 FORMER CHAMPION DARNELL EDGES HASELEU BY A FENDER IN STAR PACKAGING 100 AT
JEFFERSON!
JEFFERSON, WI. (May 21, 2005) - At the end of an
attrition filled 100 lap contest spiced with plenty of surprises, it came down to a
classic battle between 2003 Wisconsin Challenge Series Champion Erik Darnell of Beach
Park, Illinois, and local favorite Nathan Haseleu of Marshall. The final caution of
the Star Packaging sponsored 100 lap feature contest on the quarter-mile Jefferson
Speedway oval, produced a shoot-out between the pair, with Darnell managing to hold onto
the lead position even though Haseleu managed to wedge under the former series title
holder on several occasions. Haseleu, winner of the most recent WCS contest we
seeking victory where he had turned many laps early in his racing career. Haseleu,
favoring the low line would work under Darnell heading into turn one on the final lap,
with Darnell edging ahead slightly down the backstretch. Heading into the final two
turns Haseleu dove to the bottom of the track pulling almost dead even with Darnell.
In the sprint to the wire however, Darnell's high line gave him the momentum to
reach the checkered first by a matter of a few feet as the crowd rose to their feet to
witness the finish.
Third place in the contest went to Jeremy Lepak of Wausau
whose gritty effort would net a third place finish. Lepak, sore from a spectacular
crash the night before at Madison International Raceway where he had a mechanical failure
and flipped his machine over the wall, appeared at Jefferson for the WCS contest extremely
stiff and sore. At the end of 100 laps it took a great deal of effort just to climb
from his WCS machine owned by Larry and Judy Lepak. The net result however as an
appreciative round of applause from the fans on hand after being informed of his efforts
no doubt easing the pain somewhat. Lepak's third place finish was enough to keep him
atop the standings by a margin of 363 to 282 points of Haseleu, who based on his recent
win at Wisconsin International Raceway and a second place finish at Jefferson has suddenly
become a contender for the 2005 series title.
While the event presented some great side by side duels,
accidents for many event contenders to the side lines including last season's winner Jason
Schuler of Cambridge, Wisconsin. WCS front runners Ryan Mathews, Dexter Bean, Adam
Royle and Terry Baldry were also sidelined due to skirmishes which resulted in damaged
race cars. Mechanical attrition also took it's toll as Kevin Tunks who dominated
much of the contest seemed headed for a convincing win until a dry sump belt broke during
a caution on lap 85, dropping him from the event. At the exact same moment, Jeff
Weinfurter who was having a solid top six run came rolling to the infield with mechanical
ills. Likewise Jim Sauter Jr., was turning in his strongest effort in WCS
competition, remaining close to Tunks in second throughout much of the contest early on,
was forced to eventually leave the race with an oil leak.
A field of 23 cars accepted the green flag, with polesitter Ken
Reiser and Frank Kreyer doing battle for the initial lead. Reiser, the all-time
series point leader ran side by side with Kreyer for the first several trips around the
tricky quarter-mile oval before Kreyer gain the advantage. Tunks who started in the
second row followed Kreyer past Reiser for second on lap three. Sauter Jr., also
joined the chase moving into fourth shortly thereafter.
Tunks would begin to pressure Kreyer for the top spot, working to
his inside on lap six taking over the top spot. Tunks who makes limited appearances
in WCS contests had proved his knowledge of the Jefferson Speedway oval last season as he
had ran among the contenders for the victory before dropping from that contest.
Unfortunately for him a similar disappointment would await him further into this years
event.
Early on however Tunks would spend his time at the front of the
pack. Sauter Jr., appeared to be the only driver to match Tunks pace early on after
moving into the second spot on lap seven. The first of many cautions appeared on lap
ten when Adam Royle and M.G. Gajewski made contact resulting in a good deal of sheet metal
damage to Gajewski's machine. After heading to the pits Gajewski returned with the
front end sheet metal missing.
Underway Tunks again proved he was the man to catch with Sauter
Jr., being the only driver to match his pace. Darnell meanwhile had worked his way
into the top five by lap 12 falling in behind a duel between Reiser and Kreyer for
the third spot. Reiser would gain the third spot at Kreyer's expense moments later
and Darnell also moved forward working into the fourth spot by lap 16.
