Larson and Cain Complete Clean Sweeps on Windy Evening at CLS
7-12-08 New Richmond, WI
by Greg Parent
After several recent special events, it was back to a regular night of racing for the five weekly NASCAR divisions at the Cedar Lake Speedway on July 12. Extremely windy conditions presented an extra challenge for the track crew tonight, as 114 cars signed into the pits to do battle on the high-banked 3/8 mile dirt oval. Brent Larson in the late model division and Dave Cain in the modified class swept to victories while Greg Nippoldt returned to victory lane after a several year absence in the super stock division. A caution plagued midwest modified feature saw Dan Wheeler make a late race pass of Shawn Phillips for the win. Shawn Kammerud recorded his third win of the season in the street stock class.
With Dr. Dick Berggren from Speedway Illustrated Magazine on hand, racing action got underway with three heats for the 27 car NASCAR midwest modified field. Paul Fontecchio led all the way to garner the win in the first heat. Rob Caho Jr led the first seven laps in the second heat before Shawn Phillips got by for the win. Bryan Siercks was strong up front, as he drove to victory in the third heat. The NASCAR street stocks saw the "Fastest Woman in Western Wisconsin" Chanda Fjorden-Nord lead all the way to win the first heat while current track point leader Devin Neske did likewise in heat #2.
Mike Weber and Tim Borgeson topped the two heat races held for the 20 NASCAR super stocks on hand. During the second heat, a mud clod hit the helmet of Brandon Jensen stunning him and giving him a bloody nose. Brandon would later return to race in the feature event. A strong field of 31 NASCAR modifieds required three heat races. Joey Jensen, Dave Cain and Shaun Kelley were the winners. The NASCAR late models also ran three heats with Rick Hanestad, Jim Carlson and Brent Larson racing ahead of the field. A nasty flip on the front stretch in the second late model heat race destroyed the #44H car of Paul Hipsag. Jake Hiatt got crossed up exiting turn four and made contact with Hipsag's car. The car turned sideways and ended up rolling/flipping over two times. Hipsag's car was very badly damaged and required the assistance of not only the flatbed rollback truck but also a regular wrecker to remove it from the track.
The NASCAR modifieds required the only B Main of the night. Making his first CLS appearance of the season, Jay Richardson led all 12 laps enroute to victory over Mike Kelley Jr and Mark Froehlich. The program kept moving right along, as the NASCAR street stocks rolled trackside for their feature race. Jeff Heintz grabbed the early lead from his outside front row starting spot. Following a caution with one lap in, Heintz continued to show the way. Soon Shawn Kammerud and Devin Neske were battling with Heintz for the lead. On lap 3, Kammerud moved to the outside while Neske went inside in a three-wide battle. Kammerud narrowly led at the finish line. With Kammerud the new leader, Heintz and Neske battled for the runnerup spot for a lap before the final caution waved for a spin in turn 4. Kammerud opened up a small lead on the restart while Heintz and Neske continued to vie for the second spot. On lap 7, rookie Jared Gross joined the battle and soon moved past Heintz and Neske. Gross began reeling in Kammerud, but the feature race was only 10 laps tonight and Gross did not have enough laps to close the gap to the point where he could contend for the lead. Shawn Kammerud recorded his third win of the season at CLS followed by Gross, Heintz, Neske and Chanda Fjorden-Nord in the top five.
The NASCAR midwest modified main event was scheduled for 20 laps, but with a large 26 car starting grid the race ended up being plagued by yellow fever. Flagman Jeff Stacken waved the yellow flag no less than eight times in a race reduced by time limit to 13 laps. The midwest mods had a difficult time completing laps on what had become a dry racing surface. Shawn Phillips, looking for his sixth win of the season, bolted into the lead from his outside front row starting spot but the race was quickly under caution. Phillips again took the lead on the restart. Four laps were completed before the next caution flew. It then took four more attempts before a lap could be completed. Finally a couple more laps were in the books with Phillips leading Dan Wheeler. With seven cautions in only six laps, the race was reduced to 15 laps. On lap 11, Wheeler moved past Phillips for the lead and less than a lap later the final yellow blinked on. This set up a green-white-checker dash to the finish, as the time limit was up. Wheeler held off Phillips for his first win of the season at CLS. Clark Perry, Bryan Siercks and Bob Smith rounded out the top five.
Following an intermission to do some track prep work, the 20 car starting field in the NASCAR super stock division saw Lyle Archambeau and Rich Bishop lead the field to the green. Archambeau took the early lead with a pack of cars battling behind him. A spin with one lap in kept the field bunched up. When the green replaced the yellow, Archambeau led a couple more laps before Greg Nippoldt moved by on the inside coming off turn four for the lead. Contact between Archambeau and defending track champion Larry Boumeester in turn two on lap 5 saw Archambeau's night end on the hook while Boumeester was relegated to the tail of the field on the restart. Mike Weber was now in second but under attack from Bishop and Dan Carlson. The third and final caution waved with nine laps in for a spin in turn 4. The race would then run 11 laps nonstop to the finish. On lap 11, a three-wide battle developed for second place between Carlson, Weber and Bishop. Bishop finally established himself as the runnerup and began to track down the leader. Tim Borgeson and Mike Loomis joined the battle for third with Borgeson eventually gaining the spot. Bishop closed in on Nippoldt in the waning laps but could not make a serious bid for the lead. Nippoldt went on to record his first CLS win in several years while Bishop settled for second. Borgeson, Loomis and Weber completed the top five.
