Krause Tags the Win at Mississippi Thunder Speedway

July 31, 2009

By Tracy Hager
FOUNTAIN CITY (July 31) – A great count of cars were on hand for Winona Radio KAGE Budweiser Night at Mississippi Thunder Speedway With three heats in the WISSOTA Street Stocks, WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, and USRA Modifieds, it proved to be a very exciting night of racing with intense battles in the WISSOTA Street Stock and WISSOTA Super Stock classes. The WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds had their issues stringing laps together, and the USRA Modifieds followed a perpetual winner to victory lane. Two rollovers in the Hornet division capped off the night.

After driver introductions and a signed Frisbee toss for the WISSOTA Street Stocks started off the features for the night, close racing in the single-caution main event got under way. Lee Hager and Jimmy Patzner led the field, but it was three wide with Dan Bork by the flagstand as the field raced tight. Patzner pulled ahead of Bork and Hager when Donny Ganz zipped up to Hager’s side to race for third place. Kevin Hager quickly moved up to the outside of his brother in turn four to race side by side for fourth. The Hagers touched briefly which nearly sent Kevin Hager on a ride but both were able to hang on and stay at race speed. Danny Richards used the chance to zip under Lee and Kevin Hager and into fourth place. With 15 laps to go, the only caution slowed the bunch with a spin in turn two. Patzner set the pace followed by Bork, Ganz, Richards, and Kevin Hager. Ganz made the move on Bork to take over second place which left Richards and Bork to tear side by side for third. Ron Hanestad moved into top-five contention with Kevin Hager when Danny Hanson also joined for three-wide racing down the back stretch. For two laps, Hanestad, Hanson, and Hager raced close for fifth place. Hager slipped to seventh and left Hanson, Hanestad, and Bork to race for fourth, fifth, and sixth places. Up ahead, Patzner fought off the charges of Richards for the lead which left Ganz all alone in third. Hanestad finally maneuvered fourth place away from Bork and Hanson with eight laps to go. Richards was able to wrestle the lead from Patzner followed by Ganz, Hanestad, Hanson, Bork, Hager, and Fred Prudoehl as they were all close in line as they moved into lap traffic. With five laps to go, Richards wove the lead pack through lap traffic on his way to the finish line. Richards capped his sixth feature win followed by Patzner, Ganz, Hanson, and Hanestad in a very close and powerful race.

Shaun Walski used his outside pole start in the WISSOTA Midwest Modified main event to catapult to the lead over Don Schaefer. Three-wide racing through turn one ended with a spin by Schaefer, and it was the first of many cautions throughout the race. All cars managed to avoid Schaefer as he sat facing the wrong direction with the majority of the field heading toward him. Walski started off the restart with Travis Krause and Dalton Yohnk hot on his tail. Kyle Jumbeck moved into fourth place ahead of Erik Kanz before Jumbeck shot around Yohnk into third. With 13 laps to go, another caution for cars spun in turn four reset the field again with Walski still manning the lead spot. Krause and Jumbeck fought over second place right behind Walski followed by Yohnk. Chris Gilbertson tore into contention for fourth place with Yohnk as Kanz slipped back to seventh. As the group recovered from another caution, the cars barreled into turn one. Walski slipped high into the marbles which allowed Krause and Jumbeck to fight for the lead as Walski dipped back into third place. With eight laps to go and with Jumbeck in the lead, Jumbeck lost power and crawled to a stop on the front stretch. Krause then led the bunch followed by Gilbertson, Walski, Tyler Creeley, and Kanz who had worked back up to the top five. Through it all, Krause was able to score his first feature win of the season and a clean sweep nonetheless. Gilbertson notched a great second place finish followed by Yohnk, Kanz, and Pete Bushman.

