ARCADIA, Wis. (Aug. 23, 2002) - The Fox Ridge Speedway in Arcadia bolted back into action on Friday night, August 23rd for our 2002 season championships. A great car count packed the pit area and a great crowd filled the grandstand for the crowning of the 2002 track champions in all 4 divisions.

The evening’s racing action kicked off with make-up features from last week’s rainouts. The Streeters were up first and it produced the best race of the night to start off the program. Shawn Wehlage and Tom Hund got into a great battle for the lead early on while Dan Gullikson and Travis Krause were making their way through traffic toward the front. Gullikson was the first to reel in the leaders and began to put pressure on Hund for second, while Krause was continuing his charge toward the front. Gullikson slid under Hund into second and then pulled up alongside Wehlage for the lead. The two #00 cars ran wheel to wheel for the top spot for the remainder of a very exciting main event with Gullikson gaining the upper hand with a handful of circuits remaining. Krause stole third away from Hund, but was not going to catch the battle for the lead. Gullikson began to stretch his lead slightly over Wehlage, who now was under siege from Krause for the runner up position. Gullikson raced to his 15th feature win of the season while Krause was able to nip Wehlage for second at the line.

The Super Stock make-up feature was a dandy as well. Donnie Drew started on the pole and jumped out into the lead, but national point leader Mark Teske was not going to be denied and took command from Drew early on in the event and proceeded to steadily walk away from the field on his way to adding to his point lead by picking up the feature win. Drew settled into second with Gary Wiersgalla and Jason Johnson scrapping it out for third. Drew continued to search for a way to reel Teske back in, but Mark was very strong as usual and cruised to the win over Drew and Wiersgalla.

The Modified season championship feature event was up first with freshly crowned track champion, Eric Pember sitting on the pole with Karl Fenske to his outside. Fenske got the jump on the field at the start and immediately shot out to a sizeable advantage over Pember, who had settled into second. The event was caution-filled, so Fenske never could build up a big lead because every time he started to stretch it out, the yellow would wave and put Pember back on his bumper. While Fenske continued to search for his first ever FRS feature win, Les Duellman and Leroy Scharkey were picking off cars left and right on their way to the front. Duellman was the first to get through and appeared in third with a handful of laps remaining. Duellman was able to wrestle second away from Pember and then shot to the outside of Fenske for the top spot. Karl’s good run soon came to an end when he developed a right rear flat tire, ending his night and setting up a 2-lap dash for the win between Duellman and Pember. Pember tried to steal the lead back, but Les was up to the challenge and raced to his 5th FRS feature win of the season. Pember settled for second with Scharkey completing a good run to finish in third.

The Street Stocks were up next for their season championship main event the defending and now back-to-back track champion, Travis Krause setting the pace. Krause took command early on with Shawn Wehlage running in second. Darryl Foegen and Cory Breitung were locked in battle for third. Breitung was making his return to the Street Stock ranks after some time off and picked up right where he left off in the past, battling up front. Krause left nothing to the imagination as he stretched his advantage out to a sizeable one, leaving the scramble between Foegen and Breitung as the one to watch. Krause continued his dominance of the Ridge on his way to his second consecutive track championship and second consecutive season championship in his # 01. Wehlage came home in second with Foegen edging Breitung for third at the line.

Supers were next on the card with Donnie Drew sitting on the pole for the second feature of the night and he was not about to settle for second in this one. Drew bolted from the pole out into the lead while Mark Teske and Jason Johnson were locked in battle for second early on. This allowed Drew to get out to a bit of an advantage before Teske was able to slip by Johnson into second and set his sights after the leader. Teske was able to cut into Drew’s advantage and pull up along side double D a few times, but Drew was hungry for his first ever FRS feature win and was able to withstand the national point leader’s advances and was able to hold on for the lead and the win. Drew raced to a hard earned win ahead of Teske and Johnson. Gary Wiersgalla was fortunate and misfortunate all at the same time tonight. Wiersgalla broke in the feature, causing him to not finish, but he had enough of a point lead over Jason Johnson to secure the track championship no matter how he did the main event.

