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Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7
We will start out this column with everything that transpired at Gondik Law Speedway on Friday June 6 — and that was nada, zip, naught, nothing! After it rained all night and into the afternoon, it was cancelled. It was obviously too wet to get anything on the track to work it. When that red clay becomes saturated with moisture, not only can you not work the surface, often you can’t even stand up on it!
So it was another night of staying at home for the O’Briens.
We looked forward to heading over to ABC Raceway in Ashland, Wis., where the Sprints we missed on Friday were headed next. So, of course they had rain in their program as well. We took a risk and headed out for the track, and for once it worked out. Even though we had a rain delay of at least a couple hours, it gave the fans a chance to see how the track crew reclaims a wet track.
On hand were eight classes of cars, including 11 Six Cylinders, (only run at ABC Raceway), 13 WISSOTA Modifieds, 11 WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds, 12 WISSOTA Super Stocks, nine WISSOTA Pure Stocks, 14 High Roller Non-Winged Sprints and 19 High Roller Winged Sprints for a total of 89 cars.
During heat races, I noted that Steve Stuart — one of the heat race winners — has been on a tear so far this season, having won features at ABC Raceway and Proctor.
Other things I noticed ... Eric Crosby may want to take a look at the motor of his No. 28 Pure Stock, as he was trailing smoke during the program.
In the feature for the WISSOTA Modifieds, Justin Weinberger took the win. Tyler Vernon and Mike Anderson completed the podium.
On a personal note, the No. 32III of Cody Carlson, on which Joanne and I have a small sponsorship, struggled a bit, finishing sixth in the first heat and 13th in the feature. It’s a new car for Carlson and it takes time to get it running the way you need it to. I have faith he will figure it out soon!
In the WISSOTA Midwest Modified main event it was a win for Marcus Dunbar ahead of George Dalbeck and Tyler Vernon. The best mover in this event was Cory Jorgensen, who came from 11th to finish fifth.
In the WISSOTA Pure Stocks it was a win for Aaron Bernick, as he topped George Richards.
Steve Stuart grabbed another win in the Super Stocks for a sweep on the night. The guy has been hot in every division he has raced.
In the non-sanctioned action, Shane Basina won in the Six Cylinders, Chase Viebrock was the winner in the Winged Sprints, and Chris Lewis won the Non-Winged Sprint feature.
Owen Carlson furnished the most frightening crash of the night. He had taken over the lead and was pulling away in the Winged Sprints when he got over the berm of the high groove and hit the third turn wall, which catapulted the car over the wall into a catch fence that protects the pits behind the turn. The fence did its job and snared the car, preventing what could have been a serious incident.
If there is anything positive from this incident, it’s that Carlson got out of the car by himself, we were told, and sustained little injury in the crash. Great news from something that could be horrible!
I have to say that the speedway was super fast after the rain repair. I’ve raced on that kind of track and have found that even the “slow guys” are suddenly very fast!
It was a great night of racing and with the track so fast it became somewhat scary. We don’t usually see a Sprint Car come down the backstretch headed into turn three, hit the throttle and pull the front wheels maybe a foot off the track, as they set up to enter the turn! I don’t ever remember seeing anything like that before!
Mom Nature then put an end to our weekend prematurely, as Proctor Speedway rained out on Sunday.
Have I mentioned that in the spring of the year one dresses as though it’s a fall football game here on the tundra? As I get older I have to have a sweatshirt on with a jacket of various thicknesses over it. I never used to need to put the hood up on my sweatshirt, but now it’s a must. I long for the days later in the season when it’s possible to come to the races in jeans and a T-shirt. That time must be coming soon.