Mississippi Thunder Speedway Roars To Life.

April 27, 2009

A near overflowing crowd was on hand to witness the season opener of the new Mississippi Thunder (and Lightning) Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin. Hosting WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, WISSOTA Street Stocks, WISSOTA Super Stocks, USRA Modifieds, as well as Hornets and two classes of Outlaw Mini Mods, the newness of it all rolled into a near complete show by night’s end.

After a steady, but brief shower prior to race time, the temperatures cooled down drastically as the lightning show amped up throughout the evening occasionally letting go of some big raindrops. The night finally succumbed to the rains after the USRA Modified feature took to the track.

Racing action began with three classes of Mini Mods; A Mini Mods and B Mini Mods which run the track in the middle of the regular track, and the new 600 Mini Mods which actually run the full-sized track. The A Mini Mods consist of competitors 11 years old and up while the B Mini Mods consist of competitors 10 years old and younger. Feature winners in the A Mini Mods and B Mini Mods were brother and sister, Alexis and Lucas Schott. Other siblings dot these classes with Anna and Mathew Schliesmann as well as Jackson and Parker Hale. The Stevens' clan is well represented also with Mike, Alex, and Matt; while not all brothers, relatives nonetheless. Stay tuned to see how all of the young drivers of the Mini Mods develop as the season progresses.

Kyle Jumbeck started his season off well with a win in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, and Danny Richards won his first feature at the new track in the WISSOTA Street Stocks. Dan Nissalke nipped the field in the WISSOTA Super Stocks.

The 16-car field of the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds hit the track for their first feature of 2009 with Dustin Scott and Pete Bushman leading the way. Scott made the early move to the lead followed by Bushman and Travis Krause while Shaun Walski and McAdam Kensmoe battled side by side for fourth place. Scott kept his momentum going as Kyle Jumbeck moved fast through the field and into contention for the top spots. Walski and Krause, as well as the others, seem to enjoy the wide, sweeping turns as many times three-wide racing ensued around turns one and two. As Scott and Jumbeck continued into lap traffic, a caution emerged for a spin in turn four. They regrouped with eight laps down, when Scott bobbled going out of turn one allowing Jumbeck the break to take the lead. Walski cruised into third place ahead of Bushman when a second caution realigned the field. Jumbeck, Scott, Walski, Krause, and Bushman topped the restart to a background of impressive lightning. Jumbeck w! as able to power away from Scott while Walski reeled in Scott for second place. But in the end, Jumbeck took first-feature honors followed by Scott, Walski, and Krause. Chris Gilbertson used patience throughout the race as he nipped the top five.

Donny Ganz and Dan Bork took the WISSOTA Street Stocks down the front stretch for the feature followed by Toby Jahnke and Mike Conrad, but problems arose right away in turns one and two. In the middle of the turns, Ganz ended up taking a sharp right toward the wall collecting Conrad as others stacked up behind them. The caution set the field back up for a complete restart. Conrad appeared to take the worst beating but was able to continue on. As the race resumed at full speed, Bork took the lead briefly ahead of Ganz, but it was Conrad who was on the move as he soon cleared Ganz and Bork. Another caution a few laps later set Conrad on the point followed by Danny Richards, Bork, Ganz, and Kevin Hager. Conrad stretched his lead followed by a fast-approaching Richards. Hager stole third place from Bork as Richards worked the low side of Conrad for the lead. Conrad self-spun in turn two with three laps to go, which set Richards up ahead of Hager, Ganz, Bork, and Fred Pru! doehl. Hager poured it on to charge for the lead, but Richards was able to grab his first feature at the speedway. Hager clocked a second place finish followed by Ganz and Bork. Conrad clawed his way back up to fifth.

