by Chris Stepan

KASSON, Minn. (May 19, 2002) - After a one-week weather delay, the Dodge County Speedway opened back up with a regular season record car count in all 5 divisions, including a very strong field of 18 WISSOTA Late Models. After the Modified and Street Stock make-up features were held and saw Jeff Brauer and Todd Scharkey grace victory lane, the regular events were set to begin.

Greg Pfiefer, Chad Herman, Brian Hernandez and Jerry Young started out the main event in a great battle for the lead, while Kenny Wytaske and Neil Eckhart began to make their way through the field.

Pfiefer continued to show the way, while the battle for second continued to be a great one. Hernandez was able to steal the second spot and began to put pressure on Pfiefer out front as Young and Eckhart were also duking it out for third.

The battle up front continued for the lead while Eckhart started to move toward the front using the outside line. As the laps began to clip away, Pfiefer had stretched his lead slightly over Hernandez, while Eckhart had slipped by Young into third.

As the white flag flew, Eckhart made one last attempt to make the top side work, but was forced to settle for third behind Pfiefer and Hernandez.

The Super Stocks were up next with Bill Clemens taking the lead from the pole and never really looking back. Clemens got out front and was beginning to walk away from what turned out to be a great battle for second between Dave Haberman, Tom Chrest, John Remington and Brandon Jensen.

Chrest was working extrememly well on the high side and began to pick off cars left and right until he was up to second and beginning to reel in Clemens out front. Chrest's great run came to an abrupt end when he tossed his # 87 in turn two, ending his night.

On the restart, Clemens again took off into the lead as Remington, Haberman, Jensen and Bill Stettner continued to battle for position. Jensen began to make the high side work and snuck to the outside of a few cars in the late going of the event.

Clemens went on to an unchallenged feature win with Remington swapping second with Stettner on the last lap. Jensen nipped Haberman for fourth at the line as well.

The Late Models were up next for their 25 lap main event. Ben Mattick and Lorin Johnson started on the front row for the main event, which saw Mattick take off into the lead followed closely by Lance Matthees. Matthees wasted no time showing the rookie the fast way around as Lance put his #90 on the inside and blew by into the top spot.

Mattick settled into second while Matthees began to pull away out front. A bit further back in the field, John Kaanta and Pat Doar began making their way through traffic on the high side and were putting on a show and they both shot past car after car on their way to the front.

Matthees continued to show the way until the lone caution flew over the field when Mattick got crossed up in turn 4 and stalled his machine. On the restart, Matthees took back off into the lead while Kaanta was now beginning to pressure Brent Larson for second. Larson continued his strong run, but Kaanta was working well on the high side and snuck by into second. Doar was also making his presence felt as he and Brad Waits were in a good battle for fourth.

Kaanta was now solidly in second and began to pressure Matthees for the lead while Doar shot by both Larson and Waits into third late in the event. Kaanta was able to pull alongside Matthees on several occasions but Lance was up to the challenge and held off Kaanta for the win. Doar came home in third with Waits and Larson rounding out the top five.

Arlen Diercks took the lead at the start of the Street Stock feature with Tony Lund giving chase early on. Dan Gullikson, in his brother's # 21 for the night and Steve Goodenough were also in a great battle for third.

Diercks looked strong out front, but Lund was not going to let him get away so quickly, while Jeff Brauer was on his way to the front and began to battle with Goodenough and Gullikson for third. Brauer continued to run very strong and slipped into second late in the event and began to pressur Diercks for the lead, but Arlen was strong and held on for the win. Gullikson and Brauer duked it out for second over the last circuit and Gullikson was able to steal the spot away on the last lap for second.

The final event of the evening was the second $1,000 to win Modified event, which turned out to be a very interesting and entertaining event. Les Duellman and Todd Scharkey sat on the front row, but before a lap could be completed, Scharkey was forced to pit and Duellamn could not get his car to refire and was forced to retire early.

Chad Benhe then took the lead on the next start with Jordan Steier and Dean Riess hot on this tail. Steve Wetzstein and Todd Klees were locked in a great early race battle for third, which Klees won and began to move to the front. Klees was able to assume the lead on lap 5 in his backup #12 after damaging his primary car in the earlier feature.

