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Adams Scores Number 500 at the 17th Annual Lonnie Leu Memorial

Brad Erickson
Jim Falls, Wisconsin (August 19, 2018) The Eagle Valley Speedway presented the 17th Annual Lonnie Leu Memorial featuring the WISSOTA Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, and EVS Hornets. Feature winners included Grant Southworth, Tommy Richards, Kevin Adams, Mike Knudtson, George Richards, and Jake Halterman.
I am unsure how to put it into perspective for the casual fan as it is hard to wrap your mind around it even for us diehards. Those at the Eagle Valley Speedway were privileged to witness an amazing feat at the Lonnie Leu Memorial. Kevin Adams rolled across the scales and into victory lane for the 500th time in his career. This milestone is amazing in the world of racing and I can’t find the words to explain just how big the number is.
At the beginning of August 2018, there had been just over 430 drivers who had won at least one feature in the major divisions of WISSOTA this season. Of those, 20 drivers had won at least 10 races. That is the top five percent of all of WISSOTA when considering wins. Now, imagine winning 10 races every year… It would take 50 years to win 500! The Eagle Valley Speedway is proud to congratulate Kevin “Buzzy” Adams on his accomplishment. It is amazing indeed.
Earlier in the evening, it was Adams and Austin Ellis winning their Midwest Modified heats as Adams and Nick Koehler held the front row of the feature. The race ran caution free with Adams leading every lap down low as Koehler came home runner up in the high groove. Koehler was able to keep pace with the leader for several laps, but Adams slowly stretched his lead into a comfort zone in the waning laps. The third position was hotly contested throughout as it was held by Shane Halopka early until Tommy Richards used to low line to take the spot. Austin Ellis moved his way from sixth and overtook Richards and drove home in third. It was Calvin Iverson closing into fourth and Josh Smith rounding out the top five at the finish.
The WISSOTA Modified heat was won by Dave Cain. It was Grant Southworth who moved into the lead starting outside of the pole sitter, Jake Miller, in the feature. He never looked back all the way to the win. Kevin Adams raced from fourth to second and closed on Southworth late seeking win 501 but was forced to take the runner up spot. Dave Cain started third and finished third as fifth and sixth starting Mike Anderson and Steve Hallquist rounded out the top five.
Tommy Richards and Aaron Wilson won the Super Stock heats and with Richards redrawing the pole of the feature, there was a huge task at hand for any of his competitors. Richards went on to lead every lap and survive three cautions, the first of which eliminated a huge lead, on his way to the checkered flag. Earlier in the race, Terran Spacek took over second as Aaron Wilson drove hard in third. Curt Myers found a unique upper line which carried him forward and he found his way past Wilson into third. He overtook Spacek for second; however, with three restarts to try to steal the lead, Myers found Richards too tough to beat. Spacek finished a close third as Simon Wahlstrom and Lukas Koski rounded out the top five.
Danny Richards and Mike Knudtson won the Street Stock heats as Knudtson raced from fourth into the lead and on to a sweep on the night in the feature. It was Russ Chester into the lead from outside of the front row after one lap was completed but Knudtson was already moving to his inside at the line and overtaking the lead going into turn one on the second lap. A restart reset the field and saw Karl Knopps in second with Chester in third lined up behind the fast Knudtson. Back under green, Danny Richards used the highline to move from eight on the field methodically, all the way into second. Although he had one more restart in the runner up position, Richards couldn’t get beside the leader and Knudtson motored out to an advantage at the checkered flag. Richards himself had a cushion over third finishing Knopps as Bob Seidler finished fourth over Parker Anderson. Bruce Stanley had a fine run in sixth.
To no one’s surprise, the Pure Stocks were swept by George Richards. As he redrew the pole position and was never seriously challenged for the lead. Tyler Wahlstrom moved from the inside of row two to finish second at the line. It was Kent Deutsch starting in eight and finishing third as Nicholas Hazelton bested Leslie Leu for fourth.
The EVS Hornet heat was won by Dean Butler. At feature time there was a terrific three car battle for the lead early as Jason Junker, Jake Halterman, and Jason Helegson swapped positions and ran three-wide. It was Junker first claiming the position, but Halterman eventually took it over and never looked back on his way to the win. Junker settled for second as Dan Prissel came up just short in the closing laps to finish third. Helegson and Butler rounded out the top five.
The Eagle Valley Speedway will return to racing action on Sunday, August 26, 2018, with the Powder Plus Season Championship and 2018 season finale. The WISSOTA Modifieds, Super Stocks, Midwest Modifieds, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks, and EVS Hornets will all be racing. Oium Well Drilling and Oium Black Top will once again give away one bicycle each for both a boy and a girl just as they do every race night at the Eagle Valley Speedway!