Winona’s Dan Nissalke topped the eight-car field of WISSOTA Super Stocks as they went three-wide through turns one and two to start the feature. Troy Langowski and Bob Fort, last year’s first and second place point’s finishers, darted side by side for second place. Gary Wiersgalla took a liking to the new configuration as he made a bid for the third spot over Langowski. Rookie Michael Hofer settled into fifth place, or so he thought, but Jon Duffy moved his familiar blue machine into the top five. Wiersgalla cleared Fort for second place, but Fort shot right back at the half-way point of the race. Big rain drops again started to fall leaving all to wonder again if this was the end of the night. But once again, they stopped as the race continued on with Nissalke out front. Fort nosed in on Nissalke’s territory as the laps wound down when Wiersgalla joined the lead action for three-wide racing around turns one and two. As it went down to the last turn to the checkered ! flag, it could have been any of three to take the win, but it was Nissalke who made it to the line first just feet ahead of Wiersgalla. Fort was close in third followed by Langowski and Duffy.

The USRA Modifieds hit the track for their feature, but they only got a few laps in when the hard rains came crashing down. Next week will be the continuation of the USRA Modified feature as they will resume on the lap they left off with along with the 600 Mini Mod Feature and Hornet feature followed by the regular show. There is a lot of great racing ahead for the new track in WISSOTA. Be sure to visit the track website for information regarding the season ahead.

WISSOTA Midwest Modified
Feature - Kyle Jumbeck, Dustin Scott, Shaun Walski, Travis Krause, Chris Gilbertson, Pete Bushman, Erik Kanz, Leigh Volkman, Don Schaefer, Josh Appel, McAdam Kensmoe, Jack Baehman, Josh Crary, Tyler Creeley, Josh Malchaski, Jared Happel Heat 1 - Krause, Happel, Gilbertson, Bushman, Kensmoe, Baehman, Volkman, Kanz Heat 2 - Jumbeck, Scott, Walski, Schaefer, Creeley, Appel, Crary, Malchaski

WISSOTA Street Stock
Feature - Danny Richards, Kevin Hager, Donny Ganz, Dan Bork, Mike Conrad, Fred Prudoehl, Andy Hoch, Lee Hager, Tyler Sass, Jane Keating, Toby Jahnke, Shawn Krousey, Shaun Mann, Marcus Ziemer, Lonnie Klonecki Heat 1 - Bork, Conrad, Krousey, Prudoehl, Sass, Klonecki, Keating, Ziemer Heat 2 - Richards, Jahnke, K. Hager, Ganz, Hoch, L. Hager, Mann

WISSOTA Super Stock
Feature - Dan Nissalke, Gary Wiersgalla, Bob Fort, Troy Langowski, Jon Duffy, Michael Hofer, Kevin Hager, Phil Kendrick Heat 1 - Langowski, Fort, Nissalke, Wiersgalla, Hager, Hofer, Kendrick, Duffy

USRA Modified
Feature - RAINED OUT - will be finished next week Heat 1 - Josh Angst, Jay Ihrke, Ron Britain, Leroy Scharkey, Paul Hamernik, Tom Brink, Les Jonsgaard, Phil Wernert Heat 2 - Brad Waits, Bob Timm, Kerry Ledebuhr, Adam Stockhausen, John Doelle, Andy Bohnstengel, Lance Hofer, Jeremy Jonsgaard

Hornets
Feature - RAINED OUT - will be run next week Heat 1 - Mike Krause, Fletcher Milene, Dean Grube, Kevin Laufenberg, Mark Herold, Shawn Applen, Leonard Hicks, Rick Slawson

600 Mini Mods
Feature - RAINED OUT - will be run next week Heat 1 - Jeff Matejka, Charlie McNally, Don Werner

A Mini Mods
Feature - Lucas Schott, Cody Gardner, Mike Stevens, Parker Hale, Brandon Reutzel, Jake Timm Heat 1 - Hale, Schott, Timm, Reutzel, Stevens, Gardner Heat 2 - Schott, Gardner, Stevens, Hale, Reutzel, Timm

B Mini Mods
Feature - Alexis Schott, Mathew Schliesman, Alex Stevens, Dylan Buckland, Jackson Hale, Rachel Laduke, Nicholas Wagner, Tanner Brown, Anna Schliesman, Matt Stevens Heat 1 - M. Schliesman, Schott, A. Stevens, Hale, Laduke, Buckland, Wagner, Brown, M. Stevens, A. Schliesman Heat 2 - Laduke, Buckland, A. Stevens, Schott, Hale, M. Schliesman, Brown, Wagner, A. Schliesman, M. Stevens