6/5/2019
Haas, Inc. Memorial Day Madness
Jim Falls, Wisconsin --The Eagle Valley Speedway presented the Haas, Inc. Memorial Day Madness with the UMSS Sprint Cars, night one. The WISSOTA Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, Midwest Modifieds, Super Stocks, UMSS Winged Sprint Cars, UMSS Traditional Sprint Cars, and EVS Hornets were all on the card. Feature winners included Curt Myers, Calvin Iverson, Danny Richards, George Richards, Jake Halterman, Cam Schafer, and Kevin Lear.
Haas, Inc. Memorial Day Madness, night two, scheduled for Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, 2019, was cancelled due to rain.
The WISSOTA Super Stock heats were bested by Terran Spacek and Tommy Richards as Spacek made a fine move on the start to take the lead from the second row at the drop of the green flag in the feature. As Spacek led, Richards raced from fourth to second. Richards move inside the leader and they raced side by side for the point but a spinning Lukas Koski slowed the action.
Spacek was restored as the lone car in the front row of the restart and Nick Oreskovich restarted beside Richards in row two. Oreskovich overtook the runner up position when back at speed and eighth starting Curt Myers moved into the top four and then nabbed third from Richards. Spacek continued to lead, but Myers was closing quickly as he overtook second and then tracked down and passed Spacek for first. Meanwhile, behind Meyers, Spacek, Oreskovich, and Richards moved three-wide for second as Richards squeezed through the middle for the position.
Richards closed on the leader by attacking the lower groove. Richards closed to Myers’ tail but a spinning Kody Koski once again slowed the pace. This time on the restart, Myers moved out to an advantage on the green, white, checkered run to the finish line. His spread over second finishing Richards defied the closeness of the entire race. Spacek was scored in third over Oreskovich as Branden Duellman came home in fifth.
Kenny Kincaid, Shane Halopka, and Michael Truscott each looked very impressive in their WISSOTA Midwest Modified heats. At feature time, Bob Wood lead lap one but Derek Haas overtook the lead on the second circuit. The race ran green for seven laps and Haas looked strong, but a spinning Andy Zimmerman reset the field. Haas reminded out front as Wood challenged and Dan Larson Jr. moved into third. Halopka was on the move as he methodically drove himself position by position into the runner up spot. Calvin Iverson was also making ground from his eighth starting position as he moved into the top four. Shortly after the halfway mark of the event, Hass’ motor erupted in smoke as it spewed smoke heavily from one side of the car.
Haas continued to smoke very heavily, but he wasn’t going to give up his lead. The drivers behind him battled each other as well as the dense smoke. Iverson had moved to third and found himself in a tussle with Halopka for second as Tommy Richards moved into fourth in his new home built Midwest Modified. With two laps remaining, Iverson overtook second and set his sites on the leader. On the final circuit, he dove hard through turns three and four and found himself even with Haas. Iverson beat him to the checkered flag as Haas spun at the finish line. It was Iverson in a dandy over Haas as Halopka, Richards, and Kincaid rounded out the top five.
Danny Richards, C.J. Wagner, and Michael Knudtson won the WISSOTA Street Stock heats as Knutson took the early feature lead from the pin. A spinning Ty Agen slowed the action and the restart saw a multi car crash in turn two. However, under power, Danny Richards used a cross over move to take the point, but the pass was nullified by another multi car wreck, this time in turn three. With Knudtson leading back to speed, Richards used the high line to power into first. Andrew Hanson, moved low to take over third just as Agen spun, slowing the action.
Under speed, the yellow flew yet again when Cody Kummer found the front stretch wall. The restart saw a Kyle Genet get turned around in turn two as Dustin Doughty was called for the foul. The restart saw Jay Kesan in the mix driving down low and into second, relegating Knudtson to third. Hanson then squeezed under Knudtson but once again, a multi car caution in turn four slowed the pace. It was Danny Richards in control to the finish as Knudtson raced back to second and Kesan finished in third. Genet and Hanson finished in the top five.
Jay Folz and Bob Thompson won their WISSOTA Pure Stock heats as Cole Richards lead the feature early. Richards was being hounded by his uncle, George Richards, but he held his own. A quick caution reset the filed and George Richards took advantage on the restart going to the lead on the outside down the backstretch. A spinning Charlie Pitcavage drew the yellow and on the restart, Dean Pronschinske overtook second and Bob Thompson moved into third. The racing action was slowed one last time and although Pronschinske was able to drive under Richards in turn one, Richards was too tough in the higher line through the remainder of the corner. Eagle Valley Speedway’s all-time winningest driver scored another feature win as Pronschinske was forced to follow Richards to the finish. Folz was scored in third as Ryan Clausen and Nicholas Hazelton finished in the top five.
Jake Halterman and Jason Junker won the EVS Hornet heats as they finished the feature one two also. It was Dan Prissel early but Halterman overtook him and ran away to the win. Junker tried to close on the winner but to no avail. Jason Brauer moved to third as Prissel settled for fourth over Dean Butler in fifth.
Robert Caho, Harry Hanson, and Rick Kobs won the 360 Sprints, Non-Winged Traditional Sprint Car heats. The feature saw the longtime WISSOTA Late Model great, Hanson move to the lead from the pole position. Hanson looked good out front but several cars were involved in a wreck in turn three slowing the pace. The restart saw Cam Shaffer use a slider to move to second and, again, he overtook the point a lap later with the same move.
The red flag flew as Tommy Colbourn flipped violently near the wall in turns three and four. He was able to get out of the car, was attended to medically, and appears to not be seriously injured. Under green, Robert Caho closed into the top three as Schafer led comfortably to the finish line. Hanson finished second over Caho, Blake Anderson, and Jack Berger finished in fifth.
Kevin Lear swept the 360 Sprints Winged Upper Midwest Sprint Car Series heat and feature. It was Gunner Cummings however, who had the field covered in the feature until mechanical issues ended his night just past the halfway point. Previous to his retirement, Rick Kobs drew the red flag after a rollover in turn two, ending his night. It was Lear winning by a half lap advantage over Kevin Bradwell who had a quarter of a lap advantage on thirds finishing Denny Stordahl. Jack Berger and Carter Chevalier rounded out the top five.
Article Credit: Brad Erickson