by Chris Stepan

KASSON, MN (May 20, 2001) - Racing action resumed at the Dodge County Speedway in Kasson, MN on Sunday, May 20th under dreary shies and less than ideal weather conditions, which kept the crowd down a bit as well as the car count, but the track continued to be smooth as glass and the racing action was exciting as well.

After all of the qualifying events had taken place, the WISSOTA Street Stock feature was first up with Joe Wernecke and Steve Goodenough pacing the field to the green flag. Goodenough wasted no time jumping into the lead, bringing Greg Erickson with him into second on lap 1. Kevin Adams and Jeff Brauer moved into battle with Wernecke for third as the leaders began to distance themselves from the rest of the field.

The lone caution of the event flew just before the mid point of the race, which eliminated Gooenough's lead and put Erickson right on his rear bumper for the restart. On the start, Goodenough again shot out into the lead and never looked back as he withstood a bid by Erickson to snatch the lead away, but Erickson could not muster enough to get under Goodenough allowing Steve then proceeded on to his first win since debuting his new car a few weeks ago.

Jason Gabrielson and Arlen Diercks were engaged in a good battle for position just outside of the top five all race long as well. They battled with Wernecke for several laps toward the middle part of the event, before continuing their struggle against one another for position for the remainder of the race.

Erickson ran a solid second as Adams and Brauer continued their race long battle for third to the stripe. Adams held onto third and Brauer held off Diercks at the stripe for fourth.

The WISSOTA Midwest Modified main event was up next with Jim Arnold sliding across the slimy track into the lead at the drop of the green and taking command early in the event. Matt Madsen settled into second early with Chad Herman right on his tail, looking for the fastest line around the speedway. A light rain began to fall during the event, which created a very slippery track surface and kept passing at a minimum, but Matt Stark was finding a way to pass people as he slipped by Dana Brunkhorst and George Schrumpf into the top five early on in the race.

After a lap 8 crash, Arnold again bolted off into the night, leaving the battle for second between Madsen and Herman to continue. Stark continued to work his way toward the front as he appeared in fourth and began to pressure Herman and Madsen late in the show.

Arnold was strong as he lead very lap en route to his first DCS feature win of the season. Madsen had a very good run to finish in second with Herman holding off Stark at the line for third. Last week's winner, Greg Pfiefer had a good run tonight as well. He started in the 7th row and picked his way through the field to a fifth place finish.

The Super Stocks were up next with last week's winner, Curt Myers setting the pace. Myers shot out into the lead at the start and immediately pulled to a strong advantage over the battle for second between Stacy Edgar and Todd Miller. The pair of # 38's were running side by side for second as Mark Teske and Dave Haberman were in a battle for fifth early on as well.

The caution-plagued event took its first victims on lap 5, when Teske, Mark Wytaske, Bill Clemens and Jon Van Minsel got collected on the backstretch, eliminating Teske from competition.

On the restart, Myers again was gone, while Clemens, Haberman and Dave Solum were locked in battle for fifth. Kelly Anderson began to make his presence felt as he slipped under Stacy Edgar in turn 2 on lap six into third and then made the same move on Todd Miller in turn 4 on the next circuit into second. Myers held a big advantage, but it all evaporated as the caution flew again on lap 10 for a crash.

This time on the restart, Anderson hung with Myers for the next lap until Myers # 7m burst into a huge ball of flames down the back chute, ending his chances for a sure win. Anderson inherited the lead and held strong to the end to pick up the win over Haberman, who held off Clemens for second.

The $1,000 to win Modified main event was the final event of the evening and Bobby Sorensen took the lead at the start, but Jordan Steier and LeRoy Scharkey made it three-wide for the lead down the backstretch until someone got turned around in turn three and stacked up the field. Contenders, Nathan Kilwine, Dana Lerum, Jay Ihrke, Todd Klees, Mike Sorensen, Nate Wasmund, Steve Wetzstein, Todd Scharkey, Craig Shaw and Tommy Myer were all caught up in the mess and while it was being cleaned up the skies opened and the rains came, forcing the postponement of the main event until this Sunday.

In addition to the make-up Modified feature; a full program of IMCA Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks, WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds and WISSOTA Street Stocks will be in competition this Sunday, with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7.

RESULTS

IMCA MODIFIEDS

Feature: Postponed until Sunday, May 27th

Heat 1: Jay Ihrke, LeRoy Scharkey, Mike Sorensen, Denny Barwald, Jeff Ringenburg

Heat 2: Nate Wasmund, Steve Wetzstein, Tommy Myer, Bobby Sorensen, Dana Lerum

Heat 3: Jordan Steier, Todd Klees, Todd Scharkey, Craig Shaw, Darwyn Karau

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS

Feature: Kelly Anderson, Dave Haberman, Bill Clemens, Nick Herrick, Dave Solum, Stacy Edgar, Scott Murphy, Todd Miller, Curt Myers, Mark Wytaske

Heat 1: Clemens, Miller, Edgar, Anderson, Solum

Heat 2: Myers, Mark Teske, Haberman, Jon Van Minsel, Wytaske

WISSOTA MIDWEST MODIFIEDS

Feature: Jim Arnold, Matt Madsen, Chad Herman, Matt Stark, Greg Pfiefer, George Schrumpf, Nick Kramer, Jade Anderson, Pat McCarthy, Harland Morehart Jr.

Heat 1: Madsen, Mike Lawson, Anderson, Herman, Arnold

Heat 2: Dana Brunkhorst, Stark, Scott Grundvold, Schrumpf, Justin Hainka

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS

Feature: Steve Goodenough, Greg Erickson, Kevin Adams, Jeff Brauer, Arlen Diercks, Joe Wernecke, Jason Gabrielson, Rex Welch, Rob Wiesel, Mark Jennings

Heat 1: Brauer, Adams, Erickson, Jeremy Laures, Diercks

Heat 2: Goodenough, Jennings, Welch, Wernecke, Chuck Nerland