FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY LEADS WIRE-TO-WIRE TO WIN WIR FEATURE
(KAUKAUNA, WI) May 31 – Defending super late model champion Andy Monday led wire-to-wire and fought off a late race charge from Bobby Kendall in the waning laps to win the feature at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna Thursday on Mad City Roofing, Siding & Windows Night at the races. The event went caution free.
The Appleton Ace jumped into the lead at the drop of the green in the 35 lap super late model feature and quickly built up a sizeable lead. Kendall, Jeff Van Oudenhoven and Kyle Calmes went nose to tail in 2nd through fourth and slowly chopped away at Monday’s lead with their three car freight train.
On lap 15 Kendall glued his racer to Monday’s rear bumper. The four car train went nose-to-tail for the next several laps.
Kendall tried muscling his way past Monday a couple of times. On one occasion Kendall’s car broke loose which allowed Van Oudenhoven to briefly take over the second spot.
Kendall rebounded and regained the runnerup spot and continued to pressure Monday. But the defending track champion was up for the challenge and wound up with the “W.”
“We unloaded today and struggled a little bit in qualifying,” said Monday. “It was fun running with Kendall tonight. We mixed it up pretty good tonight. We’ve had some history in the past. For not getting a win last year at all this feels real good tonight. These guys worked their butts off even on Memorial Day weekend on the car.”
Kendall settled for second place money, followed by Van Oudenhoven, Casey Johnson and Kyle Calmes.
Markesan’s Jesse Bernhagen grabbed the lead from Travis Rodewald with four laps remaining and dodged lapped cars en route to winning the late model feature.
The contest was only one lap old when Appleton’s Matt Wittman collided with Appleton’s Bryan Monday, drawing an early amber. Another yellow flew for a Tarra Springstroh spin. When racing resumed defending track champion Travis Rodewald wrestled the top spot away from Two Rivers’ Brett Wenzel. Braison Bennett and quick timer Jesse Bernhagen hooked up and tried keeping Rodewald within striking distance. The duo caught Rodewald at the halfway point and a three car tussle for the lead took place.
With six laps to go Bernhagen slipped past Bennett for second and set his sights on Rodewald for the lead. With four circuits to go Bernhagen took the lead and never looked back, capturing the win. Trailing at the checkers were Bennett, Rodewald, Mike Meyerhofer and Eddie Muenster who nipped Nathan Van Wychen at the line for fifth.
“Travis got really loose one lap and we were in a good spot to get him,” said Bernhagen in victory lane.“When Wenzel and Travis were battling early on I backed off early because they were going at it. That was a tough, nerve wracking race dealing with a couple of lapped cars out there tonight. We’re excited to come out of here with a win tonight.”
Omro’s Larry Raygo captured the caution free super stock feature. Trailing Raygo at the checkers were Rachel Meyerhofer, George Schwalbach, last week’s winner Randy Theimer and Dave Meyerhofer.
Denmark’s Bobby Wautier captured his first career feature win at WIR in the sport truck class, winning by a full straightaway over second place finisher Kylee Vandermoss of Appleton. Last week’s feature winner Jason Plutz dropped out early on with mechanical woes.
Appleton’s Mike Klein sweated out a late race caution to win the Sizzlin’ 4 feature. Last week’s feature winners Brody Rivest of Sheboygan stormed through the field to take runnerup honors.
Kaukauna’s Craig Vanderwettering captured the evening’s finale Figure 8 feature for the second straight week.
During qualifying two drivers nabbed their first ever fast time awards. Denmark’s Bobby Wautier and Meyerhofer each claimed fast time awards in the sport truck and super stock divisions, respectively.
Next Thursday night, June 7 will bring the 47th running of the prestigious Red, White & Blue state championship series presented by L & S Electric. The ¼ mile late models will also be in action. Racing gets underway at 6:45 p.m. You can check frrcracing.net for more information or follow the club’s Facebook page.
SUPER LATE MODEL FEATURE – Andy Monday, Appleton; Bobby Kendall, Montello; Jeff Van Oudenhoven, Appleton; Casey Johnson, Edgerton; Kyle Calmes, Freedom; Maxwell Schultz, Reedsville, Brent Strelka, Freedom; Sawyer Effertz, Darboy; Chad Butz, Green Bay; Cory Kemkes, Appleton; Lowell Bennett, Neenah; Alex Stumpf, Woodville; Travis Dassow, West Bend; Taylor Vandermoss, Appleton; Pete Vandermolen, Oshkosh; Mickey Schallie, Darboy; Randy Schuler, Mequon; Tim Springstroh, Freedom
SEMI FEATURE – Dassow; Vandermoss; Pete Vandermolen; Tim Springstroh; Grant Griesbach, Waukesha; Corey Manders, Hilbert; Alex Seidl, Appleton; Taylor Haufschildt, De Pere; Trevor Vandermolen, Oshkosh; Michael Hardtke, Kewaunee; Michael Anthony, Appleton
HEATS 1) Alex Seidl, Appleton; Tim Springstroh 2) Dassow; Stumpf
DASH – Van Oudenhoven; Calmes
FAST TIME: Strelka, 19.382
LATE MODEL FEATURE- Jesse Bernhagen, Markesan; Braison Bennett, Neenah; Travis Rodewald, Manitowoc; Mike Meyerhofer, Hilbert; Eddie Muenster, Green Bay; Nathan Van Wychen, Kaukauna; Brett Wenzel, Two Rivers; Mike King, Appleton; RD Yaeger, Appleton; Bryan Monday, Appleton
HEAT – Wenzel; King
DASH- Bryan Monday; Rodewald
FAST TIME: Bernhagen, 20.357
SUPER STOCK FEATURE – Larry Raygo, Omro; Rachel Meyerhofer, Brillion; George Schwalbach, Menasha; Randy Theimer, Kaukauna; Dave Meyerhofer, Kaukauna
HEAT – Theimer; Raygo
FAST TIME: Rachel Meyerhofer 16.916
SIZZLIN’ 4 FEATURE – Mike Klein, Appleton; Brody Rivest, Sheboygan; Rick Glaser Neenah; Larry Gintner, Neenah; Andy Miller, Appleton
HEATS 1) Jake Peters, Shiocton; Kurt Schweitzer, Greenville 2) Klein; Rivest
FAST TIME – Rivest, 17.681
SPORT TRUCKS FEATURE – Bobby Wautier, Denmark; Kylee Vandermoss, Appleton; Dom Sokolik, Fond Du Lac; Dan Vixmer, Fond Du Lac; Nathan Brantmeier, Neenah
HEATS 1) Dom Sokolik, Fond Du Lac; Andrew Ross, Appleton 2) Jason Plutz, Neenah; Vandermoss
FAST TIME – Wautier
FIGURE 8 – CraigVanderwettering, Kaukauna
