TNT SPEEDWAY

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

THREE LAKES, WI – A couple of Wisconsin’s best WISSOTA Racers flexed their muscles on TNT Speedway’s power playground Saturday during Coyote 93.7 FM/Oldenberg Lakeshore Group Night.  Eagle River’s Jason Zdroik notched his fifth feature win in Three Lakes in 2009 in the WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Midwest Modifieds, while Hurley’s John Kallas added another WADTS Street Stock feature to his growing tally.  Both drivers sit atop the WISSOTA Wisconsin point standings and are in the top 11 in WISSOTA National Points. Joining them in victory lane were Rhinelander’s Denny Tushoski, who retook the TNT Bomber point lead Saturday and Elcho’s Nick Visser, who scored his second consecutive TNT Stinger feature.

As has been the case with his high point average, Zdroik started in the middle of the pack for the feature and once again made short work of the competition, moving from seventh to fourth in one and to the lead by lap nine.  It was bad luck to stand in Zdroik’s way on Saturday. John Johnson Jr. led the first eight laps, but suffered engine failure while running second with seven laps to go that eventually set the front end of his machine ablaze. Johnson got out unscathed and the fire was quickly extinguished. Johnson’s flame out handed second to Bruce Belland, who three laps later, saw his chances for another feature win go up in smoke.  Cody Schmidt inherited second with Belland’s misfortune and finished there, followed by Chad Boettcher, Joe Kin and Dennis Mikkelson.  Zdroik can blame Mother Nature for stealing a clean sweep. He was in the process of passing Schmidt for the lead in their heat race when a caution came out with two laps to go. A brief rain shower passed over the track under caution making the green-white-checkered finish slick and treacherous. Zdroik, unable to pass, had to settle for second in the heat.

Kallas had no such problems in the Street Stocks. He led every lap in his heat and his feature and broke out the broomstick for the second time in as many starts at TNT. Kallas parlayed a fifth place starting spot in the feature to a lap one lead when polesitter Ron Van Dusen spun, wiping out the start. Restarting third, Kallas passed Fritz Scharf and track point leader Jeff Klopstein and never looked back.  The battle was for second during the feature as Klopstein and Kevin Maulson Jr. battled side by side for the better part of ten laps. Klopstein finally got the better of the battle and increased his lead over Van Dusen to 17 points with four nights remaining. Van Dusen recovered from his lap one spin to finish fifth.

Denny Tushoski narrowly missed a clean sweep when he was declared the runner up to Lee Bradley in a photo finish in their heat race. Tushoski made up for it though with his first feature win in Three Lakes this year and a vault back to the top-spot in the standings.  Tushoski started fifth in a 15-car Bomber main event and blasted his way to the lead in just one lap. Jeff Fannin, who entered the night as the point leader made his way up to second by lap two but could not stay there. His car began to fade and Ben Pitlik and Joe Wolfe passed him on lap five. He was dropped to fifth when Travis Friske made a pass on lap 10.  Pitlik gained ground on Tushoski when the leader jumped the cushion on lap nine, but he could never get to within a couple of car lengths. Tushoski, Pitlik, Wolfe, Friske and Fannin represented the top five, giving Tushoski a two-point edge over Fannin. Pitlik moved to third place, nine points back. Bradley made an early pit stop, lost a lap, finished 13^th and now sits 14 points out of first despite winning a class-high three features.

Nick Visser says he sometimes wonder’s why his old racecar runs so fast, given its configuration and how many miles are on the engine, but “old blue” did it again for him on Saturday. Visser’s now two-for-two in Three Lakes and has a feature win in Eagle River since bringing the car out of a brief retirement.  Visser made his way past Fred Feger on lap two and was gone from there. Class point leader Bill Martin tried to mount a challenge, but soon became occupied trying to hold off a charging Brandon Ross for second. He was able to do so, but mechanical problems in his heat cut Martin’s advantage over Ross from 15 to 12 points.