Dan Nissalke started from the pole in the WISSOTA Super Stock feature, but he was not alone for long as Josh Rodewald, Dennis Earney, and Jon Duffy hung tight. Bob Fort and Troy Langowski battled side by side for fifth place when a caution for a spinning Gary Wiersgalla set up a restart. Nissalke manned the front row alone followed by Rodewald, Earney, Duffy, and Langowski. Earney darted into second when Rodewald took a low groove move in turn three. Another caution sent Brian Fetting to the tail of the field, and again, Nissalke led the pack. Earney held on in second, but Langowski was able to creep between Earney and Rodewald to look at the third place spot. Duffy and John Feirn got into a race for fifth place when Fort charged inside of Duffy. Nissalke continued to hold the lead followed by Earney, Langowski, Rodewald, Feirn, Fort, and Duffy. The race continued at a fast, close, and intense pace on down the line as far back as 10th place. As Langowski and Rodewald continued to flip spots back and forth behind second place runner Earney, Earney’s machine went up in a puff of smoke as he drifted to the infield to wait out the end of the race. As Nissalke led Langowski and the rest of the pack, Fort robbed Rodewald’s third place position and locked himself into third leaving Rodewald in fourth. Feirn seized fifth place from Duffy as they all raced close and fast. At the line, Nissalke clocked the win followed by Langowski, Fort, Rodewald, and Wiersgalla.

Adam Stockhausen and Brad Waits revved up to lead the USRA Modified feature race, but before the first lap was complete, a spin in turn four collected several cars. When laps were finally strung together, Waits took the lead from Stockhausen. Stockhausen roared in second close behind Waits followed by Les Duellman and Bob Timm. Hank Rollinger Jr. and Kerry Ledebuhr ran side by side for fifth as Timm jumped on Stockhausen’s second place spot. Waits extended his lead as Timm ran him down. Duellman was able to make the pass on Stockhausen for third and Ledebuhr eventually got around Stockhausen as well. Waits never looked back as he went on to tag the win. Timm captured a solid second place finish, and Duellman, Ledebuhr, and John Doelle capped the top five.

Kyle Patzner set his sights on a win from the pole, but before long, Ron Jablonske took over. Johny Severtson quickly became a force as he took the lead from Jablonske. Brock Adamson was able to scoot past Jablonske to take second place followed by Patzner and Kohl Adamson. A red flag stopped the race when Rick Slawson and Mike Krause tangled on the front stretch in which Slawson entered a series of barrel rolls and finally ended upside right in turn one. Slawson was uninjured, and the race resumed with Severtson in the lead followed by Brock Adamson, Kohl Adamson, Patzner, and Jablonske. But another red flag stopped the field when Kohl Adamson’s car did not turn and went straight into the turn one wall near the track exit. After hard contact with the wall resulting in Adamson’s rollover, the green flag waved for the final time. Severtson won another one with Brock Adamson following in second. Jablonske, Patzner, and Kevin Laufenberg rounded out the top five.

Jeff Matejka quickly took the lead from Dave Fruechte in the Midwest Mini Mod 600 division. Fruechte just as quickly took the lead back as Charlie McNally followed in third place. Matejka took a spin in turn two which pulled a caution to line the field back up. Brett LaDuke shot to the lead on the restart, but McNally and Fruechte tore around the high side to race for second place. Matejka picked up spots as he worked toward the front again. LaDuke soon had to contend with Matejka for the lead as Bob Bautch ran in third followed by Don Werner and Fruechte. LaDuke had his car cranking as he wailed to the finish for what appeared to be his first win. But, it was determined that LaDuke jumped the earlier restart and was disallowed the win handing it to Matejka. Bautch then finished second followed by McNally, Werner, and Fruechte.

Mathew Schliesman propelled his car to the lead in the Midwest Mini Mod B feature ahead of Rachel LaDuke and Dylan Buckland. The three pulled away from the rest of the field early on which left Tanner Brown and Alex Stevens to vie for fourth and fifth places. LaDuke scooted along behind Schliesman in an attempt to track him down, but he proved to be invincible. Schliesman grabbed another win and Laduke tallied another second place finish. Brown finished third ahead of Alex Stevens and Matt Stevens.

Jake Timm cruised from the pole in the Midwest Mini Mod A feature followed by Brandon Reutzel, Mac Alberts, and Mike Stevens. The cars stacked up in the first lap which set up a restart. Timm assumed the lead as Reutzel tried his almighty best to take the lead. Alberts and Stevens raced in third and fourth places while Nia Gardner followed in fifth place. Timm faced no real challenge and headed to victory lane with the win.

Join the action as we head into the final month of track points. For more information, visit www.mississippithunder.com.

