Doelle, Wasmund, Luhmann, Spilde winners at Mississippi Thunder Speedway
John Doelle won the USRA Modified feature.
Despite some showers that zipped through the area, creating an almost 40-minute rain delay at Mississippi Thunder Speedway Friday night, racers and fans alike all stuck around - and were rewarded with an exceptional night of action all the way through the final checkered flag! Motor Parts & Equipment/WIX Filters/Schaeffer Oils Night proved to be an exciting event that entertained all on hand.
The crowd, who helped raise almost $1,000 for the Winona Figure Skating club, witnessed the first feature wins of the year at Mississippi Thunder Speedway for John Doelle and J.T. Wasmund.
For the second week in a row a hometown favorite rolled into Mississippi Thunder Speedway's Dahl Chevrolet, Buick-GMC Victory Lane for the first time in 2017, much to the delight of local fans. This Friday it was 2009 USRA Modified track champion Doelle.
While Doelle jumped from the outside of the front row to lead the entire Rivercity Manufacturing USRA Modified feature, Dustin Sorensen gave chase from the pole position and followed Doelle through the first nine laps.
On lap 10, Sorensen dropped to third behind Josh Angst, who had raced to the front from his seventh starting spot.
Sorensen battled back to second for three laps before slipping to fifth as Angst, Jason Cummins and Jake Timm raced past.
The track was heavy and fast with the wide-open speed of the cars all the way up at the very top of the banking. Only a couple competitors dared trying the low or middle grooves in their efforts to work the fast freight train up top.
A lap 19 caution saw both Timm and Cummins depart the track with mechanical issues, after which Sorensen and Angst pushed Doelle for the lead on the ensuing restart. But Doelle actually stretched the lead over the closing laps and grabbed his first feature win of 2017 by less than a one-second advantage over Angst.
"This class is so fast and so competetive these days," explained Doelle in victory lane, "I mean, these are the best of the best.
"After the week I've had, tonight is a great result. I blew the motor last week up at Cedar Lake, then got some really bad hail damage at the home and farm this week, got the motor done just in time, and this win puts some smiles back on our faces."
Doelle was joined in victory lane by his mother and his sister to complete the celebration.
Angst finished second with Sorensen, who turned in the fastest lap of the feature at 15.425 seconds, was third, with Brad Waits fourth and Keith Foss finishing fifth.
Curt Luhmann raced to the front of the field to grab his first Centerville Welding & Repair USRA Late Model presented by Big Toy Storage feature win of 2017.
Shaun Mann was fast and raced from the third row up to second place by lap four. 2015 Mississippi Thunder Speedway track champion Lance Hofer followed Mann to third, and then took over second on lap 14 beginning his charge to try reeling in the leader.
Hofer was closing the gap noticably as Luhmann's lap times dropped through the closing circuits.
"I have never had to work a car as hard as I did tonight," explained Luhmann. "Something broke on my right front suspension in the first couple laps and this thing was a handful."
Hofer finished second with Mann following closely in third.
Curt Luhmann won the USRA Late Model feature.
The Out-Pace USRA B-Mod division is the division right now at Mississippi Thunder Speedway. Averaging around 28 cars per night, this class is the perfect mixture of young and old, rookies and veteran, well-funded and frugal.
Friday night it was a member of the youth movement who bested the field to grab feature victory number one at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway.
Kadden Kath jumped from the pole to lead the opening nine laps of the 18-lap feature; but there was a hunter by the name of J.T. Wasmund following Kath.
After starting on the outside of the third row, Wasmund began a march through the field towards the front. Along the way, the battles were many, the racing was tight and the speeds were wicked fast.
On lap seven, Jackson Hale looped his No. 20 in turn four while running in a pack battling to be in the top five. The field behind parted like the Red Sea as some darted high and others dove low to miss Hale sitting sideways right in the middle of the groove. Unfortunately for Chad Rosendahl, he had nowhere to go, sliding into Hale and flipping over onto his roof.
Thankfully, each driver was uninjured, but both cars were damaged beyond repair and were out for the remainder of the race.
On the 10th circuit, Wasmund, who started his career several years ago racing a Slingshot, and Kath swapped places at the front of the field with Wasmund holding on for the win.
After starting inside the sixth row, Erik Kanz raced through the 25-car field to a third-place finish behind Kath.
J.T. Wasmund won the Out-Pace USRA B-Mod feature.
Brady Link has dominated the Jailhouse Saloon USRA Hobby Stock class in 2017, but prior commitments had him elsewhere Friday night.
That opened the door for Scott Spilde to take over as the leader of the pack racing to the USRA Hobby Stock feature win.
"I finally found something in my setup that really brought this car to life tonight," smiled Spilde in victory lane, "Link has been a great racer this year, and hats off to him, but I think I might finally have something to challenge him with. Unfortunately, while Brady will be here next week, I can't make it next Friday night. I'll have to battle him a little later in the season."
Scott Spilde won the USRA Hobby Stock feature.
Next week enjoy the 9th Annual Rivercity Rumble presented by Rivercity Manufacturing & Machine Company and R&R Machining with up to $3,100 to win for the Rivercity Manufacturing USRA Modifieds and possibly $2,600 to win for the Out-Pace USRA B-Mods. See both 30-lap features start 30 cars in three-wide formation as they take the green flag.
