By: Bert Lehman
Shawano, WI (Aug. 15, 2009) - There was plenty of racing action at Shawano Speedway with its regular racing program, as well as two make-up features from last week. Nick Anvelink used a late race pass to win a thrilling WISSOTA Late Model feature, his fourth of the year. Jerry Wilinski won his second IMCA Modified feature, while Rod Snellenberger won his eighth IMCA Stock Car feature of the year. A.J. Diemel won the regular Fastrak Late Model feature and the make-up feature from last week, giving him eight feature wins this year. Chad Guyette won his second IMCA Sport Mod feature, while Travis Van Straten won the make-up feature, his fourth feature win.

Chris Oertel grabbed the early lead over Tom Naeyaert, Justin Ritchie, A.J. Diemel and Troy Springborn in the WISSOTA Late Model feature. Running the high-side, Diemel moved to second on the next lap and set his sights on Oertel. Diemel quickly disposed of Oertel, taking the top spot on the third lap. Once in the lead Diemel pulled away from the field.

A caution with nine laps remaining bunched up the field, but Diemel again pulled away on the restart with Naeyaert, Oertel and Nick Anvelink following. Anvelink worked his way to second with six laps remaining. Diemel was on his way to the victory when a caution came out with two laps remaining. On the restart, Anvelink pulled alongside Diemel. The two raced side-by-side the last lap with Diemel up top and Anvelink down low. The two emerged out of turn four alongside each other racing to the checkers. At the line it was Anvelink by half a car length over Diemel, with Naeyaert, Oertel and Ritchie following.

Dave Diemel took over the lead on the second lap in the IMCA Modified feature with Julie Wedelstadt, Jerry Wilinski, Marcus Yarie and Mike Knapp following. After a lap five caution, Yarie moved up to second on the restart only to relinquish the spot back to Wedelstadt. Wedelstadt caught Diemel on lap nine and made the pass for the lead. A caution one lap later slowed the action.

Wedelstadt continued to lead on the restart, but lost the lead to Jerry Wilinski on the next lap. Lance Arneson took the second spot from Wedelstadt with six laps remaining and began gaining on Wilinski. Wilinski led the remaining laps taking home the victory, followed by Diemel, Arneson, Jared Siefert and Jason Czarapata.

Starting on the front row, Vern Stedjee led the first four laps of the IMCA Stock Car feature with Adam Van Haren, Kyle Fredrick, Devin Snellenberger and Adam Clark following. A caution on lap five slowed the action. On the restart, Rod Snellenberger jumped into the lead with Larry Karcz, Jr., Stedjee, Devin Snellenberger and Mitchell Stankowski all in pursuit. Stedjee fell out of the top five over the next several laps with Dan Michonski moving up to fifth. That’s the way it ended, with Rod Snellenberger taking the win.

In the Fastrak Late Model feature Dave Fieber took the early lead over Brett Swedberg, Mike Stangl, A.J. Diemel and Tom Naeyaert. Diemel and Naeyaert each moved up one spot on the next lap before the caution flag waved on lap five. Fieber maintained the lead on the restart, but only for one lap as Diemel took the top spot with Fieber, Swedberg, Naeyaert and Joe Reuter following. That’s the way it stayed the rest of the race, with Diemel cruising to the win.

In the Fastrak Late Model make-up feature from the previous week Justin Hirt jumped out to the quick lead over Diemel and Jeff Curtin. Hirt held off Diemel on a couple of restarts and continued to lead with five laps remaining. Diemel tried the high-groove but couldn’t make the pass. He then dropped to the low-side with three laps remaining but Hirt fended him off. Diemel jumped back up to the high-side with two laps remaining and made the pass for the lead. Diemel took the win with Hirt, Reuter, Curtin and Stangl following.

The regular IMCA Sport Mod feature was marred by cautions and shortened to three laps due to the time limit running out. On the last lap in turn four, Chad Guyette, Matt Oreskovich and Tim Jorgenson raced three-wide. When the cars crossed the finish line, it was Guyette taking the win over Jorgenson, Oreskovich, Tracy Wassenberg and Jason Jach.

