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Greg Parent
NEW RICHMOND, Wisc. (September 25) - As afternoon overcast gave way to sunny skies, the opening night of the inaugural Badger State Nationals got underway on Thursday September 25 at the Cedar Lake Speedway. The FYE Motorsports promoted event saw a field of 110 cars sign into the pits for the first of three nights of racing action at the 3/8 mile high banked Wisconsin dirt oval. When the final checkers had waved, Lance Matthees topped a very strong field of late models, Matt Leer earned his first CLS feature win in the Midwest modifieds, and Dan Gullikson returned to his roots with a win in the street stock division driving the potent Allen Gessel Jr car.
The ground-pounding late model division had a very stout and talent laden 38 car field on hand for the opening night of the Badger State Nationals. The heat race action was intense! Marshall Fegers led all 12 laps to post the win in the first heat in front of veteran racer Jeff Hinkemeyer and young phenom Cory Mahder. In probably the toughest heat race lineup of the evening, the second late model heat provided fans with some incredible action. Even though Steve Laursen led all the way from his outside front row starting spot, the battle behind him was fantastic. Keith Foss held off eighth starter Lance Matthees, Joel Cryderman and tenth starting Pat Doar to earn the second spot. Jeff Wildung was strong in the third heat and showed the way to the checkers. Duane Mahder came from fifth to finish second in front of Chuckie DeSmith. Rookie late model racer Shawn Mahder was having a strong run until his car rode the frontstretch wall and had to be towed to the pits. The final heat race had a couple of cautions in the early going, but when the race settled down in was a Rick Hanestad and Jake Redetzke battle for the win. Hanestad led the first two laps, Redetzke led lap 3, but Hanestad came back to lead laps 4-6. Redetzke would not be denied and retook the lead for good on lap 7. Brent Larson got by Hanestad in the waning laps to finish second.
The final event of the night featured 24 thundering late models for 25 racing laps in their prelim feature. The top five finishers would earn starting spots for their big championship feature race on Saturday night. It did not take long for the first caution to fly, as Duane Mahder got a bit crossed up in turn one on the opening lap. Cars scattered and spun with Marshall Fegers, Cory Mahder, Pat Doar and Eric Breeschoten involved. Fifth starter Jeff Wildung ended up with a right rear flat tire and had to go to the work area while third starter Duane Mahder was charged with the caution and relegated to the tail of the field. Keith Foss also sustained some right front damage but was able to continue. The second start attempt went much better with Lance Matthees moving into the lead immediately at the drop of the green from his outside row one starting spot followed by Jake Redetzke and 2008 CLS track point champion Brent Larson. Just six laps into the race, Keith Foss slowed and was forced to drop out of the race with the right front towed out. Fans suddenly took note of 19th starter Chad Mahder during this caution. Mahder had raced his way up to ninth already. When the green replaced the yellow, it was Matthees, Redetzke, Larson, Fegers and Steve Laursen in the top five spots. Sixteen laps into the race, Marshall Fegers saw his chance for a top five end when something broke in the right front of his car while entering turn one. Jeff Hinkemeyer also retired from the race with a flat tire under caution. One lap later, contact between Kerry Hanson and Cory Mahder saw Hanson's car slam hard into the concrete wall at the exit of turn four. The race was under red to make sure Hanson was okay. He was, but his car was done for the night. Cory Mahder drove his car to the pits. During the final eight laps, Chad Mahder continued his march forward taking fourth on lap 20 from Laursen. Laursen battled back and reclaimed the fourth spot a lap later. At the checkers, it was Lance Matthees with a dominating performance to take top honors over Jake Redetzke, Brent Larson, Steve Laursen, and Chad Mahder. These five drivers earned starting spots in the inside five rows for their championship feature race on Saturday night. Completing the top ten finishers were 12th starter Ashley Anderson, 17th starter Don Shaw, Pat Doar, 16th starter Adam Hensel, and Jeff Wildung who returned from his tail-end starting spot after his crew changed the flat tire on his car following his opening lap misfortune.
Race Summary:
Late Models (38 cars)
Heat 1 (12 laps): Marshall Fegers, Jeff Hinkemeyer, Cory Mahder, Kerry Hanson, Ricky Weiss, Don Shaw, Shaun Peterson, Eric Breeschoten, Bryan Wennen, Bob Reed.