Once out front, Klees began to pull away from the field while Wetzstein began to make the top side work and shot into second. The man on the move was Tim Donlinger, after starting in 21st position he had worked his way into 8th on lap 8 and was no where near done with him impressive charge. While Klees continued to lead, Wetzstein began to pressure him for the top spot and was finally able to overtake Klees on lap 11.

While Wetzstein was stealing the lead away from Klees, Donlinger was continuing his march forward and appeared in third with 5 laps to go. Tim then shot to the outside of Klees for second and set off after Wetzstein, but Steve had built up a good sized advantage and held on for the win. Donlinger completed his stunning run with a second place finish ahead of Klees in third. Mike Sorensen also had a great run, coming up from dead last early in the event to finish in fourth ahead of Dean Riess.

The races were awesome all night long at Dodge County in all 5 divisions. Racing resumes next week one hour earlier at 5pm with action for USMTS Modifieds, WISSOTA Late Models, Super Stocks, Street Stocks and Midwest Mods. For more information, please call the track at 507 775-7091 or visit our website at www.dodgecountyspeedway.com.

RESULTS

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS

Feature: Arlen Diercks, Dan Gullikson, Jeff Brauer, Steve Goodenough, Tony Lund, Greg Erickson, Chuck Nerland, Mark Zvorak, Kevin Hager, Devon Sutton

Heat 1: Erickson, Jimmy Patzner, Zvorak, Tony Shaner, David Kruckeberg

Heat 2: Brauer, Hager, Nerland, Sutton, Tony Sass

Heat 3: Diercks, Goodenough, Lund, D. Gullikson, Rob Rucker

WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIEDS

Feature: Greg Pfiefer, Brian Hernandez, Neil Eckhart, Jerry Young, Chad Herman, Kenny Wytaske, Carter Gerlach, Jesse Freriecks, Scott Pomeroy, Matt Stark

Heat 1: Wytaske, Pomeroy, Dane Schultz, Ron Skalicky, Pete Wytaske

Heat 2: Gerlach, George Schrumpf, Hernandez, Matt Narveson, Terry Timmerman

Heat 3: Pfiefer, Herman, Scott Olson, Stark, Nick Kramer

Heat 4: Eckhart, Young, Freriecks, Ryan Weber, Harland Morehart

B-feature: Dan Fagerlind, Harland Morehart Jr., Darryl Hainka, Eric Condit, Scott Grondvold

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS

Feature: Bill Clemens, John Remington, Bill Stettner, Brandon Jensen, Dave Haberman, Kelly Anderson, Jon Duffy, Chris Klinger, Derrick Bridley, Dan Nissalke

Heat 1: Remington, Jensen, Justin Pogones, Tom Chrest, Adam Guberud

Heat 2: Stettner, Bridley, Duffy, Dave Solum, Mark Wytaske

Heat 3: Mark Teske, Jeremy Reinke, Clemens, Haberman, Nissalke

MODIFIEDS

Feature: Steve Wetzstein, Tim Donlinger, Todd Klees, Mike Sorensen, Dean Riess, Dave Siercks, Jay Poidinger, Tommy Myer, Darwyn Karau, Mick Glenn

Heat 1: Wetzstein, Glenn, Riess, Nathan Kilwine, M. Sorensen

Heat 2: Jay Ihrke, Bobby Sorensen, Les Duellman, Bob Timm, Dave Wytaske Jr,

Heat 3: Todd Scharkey, Klees, Jordan Steier, Joel Lisowski, Corey Miller

Heat 4: Poidinger, Siercks, Chad Behne, Karau

B-feature: Donlinger, Leroy Scharkey, Myer, Matt Madsen, Russ Quinnel

WISSOTA LATE MODELS

Feature: Lance Matthees, John Kaanta, Pat Doar, Brad Waits, Brent Larson, Bob Timm, Mark Teske, Joel Cryderman, Nick Herrick, Marty Wold

Heat 1: Matthees, Doar, Timm, Wold, Roger Herrick

Heat 2: Teske, Joe Bean, Kaanta, Ben Mattick, Justin Aylward

Heat 3: Cryderman, Waits, Lorin Johnson, Larson, N. Herrick