FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. -- Eric Pember is no stranger to victory lane ... outside of Fountain City, Wis., that is.

As a weekly competitor at Mississippi Thunder Speedway through the 2012 season, he’d never quite found his way to the front of the field as checkered flags were flying; that changed Friday night as the Pittsville racer pointed his #89 towards the front of the field, worked his way through the pack, and took advantage of a changing racing surface to put on a battle to the finish line that had fans on their feet and cheering!

Starting from the outside of the fourth row, Pember knew that he had his work cut out for him if the evening was going to be entered into the books as a successful night. 2009 Mississippi Thunder Speedway track champion John Doelle jumped from his pole position starting spot to lead the opening two circuits of the 25-lap feature event, before multi-feature winner Lucas Schott relieved him of the top spot on lap three.

Just behind Doelle and Schott, first heat race winner Mick Glenn enjoyed a run up near the front, battling first Hank Rollinger Jr. and then Pember before falling outside of the top 5, and later settling for a solid sixth place finish.

After Schott took the lead on lap 3, it appeared as though he was going to settle into a strangle hold grip on the top spot and not give anyone else an opportunity to enjoy it. But, Pember was on his way towards the front, and incoming weather and a changing racing surface played into his hands.

“Over the last half or so, the sprinkles were starting to fall,” commented Pember. “The way the track changed gave me the opportunity to close in on (Schott) for the lead.”

It took the first 15 laps for Pember work his way through the field and get his car into second place; over the next seven laps Pember slowly but surely closed in on Schott’s race leading #69. The final three laps were a dog fight as Schott came up off the extreme low line that he had been running in an attempt to keep Pember out of the lead.

“When I saw Luke come up off the bottom, I knew we were going to have a good battle for the win,” said Pember.

Racing through the final turn on the final lap, Pember was sure that the win was his and he started celebrating early, pumping his fist in the air out the driver’s window of his White City Glass/Molechek Meats Modified as he crossed the finish line beneath the checkered flag.

Schott finished second with Jake Timm, who’d come from a fifth row starting spot, holding off Doelle and second heat-race winner Josh Angst for third.

Mississippi Thunder Speedway’s 2012 season continues next Friday night, July 20, with the Baehman B-Mod Challenge presented by Baehman Law. On-track action begins at 6 p.m. with the Sunshine Sanitation A and B Mini Mods on the “Lightning Speedway” and competition on the fast 1/3-mile getting underway at 7 p.m. comprised of a complete program from the River City Manufacturing USRA Modifieds, Coordinated Business Systems WISSOTA Super Stocks, TheEngineStore.com USRA B-Mods, Jailhouse Saloon WISSOTA Street Stocks, REDBOX+ 600 Mods and Elmer’s Auto Salvage MTS Pure Stocks.

For more details, visit the official Mississippi Thunder Speedway website at www.mississippithunder.com.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS
American Racer USRA Weekly Racing Series
Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Fountain City, Wis.
Friday, July 13, 2012

USRA MODIFIEDS

Heat #1: 1. Mick Glenn, 2. Thomas Brink, 3. Lucas Schott, 4. Dan Hesch, 5. Eric Pember, 6. Keith Foss, 7. Leroy Scharkey, 8. Phil Wernert, 9. Lance Hofer.

Heat #2: 1. Josh Angst, 2. Jake Timm, 3. John Doelle, 4. Les Duellman, 5. Hank Rollinger Jr. 6. Chris Gilbertson, 7. Bob Fort, 8. Tony Peterson, 9. Brian Albrecht.

Feature: 1. Eric Pember, 2. Lucas Schott, 3. Jake Timm, 4. John Doelle, 5. Josh Angst, 6. Mick Glenn, 7. Hank Rollinger Jr. 8. Les Duellman, 9. Keith Foss, 10. Chris Gilbertson, 11. Thomas Brink, 12. Dan Hesch, 13. Tony Peterson, 14. Phil Wernert, 15. Lance Hofer, 16. Bob Fort, 17. Leroy Scharkey, 18. Brian Albrecht.