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Doar soars to victory during Red Cedar's lid-lifter
By Ed Reichert
© 2008 All The Dirt! Racing News, Inc.
MENOMONIE, WI (May 9) - Pat Doar made a late race pass on Jake Redetzke and won the WISSOTA Late Model feature during opening night for 2008 at Red Cedar Speedway Friday night.
Other opening-night winners during AMSOIL Dirt Track Series action were Craig Thatcher in the WISSOTA Modifieds, Joe Rhead in the WISSOTA Super Stocks, Shane Halopka in the WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and Mike Knudtsen in the Pure Stocks.
During what was the fifth attempt to start the racing season at the Dunn County Rec Park facility, the weather finally cooperated and a large crowd was on hand to eyeball all the new racers and welcome back many familiar faces.
Redetzke controlled most of the Late Model headliner until Doar made his late race move. Redetzke started on the pole and pulled away from Steve Laursen, John Kaanta and Doar during the early going. A lap four spin by Kelly Anderson slowed the action momentarily, but once the race returned to green, Redetzke once again opened up a sizeable lead on the field. A.J. Diemel and Rick Hanestad then joined the battle for second; there was considerable shuffling back and forth for the position.
Redetzke led by nearly a straightaway when Doar moved to the cushion and took over the runner-up spot. Keith Foss, who started 10th, methodically worked the bottom groove and eventually joined the fray battling for a top five spot. Redetzke continued to run the low groove and Doar ate away at Redetzke’s lead, first slowly and then with much greater speed. Doar closed in just as Redetzke caught lapped traffic. Redetzke got trapped on the low side coming out of turn four, Doar flew by and into the lead.
Doar extended his lead and pulled away for a comfortable win. Diemel maintained third at the line well behind Redetzke while Foss nipped Laursen for fourth.
Defending WISSOTA Modified national champion Thatcher made easy work of the feature field after he quickly charged from sixth to second at the start and challenged polesitter and early leader Mike Anderson for the lead. Thatcher looked over Anderson and made a move on the inside to take over the lead, but a yellow flag slowed the field and Thatcher had to wait for another opportunity.
Less than one lap after the restart, Thatcher drove under Anderson in turn one as they exited the fourth turn and powered into the lead. Once in front, Thatcher checked out on the field for what proved to be an easy win. While Anderson ran securely in second, Brent Prochnow and Rich Lofthus raced each other hard for third. They were soon joined by Dave Cain, who passed Prochnow for fourth and on the last lap slid under Lofthus for third.
Rhead claimed his first-ever Super Stock feature win after a caution-filled main event that was shortened from 15 to eight laps due to the time limit.
Rhead beat polesitter Charlie Obermueller into the first turn and took the early lead while Obermueller got turned by contact and lost several spots early on. As Rhead continued to show the way, Kevin Eder, Steve Hallquist, Mike Keller and Curt Myers all jockeyed for the runner-up position. Keller eventually grabbed control of the inside groove and Myers tried his best to take the position from the Menomonie native.
A multi-car spin slowed the action on lap four and another collision one lap later slowed the pace again. After each restart, Rhead moved to the high side above Keller while Myers looked for an opening between the leaders. During the two-lap sprint to the finish after what proved to be the final caution, Keller again looked to the inside and he and Rhead raced down the backstretch. After both drivers dove hard into the final set of turns, Rhead got a good run off the cushion and nipped Keller by less than a car length at the finish line with Myers right in their shadow. Hallquist fought his way back up to fourth after slipping back in the field and Shawn Huse made a late charge to round out the top five.
The WISSOTA Midwest Modified main event featured a three-car battle to the wire that brought the crowd to their feet. Halopka pulled away from the pack during the early going, but two early cautions forced officials to shorten that feature race as well. The second yellow was the most serious; Mark Thomas’ #25 got turned into the backstretch wall and it took several minutes to clean up the mess. Thomas was not injured in the crash.
Halopka continued to lead after the restart ahead of a good battle for second between Mark Gerth and Mike Truscott. Gerth held the position for a time during each lap, but each time Truscott used the cushion in turns three and four to forge ahead at the line.
As the top three charged down the back chute during the final lap, Gerth dove to the low side, pulled ahead of Truscott and made a run at Halopka. Halopka managed to find enough bite to nip the surging Gerth at the line and hold on for the win. Jim Bourn finished fourth ahead of Brad Hudson.