Also, witness the huge fireworks display for the perfect start to the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations. We are also giving away five 32-inch flat screen TVs, two kids bikes and more.
The pit gate opens at 4 p.m., grandstands open at 5. Action is immediately following the 7 p.m. opening ceremonies with green flag laps provided by the USRA Modifieds, USRA Late Models, Out-Pace USRA B-Mods and USRA Hobby Stocks, plus 600 Mods and Hornets.
As always, kids ages 17 and under and college students 23 and under with current valid student ID get in absolutely free. Adult grandstand admission is just $15 and seniors ages 65 and older are only $12.
The Mississippi Thunder Speedway is located 3.0 miles north of Fountain City on SR 35. For more information, call 608-687-3282 or visit www.MississippiThunder.com on the World Wide Web.
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OFFICIAL RESULTS
United States Racing Association
Summit USRA Weekly Racing Series
Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Fountain City, Wis.
Friday, June 23, 2017
OUT-PACE USRA B-MODS
1. (6) 51W Jt Wasmund, Pine Island, Minn.
2. (1) 83X Kadden Kath, Owatonna, Minn.
3. (11) 23K Erik Kanz, Wis.nona, Minn.
4. (3) 28P Jimmy Patzner, Wis.nona, Minn.
5. (5) 15W Alex Williamson, Rushford, Minn.
6. (2) 54 John Feirn, Colfax, Wis.
7. (7) 21 Ryan Olson, Strum, Wis.
8. (10) 83 Kylie Kath, Owatonna, Minn.
9. (9) 36K Jayden Larson, Mankato, Minn.
10. (15) 32 Taylor Skauge, Caledonia, Minn.
11. (16) 60 Colby Mann, Caledonia, Minn.
12. (17) 20K Kyle Brown, Minnesota City, Minn.
13. (8) 8J Darran Jonsgaard, Fountain City, Wis.
14. (22) 35X Phillip Dunbar, Rushford, Minn.
15. (13) 12K Casey Knutson, Spring Grove, Minn.
16. (18) 2 Nathan Butterfield, Galesville, Wis.
17. (24) 76 Quinn Arnoldy, Wis.nona, Minn.
18. (21) 48K Scott Kunda, Wis.nona, Minn.
19. (12) 28 Parker Hale, Grand Meadow, Minn.
20. (20) 09R Dax Schwanke, Wis.nona, Minn.
21. (19) 11 Seth Scholl, Holmen, Wis.
22. (4) 20 Jackson Hale, Grand Meadow, Minn.
23. (14) 00R Chad Rosendahl, Houston, Minn.
24. (23) 54J Jett Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
DNS - 99 Bill Engler, Hixten, Wis.
USRA MODIFIEDS
1. (2) 94JR John Doelle, Arcadia, Wis.
2. (8) 99 Josh Angst, Wis.nona, Minn.
3. (1) 19 Dustin Sorensen, Rochester, Minn.
4. (12) 24 Brad Waits, Rochester, Minn.
5. (5) 95 Keith Foss, Wis.nona, Minn.
6. (10) 0XX Adam Hensel, Baldwin, Wis.
7. (4) 15 Steve Bangart, Auburndale, Wis.
8. (13) 6T7 Brian Albrecht, Wis.nona, Minn.
9. (3) 61T) Tammy Soma Clark,
10. (14) 57 Kyle King, Hastings, Minn.
11. (11) 71 Jason Cummins, New Richland, Minn.
12. (9) 49 Jake Timm, Wis.nona, Minn.
13. (6) 44 Leroy Scharkey, Rochester, Minn.
14. (7) 77 Tom Brink, Wis.nona, Minn.
15. (15) 02) Jacob Dahle, Morristown, Minn.
DNS - 21 Jacob Bleess, Chatfield, Minn.
DNS - 24X Billy Steinberg, Kasson, Minn.
USRA HOBBY STOCKS
1. (1) 18S Scott Spilde, Cresco, Ia
2. (3) 7 Steve Dwyer, Lacrosse, Wi
3. (4) 86 Phil Wernert, Galesville, Wi
4. (6) 94 Kevin Hager, Kellogg, Mn
5. (2) 19M Jay Mensink, Harmony, Mn
6. (9) 54 Jeremy Oakes, Spring Grove, Mn
7. (8) 11 Levi Sand, Caledonia, Mn
8. (11) 18 Cody Rollinger, Minnesota City, Mn
9. (7) 34 Triton Krause, Fountain City, Wi
10. (5) 70 Steven Holthaus, Cresco, Ia
11. (10) 99 Gregory Lammers, Owatonna, Mn
USRA LATE MODELS
1. (1) 8 Curt Luhmann, Rushford, Mn
2. (7) 11 Lance Hofer, Cochrane, Wi
3. (5) 1 Shaun Mann, Buffalo City, Wi
4. (4) 42 Johnny Emerson, Clear Lake, Wi
5. (2) 33X Matt Laduke, Cochrane, Wi
6. (6) 73 Larry Fitzsimmons, E Bethel, Mn
7. (8) 24 Justin Sass, Alma, Wi
8. (11) 88 Troy Langowski, Winona, Mn
9 11X Derek Nelson, 74
10. (3) 47 Jon Duffy, Winona, Mn
11. (10) 33 Derek Sutton, Fountain City, Wi
12. (12) 99 Barry Johnson, Nelson, Wi
DNS - 13 Ryan Konkel, Winona, Mn