal.
The final event of the evening was the 24 car 20 lap Midwest modified championship feature. With 2007 DTRA National Champion Greg Chesley earning the pole position through passing points, it would be a daunting task to defeat him. Chesley immediately drove into the lead at the drop of starter Jeff Stacken’s green flag with Erik Peterson, Curt Myers and Jason Miller in tow. The lone caution in this race flew with three laps scored when Brady Peterson looped his car in turn four. Ryan Olson pulled off during this yellow with heavy smoke trailing from his car. Brad Hudson also drove to the pits. The race then ran 17 laps nonstop to the finish. Greg Chesley put the exclamation mark on his 2007 season by earning a championship feature victory at the Legendary 100. Jason Miller got by Curt Myers to finish second with Myers third. Jeremy Kerzman and Dustin Stand rounded out the top five. Erik Peterson saw a top five finish vanish when his car stalled on the high side in turn four on the last lap with a mechanical breakdown. Rookie Adam Archer finished sixth ahead of Dan Wheeler, 18th starter Justin Schill, 16th starter Troy Berends, and Dustin Nelson. The same scenario played out in the Midwest mods as it had in the street stocks when seventh place finisher Dan Wheeler failed to scale and go to the tech area following the race. Wheeler was DQed. This moved Jim White into the top ten finishers.
Racing action at the Legendary 100 continues on Thursday night September 13 at eh Cedar Lake Speedway with a full qualifying program of heats, B Mains and feature races for the DTRA late model, modified and super stock divisions. Those three classes return on Friday evening September 14 for another full qualifying show plus pure stock heats. The Legendary 100 concludes on Saturday evening September 15 with B Main, Last Chance and Championship Feature races for the late models, modifieds, super stocks and pure stocks. Racing is slated to get underway at 7:00PM each night.
Race Results
Note: cars with * ran Goodyear tires
Grand Casino/Dodge Street Stocks (50 Cars)
Heat 1- 24 Butch Kummer*, 10 Joe Potter*, 12 Jim Geringer*, 21X Chris Peterson*, 33S Leon Sorrell, 77A Steve Eggersgluess, 07 Corey Crasper, 17K Dave Keyeske, 54 Joey Martinson, 65 Jake Miller*
Heat 2- 111 Keith Tourville*, 71H Ron Hanestad*, 16 Jason VandeKamp*, 76M Mike Conrad, 21 Trisha Nyreen*, 19 Troy Voth*, 5 Chanda Fjorden-Nord, 92 Brian Riedemann, 15 Luke Schultz, 2D Dan Berglund
Heat 3- 71 Steffen Snare*, 99 Steve Bemboom, 94 Butch Madsen*, 32R Corey Rosen*, 77 Melvin Raska*, 2K Gary Kasperek, 7V Mark Voigt, 44 Kris Peterson, 01 Justin Pogones, 00 Scott Herrick*
Heat 4- 15R Jimmy Randall, 22 Mike Truscott, 2J Nate House, 18 Clark Swartz, 17 Ryan Kostreba, 05 Kyle Howland*, 27 Rob Low, 43 Tony Shaner, Cory Hanson
Heat 5- 6X Cory Richter, 6 Shane Kisling*, 007 Gary Pischke, X3 Rod Debernardeaux*, 57 Jeff Heintz, 97 Kylan Gamez*, 31 Darryl Foegen, 94 Kevin Hager, 67W Matt Wolfe, 911 Kim Korstad*
Goodyear Tire Race of Champions- Steffen Snare, Jason VandeKamp, Keith Tourville, Ron Hanestad, Chris Peterson, Jim Geringer, Troy Voth, Kylan Gamez, Butch Kummer, Joe Potter, Shane Kisling
B Main 1- Kostreba, Crasper, Pischke, Gamez, Nyreen, Kasparek, Debernardeaux, Voigt, Wolfe, Berglund, Pogones, Foegen Reideman, Kammerud, Hanson