Ashley Husby took the early lead in the Pure Stock feature and pulled away from the field in the nonstop main event. Dusty Brown took over second and closed on the leader. Seventh starter Mike Knudtson later drove under Brown for second and quickly closed on Husby. With only a couple of laps left, Knudtson dove to the inside in turn one and the leaders traded paint before Knudtson took over the top spot. Knudtson then pulled away for the win ahead of Husby, Brown, Nick Field and Chris Wert.
Racing action will continue Friday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. sponsored by DKS Construction and Menomonie Rental Center. Visit the speedway website for more information at www.redcedarracing.com.
WISSOTA Late Models:
Feature - Pat Doar, Jake Redetzke, A.J. Diemel, Keith Foss, Steve Laursen, Rick Hanestad, Chad Mahder, John Kaanta, Kyle Peterlin, Lance Matthees, Mike Prochnow, Jesse Redetzke, Mike Goodremote, Brent Larson, Chris Oertel, Kelly Anderson, Steve Isenberg, Bob Richardson, Kerry Hansen, Tom Nesbitt
Heat 1 - Ja. Redetzke, Diemel, Goodremote, Matthees, Richardson, D. Larson, Meeds, S. Mahder
Heat 2 - Laursen, Hanestad, Foss, Oertel, Anderson, C. Mahder, Ron Schreiner
Heat 3 - Kaanta, Prochnow, Hansen, Je. Redetzke, Jorgensen, B. Larson, Co. Mahder
Heat 4 - Doar, Peterlin, Isenberg, Scott Gilberts, Nesbitt, Lucas Peterson, Joel Cryderman
B Feature - Anderson, C. Mahder, Richardson, B. Larson, Nesbitt, Scott Meeds, Davin Larson, Cory Jorgensen, Shawn Mahder, Cory Mahder
WISSOTA Modifieds:
Feature - Craig Thatcher, Mike Anderson, Dave Cain, Rich Lofthus, Brent Prochnow, Luke Schilling, Ross Prochnow, Jake Hartung, Don Brightbill, Bryan Nayes, Cory Williams, Rod Richardson
Heat 1 - Hartung, R. Prochnow, B. Prochnow, Cain, Richardson, Dean Yrjanainen, Darrel Hazelton
Heat 2 - Anderson, Lofthus, Thatcher, Schilling, Brightbill, Williams, Nayes
WISSOTA Super Stocks:
Feature - Joe Rhead, Mike Keller, Curt Myers, Steve Hallquist, Shawn Huse, Kevin Eder, Jason Forehand, Tim Borgeson, Charley Obermueller, Aaron Wilson, Rick Hallquist, Rod Dregney, Tom Karis, Dan Arneson, Bernie Christianson, Bill Hughes, Jeff Bush, Steve Thomas, Dan Preston
Heat 1 - Obermueller, Eder, Karis, Borgeson, R. Hallquist
Heat 2 - Rhead, Keller, Forehand, Thomas, Preston, Hughes
Heat 3 - S. Hallquist, Myers, Wilson, Huse, Bush, Dregney
WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds:
Feature - Shane Halopka, Mark Gerth, Mike Truscott, Jim Bourn, Brad Hudson, Ronnie Rihn, Mark Clements, Scott Erickson, Justin Supri, Bryan Bisonette, Bryan Hessler, Cooper Dohms, Josh Smith, A.J. Roschen, Jeremy Houle, Randy Smeltzer, Robbie Johnson, Mark Thomas, Dave Morgan, Nate Szymoniak
Heat 1 - Halopka, Gerth, Hudson, Roschen, Johnson, Dohms, Smith, Svee
Heat 2 - Truscott, Thomas, Clements, Erickson, Bisonette, Szymoniak, Hessler
Heat 3 - Morgan, Bourn, Rihn, Supri, Houle, Smeltzer, White, Koehler
B Feature - Smith, Hessler, Dan Svee, Corey White, Jason Swan, Nick Koehler
Pure Stocks:
Feature - Mike Knudtson, Ashley Husby, Dusty Brown, Nick Field, Chris Wert, Chaz Ducommun, Luke Plank, Ron Hoffman, Willy Hughes, Adam Berg, Amy Jo Hughes
Heat 1 - Tommy Richards, Wert, Berg, Brown, Ducommun, A. Hughes
Heat 2 - Husby, Field, Plank, Knudtson, W. Hughes, Hoffman
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