The final event of the evening was the Late Model feature. This was the only division that there still could have been a change at the top of the point standings during the main event. Although it was a small chance, Eric Pember still mathematically had a shot of overtaking Steve Isenberg for the track championship if Pember could win the feature and if Isenberg finished 17th. Well, Pember did his part by taking command from Isenberg on lap 2 of the 20-lapper and running away and hiding from the rest of the field on his way to the impressive feature win. Isenberg secured the track championship when Donnie Drew, who was substituting for John Kaanta, pulled the # 85 into the pits ½ way through the feature. This locked up the point title for Isenberg, a great feat for a rookie in WISSOTA’s highest division. As for the race, a great battle for second was occurring between Lance Matthees and Bob Timm, while Isenberg and Duane Mahder were also duking it out for fourth. Pember, however, was all alone out front and raced uncontested to another feature win at the Ridge this season. Matthees was able to withstand Timm’s challenges for second at the line.

All in all, the 2002 season championship night at Fox Ridge was a very good one. The track held up great and the crowd came out to support the event and to witness the crowing of the 2002 season and track champions at the speedway.

Racing resumes this Friday at the Ridge with action for Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks and WISSOTA Street Stocks to kick off Labor Day Weekend. For more information, please check out the tracks website at www.foxridgespeedway.com. Also on the schedule for FRS this season is a regular show on Saturday, September 7th for Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks and WISSOTA Street Stocks. WISSOTA Late Models will take the next two weeks off before retuning for a $3,000 to win event at this year’s second annual Thunder at the Ridge on Friday and Saturday, October 4th and 5th. Along with the WISSOTA Late Models, this year’s Thunder at the Ridge will feature WISSOTA Modifieds, Open Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks, WISSOTA Street Stocks and WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds.

RESULTS

WISSOTA LATE MODELS

Feature: Eric Pember, Lance Matthees, Bob Timm, Steve Isenberg, Duane Mahder, Brad Waits, Jon Kurshinsky, Scott Cramer, Jeff Keeney, Keith Foss

Heat 1: Isenberg, Timm, Cramer, Waits, Foss

Heat 2: Pember, Matthees, Mahder, Keeney, Tom Nesbitt

MODIFIEDS

Feature: Les Duellman, Eric Pember, Leroy Scharkey, Steve Speltz, John Doelle, Bruce Angst, Troy Langowski, Mick Glenn, Lonnie Earney, Gary Doelle

Heat 1: Pember, Wayne Engen, Bob Timm, Speltz, Earney

Heat 2: Karl Fenske, Angst, Duellman, Scharkey, Mick Glenn

Heat 3: Langowski, J. Doelle, Shane Wehrs, Ron Britain, Dan Hesch

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS

Feature: Don Drew, Mark Teske, Jason Johnson, Dan Nissalke, Adam Stockhausen, Mark Wytaske, Kevin Hager, Kenny Davis, Shatney Sanders, Matt Durnen

Heat 1: Drew, Gary Wiersgalla, Dan Arneson, Jon Duffy, Quinn Arnoldy

Heat 2: Johnson, Ben Anderson, Shawn Huse, Kevin Glander, Steve Hallquist

Heat 3: Stockhausen, Nissalke, Wytaske, Durnen, Davis

Heat 4: Teske, Dennis Earney, Josh Rodewald, Hager, Sanders

B-feature: Nick Musel, John Rafferty, Luke Schultz, Kevin Wagner, Phil Kendrick

Make-up Feature: Mark Teske, Don Drew, Gary Wiersgalla, Jason Johnson, Mark Wytaske, Dan Nissalke, Ben Anderson, Dan Arneson, Dennis Earney, Matt Durnen

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS

Feature: Travis Krause, Shawn Wehlage, Darryl Foegen, Cory Breitung, Dennis Davis, Brock Wright, Tom Hund, Matt Theisen, Matt Wolfe, Randy Bradford

Heat 1: Krause, Wehlage, Dan Gullikson, Tom Brink, Lee Hager

Heat 2: Danny Hanson, Jeremy Sommer, Foegen, Hund, Theisen

Heat 3: David Nastvold, Breitung, Davis, Wright, Rick Loppnow

Make-up Feature: Dan Gullikson, Travis Krause, Shawn Wehlage, Tom Hund, Darryl Foegen, Fred Prudoehl, David Nastvold, Jeremy Sommer, Randy Bradford, Matt Theisen