By now Haseleu was also on the move. The fastest qualifier of the
40 machines checked into the pits at the start of the day, Haseleu would start the contest
in 12th place by luck of the draw. With some very quick maneuvers Haseleu was able
to slice through the pack up to the sixth spot before a series of three cautions between
laps 20 and 30 slowed the pace.
On lap 21 Mathews, Schuler and Menard made contact forcing the
caution in a mutli-car shunt which also involved the current track point leader Jason
Erickson whose solid showing included a victory in a qualifying race earlier in the day.
Of the group only Menard would match his former pace after a pit stop to repair
damage. Mathews would retire from the contest.
Moments later Johnson Jr., spun off turn two forcing the next
slowdown on lap 25. Two laps later a spin by Erickson would being the event to it's
fourth slowdown. It was at this time that officials stopped Sauter Jr. on the track
only to discover an oil leak. The trip to the pit area to fix the leak dropped
Sauter to the tail of the field and placed Darnell in the second spot behind Tunks.
For the next 58 laps the race would go without interruption.
Tunks, Reiser, Darnell, Haseleu and Lepak would make up the top five runners when
action resumed. Weinfurter, the winner of three WCS contests at his home track
Golden Sands Speedway was up to sixth with another track regular Jim Jarlsberg holding
down the seventh spot.
The battle for second between Reiser, Darnell and Haseleu began
to heat up, while Tunks began to check out on the field. Darnell would manage to
work the low line under Reiser and the pair ran wheel to wheel for several laps before
Darnell secured the spot on lap 40. Haseleu following closely on Darnell's bumper
would also work the low line taking over the third spot on lap 41. Lepak meanwhile
has also joined the fry racing under Reiser for the fourth spot moments later.
At he halfway point Tunks enjoyed a dozen car length lead over
Darnell, Haseleu, Lepak and Reiser in the top five.
The next 25 laps clicked off quickly, with Tunks continuing to
extend his lead. After catching lapped traffic Tunks began to slice through the
backmarkers extending his lead even further. Darnell also managed a little breathing room
on Haseleu, but was unable to close on Tunks. By lap 80, Tunks had already been
lapping up to the 10th place car, putting over half the field a lap down.
The frantic pace came to and end as Jason Weinkauf and Jim
Jarlsberg found themselves up against the wall in turn four on lap 83. This bunched
the field placing Darnell right on Tunks rear bumper after having built a full
straightaway lead. When the green flag returned Weinfurter who was running sixth
pulled to the infield. At almost the same time Tunks began to slow allowing the
field to race by as he pulled to the infield giving up the lead. This left Darnell
in the top spot with Haseleu now in second and putting pressure on Darnell for the lead.
Before things could even settle in however Menard came to a stop in turn four
brining out the yellow again with mechanical difficulties. In a mere two laps with
the misfortune of Tunks, Menard and Weinfurter half of the lead lap cars were eliminated.
Moments later two more lead lap cars Royle and Bean tangled on the front stretch.
The final yellow would appear on lap 90 when Lepak and Baldry
would get together. Though Lepak would continue, Baldry was done for the day.
With scoring sorting things out the final ten laps would be contested with four lad lap
cars going for the victory. Darnell, Haseleu, Reiser and Lepak. All the other
machines had been placed a lap down due to Tunks frantic pace.
The green returned for the ten lap sprint with Darnell and
Haseleu pulling away for their own private battle. Lepak managed to get around
Reiser for third on lap 92, but was unable to close on the lead duo.
Darnell would reach the stripe first for his fifth career
Wisconsin Challenge Series feature victory, adding to a win total unmatched by anyone in
series history. Haseleu was second with Lepak and Reiser and Johnson Jr. making up
the top five. Kenny Richards, Chris Weinkauf, John Zimmermann, Terry Van Roy making
his first appearance of the 2005 season and Baldry would complete the top ten finishers.
Earlier in the program two qualifying races were held to make up
the feature field and both proved to be exciting contests. In the first event,
Jefferson Speedway point leader worked past M.G. Gajewski for the victory. Gajewski
would claim second, while a race long battle for third between Baldry and Brad Wildes was
settled on the final lap with Baldry edging out Wildes after a hard fought battle.
Last years contender for a victory in the main event, John Ovadal Jr., would settle for
fifth.
In the second contest Royle would earn the victory with Richards
and Jason Weinkauf making up the top three. Don "Thunder" Turner and many
time Jefferson Speedway champion Dan Chesmore made up the top five just missing the show.