Joey Jensen and Kevin Viebrock paced the 24 car starting field in the NASCAR modified division's 20 lap feature race. Jensen immediately took control of the lead. A couple of cautions in the early going slowed the pace. On lap four, Dave Cain moved to second ahead of Craig Brightbill. Following a lap 7 caution for a stalled car, Cain took the lead on the restart from Jensen with a low side pass exiting turn 2. Lap 13 proved to be unlucky for Brightbill, as his car was pushed to the pits while under caution for a Mike Mueller spin on the backstretch. Brightbill had been running in third. One lap later, Shaun Kelley hit the turn 1 wall and stopped in turn 3 with rear end damage to his car. Cain continued to show the way up front. Six green flag laps later it was Dave Cain earning his fifth win of the season. Joey Jensen finished second ahead of Jason Schill, Scott Duvall and Kevin Viebrock. Only three cars failed to finish the race. Several strong runs from deep starting positions saw Mark Hanson come from 18th to 7th, Jay Richardson from 19th to 10th and Mark Froehlich from 21st to 11th.
The final feature race of the evening would find 23 NASCAR late models battling for 30 racing laps. Brent Larson drew the pole position, so his fellow competitors knew they had their work cut-out if they were going to defeat him. Larson raced ahead of Toby Patchen for the lead. Rick Egersdorf got by Patchen for second just before the first caution flew for a four car incident in turn 2 that put Mike Bear and Brent Laursen out of the race after just two laps. It was back to green flag racing with Rick Hanestad on the move forward from his 7th starting spot. Hanestad got by Patchen for third on lap 4. On lap 11, Patchen pulled off the track while running in fourth. Hanestad closed the gap and was soon battling Egersdorf for second. The pair had a good battle for a few laps before Hanestad got by on lap 17. The leaders were working lapped traffic and Hanestad quickly closed in on Larson. With 19 laps in, Jeff Keeney slapped the turn three wall and the right front tire grabbed the wall and literally pulled his car up and over the wall and into the grassy area before the catch fence. Keeney's car sustained frame damage and was done for the night. Larson continued to lead Hanestad when the race returned to green, but debris in turn 3 brought out the final caution 21 laps into the race. The debris was the nosepiece off of Ashley Anderson's car. Anderson had started 17th and was battling for fourth with Kelly Anderson when contact caused the nosepiece to fly off his car. Anderson would eventually drop out of the race with handling problems. The final nine laps ran green with Hanestad challenging Larson for the lead, pulling along side a couple of times. Larson was able to keep Hanestad behind him, as he recorded his fourth win of the season in his quest to contend for the NASCAR state and regional point titles. Rounding out the top five behind Hanestad was Egersdorf, Mike Nutzmann and Kelly Anderson. Completing the top ten were Chuckie DeSmith, Mike Hesselink, Jeff Patchen, Doug Herrick and Jim Carlson.
The race program for next Saturday night will feature all five NASCAR divisions again but with a couple of changes to the original schedule. The only division that will be running Double Features will be the NASCAR late models. The modifieds, super stocks, midwest mods and street stocks will run a regular race program consisting of heats and features. Racing action is slated to get underway at 6:30 PM at Wisconsin's only NASCAR sanctioned dirt track.
