TNT SPEEDWAY

 Jeremy Mayo, Editor-in-Chief, HodagSports.com

THREE LAKES, WI – The third time was the charm for Baraga, Michigan’s Jeff Klopstein. After two straight weeks of mechanical problems while leading, Klopstein finally got to the point and staved off the mechanical gremlins to claim the feature win and the point lead in the WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Street Stocks at TNT Speedway.  It was a similar story for Elcho’s Nick Visser in the TNT Stingers. After two weeks of toil with a new car, he brought his old car back and took it to victory on Miller Lite Night at the Track. 2008 Midwest Mod track champ Bruce Belland of Eagle River made his first trip to Reliv Victory Lane in ’09 and Lee Bradley of Crandon took his second straight feature in the TNT Bombers. 

Klopstein’s month of July has been rough in Three Lakes. He has jumped out to a commanding lead in each of the last two features only to have distributor problems knock him out of the race each time.  So there had to be some doubt when he jumped to the lead on lap three of the main event. But this time he had the benefit of some timely cautions early on in the race. Two cautions came out in the first half of the race. Each time Klopstein pulled away on the restart and the only question left was would his car hold up?  Finally with lap to go, it looked like he would finally make it. Even if problems had crept up then, it wouldn’t have mattered as a spin by Shaina Aho brought out the race’s final caution and ended the race prematurely.  Klopstein surged into the point lead with the win and now has a 13-point lead over Ron Van Dusen, who finished second. Tom Waara was third and Kelly Knutson took fourth. Leif Gunderson inherited fifth when Fritz Scharf failed to scale and was disqualified.

Jason Zdroik set out to take his fifth feature win in six starts in the Midwest Mods at TNT. Zdroik charged up from his eighth starting spot and took the lead on lap six. Another win seemed to be a foregone conclusion. But everything changed following a caution on lap 8 for a spin involving John Johnson Jr.  Belland passed Zdroik for the lead on the restart and Zdroik began to fall back. Zdroik’s car acted liked it had dropped a cylinder and he would eventually drop out of the race in ninth. That cleared the way for Belland, who led the final 13 laps to claim his first win of ’09 at TNT. Jeff McDonald took second followed by Cody Schmidt in his first start of the summer. Johnson recovered from his spin to take fourth. Terry Stebbeds was fifth.

Lee Bradley got to the front and tried to hide in the TNT Bomber feature, but Denny Tushoski and Jeff Fannin, who entered the main event separated by one point at the top of the standings, eventually caught him.  Bradley caught a break and rolled to his third feature win of the season when Tushoski and Fannin battled with each other instead. Tushoski edged past Fannin at the white flag, but cut down a right front tire coming out of turn two. Fannin came home second while Tushoski dropped to eighth, giving Fannin a five point lead halfway through the 2009 season.

Visser walked way with the Stinger feature, leading all 15 laps of the caution-free feature from the outside pole. Brandon Ross battled with and held off Phil Malouf for second. Brit Bromann and Bill Martin rounded out the top five.

Racing continues next Saturday at TNT Speedway, sponsored by Oldenbreg Lakeshore Group. The Badger Racing Association will bring flat track motorcycle racing back to Three Lakes, as part of a full racing program including the WISSOTA Midwest Mods and Street Stocks and the TNT Bombers and Stingers. Hot Laps begin at 7:00 PM with racing at 7:45.

RESULTS: TNT Speedway – Saturday, July 18, 2009

WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Street Stocks

Heat 1: 1. 06-Tom Waara; 2. 74-John Johnson Sr.; 3. 1-Fritz Scharf; 4. 101-Leif Gunderson; DNS. 74-Cliff Houle

Heat 2: 1. 71-Kelly Knutson; 2. 21-Jeff Klopstein; 3. 8-Ron Van Dusen; 4. 3-Jake Mullins; 5. 22S-Shaina Aho

Feature: 1. 21-Klopstein; 2. 8-Van Dusen; 3. 06-Waara; 4. 71-Knutson; 5. 101-Gunderson; 6. 74-Johnson Sr.; 7. 3-Mullins; 8. 22S-S. Aho; DQ. 1-Scharf (Did not scale); DNS. 74-Houle

WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Midwest Modifieds

Heat 1: 1. 1Z-Jason Zdroik; 2. 52-Terry Stebbeds; 3. 25-Jesse Aho; 4. 15S-Cody Schmidt; 5. 7M-Jeff McDonald; 6. 11-John Johnson Jr.

Heat 2: 1. 8-Chad Boettcher; 2. 22B-Bruce Belland; 3. 7-Joe Kin; 4. 65-Larry Gasperini; 5. 41-Dennis Mikkelson; 6. 88-Clay Montgomery

Feature: 1. 22B-Belland; 2. 7M-McDonald; 3. 15S-Schmidt; 4. 11-Johnson Jr.; 5. 52-Stebbeds; 6. 25-J. Aho; 7. 7-Kin; 8. 41-Mikkelson; 9. 1-Zdroik; 10. 88-Montgomery; 11. 65-Gasperini; 12. 8-Boettcher

TNT Bombers

Heat 1: 1. 04-Jeff Fannin; 2. 81-Dan Melton; 3. 190-Ben Pitlik; 4. 95-Kevin Hartman; 5. 11-Jake Paris

Heat 2: 1. 21-Denny Tushoski; 2. 28-Lee Bradley; 3. Mike Bukovic; 4. 97-Travis Friske; DQ. 4-Jesse Votis (Did not scale)

Feature: 1. 28-Bradley; 2. 04-Fannin; 3. 190-Pitlik; 4. 81-Melton; 5. 4-Votis; 6. 95-Hartman; 7. 11-Paris; 8. 21-Tushoski; 9. 18-Bukovic; DNS. 97-Friske

TNT Stingers

Heat 1: 1. 2-Brandon Ross; 2. 9-Logan Lannet; 3. 26B-Brit Bromann; 4. 32-Phil Malouf; 5. 44-Fred Feger; 6. 70-Mike Bocek

Heat 2: 1. 27-Bill Martin; 2. 13X-Shawn Depies; 3. 30V-Nick Visser; 4. 37-Joe LaFreniere; 5. 31-Richard Barlowski

Feature: 1. 30V-Visser; 2. 2-Ross; 3. 32-Malouf; 4. 26B-Bromann; 5. 27-Martin; 6. 13X-Depies; 7. 9-Lannet; 8. 31-Barlowski; 9. 37-LaFreniere; 10. 44-Feger; 11. 70-Bocek.