The second qualifying race also saw defending series champion Mark Eswein unable to
reach a position to advance to the main event. After much deliberation Eswein
elected to save his provisional for an event later in the season, giving the provisional
spot in the starting field to Chris Weinkauf.
The Wisconsin Challenge Series now heads to the track which held
the inaugural WCS contest, the high banked third-mile Golden Sands Speedway located near
Plover, Wisconsin for a contest on Memorial Day, May 30th.
The Memorial 100 will be the ninth held at the track in series
history. Previous winners have included Kirby Kurth, Jeff Weinfurter, Nathan
Haseleu, and Charlie Menard who swept both events at the raceway last season. Menard
won last year's Memorial Day contest over multi-time track and WCS champion Mark Eswein
after a torrid battle in the closing laps, while the late Friday Night contest last season
saw Menard reach the finish ahead of current WCS point leader Jeremy Lepak.
Jeff Weinfurter holds the most WCS victories at the track scoring three consecutive wins
during the 2002-2003 seasons.
Pit gates will open at 10:00 a.m., with practice beginning at
10:30 a.m. The all important qualifying will take place at 12:30 p.m. Racing
activities will begin at 2:00 p.m. The highlight of the day will be a 100 lap
feature contest, and as usual twin 30 lap qualifying races will be very important to many
attempting to make the big show. While the Wisconsin Challenge Series Super Late
Models are the highlight of the day, entertainment will also include the Wisconsin Sport
Trucks. The snowmobile engine powered mini-pickup trucks will run a full program.
Concluding the afternoon will be the wild 2-Man Cruisers where the full-sized cars
require a driver and a co-pilot. The driver operated the steering and the brakes
while the the co-pilot works the brakes. Lastly, the behemoths of the speedway, full
sized school buses will take to the track for a action filled racing event.
All the excitement is available at a bargain.. a mere $12 adult
admission ticket.
Golden Sands Speedway "Central Wisconsin's Power Playground" is located
between Wisconsin Rapids and Plover, Wisconsin on Highway 54. For additional
information please call (715) 423-4660 or consult the track website at www.goldensandsspeedway.com
Information on the Wisconsin Challenge
Series can be found at www.wisconsinchallenge.com
For
complete RACESTAT Computer Results Click Here
Star Packaging 100
Results - Jefferson Speedway - May 21, 2005
100 Lap Feature: 1.)
Erik Darnell, Beach Park, IL; 2.) Nathan Haseleu, Marshall; 3.) Jeremy Lepak, Wausau; 4.)
Ken Reiser, Waukon, IA; 5.) Brian Johnson Jr., Roscoe, IL; 6.) Kenny Richards, Montello;
7.) Chris Weinkauf, Merrill; 8.) John Zimmermann, Markesan; 9.) Terry Van Roy, Darboy;
10.) Terry Baldry, Omro; 11.) M.G. Gajewski, Wausau; 12.) Charlie Menard, Eau Claire; 13.)
Adam Royle, Farmington, MN; 14.) Dexter Bean, Westby; 15.) Kevin Tunks, Edgerton; 16.)
Jeff Weinfurter, Wisconsin Rapids; 17.) Jason Weinkauf, Merrill; 18.) Jimmy Jarlsberg,
Cambridge; 19.) Frank Kreyer, Pardeeville; 20.) Jim Sauter Jr., Tomah; 21.) Jason
Erickson, Cambridge; 22.) Ryan Mathews, Lake Geneva; 23.) Jason Schuler, Cambridge.
First 30 Lap Qualifier: 1.)
Erickson; 2.) Gajewski; 3.) Baldry; 4.) Brad Wildes, Loves Park, IL; 5.) John Ovadal Jr.,
Watertown; 6.) Russ Blakley, Lake Geneva; 7.) C. Weinkauf; 8.) Dean Lapointe, Marshfield;
9.) Brandon Selle, Dale; 10.) Callin Harrell, Harrison
Second 30 Lap Qualifier: 1.)
Royle; 2.) Richards; 3.) J. Weinkauf; 4.) Don "Thunder" Turner, LaCrosse; 5.)
Dan Chesmore, Janesville; 6.) Mark Eswein, Wisconsin Rapids; 7.) Blake Horstman, Bangor;
8.) Jeff Kendall, Montello; 9.) Burton Brown, Fremont; 10.) Duwayne Davis, Marshfield. |