Modified Feature (20 Laps): 1. 35-Grant Southworth, [2]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams, [4]; 3. 2C-Dave Cain, [3]; 4. 57-Mike Anderson, [5]; 5. 27H-Steve Hallquist, [6]; 6. 65-Jake Miller, [1]; 7. 93-Mike Knopps, [8]; 8. 3-Bryan Hessler, [9]; 9. 48-Marcus Simonson, [7]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2C-Dave Cain, [3]; 2. 40-Kevin Adams, [5]; 3. 57-Mike Anderson, [2]; 4. 35-Grant Southworth, [4]; 5. 65-Jake Miller, [7]; 6. 27H-Steve Hallquist, [1]; 7. 48-Marcus Simonson, [8]; 8. 93-Mike Knopps, [6]; 9. 3-Bryan Hessler, [9]
Super Stock Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7R-Tommy Richards, [1]; 2. 41-Curt Myers, [5]; 3. 22T-Terran Spacek, [4]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom, [6]; 5. 1-Lukas Koski, [2]; 6. 94-Kevin Hager, [10]; 7. 17-Wayne Dean, [8]; 8. 9ER-Troy Fransway, [13]; 9. 27-Tony Falkner, [7]; 10. 10M-Joseph Miller, [15]; 11. 77-Andy Ladd, [9]; 12. 72-Noah Richter, [11]; 13. 28B-Stefan Hogue, [12]; 14. (DNF) 92-Aaron Wilson, [3]; 15. (DNF) 33-Terry Kroening, [14]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 92-Aaron Wilson, [4]; 2. 22T-Terran Spacek, [5]; 3. 27-Tony Falkner, [6]; 4. 38-Simon Wahlstrom, [1]; 5. 77-Andy Ladd, [2]; 6. 72-Noah Richter, [7]; 7. (DNF) 9ER-Troy Fransway, [3]; 8. (DNF) 10M-Joseph Miller, [8]
Midwest Modified Feature (18 Laps): 1. 23D-Kevin Adams, [3]; 2. 13-Nick Koehler, [2]; 3. 20-Austin Ellis, [6]; 4. 27X-Calvin Iverson, [7]; 5. 21J-Josh Smith, [8]; 6. 7R-Tommy Richards, [5]; 7. 3JR-Shane Halopka, [4]; 8. 14J-James Kannegiesser, [1]; 9. 6D-Derek Haas, [10]; 10. 34JR-Dan Larson Jr, [9]; 11. 63JR-Brady Larson, [14]; 12. 39-Robert Wood, [11]; 13. 6S-Steve Haas, [12]; 14. 6C-Craig Haas, [16]; 15. 15B-Jack Barta, [13]; 16. 3D-Steve Dehler, [15]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 23D-Kevin Adams, [2]; 2. 27X-Calvin Iverson, [3]; 3. 3JR-Shane Halopka, [4]; 4. 14J-James Kannegiesser, [8]; 5. 34JR-Dan Larson Jr, [1]; 6. 39-Robert Wood, [6]; 7. 15B-Jack Barta, [5]; 8. 3D-Steve Dehler, [7]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 20-Austin Ellis, [1]; 2. 13-Nick Koehler, [5]; 3. 7R-Tommy Richards, [8]; 4. 21J-Josh Smith, [7]; 5. 6D-Derek Haas, [3]; 6. 6S-Steve Haas, [6]; 7. 63JR-Brady Larson, [4]; 8. (DNF) 6C-Craig Haas, [2]
Street Stock Feature (15 Laps): 1. 42K-Mike Knudtson, [4]; 2. 3R-Danny Richards, [8]; 3. 92-Karles Knopps, [1]; 4. 5-Bob Seidler, [5]; 5. 27P-Parker Anderson, [6]; 6. 74-Bruce Stanley, [11]; 7. 17-Russ Chester, [2]; 8. 007-Ron Hanestad, [9]; 9. 45JR-Brad Ingram, [10]; 10. (DNF) 2H-Travis Hazelton, [7]; 11. (DNF) 76S-Dan Svee, [3]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards, [4]; 2. 76S-Dan Svee, [1]; 3. 2H-Travis Hazelton, [5]; 4. 5-Bob Seidler, [3]; 5. 007-Ron Hanestad, [2]; 6. 45JR-Brad Ingram, [6]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 42K-Mike Knudtson, [3]; 2. 92-Karles Knopps, [4]; 3. 27P-Parker Anderson, [1]; 4. 17-Russ Chester, [2]; 5. (DNF) 74-Bruce Stanley, [5]
Pure Stock Feature (12 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards, [1]; 2. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom, [3]; 3. 7-Kent Deutsch, [8]; 4. 2B-Nicholas Hazelton, [4]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu, [2]; 6. 27H-Tyler Hallquist, [6]; 7. 49-Dean Pronschinske, [5]; 8. 21-Ryan Clausen, [9]; 9. (DNF) 6C-Nick Carvelli, [7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards, [1]; 2. 2B-Nicholas Hazelton, [3]; 3. 49-Dean Pronschinske, [6]; 4. 83-Tyler Wahlstrom, [5]; 5. 14X-Leslie Leu, [8]; 6. 27H-Tyler Hallquist, [4]; 7. 6C-Nick Carvelli, [7]; 8. 7-Kent Deutsch, [2]; 9. 21-Ryan Clausen, [9]
Hornet Feature (12 Laps): 1. 76-Jake Halterman, [5]; 2. 36-Jason Junker, [3]; 3. 4-Dan Prissel, [4]; 4. 59H-Jason Helegson, [2]; 5. 18B-Dean Butler, [1]; 6. 29-Armond Love, [6]; 7. 11-Shawn Young, [7]; 8. (DNF) 54-Chad Prissel, [8]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 18B-Dean Butler, [4]; 2. 36-Jason Junker, [1]; 3. 59H-Jason Helegson, [5]; 4. 76-Jake Halterman, [6]; 5. 4-Dan Prissel, [7]; 6. 29-Armond Love, [3]; 7. (DNF) 11-Shawn Young, [8]; 8. (DNF) 54-Chad Prissel, [2]

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