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Chris Stephan
NEW RICHMOND, Wisc. (May 17) - The 2008 racing season officially kicked off at the Cedar Lake Speedway after a record seven straight rain outs on Saturday night, May 17th with the annual School Bus Races with racing by NASCAR Late Models, Modifieds and Street Stocks as well on Bernick's Pepsi night at the 3/8 mile oval.
Rick Egersdorf and Mike Nutzmann circled the speedway out front on the opening lap of the Super Late Model feature event, but that was not to be as Nutzmann spun his #2 on the backstretch on the second circuit, causing some evasive maneuvers by the rest of the field and bringing the event down under caution early on. On the restart Egersdorf and 2007 track champion Brent Larson engaged themselves in a phenomenal side by side battle for the race lead. The duo mirrored each other for the next seven circuits out front while Rick Hanestad, Ashley Anderson and Chuckie DeSmith ran in the top five early on. Egersdorf and Larson then circled the speedway side by side for the race lead for the next 21 circuits while Hanestad closed in running third. Another amazing battle was occurring for fourth as well between Doug Herrick and DeSmith, with Herrick on his way to the front. The leaders got into lapped traffic on lap 21 and at that time, Larson slid through lapped traffic quicker than Egersdorf and took control with just under ten to go. Larson raced to the win with Hanestad stealing second from Egersdorf late in the going. Herrick ran a career best fourth with Toby Patchen fifth at the finish.
Chris Peterson and Devin Neske sat on the front row for the NASCAR Street Stock feature event with Peterson taking off into the race lead at the drop of the green. Once Peterson got to the lead, he dropped to the bottom of the speedway and Neske took comfort on the cushion and began to pressure the #21x for the race lead. The leaders began to circle the Cedar Lake Speedway side by side for the first 7 laps until Peterson slapped the wall at the flagstand and spun his machine. On the restart, Neske took back off into the lead with Jeff Heintz running in second and beginning to put pressure on the race leader. The duo ran nose to tail for the final 8 circuits with Neske hanging on and holding off Heintz for his first career CLS feature win. Gary Pischke ran third the entire event with Jared Gross fourth and Peterson charging back through the field to fifth at the line.
Craig Brightbill paced the field to the green flag in the NASCAR Modified a-main and took off into the race lead over fellow front row starter Andy Miskowic. Brightbill took off like a rocket and lead the first seven laps until 12th starting Joey Jensen came flying around the high banks and began to challenge Brightbill for the race lead. Once Jensen took the lead he looked to be on his way to an easy feature win until 9th starting Dave Cain glued his #2c to the cushion and began to blister the high banks on his way to the front. Cain began to pick off cars left and right until he was into the runner up spot and charging after leader Jensen. Cain ran down Jensen and swept by into the lead with 2 laps remaining, but Jensen pulled a daring move as they raced into turn one on the final lap and stole the lead back from Cain as they drag raced down the backstretch for the final time. Jensen was able to hold off Cain off of turn four in thrilling fashion for the feature win that had the crowd on it's collective feet. Brightbill ran third with Jeremy Gross a solid fourth and Jason Schill fifth at the stripe.
The always exciting annual School Bus Races thrilled the huge crowd on hand with multiple events spread throughout the regular racing program as well. Of the nine buses that started the evening only 3 were running at the end of tonight's festivities. New Richmond's ambulance themed bus prevailed as they were able to dodge the rolled over buses, camper and boat strewn across the track. Clay the Wildman jumped his bus over three cars eventually parking it atop the heap. Osceola High was unable to defend their title after being rolled over by Baldwin Woodville high's bus. This event has become a must see event at Cedar Lake. Plans are underway for next year's melee.
Racing resumes at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Thursday, May 22nd with a Thursday night special featuring NASCAR Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Modifieds and Street Stocks and then a regular night of racing on Saturday, May 24th, and is featuring NASCAR Late Models, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Street Stocks and Midwest Modifieds. Racing will begin at 7:00pm on Thursday and 6:30pm on Saturday. Check out www.cedarlakespeedway.com for more information.
SUMMARY:
NASCAR Late Models
Feature: Brent Larson, Rick Hanestad, Rick Egersdorf, Doug Herrick, Toby Patchen, Kelly Anderson, Eric Breeschoten, Jim Bruggeman, Mike Hesselink, Jeff Patchen, Joey Jensen, Mike Bear, Jim Carlson, Paul Hipsag, Jeff Keeney, Mike Nutzmann, Dave Friendt, Roger Herrick, Chuckie DeSmith, Rick Friendt, Bob Slater, Ashley Anderson, Brent Mueller, Barry Underdahl
B-feature: Joey Jensen, Kelly Anderson, Jim Carlson, Eric Breeschoten, Rick Friendt, Roger Herrick, Jeff Martire, Bryan Wennen, Jon Chrest, Jake Hiatt, Mike Raboin
Heat 1: Barry Underdahl, Jeff Keeney, Rick Hanestad, Mike Nutzmann, Mike Bear, Doug Herrick, Joey Jensen, Jim Carlson, Rick Friendt, Eric Breeschoten
Heat 2: Rick Egersdorf, Brent Larson, Ashley Anderson, Mike Hesselink, Bob Slater, Paul Hipsag, Jon Chrest, Mike Raboin, Bryan Wennen, Kelly Anderson
Heat 3: Chuckie DeSmith, Jeff Patchen, Dave Friendt, Toby Patchen, Brent Mueller, Jim Bruggeman, Jeff Martire, Roger Herrick, Jake Hiatt
NASCAR Modifieds
Feature: Joey Jensen, Dave Cain, Craig Brightbill, Jeremy Gross, Jason Schill, Mike Mueller, Chris Gorka, Scott Pomeroy, Jason Gross, Mark Froehlich, Dave Siercks, Terry Hansen, Jake Jay, Mike Kelley Jr., Don Brightbill, Dave Lear, Keith Lipinski, Lonnie Louschke, Darrell Moe, Shawn Kelley, Andy Miskowic, Jason Miller
Heat 1: Jason Schill, Joey Jensen, Mike Mueller, Dave Cain, Terry Hansen, Jake Jay, Darrell Moe, Dave Lear
Heat 2: Jason Miller, Chris Gorka, Jason Gross, Craig Brightbill, Dave Siercks, Lonnie Louschke, Don Brightbill, Mike Kelley Jr.
Heat 3: Shawn Kelley, Jeremy Gross, Andy Miskowic, Scott Pomeroy, Mark Froehlich, Keith Lipinski, Marc Johnson
NASCAR Street Stocks
Feature: Devin Neske, Jeff Heintz, Gary Pischke, Jared Gross, Chris Peterson, Derek Borchardt, Wes Howland, Scott Splittstoesser, Matt Raboin, Steve Johnson, Ed Puariea, Kim Korstad
Heat 1: Chris Peterson, Jeff Heintz, Scott Splittstoesser, Kim Korstad, Matt Raboin, Derek Borchardt
Heat 2: Jared Gross, Wes Howland, Devin Neske, Gary Pischke, Steve Johnson, Ed Puariea
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