WISSOTA Street Stock
Feature – Danny Richards, Jimmy Patzner, Donny Ganz, Danny Hanson, Ron Hanestad, Dan Bork, Kevin Hager, Fred Prudoehl, Shaun Mann, Cory Hanson, Tyler Sass, Lee Hager, Darryl Foegen, Quinn Arnoldy, Lonnie Klonecki, Jane Keating, Dave Smith, Lee Jonsgaard, Rich Theisen Heat 1 – Richards, D. Hanson, Bork, Arnoldy, Smith, Mann Heat 2 – Hanestad, K. Hager, Prudoehl, Foegen, Jonsgaard, Klonecki Heat 3 – Patzner, Ganz, L. Hager, Sass, C. Hanson, Theisen, Keating

WISSOTA Midwest Modified
Feature – Travis Krause, Chris Gilbertson, Dalton Yohnk, Erik Kanz, Pete Bushman, Shaun Walski, Tyler Creeley, Jake Frion, Cody Gardner, Barry Johnson, Chris Creeley, Josh Appel, Ryan Olson, Jared Happel, Jack Baehman, Kyle Jumbeck, Grant Southworth, Don Schaefer, Josh Crary, Josh Malchaski, Brad Hudson, Craig Tradup Heat 1 – Krause, Yohnk, Walski, Bushman, Gilbertson, Frion, Gardner, Hudson Heat 2 – Jumbeck, Southworth, Kanz, C. Creeley, Johnson, Baehman, T. Creeley Heat 3 – Olson, Happel, Schaefer, Malchaski, Crary, Tradup, Appel

WISSOTA Super Stock
Feature – Dan Nissalke, Troy Langowski, Bob Fort, Josh Rodewald, Gary Wiersgalla, John Feirn, Jon Duffy, Kevin Hager, Steve Speltz, Tim Williamson, Phil Kendrick, Jay Oricchio, Michael Hofer, Dennis Earney, Bruce Lutz, Brian Fetting Heat 1 – Wiersgalla, Feirn, Rodewald, Fort, Fetting, Hager, Hofer, Williamson Heat 2 – Duffy, Langowski, Earney, Nissalke, Kendrick, Speltz, Oricchio, Lutz

USRA Modifieds
Feature – Brad Waits, Bob Timm, Les Duellman, Kerry Ledebuhr, John Doelle, Josh Angst, Adam Stockhausen, Hank Rollinger Jr., Paul Hamernik, Leroy Scharkey, Roger Niederkorn, Gary Doelle, Clint Wittlief, Lancae Hofer, Brian Albrecht, Andy Bohnstengel, Ron Britain, Les Jonsgaard, Jeremy Jonsgaard Heat 1 – Timm, Bohnstengel, Duellman, Scharkey, Hofer, J. Jonsgaard, Ledebuhr Heat 2 – J. Doelle, Stockhausen, Niederkorn, G. Doelle, Britain, L. Jonsgaard Heat 3 – Waits, Angst, Rollinger, Hamernik, Albrecht, Wittlief

Hornets
Feature – Johny Severtson, Brock Adamson, Ron Jablonske, Kyle Patzner, Kevin Laufenberg, Bonnie Jablonske, Guy Hamernik, Carroll Hundorf, Leonard Hicks, Shawn Applen, Adam Kerley, Robert Dyrdal, Kohl Adamson, Rick Slawson, Mike Krause Heat 1 – K. Adamson, B. Adamson, Laufenberg, R. Jablonske, B. Jablonske, Kerley, Hundorf, Applen Heat 2 – Severtson, Krause, Slawson, Patzner, Hicks, Hamernik, Dyrdal

A Mini Mods
Feature – Jake Timm, Brandon Reutzel, Mac Alberts, Mike Stevens, Tim Williamson, Nia Gardner, Brady Keefe, Gary Kellner, Sydney Alberts, Jerome Kellner, Don Werner Heat 1 – J. Kellner, G. Kellner, Williamson, Keefe, Gardner, Stevens Heat 2 – M. Alberts, Reutzel, Timm, S. Alberts, Werner

B Mini Mods
Feature – Mathew Schliesman, Rachel LaDuke, Tanner Brown, Alex Stevens, Matt Stevens, Dylan Buckland, Matthew LaDuke, Ryan Wetzstein Heat 1 – R. LaDuke, Schliesman, A. Stevens, Buckland, M. Stevens, Wetzstein, M. LaDuke, Brown

600 Mini Mods
Feature – Jeff Matejka, Bob Bautch, Charlie McNally, Don Werner, Dave Fruechte, Bill Baures, Joe Jasnoch, Brett LaDuke Heat 1 - Fruechte, Matejka, McNally, Bautch, Jasnoch, Werner, Baures, LaDuke