by Chris Stepan

ARCADIA, Wis. (June 15, 2001) - For the second consecutive Friday afternoon, the son shone brightly on the Fox Ridge Speedway and racing action was as intense as ever for the midseason championships at the speedway.

Jim Randall took command early in the Street Stock feature as he shot his # 1K into the lead as Shaun Wehlage, Travis Krause and Daryl Foegen began to battle for second just behind the leader. Also Brad Dennis and David Nastvold were engaged in a tussle for position just behind the top five.

After a quick caution, Randall again took control of the race as he set off into the night with Wehlage and Foegen still duking it out for the runner up spot. Nastvold and Dennis resumed their battle for position before yet another caution flew on lap 7.

This time on the restart, Randall took the lead again, but Wehlage jumped to the cushion and blasted by both Krause and Foegen from fourth into second in turns 1 and 2 and immediately began to pressure Randall up front. The lead duo ran side by side for several laps until Randall was able to flex his muscles and retake the top spot, which he held to the checkered.

Jason Johnson sat on the pole for the Super Stock feature and quickly jumped out front at the drop of the green. Jon Duffy, Dan Arneson and Kevin Glander were running three-wide early on for second as Johnson stretched his lead quickly in his # 28.

After a lap 2 caution, Johnson again set off into the lead as John Doelle and Mike Hesselink began to move to ward the front and began to pressure Arneson for fourth, while Duffy ran a solid second with Glander all over his rear end. Johnson was running all alone out front as the battles for position behind him were very intense between Hesselink and Doelle and also between Glander and Duffy.

The leaders strung themselves out a bit as Johnson held a commanding lead while Duffy and Glander still continued to battle with each other for position, while Doelle had secured fourth away from Hesselink.

As the laps wound down, Johnson cruised to his second Super Stock win in a row with Glander holding off Duffy for second. Doelle had his best finish this season in fourth and Arneson rounded out the top five finishers.

The Modifieds were up next with a mad scramble occurring at the drop of the green between Shane Wehrs, Steve Speltz and Bruce Angst as they ran three-wide into turn 1 for the lead. Angst wrestled the top spot away as Wehrs and Speltz continued to run side by side for second. Troy Langowski and Todd Klees also were dicing it up for fifth just behind the leaders

Angst set off into the distance as he stretched his lead with each and every lap as Wehrs settled into the second spot and tried to reel back in Angst up front. Speltz though, was not going to let Wehrs run away with second as he stayed glued right to his rear bumper. The race for second continued to be a very good one as Angst ran alone up front while Mike Sorensen was making his way through the field and appeared in fourth and began to battle with Hank Rollinger for that position.

One last caution set up a 5-lap shootout to the checkered and at the drop of the green, Speltz pulled up alongside of Wehrs for second as Rollinger, Sorensen and Rick Hauser were locked in competition for fourth. As the laps wound down, Speltz got good runs off the corners and as the white flag flew, he bolted past Wehrs into second and quickly reeled in Angst up front. Speltz then proceeded to blow by Angst into the lead on the last lap to record his second win of the season at the speedway in thrilling fashion. Angst had to settle for second, Wehrs third, Langowski fourth and Steve Wetzstein rounded out the top five finishers.

The Late Model feature was the final event of the night with Bob Timm and Nesbitt taking the green flag side by side and running wheel to wheel up front for the first 2 laps until Lance Matthees made his move on the low side of the speedway and began to pressure the leaders on the backstretch.

Lance made his move to the inside of Timm in turn three and Nesbitt in turn four to take command of the feature and stretched his advantage with each and every lap throughout the remainder of the race.

The running order remained the same through much of the event and at the half way point, Matthees lead Timm, Nesbitt, Jeff Keeney and Paul Brust until the caution flew for the first time on lap 11, just past the half way point.

On the restart, Matthees again set off into the lead with Timm and Nesbitt reassuming their battle for second, while Keeney and Brust were engaged in a tussle for fourth as well. Keith Foss moved his # 95 to the high side and made it work very well as he picked off several cars as he appeared in fourth ahead of Brust, who had wrestled the spot away from Keeney down the backstretch.

Nesbitt moved in to battle for second with Timm on lap 12 and made the pass for the position one lap later, but Matthees was too strong as Lance walked away from everyone to pick up his second Fox Ridge feature win. Nesbitt rallied to finish a strong second with Timm, Foss and Brust rounding out the top five finishers.

Racing action resumes at Fox Ridge this Friday night when the WISSOTA Late Models take the night off and the Midwest Sprint Car Series makes its first visit to the speedway along with the Modifieds, WISSOTA Super Stocks and WISSOTA Street Stocks. For more information please check out the track’s website at www.foxridgespeedway.com.

RESULTS

WISSOTA LATE MODELS

Feature: Lance Matthees, Tom Nesbitt, Bob Timm, Keith Foss, Paul Brust, Jeff Keeney, Mark Chamernick, Troy Brand, Steve Yaggy, Mike Chamernick

Heat 1: Timm, Matthees, Foss, Mark Chamernick, Yaggy

Heat 2: Nesbitt, Keeney, Brust, Mike Chamernick, Brand

MODIFIEDS

Feature: Steve Speltz, Bruce Angst, Shane Wehrs, Troy Langowski, Steve Wetzstein, Rick Hauser, Hank Rollinger, Dave Wiersgalla, Mark Iverson, Kerry Ledebuhr

Heat 1: Speltz, Langowski, Hauser, Mike Sorensen, Gary Doelle

Heat 2: Wehrs, Todd Klees, Jordan Steier, Ron Britain, Wetzstein

Heat 3: Angst, Rollinger, Mick Glenn, Paul Hamernick, Ledebuhr

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS

Feature: Jason Johnson, Kevin Glander, Jon Duffy, John Doelle, Dan Arneson, Mark Teske, Bob Fort, Ben Anderson, Neil Eckhart, Bruce Tourville

Heat 1: Johnson, Arneson, Matt Durnen, Teske, Kelly Anderson

Heat 2: Glander, Mike Hesselink, Josh Rodewald, Ben Anderson, Tourville

Heat 3: Duffy, Doelle, Eckhart, Dennis Earney, Phil Kendrick

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS

Feature: Jim Randall, Shaun Wehlage, Travis Krause, Daryl Foegen, David Nastvold, Brad Dennis, Steve Eggersgluess, Jeremy Sommer, Phil Wernert, Lee Hager

Heat 1: Danny Hanson, Krause, Tony Sass, Wernert, Joe Wernecke

Heat 2: Sommer, Foegen, Dennis, Nathan Rauter, Schultz

Heat 3: Randall, Wehlage, Nastvold, Eggersgluess, Lester Beardsley