Race Results:
NASCAR Impact Printing Late Models- 23 Cars
Heat 1- Rick Hanestad, Doug Herrick, Mike Nutzmann, Rick Egersdorf, Jeff Patchen, Tony Gates, Brent Mueller, Roger Herrick
Heat 2- Jim Carlson, Chuckie DeSmith, Toby Patchen, Mike Raboin, Jake Hiatt, Ashley Anderson, Brent Laursen, Paul Hipsag
Heat 3- Brent Larson, Jeff Keeney, Mike Hesselink, Kelly Anderson, Bryan Wennen, Randy Gullixson, Mike Bear
A Main- Larson, Hanestad, Egersdorf, Nutzmann, K Anderson, DeSmith, Hesselink, Patchen, D Herrick, Carlson, Wennen, Gates, Mueller, A Anderson, Keeney, R Herrick, Raboin, Patchen, Hiatt, Laursen, Bear, Gullixson, Hipsag
NASCAR Amsoil Modifieds- 31 Cars
Heat 1- Joey Jensen, Scott Duvall, Terry Hanson, Jason Schill, Don Brightbill, Dave Lear, Mike Kelley, Lonnie Louschke, Scott Pomeroy, Mike Mueller, Brandon Lampert
Heat 2- Dave Cain, Jason Miller, Kevin Viebrock, Craig Brightbill, Scott Splittstoesser, Mark Hanson, Jay Richardson, Bill Stettner, Dano Ostrander, Jake Jay
Heat 3- Shaun Kelley, Jeremy Gross, Andy Miskowic, Jason Gross, Tim VanMeter, Dave Siercks, Keith Lepinski, Mark Froehlich, Jay Poidinger, Dana Lerum
B Main- Richardson, Kelley, Froehlich, Ostrander, Mueller, Pomeroy, Louschke, Stettner, Lepinski, Lampert, Jay, Poidinger, Lerum
A Main- Cain, Jensen, Schill, Duvall, Viebrock, Hanson, M Hanson, Splitstoesser, Gross, Richardson, Froehlich, Lear, Ostrander, Miskowic, Kelley, Siercks, Pomeroy, Mueller, VanMeter, D Brightbill, S Kelley, C Brightbill, Ja Gross
NASCAR Sunoco Super Stocks- 20 Cars
Heat 1- Mike Weber, Mike Loomis, Larry Boumeester, Justin Dodge, Lyle Archambeau, Jeff Pellersells, Justin Stahl, Steve Thomas, Kevin Ayotte, Dan Preston
Heat 2- Tim Borgeson, Rich Bishop, Dan Carlson, Ryan Wiome, Greg Nippoldt, Jim Gullikson, Brian Lick, Tom Gebauer, Brandon Jensen, Dale Gangl
A Main- Nippoldt, Bishop, Borgeson, Loomis, Weber, Carlson, Gullikson, Thomas, Jensen, Wiome, Gangl, Boumeester, Pellersells, Ayotte, Gebauer, Stahl, Lick, Preston, Archambeau
NASCAR 3M Midwest Modifieds- 27 Cars
Heat 1- Paul Fontecchio, Mark Trog, Jason Vandekamp, Josh Bazey, John Harer, Mike Kyllonen, Kyla Matuska, Dane Durbin, Justin Oestreich
Heat 2- Shawn Phillips, Clark Perry, Dan Wheeler, Rob Caho Jr, Todd Steffen, John Clark, Jake Miller, Toby Meyer, Mike Gibson
Heat 3- Bryan Siercks, Bob Smith, Sam Nelson, Jeremy Houle, Patrick McCarthy, Clint Larson, Kyle Steffen, AJ Roschen, Jared Gorka
A Main- Wheeler, Phillips, Perry, Siercks, Smith, Houle, Bazey, Caho Jr, Gorka, Steffen, Gibson, Miller, Trog, Meyer, Vandekamp, Matuska, Larson, McCarthy, Roschen, Kyllonen, Oestreich, Fontecchio, Steffen, Nelson, Harer
NASCAR Dodge Street Stocks- 14 Cars
Heat 1- Chanda Fjorden-Nord, Jared Gross, Shawn Kammerud, Derek Borchardt, Scott Splittstoesser, Ed Puariea, Kim Korstad
Heat 2- Devin Neske, Mike Raboin, Jeff Heintz, Andy Miskowic, James Becker, David Swearingen, Adam Soltis
A Main- Kammerud, Gross, Heintz, Neske, Fjorden-Nord, Raboin, Becker, Splittstoesser, Swearingen, Puariea, Soltis, Miskowic, Korstad
Cedar Lake Speedway Point Standings
as of 7-13-08
NASCAR Impact Printing Late Models
B1 Brent Larson 454
17 Rick Egersdorf 400
81 Ashley Anderson 368
71H Rick Hanestad 350
8 Kelly Anderson 334
2 Mike Nutzmann 266
05 Chuckie DeSmith 260
18 Mike Hesselink 252
25 Toby Patchen 224
66 Eric Breeschoten 214
NASCAR Amsoil Modifieds
2C Dave Cain 384
4 Craig Brightbill 317
57H Terry Hanson 303
24 Jeremy Gross 278
11X Jason Schill 266
12 Jason Gross 265
50 Kevin Viebrock 220
71B Dave Siercks 218
66 David Lear 218
12M Jason Miller 195
NASCAR Sunoco Super Stocks
24 Dan Carlson 256
10B Rich Bishop 230
21G Jim Gullikson 222
26 Mike Weber 214
B37 Tim Borgeson 206
55 Greg Nippoldt 175
34 Dale Gangl 160
17W Ryan Wiome 158
17 Mike Loomis 156
4 Larry Boumeester 139
NASCAR 3M Midwest Modifieds
55S Shawn Phillips 303
39 Clark Perry 280
54 Jeremy Houle 234
16 Jason Vandekamp 233
78 Bryan Siercks 217
86 Mark Trog 210
S4 Sam Nelson 210
K1 Kyle Steffen 194
19D Dane Durbin 166
19 Bob Smith 166
NASCAR Dodge Street Stocks
67E Devin Neske 166
99K Shawn Kammerud 157
3G Jared Gross 136
5 Chanda Fjorden-Nord 109
21X Chris Peterson 97
57 Jeff Heintz 94
29S Scott Splittstoesser 74
32R Corey Rosen 51
82 Derek Borchardt 44
17 Ryan Kostreba 38