by Chris Stepan

KASSON, Minn. (June 21, 2001) - The Dodge County Speedway in Kasson, MN hosted its first special event of the season as the USMTS Modified series paid a visit to the fans in southern Minnesota along with the WISSOTA Super Stocks. The Modified main event paid $2,000 to the winner and the Super Stock winner went home with $1,000.

The Super Stocks had a great field of cars on hand with everyone gunning for the increased top prize. Pole sitter, Danny Olinger jumped out into the lead at the drop of the green flag, but Josh Rodewald had other ideas as he swept by Olinger into the top spot on lap 2, bringing Curt Myers with him as Myers began to battle with Olinger for second early on in the event. Myers stole the spot and wasted no time coming after Rodewald up front, swiping the lead away from Josh on lap 4.

Olinger moved back into battle with Rodewald for second as Don Eischens and Justin Aylward were engaged in a tight battle for fourth just behind. Olinger wrestled second away from Rodewald on lap 9 and set off to try to reel Myers back in. Joey Jensen and Ryan Aho were moving through the field as well, as they were beginning to make their way toward the top five.

Myers continued to ride the cushion out front, while Olinger ran the low side to try to make up some ground. Once Olinger found his groove, Myers was not able to pull out to any larger of an advantage, but Olinger was not able to really close in on the leader either. Myers went on to pick up the biggest payday of his career with Olinger having his best run of the season in second. Aylward was able to fend off the race-long pressure from Eischens to come home in third with Jensen rounding out the top five finishers.

The USMTS Modified main event was the next event on the schedule and saw Tommy Myer shoot out into the lead in his # 65, but Mike Chasteen was not about to let Myer run away with it as he quickly came after him and began to pressure him on the third circuit. Chasteen jumped to the outside of Myer in turn one and stole the lead away on lap 4. Myer settled into second until the first and only caution flag of the event flew on lap 6.

On the restart, Myer took a look to the inside of Chasteen up front, but could not complete the pass as Chasteen opened up his advantage by a few car lengths over the next several circuits. A very good battle was ensuing behind the leaders as Ron Schreiner and Justin Boney were locked in competition for fifth, while Tim Donlinger and Jay Ihrke were also running wheel to wheel in a battle for third for about ten consecutive laps. Donlinger shot to the outside of Ihrke in turn two and finally stole the spot away on lap 18 and then began to hound Myer for second a lap later. Donlinger again used the higher groove to pull alongside Myer for second and wrestled that spot away two laps later.

Chasteen had built up a sizeable advantage over Donlinger, but Mike was running in some very heavy lapped traffic up front, allowing Donlinger to reel him in with relative ease. Once Donlinger caught Chasteen, he tried all he could to make his # 21 stick on the low side and took a look to the inside on several occasions, but could not get enough of a run to complete the pass. A bit further back, Kelly Shryock was making a charge from a b-feature and was pressuring Boney for fifth with about ten laps to go.

Back up front Chasteen and Donlinger were still waging a war for the lead and as the white flag flew, Donlinger got a great run off of turn 2 and pulled alongside of Chasteen as they roared down the backstretch for the final time. Chasteen pushed up a bit in turn three, which blocked Donlinger’s line, allowing Chasteen to cross the line first for the win. Donlinger came home a solid second with Myer, Ihrke and Boney rounding out the top five finishers.

RESULTS

USMTS MODIFIEDS

Feature: Mike Chasteen, Tim Donlinger, Tommy Myer, Jay Ihrke, Justin Boney, Kelly Shryock, Ron Schreiner, Tim Folkerts, Jason Hughes, Mike Sorensen

B-feature 1: Hughes, Sorensen, Adam Larson, Todd Klees, Dan Daniels

B-feature 2: Bob Sammann, Doug Hillson, Dave Siercks, Mike Hernke, Jon Tesch

Heat 1: Nathan Kilwine, Jason Sleigh, Steve Wetzstein, Hughes, Soernsen

Heat 2: Myer, Donlinger, Hernke, Sammann, Tesch

Heat 3: Schreiner, Boney, Les Duellman, Siercks, Hillson

Heat 4: Corey Dripps, Johnny Bone Jr., Jordan Steier, Larson, Daniels

Heat 5: Ihrke, Chasteen, Folkerts, Brad Waits, Brad McEwan

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS

Feature: Curt Myers, Danny Olinger, Justin Aylward, Don Eischens, Joey Jensen, Ryan Aho, Mark Teske, Jon Van Minsel, Jerry Bloom, Dave Haberman

B-feature: Haberman, Aho, Dan Carlson, John Remington, Scott Schmidt

Heat 1: Myers, Teske, Aylward, Butch Butcher, Bill Stettner

Heat 2: Mark Wytaske, Kelly Anderson, Brad Bannitt, Kenny Davis, Chris Klinger

Heat 3: Stacy Edgar, Josh Rodewald, Van Minsel, Jon Duffy, Bloom

Heat 4: Eischens, Roger Herrick, Olinger, Jensen, Nick Herrick