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Rob Palmer
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (July 17) - Lance Matthees of Winona, MN fought his way through lapped traffic and held off his fellow DART Challenge series competitors for the first ever stop for the DART Challenge Series at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls, MT. Local racer, Mark Wermling from Great Falls, MT used a late restart to race to victory in WISSOTA Modified action.
Drivers from four states and two Canadian provinces made up the 26 car feature field as they gave the fans the traditional four wide salute at the start of the 40 lap feature event. Lance Matthees, winner of the Debbie's Dash sat on the pole with hired gun, Dave Mass along side. The drop of the green saw Matthees lead the charge into turn one followed closely by Mass, Kyle Peterlin, Steve Laursen and Pat Doar. Matthees controlled the first lap. Matthees led one more circuit before sliding high in turn two which allowed Mass to race by and into the lead.
The racing action became very heated as the front of the field caught up to the rear in short order. Mass began the task of weaving his way through the tail end while Matthees regathered his vehicle and chased him down. Mass passed a few of the lapped cars before getting bottled up behind one on the bottom of the track. Matthees jumped at the opening and sped around both Mass and the lapped car to lead lap 17. Peterlin, Doar and Joel Cryderman used the traffic jam up front to gain ground on the front duo.
Mass slipped up in corner two on lap 22 and Peterlin moved past for second. Mass would lose a couple more spots before gathering his errant ride. Peterlin continued to chase Matthees as the traffic ahead became 2-3 wide. Cryderman moved past Doar and began to steadily gain on the front two cars.
The laps continued to tick off while both Peterlin and Cryderman lay in the shadows waiting for a slip up from Matthees. With two laps to go, a lapped car held up Matthees in turn one and Peterlin went low while Cryderman went high to attempt the pass for the lead. Matthees fought through the lapped car and the trio raced into turn three. Matthees again fought off Peterlin and Cryderman as he raced past the lapped car. Matthees held the duo off for the remaining two laps and picked up the big win followed closely by Peterlin and Cryderman. Doar, Laursen completed the top five. Eric Mass and Rock Degele tied for the hard charger award with both gaining five positions during the race.
Matthees was very happy with the win and commented as he looked over the few dents and dings picked up during the race, "lapped traffic was bad, you did not have time to relax at all" Matthees also stated the he knew Peterlin and Cryderman were just waiting in the wings waiting for a mistake as he saw both of their noses on occasion.
Matthees picked the first heat race win by racing by Matt Aukland at the finish line. Peterlin and Dave Mass swapped the lead on a couple occasions in heat race two as Peterlin finished in front. Doar controlled every lap of heat race three to round out the heat race winners.
Fifteen WISSOTA Modified drives lined up for a twenty lap feature event with Jack Norris and Chad Johnson setting on the front row. Johnson lead the pack out of turn two and completed the first circuit in front. Johnson continued to lead before the first caution flag flew as Tony Steward came to a stop in the bottom of turn three to avoid a spinning car on the track.
The field realigned and Johnson again led the field around the track. Mark Wermling moved through the field as he was heading to the front before the second yellow came out just past the halfway point for a spin on the backstretch. Johnson now had his hands full as Wermling, Dave Freeman and Jody Kropp were all bunched up behind him on the restart. Johnson raced into turn one and held them off going down the backstretch. Johnson controlled the next five circuits before another yellow came out as Paul Leach spun in turn four.
Freeman made a great move in turn one as he tried to race by Wermling to take over second but Wermling fought back down the backstretch and regained second with four laps to go. A final yellow came out as debris was laying in the racing groove on the front stretch.
Johnson once again found the field up tight on his rear bumper for the two lap shootout to the finish. Johnson did not make it through the first set of turns as cleanly as the earlier restarts and Wermling dove under and past Johnson coming out of turn two followed closely by Freeman. Johnson controlled his car and fell into third place. Wermling completed the next two laps and gathered feature win number five on the year.
Freeman, Johnson, Steward and Rock Degele completed the top five.
Wermling stated "I had nothing for Johnson at the end but with the restart and Johnson sliding up, he left the door open."
SUMMARY
LATE MODEL:
Feature - Lance Matthees, Kyle Peterlin, Joel Cryderman, Pat Doar, Steve Laursen, Eric Mass, Ricky Weiss, Dave Mass, Matt Aukland, Don Shaw, Jim Zaremski, Jody Kropp, Rock Degele, Rich Herman II, Kelly Hample, Darryn Waldo, Rory Minster, John Dowson, Ronnie Harvie, Dan Henrikson, Vernon Hill, Marty Harvie, Pacer Popham, Scott Johnson, Joe Johnson, Tim Ames
Debbie's Dash - Matthees, D. Mass, Peterlin, Laursen, Cryderman, Doar, Kropp, Weiss
Invert # 1 was drawn
Heat 1 - Matthees, Aukland, Laursen, Kropp, R. Harvie, Hill, Hample, S. Johnson, Popham
Heat 2 - Peterlin, D. Mass, Weiss, Zaremski, Herman, Minster, M. Harvie, J. Johnson, Ames
Heat 3 - Doar, Shaw, Cryderman, E. Mass, Waldo, Degele, Dowson, Henrikson
WISSOTA Modifieds:
Feature - Mark Wermling, Dave Freeman, Chad Johnson, Tony Steward, Rock Degele, Mark Fowler, Joey Price, Jim Myre, Paul Leach, Russ Wolfe, Jody Kropp, Gary Hill, Jack Norris, Jesse Baertsch, Paul Donnelly
Heat 1 - Wermling, Kropp, Hill, Norris, Wolfe, Steward, Leach, Baertsch
Heat 2 - Freeman, Donnelly, Degele, Johnson, Fowler, Price, Myre
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