SPRING VALLEY, Minn. (June 22, 2002) - Tonight's racing activities were sponsored by Grumpys Restaurant & Onsite Computers of Grand Meadow and The Ronald McDonald House.

The first ever attack on the track by the WISSOTA Sprint cars was without a doubt a success. 138 cars checked into the back gate for the racing action tonight. A great crowd of almost capacity was on hand tonight to witness the Sprinters working their way around the 3/8 mile speedway.

The street stocks took to the track for their feature missing one of the strong local front runners. During the heat race Greg Erickson was stopped for a spun car in two and was hit at full speed by another car ending his night. Looking at the car afterwards it will take a lot of work to straighten this machine out. Jim Gustafson continued his dominance during the month of June jumping into the early lead with the rest of the field running two and three wide for the first three laps. John Bushman was running second with Steve Goodenough and Lee Skjervum racing for third. Jeff Brauer started seventeenth on the feature and by the half-way point had worked into the top five. Jeremy Sommer worked his way forward running the top side of the track and just past the halfway of the race it was Gustafson out front, Sommer second and Brauer third. They ran that way to the finish with Gustafson taking home his fourth win in a row. Sommer came home second and Brauer third.

The Midwest Modifieds were up next for their feature. Problems abounded in their feature tonight and after 8 cautions the feature was cut short. When the green was out their were some good battles. Chad Herman jumped into the early lead with Neil Eckhart and Jessie Frericks battling for the second spot. After a few caution Eckhart finally made a pass for the lead that stood for a couple laps until Kenny Wytaske made the top groove work and slowly passed Eckhart for the point. Wytaske came home with the win, his fourth of the season at the track with Eckhart second, and Brian Hernandez third.

After the caution filled Midwest Mod feature the super stocks ran with only three cautions. Dave Haberman jumped out to the early lead with many two wide battles behind him. George Batzel ran with Haberman for the first couple circuits until Haberman was able to secure the top spot. J.B. Stortz was working his way up through the field running the high side of the track with Ben Anderson working the bottom. These two ran side by side for a half dozen laps and even put a three wide pass of Batzel to battle for the second spot. The last half of the race ran without a caution and Haberman pulled back into a comfortable lead as Mark Teske worked into the top five. At the finish it was Haberman with his first win of the year at the track, Anderson second and Stortz third. Kelly Anderson made the biggest move of the night finishing fourth after starting seventeenth on the field.

The modifieds ran their feature next with Paul Novotny getting the upper hand at the start. Jordan Steier took over the second spot on the second lap and ran close behind Novotny trying to get up front. Todd Scharkey always has most of the fans eyes as they watch for his charge to the front. Scharkey and his father Leroy started on the inside and Todd found a higher line to his liking and slowly worked forward as Leroy stuck to the back bumper and followed him up towards the third and fourth parts. After leading the first three quarters of the race Novotny started to run a little higher line which allowed Steier to slid underneath into the first place. The Scharkey duo took the key and both made it past Novotny to take over the second and third spots. Todd tried to battle with Steier but Jordan was too strong on this night and held on for his first win of the season at the track followed closely by Todd Scharkey and Leroy Scharkey.

For the Sprint Car feature the bottom of the track still had a little tack in it, while the black groove was pushed up 3/4 the way up the banking. Both grooves were fast and it all depended upon the setup. Jimmy Kouba used the high side to pass Swenson for the top spot. The fans were treated to exciting racing on the track with the sprint cars running both grooves with multiple two wide racing throughout most of the feature. During the heat races a radar gun was used on the back straight with some of the cars clocking in the 85-90 mph range. The fans were excited about the show and the cheering after the completion of the race was great. After the races the drivers hung around and I had an opportunity to talk to a few of them and they hope that they can come back again this year for another show.

Wednesday the 26th will find the WISSOTA Late Model Challenge series sponsored by Roscoe's BBQ of Rochester with the Late Model's, Super Stocks and Street Stocks. Regular racing resumes on Saturday the 29th with all classes sponsored by Bob's Smoke Stack Ribs of Rochester.

Another upcoming special to watch for is the Firecracker 40 on July 6th with the Late Model's running for $1,500 to win plus a $500 dash for cash. Of course don't forget to mark your calendars for Sept 19, 20 & 21 for the Fall Jamboree with the USMTS modifieds running for $2,000, $4,000 and $6,000 to win. Other WISSOTA classes that are scheduled to run will be announced later.

RESULTS

Only the top 5 were available for the features due to technical problems.

MODIFIEDS

Jordan Steier, Todd Scharkey, Leroy Scharkey, Paul Novotny, Mick Glenn

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS

Dave Haberman, Ben Anderson, J.B. Stortz, Mark Teske, Kelly Anderson

WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIEDS

Kenny Wytaske, Neil Eckhart, Bryan Hernandez, Greg Pfeifer, Ryan Weber

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS

Jim Gustafson, Jeremy Sommer, Jeff Brauer, Steve Goodenough, Chuck Nerland

SPRINT CARS

Feature - Jimmy Kouba, Chuck Swenson, Ned Powers, Jerry Reichert, Johnny Parson III, John Nelson, Joe Kouba, Gene Kelly, Bruce Defries, Mike Sargent

Heat 1 - Reichert, Defries, Jimmy Kouba, Parsons III, Loren Langerud

Heat 2 - Tony Hargrave, Rob Caho Jr., Swenson, Powers, Joe Kouba

Heat 3 - Sargent, Kelly, Joseph Kouba, Nelson, Johnny Wykoff

Dash - Reichert, Sargent, Caho Jr., Kelly Defries, Hargrave