KEYSER WINS MODIFIED FEATURE AT SUPERIOR

Van Ert; Lavato, Kisling Win Make Up Features

By Jerry O'Brien

6-29-07

To start off the program Friday night at the Superior Speedway two of the three Make up features from June first were run first starting out with the Midwest Modified 15 lap event. The Pure Stock make up feature was run after the final regularly scheduled heat race.

Defending track champion Nick Lavato got off to a great start from the pole in the Midwest Modified main event and raced off to a big lead. Despite two caution flags that kept Clint Larson right on his tail, Lavato was able to cruise to the victory. On the second restart, however, Larson was all over Lavato and actually passed him at the line by about a half a car length but Lavato was able to pull away. Larson finished a strong second ahead of Jeff Pohjonen, Joe Olson and Greg Chesley. Lavato broke Chesley's string of three straight Midwest Modified feature wins.

Next up was the 15 lap Street Stock make up feature from June first with nine of the eleven drivers scheduled to start on hand. Not making the trip was Justin Paulsen and former track champion Keith Tourville. Jimmy Randall got the jump from the front row and led the first circuit but Rob Weber edged ahead as the two went wheel to wheel for the lead. On the move from the third row was point leader Shane Kisling. Tim Baum burst from a pack of cars to fourth but fell off the pace soon after and dropped from competition. His place in fourth was taken by Dan Kingsley. At the half way point Kisling which he had taken on lap five with Weber, Randall, Kingsley and Don Craig in the fifth spot. Craig brought out the only caution flag when he stopped against the back stretch wall. Kisling went on to win the event over Weber, Randal Kingsley and Scott Herrick.

After the qualifying heats for the regularly scheduled five division program were finished and the make up feature for the Pure Stocks rolled onto the track. Pat Van Ert pulled away from Rick Kesty and Glen Dammer to win his first feature in over 17 years as Van Ert had just returned to the stock car wars this season. Al Rapp and Tony Ciurleo finished in the top five. Jeff Tormondson, Pete Ciurleo and Tony Ciurleo battled for position throughout the 12 lap event with Tormondson finishing sixth over Pete ciurleo, Kerri Schultze, Rich Dezlak and Jeff Christman, another former racer who has returned to the sport finishing in tenth.

The first regularly scheduled 15 lap Super Stock feature lined up. Due to time constraints, officials decided to reduce each main event by five laps hence the 15 laps for the Supers. Dale Gangl bolted to the lead from the pole and never looked back as he led wire to wire for his first feature win of the season. Keith Kern and Darin Meierotto battled for second with Sott Lawrence up from the third row to fourth with infrequent visitor Tim Johnson fifth. The only caution flag flew with four laps recorded when Rob Christman spun in turn two as did Andy Grymala. The ticket went to Christman. The restart had Gangle on point with Kern and Ryan Aho who had charged from the fifth row up to third. Meierotto and Lawrence ran fourth and fifth. With ten laps complete Gangl was cruising while Kern tried to hold off Aho, Meierotto and Lawrence. Aho made his way to second with four laps to go but after that there was not much passing going on and Gangl cruised to the feature win.

Next up was the Modified feature also 15 laps in length. Tyler Keyser blasted off to the lead but the first of three caution flags flew when Steve Lavasseur spun in turn one. Keyser retained the lead over Duane Dale, Darrell Nelson, Jason Miller and Joey Jensen. Nelson got by Dale for second with the order remaining the same to the half way point. Nelson overtook Keyser and took the point with Miller third, Jensen fourth and Dale back to fifth. With five laps to go Jad Carlson spun bringing out caution flag number two. The restart order was to be Nelson, Keyser, Miller, Jensen and Dale but when the green flag was set to appear Nelson's car would not run and he was pushed into the pits leaving keyser with the lead, the race was his to win or lose.  After one lap under green the final caution flag flew for Jody Bellefeuille who stalled in turn four after running in the sixth spot most of the way. At the green flag Keyser held the point as Jensen got by Miller for second and made a run at the leader but was unable get by. Keyser won his first feature in three years, the last coming in a Late Model. Jensen, Miller, a fast moving Ron Schreiner and Bill Byholm rounded out the top five.

