COLUMBUS, WI (May 16,2003) - Over seventy-five cars brought on an action-packed program of racing at Columbus 151 Speedway Friday night. The car and fan counts alike were in partiality due to the Pepsi Triple 60 Round One feature event for the late models.

Before the night even began, rookie Mike Kearney and Tylor Schultz wrecked hard during practice. Kearney was forced to load up, but with the help of several other crews, Schultz had his car ready to race the full program.

Dells Motor Speedway competitors Geno Broesch and Tim Raupp joined the field in the late model and hobby stock divisions, respectively.

Heat races were all run straight up by qualifying times to make for more competitive racing throughout.

Out of Poynette, Andy Tomlinson turned a fast lap over 13.678 to just put him over Fort Atkinson's Don Gaserude by four thousandths of a second for quick time in the late models. Last week's feature winner Terry Sauer and Aaron Wilke, both Waterloo natives, claimed heat race victories. The number 40 of Scott Patrick would once again return to Victory Lane at Columbus 151 Speedway concluding the first race of the Pepsi Triple 60 series.

In only his second appearance in the street stock division, Kurt Brown brought home a feature win, following up the second place finish drove to on his first night out. Jim Rohrbeck held fast time with a lap of 14.456 seconds around the quarter-mile. Raupp of Baraboo, and defending hobby stock track champion Ken Scott were the heat race winners in the class.

Having a wonderful season thus far, point leader Chuck Egli of Waterloo had fast time in the hobby stock division with a lap of 15.442. The young guns showed what they were made of during both heat races. 18-year-old Kris Schoonover and 17-year-old Jason Deppe won their events. In the feature, it would be Gary Pashley at the line, followed by Schoonover, Jason Finnegan, Jason Deppe, and Larry Moen to round out the top five.

Dan Birkett is on fire in 2003 at Columbus. After breaking the existing track record earlier in the season, he's brought his #36 Honda through the pack for successful runs every week. He was the only driver in the 4-cylinder bandit class to dip into the sixteen second bracket, qualifying with a 16.469 initial lap in the early evening hours. Charlie Spry, Checkered Flag Racing News columnist, raced with the bandits as well, charting a third place heat race finish to his credit. In accordance with the success of the young, third generation competitor 18-year-old Rikki Bishofberger raced from dead last starting position all the way to the victory in her heat race. After winning the main event at Jefferson Speedway earlier this month, she's proving hard to beat. Defending track champion Charles Novotny picked up the other heat win. All the way from fifteenth spot on the starting grid, Brian Paulson fought a hard charge to put his Acura in victory lane at the completion of the 15-lap feature.

Driving out of Fitchburg, Rick Verdon piloted his Oldsmobile to Victory Lane in the Backups. NBC-15 will be bringing its Out and About segment to Columbus 151 Speedway this week to cover the track's exclusive Backup division.

Friday May 23rd, the track will kick off Memorial Day weekend with the added Chain Races.

More information is available regarding Columbus 151 Speedway at http://www.racingonline.com/columbus151.