In the earlier IMCA Sport Mod make-up feature from last week, Josh Moesch led the first two laps when a nasty accident took place in turn four involving Jorgenson and Wassenberg in which Wassenberg’s car flipped violently. Both drivers returned to race later in the evening. Oreskovich assumed the lead on the restart with Clint Forstner in second. Forstner began closing in on Oreskovich and took the top spot just before the midpoint of the race. Forstner held the lead for four laps, before giving it up to Travis Van Straten. Van Straten drove to the win with Forstner, Oreskovich, Aaron Holiday and Eric Arneson following.

Racing action continues Saturday, Aug. 22 with racing getting underway at 6 p.m. For more information about Shawano Speedway, visit www.shawanospeedway.net.

RACING SUMMARY

WISSOTA LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Nick Anvelink, 2)A.J. Diemel, 3)Tom Naeyaert, 4)Chris Oertel, 5)Justin Ritchie, 6)Terry Avenlink, 7)Craig Bartz, 8)Jake Redetzke, 9)Todd Flannery, 10)Ryan Huettl. FIRST HEAT: 1)Troy Springborn, 2)Redetzke, 3)N. Anvelink. SECOND HEAT: 1)Diemel, 2)Flannery, 3)Naeyaert.

IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE: 1)Jerry Wilinski, 2)Dave Diemel, 3)Lance Arneson, 4)Jared Siefert, 5)Jason Czarapata, 6)Eddie Muenster, 7)Marcus Yarie, 8)Jerry Muenster, 9)Brad Rohloff, 10)Mike Wedelstadt. CONSI: 1)Ron Besaw, 2)M. Wedelstadt. FIRST HEAT: 1)Siefert, 2)John Berna, 3)Yarie. SECOND HEAT: 1)Wilinski, 2)Diemel, 3)Mike Knapp. THIRD HEAT: 1)Julie Wedelstadt, 2)Rohloff, 3)Ron Figlinski.

IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE: 1)Rod Snellenberger, 2)Larry Karcz Jr., 3)Devin Snellenberger, 4)Mitchell Stankowski, 5)Dan Michonski, 6)Nate Michonski, 7)Mike Asenbrener, 8)Adam Clark, 9)Barry Van Straten, 10)Greg Gutt. CONSI: 1)Alan Gast, 2)Bob Schampers. FIRST HEAT: 1)Adam Van Haren, 2)N. Michonski, 3)Clark. SECOND HEAT: 1)Stankowski, 2)Karcz Jr., 3)Kyle Fredrick. THIRD HEAT: 1)R. Snellenberger, 2)D. Snellenberger, 3)D. Michonski.

FASTRAK LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)A.J. Diemel, 2)Dave Fieber, 3)Tom Naeyaert, 4)Brett Swedberg, 5)Joe Reuter, 6)Justin Hirt, 7)Jeff Curtin, 8)Joel Bennett, 9)Mike Stangl, 10)Aaron Wickersheim. FIRST HEAT: 1)Swedberg, 2)Naeyaert, 3)Reuter. SECOND HEAT: 1)Diemel, 2)Hirt, 3)Curtin.

FASTRAK LATE MODEL MAKE-UP FEATURE from 08-08-09: 1)A.J. Diemel, 2)Justin Hirt, 3)Joe Reuter, 4)Jeff Curtin, 5)Mike Stangl, 6)Joel Bennett, 7)M.J. McBride, 8)Todd Casper, 9)Jeff Wickersheim, 10)Zack Barrow.

IMCA SPORT MOD FEATURE: 1)Chad Guyette, 2)Tim Jorgenson, 3)Matt Oreskovich, 4)Tracy Wassenberg, 5)Jason Jach, 6)Rob Charapata, 7)Clint Forstner, 8)Eric Arneson, 9)Chad Nelson, 10)Brian Besaw. FIRST HEAT: 1)Travis Van Straten, 2)Arneson, 3)Forstner. SECOND HEAT: 1)Oreskovich, 2)Guyette, 3)Johnny Whitman. THIRD HEAT: 1)Jorgenson, 2)Wassenberg, 3)Charapata.

IMCA SPORT MOD MAKE-UP FEATURE from 8-08-09: 1)Travis Van Straten, 2)Clint Forstner, 3)Matt Oreskovich, 4)Aaron Holiday, 5)Eric Arneson, 6)Johnny Whitman, 7)Cheyenne Cameron, 8)Jason Jach, 9)Adam Janke, 10)Tom Natzke.