Greg Chesley took the lead in the Midwest Modified feature from the outside of the front row and pulled away to a several car length lead over Ryan Olson, Nick Lavato, Clint Larson and Shane Kisling. Chesley was out cruising at the head of the field and Larson broke from the pack to second. Olson dropped to third ahead of Kisling and Jeff Pohjonen. The only caution of the 12 lap event occurred when Bart Porter and Deven VanHouse tangled in turn one. Chesley's lead disappeared with the caution flag and put Larson right on his six. Chesley got a good restart but for the second time Larson was all over the leader. Larson dived to the inside in turn three and the two came out of turn four door to door with Larson ahead by a nose at the line. Chesly came back to yank the lead away form Larson and pulled away for the win. Larson had his second runner up finish of the evening. Lavato was third with Pohjonen fourth and Adam Archer from the sixth row to round out the top five.

It was 20 laps for the Late Models with Pat Doar on the outside of the front row with Harry Hanson. At the green Doar fairly blasted away from the pack in a dominating fashion to a huge lead which he would keep in the flag to flag running event. It was left to the rest of the 19 car field to see who would break out and try to run down Doar. Hanson ran second with Darin Meierotto in third but last weeks winner Steve Laursen blew by him into second. Point leader Brent Larson and Ron Schreiner battled for fourth. Laursen got by Hanson for second and had a dozen laps to see if he could run down Doar who had a half lap lead. Unfortunately for Laursen, Larson had other ideas and took away second and now it was he who had the task of running down Doar. He was unable to get within shouting distance as Doar absolutely dominated the event.

The final event of the evening was the street Stock feature. The start of the 12 lap event saw Don Craig and Dan Kingsley who shared the front row, fly in formation for the first couple of circuits before Kingsley came out on top for the lead. Moving up from the third row in the 11 car field was Scott Herrick to third then past Craig for second. The only caution flag occurred when point leader Shane Kisling spun out on his own in turn three slowing his charge from the third row. Kingsley drove away to a big lead over Herrick as Kisling resumed his charge forward.  Kingsley won his second feature of the season at the speedway over Herrick, Kisling. Craig and Scott Andrews in the top five.

Results: Superior Speedway 6-19-07

Late Model (19 cars)

Heat 1: Eric Breeschoten; Ron Schreiner; Darrell Nelson; Pat Doar; Darin Meierotto; Tim McMann; Kelly Estey; Mike Nutzmann; Tom Nesbitt; DNF: Travis Budisalavich

Heat 2: Steve Laursen; Brent Larson; Harry Hanson; Caley Emerson; Nick Musel; Joel Cryderman; Gregg Hill; DNF: Joey Ogston; Darrell Carlson

Feature: (20 laps) (1-10) Doar; Larson; Laursen; Hanson; Breeschoten; Schreiner; Nelson; Emerson; Nutzmann (11-19) Estey; Nesbitt; McMann; Budisalavich; Hill; Ogston; DNF: Meierotto, Carlson; DNS: Musel

Modified: (21 cars)

Heat 1: Bill Byholm; Jody Bellefeuille; Duane Dale; Ross Lightner; Joey Jensen; Jeremy Gross; DNF (Five car accident on first lap) Don Copp; Kelly Estey; Scott Hudack; Kelly Checkalski; Rick Rivord

Heat 2: Darrell Nelson; Tyler Keyser; Jason Miller; Jayme Lautigar; Ron Schreiner; Nick Nelson; Al Uotinen; Erik Bjorkland; DNF: Steve Lavasseur; Jad Carlson

