by Chris Stepan

ARCADIA, Wis. (July 13, 2001) - Friday the 13th was definitely not unlucky for Eric Pember as he made his return to Fox Ridge a memorable one by debuting a brand new Smackdown MasterSbilt Late Model and speeding to his first victory of the season by leading wire-to-wire in the main event.

Street Stocks were the first main event to take the track and saw Jeremy Sommer take the lead from the start in his #41 while Shaun Wehlage, Phil Wernert and Darryl Foegen were locked in battle early on for second. Sommer began to check out on the field early while the battle for second continued to be an intense one. Sommer's lead disappeared quickly when the caution flag flew on lap 8 for a crash in turn 4.

The track's point leader, Travis Krause, was making his way through traffic after being forced to start 23rd on the field due to mechanical troubles in his heat race. Krause was in 10th on the restart and continued his march toward the front. Wehlage and Danny Hanson were not about to let Sommer slip away from them this time as they both stuck to the leader like glue while Krause made his appearance in the top five just past the half way point of the event.

Krause then took a look to the inside of Tom Hund for fourth while Hanson and Wehlage were making it three-wide for the lead with Sommer. Suddenly Krause got an extra burst of speed and pulled alongside of Hanson for third, while Sommer and Wehlage were also door to door for the lead.

Krause used the high line to his advantage and blasted by Hund and Wehlage into second with 2 laps remaining and quickly pulled up along side of Sommer for the lead, which he took control of one lap later. Krause then cruised on the final circuit for the unbelievable feature win from his 23rd starting spot. Sommer, Wehlage, Hund and David Nastvold rounded out the top five finishers.

Kevin Hager took the lead at the start of the Super Stock feat5ure with John Doelle and Matt Durnen running side by side for second early on. Jason Johnson bolted from his sixth row starting spot into fourth after only 3 laps and continued his march forward as he slipped under Dan Arneson for third on lap 4. Hager continued to show the way but Doelle and Johnson were not all over him for the top spot until Johnson was able to slip by Doelle into second and then steal the lead away from Hager on lap 8.

After a quick caution bunched up the field, Johnson took off like a rocket into the lead and Dennis Earney shot up to the cushion and began to make his way toward the front while Doelle nabbed second away from Hager and began to reel in Johnson again for the lead. Another caution flag flew on lap 12, which saw Doelle duck into the pits to change a tire and restart at the tail.

Johnson then ran the remainder of the contest unchallenged but Doelle was flying around the high side of the speedway and worked his way all the way back up to second at the checkered. He was, however, penalized for jumping a restart and was forced to settle for fourth at the stripe. Earney also slipped by Hager and was credited with second.

Mike Sorensen used the pole to his advantage and shot out into the lead at the start of the Modified feature with Tommy Myer and Shane Wehrs battling for second early on. Myer took the spot away on lap 2 and set off after Sorensen up front. Les Duellman was flying again tonight and was making up ground on the leaders very quickly as he appeared in fourth on lap 4.

After a restart, Kyle Chiglo made a move on the high side and pulled alongside of Sorensen for the lead, only to have Mike steal it back one lap later. Myer then also slipped by Chiglo back into second, while Duellman repeated the move to gain the third spot a lap later. Duellman then took the high line around Myer into second on lap 9 and set off after Sorensen up front.

Duellman quickly reeled in Sorensen for the top spot and blasted by him on the outside into the lead just past the half way point of the event. Once Duellman took command, he proceeded to steadily walk away from the field throughout the remainder of the event. Myer began to reel in Sorensen toward the end of the race, but ran out of laps as Duellman picked up his second win in as many weeks at the speedway while Sorensen held off Myer for second. Bruce Angst got by Wehrs for the fourth spot at the stripe as well.

The final event of the evening was the Late Model main, which saw Paul Brust take command at the start, while Eric Pember battled early on with Tom Nesbitt for second. Pember was able to use the high line to bolt by Nesbitt into second and then by Brust into the lead on lap 3. Once Pember got out front, he was gone as he extended his advantage with each circuit. John Henkemeyer, Brust and Lance Matthees were all locked in a good battle for third, which Matthees was able to steal away just before the halfway point.

Pember continued to show the way, but Nesbitt seemed to be a bit quicker on the bottom of the speedway and was beginning to reel in Pember up front, while Matthees was making a charge as well and was closing ground on the leaders. Bob Timm was also using the high line and slipped by Brust into fifth and then repeated the move on Henkemeyer into fourth as the laps began to wind down.

Nesbitt had reeled in Pember up front and began to take a look for the lead, but Pember was too strong as Eric raced to his first win of the season in his brand new car. Nesbitt recorded another solid second place finish ahead of Matthees, Timm and Henkemeyer.

Racing action resumes at the Ridge this Friday with the return of the USMTS Modifieds to the speedway for a $2,000 to win main event. WISSOTA Super Stocks will be running for $1,000 to win and WISSOTA Street Stocks will have $500 up for grabs as well. WISSOTA Late Models will have the night off from action. For more information please visit us online at www.foxridgespeedway.com.

RESULTS

WISSOTA LATE MODELS

Feature: Eric Pember, Tom Nesbitt, Lance Matthees, Bob Timm, John Henkemeyer, Paul Brust, Corby Metzgar, Jason Schill, Jim Sandvig, Jeff Keeney

Heat 1: Pember, Keith Foss, Nesbitt, Matthees, Timm

Heat 2: Brust, Troy Brand, Henkemeyer, Metzgar, Sandvig

Dash: Foss, Pember, Nesbitt, Henkemeyer, Brand

MODIFIEDS

Feature: Les Duellman, Mike Sorensen, Tommy Myer, Bruce Angst, Shane Wehrs, Steve Speltz, Kyle Chiglo, Kerry Ledebuhr, Dana Lerum, Ron Britain

Heat 1: Duellman, Mick Glenn, Sorensen, Bill Baures, Larry Kallenbach

Heat 2: Ledebuhr, Wehrs, Chiglo, Steve Isenburg, Dan Hesch

Heat 3: Angst, Myer, Paul Hamernik, Speltz, Hank Rollinger

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS

Feature: Jason Johnson, Dennis Earney, Kevin Hager, John Doelle, Jon Duffy, Adam Stockhausen, Dan Arneson, Dan Nissalke, Quinn Arnoldy, Matt Durnen

Heat 1: Arneson, Lyle Schlomer, Stockhausen, Jere Stanton, Ben Anderson

Heat 2: Earney, Doelle, Hager, Johnson, Brad Edington

Heat 3: Duffy, Durnen, Kevin Glander, Arnoldy, Justin Sass

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS

Feature: Travis Krause, Jeremy Sommer, Shaun Wehlage, Tom Hund, David Nastvold, Tony Sass, Matt Theisen, Jimmy Patzner, Tony Foster, Dennis Davis

Heat 1: Darryl Foegen, Wehlage, Brandon Baker, Nastvold, Nathan Rauter

Heat 2: Jim Randall, Danny Hanson, Sommer, Hund, Sass

Heat 3: Patzner, Brad Dennis, Theisen, Phil Wernert, Davis