by Bill Nelson

SPRING VALLEY, Minn. (June 26, 2002) - Tonight's racing activities were sponsored by Roscoe's Ribs and a good crowd was on hand to see the first ever WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series event at the Deer Creek Speedway. A total of 29 Late Models checked into the back gate along with 17 Street Stocks battling for $300.00 to win and 25 Super Stocks for the $500.00 to win special.

The track held up extremely well for the amount of Late Models on hand tonight with an intermission for blading after the heat races. For the features the track was very fast with the upper groove coming in the best for some great racing action. The street stocks hit the track first for their feature with Slim Jim Gustafson passing John Bushman for the lead after the first two laps. Gustafson is on a roll of late at the track with four in a row going into tonight's racing action. Shawn Whelage and Bushman battled for the second spot for a few laps even pulling up to Gustafson and running three wide for a lap. The two put on a good battle for a couple laps until Whelage pulled into the advantage. Jeremy Sommer and Steve Eischens had a good battle going for the fourth spot and pulled up to do battle with Bushman for the third spot. Up front Gustafson pulled away for his fifth feature win in a row with Whelage second and Sommer coming home third.

The super stocks really pushed the cushion and used the upper groove to their advantage, up front George Batzel go the jump on the field and pulled into the lead with Stacy Edgar running second. Bill Clemens and Dave Haberman battled for the fourth position and had the best battle of the night running side by side for the first half of the feature. Kevin Adams started in the tenth spot and was slowly working his way forward and at the midpoint of the feature had worked into the sixth spot and was battling with Mark Wytaske for the fifth spot. With 5 to go the top side of the track was the fastest with everyone running the top groove and trying to dive under the car in front of them for position. On each of the last three laps, Edgar, Clemens and Haberman exited the corners three wide but Edgar was on top and always able to pull slightly away. At the finish it was Batzel coming home with his second win of the season, Edgar second and Clemens third.

The WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series was the last event on the track for the night with Jon Kurshinsky using front row to his advantage and taking the high line to the front. Brad Waits started on the pole and immediately jumped up behind Kurshinsky for the second spot. For the first third of the race the best battle was for the eight spot with Joel Cryderman, Pat Doar and Bob Timm battling for position. These three ran three wide coming out of the corner multiple times throughout the beginning stages. For the middle portion of the race Doar and Duane Mahder started to work the bottom side of the racetrack. Mahder slowly got better on the low side and started to slowly reel in the leaders. Doar was unable to make the bottom side of the track worked and moved back in line with the drivers circling the track on the upper groove. In the last 5 laps of the race Mahder moved from eighth position to fifth running the very bottom of the track. Mahder was by far the hardest charger of the evening coming from 18th place to fifth during the forty lap feature. Kurshinsky came home with the win, Waits was second and Mitch Johnson third.

RESULTS

STREET STOCKS

Feature - Jim Gustafson, Shawn Whelage, Jeremy Sommer, Steve Eischens, John Bushman, Chuck Nerland, David Stearns, Bill Steinberg, Mark Hovland, Tom Brink.

Heat 1 - Gustafson, Sommer, Bushman, Nerland, Eischens

Heat 2 - Whelage, Erickson, Stearns, Steinberg, Ron Rucker

SUPER STOCKS

Feature - George Batzel, Stacy Edgar, Bill Clemens, Dave Haberman, Kevin Adams, Mark Wytaske, Ben Anderson, Kelly Anderson, Dan Carlson, Josh Rodewald

Heat 1 - Gary Schmidt, B. Anderson, Haberman, Mark Teske, Jon Duffy

Heat 2 - Adams, Carlson, Ben Paul, Edgar, Tom Chrest

Heat 3 - Wytaske, Rodewald, Clemens, Batzel, K. Anderson

LATE MODELS

Feature - Jon Kurshinsky, Brad Waits, Mitch Johnson, Lance Matthees, Duane Mahder, John Kaanta, Dave Zimmerman, Joel Cryderman, Pat Doar, Troy Kuyoth

Heat 1 - Zimmerman, Waits, Cryderman, Bob Timm, Tom Nesbitt

Heat 2 - Matthees, Ryan Aho, Jeff Provinzino, Mark Hesslink, Duane Mahder

Heat 3 - Mitch Johnson, Steve Eisenberg, Doar, Kuyoth, Mark Teske

Heat 4 - Kurshinsky, Rick Eggersdorf, Kaanta, Olsen, M. Sorenson

B-Feature - Steve Laursen, Keith Foss, Randy Schlagel, Brian Hendershot, Roger Torgerson