The pits were a buzz on Saturday as news came down about changes to this year’s Fall Special. Track owners Tim and Patti Rutzen announced to the drivers that the special would return to its old two-day format Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12 with a rain date of Sunday, September 13.  There will be WISSOTA Sanctioned point races both nights, one of the final chances for drivers to earn national points before the Speedway Motors WISSOTA 100. The season-ending awards party will follow racing on Saturday night. More details regarding the event will be announced in the coming weeks.

This coming Saturday is Auto Value Parts Stores Night at the track and will feature the trucks from Langlade Co. Speedway in Antigo. They will race along with the WISSOTA Midwest Mods and Street Stocks and TNT’s very own Bombers and Stingers. Hot Laps will start at 7:00 PM, with racing at 7:45.  

RESULTS: TNT Speedway – Saturday, August 1, 2009

WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Midwest Modifieds

Heat 1: 1. 15S-Cody Schmidt; 2. 1Z-Jason Zdroik; 3. 22B-Bruce Belland; 4. 7-Joe Kin; 5. 41-Dennis Mikkelson; 6. 65-Larry Gasperini

Heat 2: 1. 8-Chad Boettcher; 2. 7M-Jeff McDonald; 3. 52-Terry Stebbeds; 4. 11-John Johnson Jr.; 5. 19R-Stan Rychlock; 6. 88-Clay Montgomery; 7. 77L-Chip Laskowski

Feature: 1. 1Z-Zdroik; 2. 15S-Schmidt; 3. 8-Boettcher; 4. 7-Kin; 5. 41-Mikkelson; 6. 65-Gasperini; 7. 77L-Laskowski; 8. 11-Johnson Jr.; 9. 22B-Belland; 10. 52-Stebbeds; 11. 7M-McDonald; DNS: 19R-Rychlock, 88-Montgomery

WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Street Stocks

Heat: 1. 99-John Kallas; 2. 23M-Kevin Maulson Jr.; 3. 21-Jeff Klopstein; 4. 8-Ron Van Dusen; 5. 1-Fritz Scharf; 6. 101-Leif Gunderson; 7. 3-Jake Mullins; 8. 11-John Johnson Sr.; 9. 78-Dennis Lacrosse

Feature: 1. 99-Kallas; 2. 21-Klopstein; 3. 23M-Maulson Jr.; 4. 1-Scharf; 5. 8-Van Dusen; 6. 11-Johnson Sr.; 7. 101-Gunderson; 8. 78-Lacrosse; 9. 3-Mullins

TNT Bombers

Heat 1: 1. 8W-Joe Wolfe; 2. 18-Mike Bukovic; 3. 95-Kevin Hartman; 4. 4-Jesse Votis; 5. 190-Ben Pitlik; 6. 17-Brad Pasanen; 7. 57-Lee Schuppler; 8. 15-Max Miron

Heat 2: 1. 28-Lee Bradley; 2. 21-Denny Tushoski; 3. 97-Travis Friske; 4. 04-Jeff Fannin; 5. 60-Jesse Lahti; 6. 3N-Sean Richard; 7. 33-Mike Terry

Feature: 1. 21-Tushoski; 2. 190-Pitlik; 3. 8W-Wolfe; 4. 97-Friske; 5. 04-Fannin; 6. 18-Bukovic; 7. 95-Hartman; 8. 60-Lahti; 9. 57-Schuppler; 10. 3N-Richard; 11. 33-Terry; 12. 17-Pasanen; 13. 28-Bradley; 14. 15-Miron; 15. 4-Votis

TNT Stingers

Heat 1: 1. 2-Brandon Ross; 2. 81M-Steve Melton; 3. 70-Mike Bocek; 4. 9-Logan Lannet; 5. 26B-Brit Bromann; 6. 31-Richard Barlowski

Heat 2: 1. 30V-Nick Visser; 2. 75-Cory Dickman; 3. 127-Matt Scarzynski; 4. 44-Fred Feger; 5. 27-Bill Martin

Feature: 1. 30V-Visser; 2. 27-Martin; 3. 2-Ross; 4. 75-Dickman; 5. 44-Feger; 6. 26B-Bromann; 7. 127-Scarzynski; 8. 9-Lannet; 9. 81M-Melton; 10. 70-Bocek; 11. 31-Barlowski