Weishoff Wins at Columbus 151 Speedway; Bishofberger Crowned Champion

by Charlie Spry
Hometown late model driver Al Weishoff took home his second feature win of the season on Sunday, while Ron Bishofberger accomplished another track championship to add to his impressive resume'.

Tiffany Desjarlais jumped to an early lead from her pole position starting spot, leading the first four laps of the main event. Lincoln Keeser and Bill Retallick made contact at the same time, bringing out the first caution of the race. On the restart,Weishoff worked the outside groove to perfection to make the pass on Desjarlais on lap seven, and began to build up a large lead. Curt Clapper, Don Gaserude and Andy Tomlinson began to make their presence felt, and on lap 25 Desjarlais and Tomlinson made contact, also collecting Nick Wendt, ending any hopes he had of gaining the track championship. On the restart, Weishoff again began to build up the lead over Clapper and Scott Patrick. Clapper began to fade, allowing Patrick to take over second spot and reel in Weishoff, while Bishofberger and Gaserude joined the fray. While these drivers could get up to Weishoff's rear bumper, nobody could mount a serious challenge, as Weishoff took the win, followed by Patrick, Bishofberger, Gaserude, and Pete Moore. Bishofberger's strong run and Wendt's misfortune allowed Bishofberger to gain his third late model track championship here, to go along with many others at local tracks.

Ben Hewitt received a bit of an early birthday present in the Street Stock division, as he garnered his second feature win of the season, capitalizing on another's misfortune. Hewitt will be celebrating his birthday in a few days, and did it in style, as the event started off with Rick Lamberty jumping to an early lead, with Rick Coppernoll making short work of this by making a pass for the lead on the outside on lap two, bringing Hewitt and Kevin Anderson along for the ride. Coppernoll appeared to have the race in control, until he suddenly slowed in turn two on the white flag lap, diving to the infield, leaving a surprised Hewitt to take advantage and get the win. Hewitt was followed across the line by Phil Denikas, who made a fast move to take second away from Anderson, who took third. Denikas won his second track championship in a row here, actually securing the title a couple of weeks ago.

The Hobby Stocks put on their usual exciting show, with Mike Held scoring his first career feature win here in the division. Held took over the top spot on lap three, with Steven Sauer and Andy Raley moving up through the pack. Meanwhile, Wayne Buchs tried to make his car stick to the outside and make the pass for the lead, but was unable to complete the pass, with Kale Peterman sneaking to the inside to take over second place. Sauer and Raley followed suit, with no driver able to unseat Held from the top spot. Held held on for the win, followed by Sauer, Raley, Peterman, and Buchs. Peterman had already wrapped up the track championship prior to the day's action.

Derek Dixon put the icing on the cake to a fine season in the Bandit division, as he had already secured the track championship for 2011 before the races began. Just for good measure, he set fast time and won the feature today. Jeremy Monday jumped to an early lead in the main event, with Dave Schmidt following closely. A caution on lap six brought the field up to Monday's bumper, with Schmidt finally taking the lead on lap eleven, after a bit of contact between the pair. Schmidt increased the lead while Dixon began picking off cars one by one on the outside, Dixon made the winning pass with two laps to go, with Schmidt taking second, and Seth Reamer third.

The Back Up drivers had a relatively tame feature event by their standards, as George Wachuta led from start to finish to take the win. Ryan Oetzel was in a tight point battle with Dustin Von Allmen, and much to his chagrin, his car made it to the starting grid for the standing start, but decided it didn't want to run. However, Oetzel was awarded points for making the grid, and won the title.

Several mechanics and powder puff events were run after the regular racing, with winners as follows: Bandit powder puff: Stephanie Storkson; Hobby Stock powder puff: Katie Raley; Street Stock powder puff: Sherry Anderson; Backup powder puff: Anna Murphy; Bandit mechanics: Scott Dixon; Hobby Stock mechanics: Tylor Schultz; and Street Stock/Late model mechanics: Chris Zickert.

Next up at the Columbus 151 Speedway will be the Bandit Super Bowl for four cylinder cars, on Sunday, September 25. This event is sure to provide plenty of excitement!