Oertel cruises to first WISSOTA Late Model feature win of year at Shawano Speedway
By: Bert Lehman
Shawano, WI (Aug. 14, 2010) – On a hot and humid night, Chris Oertel found himself in victory lane after winning the WISSOTA Late Model feature at Shawano Speedway. Brad Rohloff won his first IMCA Modified feature of the year, while Rod Snellenberger won his sixth IMCA Stock Car feature of the year at the Speedway. Jeff Curtin won his second FASTRAK Late Model feature and Clint Forstner won his fifth IMCA Northern SportMod feature of the year.
Chris Oertel overtook M.J. McBride for the lead on the second lap of the WISSOTA Late Model feature. Oertel pulled out to a slight lead while Craig Bartz made his way to third place and began pressuring McBride for second. Over the next several laps McBride and Bartz raced side by side several times, but Bartz couldn’t make the inside pass stick.
With Oertel still leading, Terry Anvelink, running the high groove, joined the battle for second. With Bartz on the inside, McBride in the middle and Anvelink on the outside the three raced three-wide down the backstretch. Contact was made sending McBride spinning into the outside wall, while Anvelink spun into the infield entering turn three and flipping his car. Both drivers were not injured, but were done for the night. When the race was restarted Oertel again began to pull away from the field and cruised to the win. Todd Frank motored to second, while Justin Ritchie worked his way to third.
The first few laps of the IMCA Modified feature saw Marcus Yarie retire with motor problems while leading, as did Eric Scribner while he was running in second. Brad Rohloff continued to lead on a lap five restart with Jerry Wilinski, Brandon Czarapata, Jason Czarapata and Eddie Muenster following.
Rohloff pulled away from the field during the duration of the race while the Czarapata cousins battled back and forth for third. Jason Czarapata won that battle as he finished third, but it was Rohloff sailing to the victory, with Wilinski second.
Barry Van Straten took the lead from Harley Simon on the fourth lap, while Shawn Wagner moved to second a couple laps later in the IMCA Stock Car feature. Rod Snellenberger and Dan Michonski joined the top two cars by the time half the race was in the books. The four cars raced in a pack each looking for an advantage.
Wagner took the lead with seven laps remaining, only to give up the top spot to Snellenberger. Snellenberger, Wagner and Michonski raced bumper to bumper for the next several laps, but no one could get by Snellenberger, as Snellenberger won the thrilling race.
In the FASTRAK Late Model feature Jeff Curtin used his front row starting spot and started to pull away from the field when a caution on lap three slowed the action. Curtin continued to lead on the restart with Terry Gorst, Brett Swedberg, Aaron Wickersheim and Dave Fieber following. Swedberg grabbed the second spot on lap five.
A.J. Diemel, who had to start in the back of the feature because he missed his heat race, was making his way through the field and joined the top five on lap 10. He took over fourth on the next lap and third two laps after that. That was as close as Diemel would get to the lead as Curtin cruised to the win over Swedberg.
Tracy Wassenberg jumped into the lead on the third lap of the IMCA Northern SportMod feature, while Travis Van Straten and Cody Hudson raced side by side for third. Van Staten flew into the third spot on lap five and immediately began gaining on Wassenberg. Van Straten pulled alongside Wassenberg two laps later and took the lead, while Clint Forstner had made his way through the top five into third place.
Over the final laps of the race Van Straten, Wassenberg and Forstner raced in a pack and caught traffic with three laps remaining. Forstner got by Wassenberg for second and set his sights on Van Straten. On the last lap Forstner drove hard into corner one on the low-side but couldn’t make the pass. He tried the same move entering turn three and this time the car stuck and he pulled alongside Van Straten. They both raced to the finish line with Forstner winning by half a car length over Van Straten.
The Speedway will resume its regular racing season, Saturday, Aug. 21, with the racing action getting underway at 6 p.m. For more information about Shawano Speedway visit www.shawanospeedway.net.
RACING SUMMARY
WISSOTA LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Chris Oertel, 2)Todd Frank, 3)Justin Ritchie, 4)Tom Naeyaert, 5)Ron Berna, 6)Craig Bartz, 7)Gordie Seegert, 8)Joe Reuter, 9)Paul Parker, 10)Gary Nelson. FIRST HEAT: 1)Oertel, 2)Naeyaert, 3)Terry Anvelink. SECOND HEAT: 1)Parker, 2)Frank, 3)Berna.
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE:1)Brad Rohloff, 2)Jerry Wilinski, 3)Jason Czarapata, 4)Brandon Czarapata, 5)Eddie Muenster, 6)Tim Van De Hei, 7)Jerry Muenster, 8)Tom Schaal, 9)Randy Markwardt Jr., 10)Michael Bailey. FIRST HEAT: 1)Eric Scribner, 2)B. Czarapata, 3)E. Muenster. SECOND HEAT: 1)Wilinski, 2)Rohloff, 3)Marcus Yarie.
IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE: 1)Rod Snellenberger, 2)Shawn Wagner, 3)Dan Michonski, 4)Mark Schuenemann, 5)Kerry Douglas, 6)Larry Karcz Jr., 7)Greg Gutt, 8)Adam Clark, 9)Harley Simon, 10)Nate Michonski. CONSI: 1) Michael Asenbrener, 2)Larry Parshen. FIRST HEAT: 1)Wagner, 2)Karcz Jr., 3)Douglas. SECOND HEAT: 1)Gutt, 2)Simon, 3)D. Michonski. THIRD HEAT: 1)Mike Schmidt, 2)Snellenberger, 3)Barry Van Straten.
FASTRAK LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Jeff Curtin, 2)Brett Swedberg, 3)A.J. Diemel, 4)Dave Fieber, 5)Terry Gorst, 6)Aaron Wickersheim, 7)Josh Moesch, 8)Cody Grosskreutz, 9)Joel Bennett, 10)Scott Lewis. FIRST HEAT: 1)Justin Hirt, 2)Wickersheim, 3)Lewis. SECOND HEAT: 1)Swedberg, 2)Fieber, 3)Curtin.
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD FEATURE: 1)Clint Forstner, 2)Travis Van Straten, 3)Tracy Wassenberg, 4)Cody Hudson, 5)Johnny Whitman, 6)Jason Guyette, 7)Les Yeager, 8)Matt Oreskovich, 9)Chad Guyette, 10)Troy Jerovetz. FIRST HEAT: 1)Wassenberg, 2)Forstner, 3)Hudson. SECOND HEAT: 1)Whitman, 2)Yeager, 3)Chad Jaje. THIRD HEAT: 1)Guyette, 2)Jerovetz, 3)Van Straten.