B Main 2- Rosen, Fjorden-Nord, Eggersgluess, Voth, Lowe, Hager, Shaner, Miller, Keyeske, Korstad, Howland, Sorell, Raska, Herrick, Peterson, Schultz
A Main- 21X Chris Peterson*, Shane Kisling*, 111 Keith Tourville*, 16 Jason VandeKamp*, 07 Corey Crasper, 12 Jim Geringer*, 6X Kori Richter, 32R Corey Rosen*, 57 Jeff Heintz, 5 Chanda Fjorden-Nord, 22 Mike Truscott, 71H Ron Hanestad*, 18 Clark Swartz, 77A Steve Eggersgluess, 17 Ryan Kostreba, 24 Butch Kummer*, 94 Butch Madsen*, 99 Steve Bemboom, 2J Nate House, 15R Jimmy Randal, 10 Joe Potter*, 76M Mike Conrad, 007 Gary Pischke, 71 Steffen Snare*
Merchant Card Intl./3M Midwest Modifieds
Heat 1- 21R Ryan Olson*, 9 Troy Berends, 14X Jeremy Kerzman, 7 Taylor Leutner, 12 Jason Gross*, 98 Justin Supri, 01J Bryce Johnson, 64 Scott Gill, 1Z Scott Zavadil, 36 Ford Boone, 97G Jared Gorka*
Heat 2- 4 Brad Hudson, 3X Brady Peterson, 7W Jim White, 23 Dustin Nelson, 46 Steve Standlund*, 59 Keith Johnson*, 2R Stan Thom, 29 Ronnie Rihn, 15L Dan Larson*, 2T Tommy Schulte, 99S Bobby Swanson*
Heat 3- 11S Justin Schill*, 26Z Johnny Zastrow, 37 Skeeter Estey, 8N Curtis Newgard, 73 Andy Jones*, 55S Shawn Phillips, 16B Jim Schultz*, 5 Mike Haseltine, 57 John Remington, 17D Wayne Dean, 07X Patrick McCarthy*
Heat 4- 71S Dustin Strand, 17S George Sniezek, 01 Travis Krause, 01X Kyle Jumbeck, 28 Troy Jordan, 14 Clayton Wagamon*, 4R Steve Alsaker, 4G Kelly Galipo*, 46M Kent Mitchell, 37H Mike Hernke*, 66 Lonnie Louschke
Heat 5- 8 Adam Archer, 22 Alan Bohlman, 27 Jason Miller, W Corey Williams, 20 Travis Hallquist, 19T Wayne Troseth, 31 John Sertich*, 00 Kenny Jordan Jr*, 30 Matt Lear*, 44 Jared Loos*
Heat 6- 40 Patrick Sobolik*, 39 Clark Perry, 97C Greg Chesley*, Red1 Dan Wheeler, 13 Bryan LePier, 14M Terry Merten, 59X Mark Mondus*, 78 Bryan Siercks, 7A Shane Sabraski, 10M Matt Brenny
Heat 7- 34 Erik Peterson, 53V Vince Corbin, 2X Nate Szymoniak, 85 Randy Grams, 15X Chad Patterson*, 19D Dane Durbin, 87 Cory Breitung, 17 Josh Michel, 2 Keith Lepinski
Heat 8- 07 Curt Myers, 41 Paul Fontecchio*, 22B Bruce Belland, 02 Jesse Ogston*, 66L Dave Lear, 13 K Nick Koehler, 45 John Harer, 11SX Shane Patrin, 1 Matt Potvin*, 86 Mark Trog*
Goodyear Tire Race of Champions- Greg Chesley, Ryan Olson, Andy Jones, Dan Wheeler, Dustin Strand, Justin Schill, Bobby Swanson, Bryan Lepier, Jason Gross, Jared Loos, Patrick Sobolik
B Main 1- Jones, Leuthner, Corbin Troseth, Williams, Johnson, Alsaker, Gill, Breuting, Loeschke, Boone, Patterson, Johnson, Patrin, Loos, Strandlund, Sniezek, Roschen, Szymoniak, Gallipo, Clark, Larson, Swanson
B Main 2- Bohlman, Estey, Gross, Krause, Rihn, Remington, Phillips, Sertich, Trog, Schultz, Jordan Jr, McCarthy, Harer, Potvin, Wagamon, Durbin, Perry, Hallquist, Sabraski, Shulte, Lear
B-Main 3- Jordan, Jumbeck, LePier, Fontecchio, Ogston, Dean, Thom, Zastrow, Haseltine, Merten, Brenny, Koehler, Zavadil, Gorka, Lepinski, Mondus, Hernke, Lear, Siercks, Supri, Michel, Mitchell
A Main- 97C Greg Chesley*, 27 Jason Miller, 07 Curt Myers, 14x Jeremy Kerzman, 71 Dustin Strand, 8 Adam Archer, 11S Justin Schill*, 9 Troy Berends, 23 Dustin Nelson, 7W Jim White, 22 Alan Bohlman, 73 Andy Jones*, 28 Troy Jordan, 7 Taylor Leuthner, 01X Kyle Jumbeck, 85 Randy Grams, 40 Patrick Sobolik*, 34 Erik Peterson, 22B Bruce Belland, 37 Skeeter Estey, 3X Brady Peterson, 49 Brad Hudson, 21R Ryan Olson*, Red1 Dan Wheeler