Feature: (15 laps) (1-10) Keyser; Jensen; Miller; Byholm; Schreiner; Dale; Lautigar; Copp; Uotinen; Lightner (11-21) N Nelson; Rivord; Carlson; Gross; Bjorkland; DNF: Bellefeuille; Nelson; Lavasseur; Checkalski; DNS: Estey, Hudack

Super Stock (24 cars)

Heat 1: Darin Meierotto; Ryan Aho; Keith kern; Scott Lawrence; Dave Flynn; J B Stortz; DNF: Destin Lorimor; Trevor Wilson

Heat 2: Donnie Lofdahl; Eric Nelson; Mike Bellefeuille; Tim Johnson; Ronnie Malecki; Andy Grymala; Robbie Cooper; Steve Rivord, Jr

Heat 3: Dale Gangl; Joe Oliver; Tom Treviranus; Alan Hartel; Rob Christman; John Copp; Adam Long; Jim Campbell

Feature: (15 laps) (1-10) Gangl; Aho; Kern; Meierotto; Lawrence; Oliver; Stortz; Johnson; Lofdahl; Flynn (11-24) Nelson; Campbell; Wilson; Grymala; Treviranus; Copp; Lorimor; Malecki; Long; Hartel; Rivord; Cooper; Christman; DNF Bellefeuille

Midwest Modified: (30 cars)

Heat 1: Cory Jorgenson; Skeeter Estey; Nick Lavato; Ryan Olson; Nick Baker ;Scott Bruce; Caley Emerson; DNF Taylor Leuthner; Dave Kruckeberg; Dan Russell

Heat 2: Adam Archer; Shane Kisling; Willy Thompson; Jeff Pohjonen; Jesse Ogston; Deven VanHouse; DNF Dan Doran; DNS Al McDougall

Heat 3: Greg Chesley; Tom Smart; Clint Larson; Jimmy Latvala; Randy Vezina; brock McCarthy; Joe Olson; Clint Wittlief; Tom Morinville; DNS Matt Sorenson

Feature: (12 laps) (1-10) Chesley; Larson; Lavato; Pohjonen; Archer; Jorgenson; R Olson; Thompson; Ogston; Latvala (11-26) Smart; Baker; Emerson; Vezina; J Olson; Russell; Deven VanHouse; Leuthner; Morinville; McCarthy; Bruce; Porter; Estey; Derek VanHouse; DNF Kisling; Kruckeberg

Street Stock (11 cars)

Heat: Shane Kisling; Jimmy Randall; Scott Herrick; Dan Kingsley; Don Craig; Rob Weber; Scott Andrews; Bobby LePage; Brian Fulda; Shawn Kisling; DNS Tim Baum

Feature (12 laps) Kingsley; Herrick; Shane Kisling; Craig; Andrews; Weber; Fulda; LePage; DNF Randall; Shawn Kisling; DNS Baum

Make Up Features from June 1

Midwest Modified:(1-10) Lavato; Larson; Pohjonen; Olson; Chesley; Baker; Jorgenson; Estey; Archer; Smart (11-25) Vezina; Deven VanHouse; Shane Kisling; Russell; Ogston; McCarthy; Morinville; Doran; DNF: Bruce; Leuthner; McDougall; Inman; Thompson; DNS: Eliason; Marshall

Street Stock: (1-10) Shane Kisling; Weber; Randall; Kingsley; Herrick; LePage; Fulda; DNF: Craig; Baum; DNS: Keith Tourville; Justin Paulsen

Pure Stock: (1-10) Pat Van Ert; Rick Kesty; Al Rapp; Tony Ciurleo; Jeff Tormondson; Pete Ciurleo; Karri Schultz; Richard Dezlak; Jeff Christman (11-23) Matt Hammitt; Chad Carlson; Dan Larsen; Scott Larsen; Jacob Morinville; Zene Anderson; Caroline Kresal; Caitlyn Carlson; Tim Ayers; DNF Mark Korte; Cory Lonetto; Tim Carlson; DNS Dale Reynolds

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