Heat 2 (12 laps): Steve Laursen, Keith Foss, Lance Matthees, Joel Cryderman, Pat Doar, Scott Gilberts, Zach Johnson, Patrick Hoffman, Jeff Keeney, Mike Nutzmann.
Heat 3 (12 laps): Jeff Wildung, Duane Mahder, Chuckie DeSmith, Caley Emerson, Brent Mueller, Rick Egersdorf, Dave Friendt, Dennis Larson, Shawn Mahder.
Heat 4 (12 laps): Jake Redetzke, Brent Larson, Rick Hanestad, Ashley Anderson, Adam Hensel, Chad Mahder, Jim Carlson, Jim Bruggeman, Tim Isenberg.
B Main (15 laps): Chad Mahder, Gilberts, Cryderman, Egersdorf, Breeschoten, Johnson, Isenberg, Carlson, Friendt, D Larson, Reed, Bruggeman, Wennen, Hoffman.
Feature (25 laps): Matthees, Redetzke, B Larson, Laursen, Chad Mahder, Anderson, Shaw, Doar, Hensel, Wildung, Hanestad, Cryderman, D Mahder, Egersdorf, Breeschoten, DeSmith, Gilberts, Mueller, Hanson, Cory Mahder, Hinkemeyer, Johnson, Fegers, Foss.
Street Stocks (22 cars)
Heat 1 (10 laps): Chanda Fjorden-Nord, Rusty Kollman, Scott Paulson, Chris Peterson, Justin Vogel, Shawn Kammerud, Adam Soltis, Scott Splittstoesser.
Heat 2 (10 laps): Jeff Heintz, Devin Neske, Ron Hanestad, Adam Burrows, Jay Kesan, Kris Peterson, Kim Korstad.
Heat 3 (10 laps): Cory Rosen, Tommy Richards, Kevin Schmidt, Dan Gullikson, Andy Miskowic, Kelly Knutson, James Becker.
Feature (20 laps): Gullikson, Rosen, Hanestad, Richards, Heintz, Miskowic, K Peterson, Soltis, Fjorden-Nord, Kollman, Kammerud, Becker, Korstad, C Peterson, Paulson, Burrows, Splittstoesser, Kesan, Vogel, Neske, Schmidt.
Midwest Modifieds (50 cars)
Heat 1 (10 laps): Ron Jones, Clayton Wagamon, Bob Smith, Steve Strandlund, Charlie Hillukka, Eric Herbison, Josh Bazey, Tim Siercks, Luke Hines, Steve Strandlund Jr.
Heat 2 (10 laps): Jeff Marshall, Sam Nelson, Jeremy Kerzman, Jeremy Houle, Wayne Troseth, Jason Gross, Dave Friendt, Scott Bruce, Richard Crear, Robbie Franklin.
Heat 3 (10 laps): Shawn Phillips, Ronnie Rihn, Matt Leer, Randy Vezina, Bryan Siercks, Vince Corbin, Jesse Ogston, Shane Patrin, Ryan Nieters, Ryan Johnson.
Heat 4 (10 laps): Mark Gerth, Karth Mitchell, Patrick Sobolik, Chad Patterson, Matt Weisman, Brock Gronwold, Kevin Monteith, Don Craig, Travis Marthaler, Al Stettner.
Heat 5 (10 laps): Shane Sabraski, Jason Vandekamp, Rusty Kollman, Bryce Johnson, Jason Hoffman, A J Roschen, Pete Loecken, Scott Erickson, Wes Hines, Wayne Dean.
B Main 1 (15 laps): Gronwold, Weisman, Vezina, Corbin, Gross, Monteith, Patterson, Siercks, Loecken, Craig, Marthaler, Bruce, Stettner.
B Main 2 (15 laps): Roschen, Troseth, Dean, Ogston, Johnson, Erickson, Friendt, Herbison, Nieters, Patrin, L Hines, Strandlund, Siercks, Bazey.
Feature (20 laps): Leer, Marshall, Jones, Kerzman, Sabraski, Rihn, Houle, Vandekamp, Gerth, Smith, Dean, Troseth, Mitchell, Kollman, Phillips, Gronwold, Roschen, Hoffman, Hillukka, Vezina, Sobolik, Nelson, Weisman, Wagamon.
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