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Business 29, Shawano, WI

Racing The Big Half-Mile Oval Track Every Saturday Night!

ATTENTION: SPORTS/MOTORSPORTS

By: Bert Lehman

Diemel pursues and captures second WISSOTA Late Model feature win at Shawano

Shawano, WI (July 4, 2009) - On a beautiful Fourth of July, Shawano Speedway was back in action with fast paced racing. A.J. Diemel won his second WISSOTA Late Model feature, while Mike Mullen won his first-ever IMCA Modified feature at the Speedway. Rod Snellenberger battled to his fourth feature win in the IMCA Stock division, while Matt Oreskovich won his first IMCA Sport Mod feature of the year. Dave Fieber survived a rough Fastrak Late Model feature winning his second in a row.

Tom Naeyaert led the first lap of the WISSOTA Late Model feature before Troy Springborn grabbed the lead. Naeyaert maintained second with Nick Anvelink, A.J. Diemel and Craig Bartz following. The top five remained the same for the next eight laps as Springborn built himself a comfortable lead.

Midway through the race, Diemel took to the low side grabbing the third spot from Anvelink, and the second spot for Naeyaert on the next lap. Two laps later Anvelink also got by Naeyaert as Diemel was closing the gap on Springborn. With three laps remaining, Diemel ducked underneath Springborn to take the lead. Once in the lead, he cruised to the victory over Springborn, Anvelink, Naeyaert and Bartz.

After an early race caution, Eddie Muenster grabbed the lead over Dave Diemel, Mike Mullen, Brad Rohloff and Kyle Lentz in the IMCA Modified feature. Jared Siefert joined the top five on lap five as Diemel pulled alongside Muenster. The move didn’t work as Diemel fell back to fourth, with Mullen moving to second. Mullen looked to the low side several times over the next couple laps, but couldn’t make the pass for the lead.

Mullen continued to pressure Muenster for the lead, and with seven laps remaining made the inside pass for the lead coming out of turn two. Once in the lead Mullen pulled away to a comfortable lead. Mullen went on to win his first ever feature at Shawano Speedway, with Muenster, Diemel, Siefert and Brandon Czarapata following.

Nate Michonski took over the top spot on the second lap in the IMCA Stock Car feature with Devin Snellenberger and Larry Karcz Jr. in pursuit. Snellenberger and Karcz Jr. swapped the second spot a couple times over the next few laps with John Heinz joining the top five. Snellenberger began gaining on Michonski midway through the race.

With Michonski still leading, Snellenberger, Karcz, Heinz and Rod Snellenberger all raced in a line on the high-side. With eight laps remaining Rod Snellenberger dropped to the low-side and began making his way to the front. He was picking up positions each lap and pulled alongside Michonski for the lead with six laps remaining. He was able to make the pass and win the race over Nate Michonski, Dan Michonski, Devin Snellenberger and Karcz.

Todd Casper led the first three laps of the Fastrak Late Model feature with Dave Fieber in pursuit. Fieber took the lead on lap four and led until the caution flag flew on lap eight. With almost one lap completed after the restart, Jeff Curtin hit the frontstretch wall and barrel rolled down the frontstretch, with Cody Grosskreutz hitting Curtin while he was in the air. Both drivers were not injured.

On the restart Fieber continued to lead with M.J. McBride, Casper, Mike Stangl and Joe Reuter following. Justin Hirt joined the top five with eight laps remaining. As Fieber pulled away from the field, Reuter grabbed the second spot with Hirt grabbing the third spot a couple laps later. That’s the way it ended with Fieber taking the win over Reuter, Hirt, McBride and Casper.

A big wreck on the second lap halted the IMCA Sport Mod feature. No drivers were injured in the wreck. Matt Oreskovich continued to lead over Tracy Wassenberg, Tim Jorgenson, Johnny Whitman and Travis Van Straten when the race was restarted. Jorgenson made the pass for the runner-up spot three laps later, and pulled alongside Oreskovich a couple of laps after that. Jorgenson grabbed the lead just before another caution flag waved.

Jorgenson maintained his lead on the restart, while Oreskovich and Wassenberg raced side-by-side for four laps. With second firmly in hand, Oreskovich moved to the inside of Jorgenson to retake the lead. The two raced side-by-side on the last lap with Oreskovich taking home the win over Jorgenson, Wassenberg, Whitman and Van Straten.

Racing action continues Saturday, July 11 with racing getting underway at 6 p.m. For more information about Shawano Speedway, visit www.shawanospeedway.net.

RACING SUMMARY

WISSOTA LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)A.J. Diemel, 2)Troy Springborn, 3)Nick Anvelink, 4)Tom Naeyaert, 5)Craig Bartz, 6)Paul Parker, 7)Terry Anvelink, 8)Gordie Seegert, 9)Chris Oertel, 10)Justin Ritchie. FIRST HEAT: 1)Springborn, 2)Bartz, 3)Seegert. SECOND HEAT: 1)N. Anvelink, 2)Naeyaert, 3)T. Anvelink.

IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE: 1)Mike Mullen, 2)Eddie Muenster, 3)Dave Diemel, 4)Jared Siefert, 5)Brandon Czarapata, 6)Brad Rohloff, 7)Tim Van De Hei, 8)Kyle Lentz, 9)Jerry Muenster, 10)Sean Jerovetz. FIRST HEAT: 1)John Berna, 2)E. Muenster, 3)Mullen. SECOND HEAT: 1)Diemel, 2)Rohloff, 3)Mike Knapp. THIRD HEAT: 1)Jerry Muenster, 2)Jerovetz, 3)Siefert.

IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE: 1)Rod Snellenberger, 2)Nate Michonski, 3)Dan Michonski, 4)Devin Snellenberger, 5)Larry Karcz Jr., 6)John Heinz, 7)Mitchell Stankowski, 8)Mike Asenbrener, 9)Barry Van Straten, 10)Dustin Loberger. FIRST HEAT: 1)Karcz Jr., 2)Alan Gast, 3)Greg Gretz. SECOND HEAT: 1)Heinz, 2)D. Snellenberger, 3)Stankowski

FASTRAK LATE MODEL FEATURE: 1)Dave Fieber, 2)Joe Reuter, 3)Justin Hirt, 4)M.J. McBride, 5)Todd Casper, 6)Mike Stangl, 7)Brett Swedberg, 8)Aaron Wickersheim, 9)Jeff Wickersheim, 10)Joel Bennett. FIRST HEAT: 1)Reuter, 2)A.J. Diemel, 3)Jeff Curtin. SECOND HEAT: 1)Fieber, 2)McBride, 3)Cody Grosskreutz.

IMCA SPORT MOD FEATURE: 1)Matt Oreskovich, 2)Tim Jorgenson, 3)Tracy Wassenberg, 4)Johnny Whitman, 5)Travis Van Straten, 6)Tom Natzke, 7)Jason Jach, 8)Aaron Holiday, 9)Cheyenne Cameron, 10)Mark Rose. FIRST HEAT: 1)Holiday, 2)Van Straten, 3)Whitman. SECOND HEAT: 1)Clint Forstner, 2)Oreskovich, 3)Wassenberg.