by State Park Speedway Media PR
It had been years since Steve Holzhausen raced at State Park Speedway when he made his return for the Miller Lite Detjens Memorial weekend. After bringing home a second place finish that weekend, Holzhausen returned to SPS Thursday for the Lodi Memorial Race, and this time found Buffalo Wild Wings Victory Lane.
It was Neil Knoblock who jumped out to the early lead from the pole position. Twenty laps later Chad Selk chased down Knoblock and made quick work of the 70 to grab the lead 25 laps in to the race. Behind the leaders, Jeremy Lepak and Mark Eswein worked their way to the front and thirty laps in to the race both Eswein and Lepak got around Chris Wimmer to claim the third and fourth positions respectively.
The caution flew 31 laps in and shuffled things up towards the front. Knoblock grabbed the lead again while Lepak put pressure on Selk for the second spot. Lepak earned the spot with Wimmer in tow, who fell in to third, with Eswein fourth. But Eswein was back on the move; he reclaimed the third spot 16 laps before the break and looked outside Lepak for second. Lepak shut the door with the 40 car and set his sights on the leader.
With 10 laps remaining before the 10minute break at lap 66, Lepak looked outside for the lead and with 8 laps until the halfway point, took the spot. It was Lepak who led at the break followed by Eswein, and Knoblock.
While intense racing action kept attention towards the front of the field, many fast cars moved their way towards the front before the break. Fast qualifier Bryan Reffner made his way up to 9th, Mark Mackesy 8th, and Steve Holzhause, who started 8th grabbed the 4th spot.
The ten minute break at lap 66 gave drivers and crew members a chance to work on their cars and make adjustments before the final 66 lap shootout.
Lepak jumped out to the lead when the field went green, but Holzhausen wasted no time making up ground. He maneuvered his way in to the second spot just ten laps in and was followed by Eswein and Chris Weinkauf, who also made his way towards the front from his 9th starting position.
With 50 laps to go Holzhausen made his move and looked outside the 40 for the lead. The two battled side by side for three laps, when Holzhausen cleared for the spot.
Now it was Mackey's turn to make some noise. With 36 laps to go he went to the high side and used the second groove to make his way in to the third spot in a short amount of laps. Right behind Mackesy things began to get interesting. Sauter and Eswein battled for the fourth spot and with 32 laps to go contact was made, sending the 36 around and both cars to the rear of the field.
The caution closed the gap and gave life to drivers like Weinkauf, Mackesy and Reffner, who otherwise may not have had time to close the gap on the leader Holzhausen.
Holzhausen maintained the lead on the final restart. Reffner held the outside groove from his 4th spot and used that line to make the pass for third and then the second spot.
With just 25 laps left, Reffner hunted down Holzhausen with Mackesy in right behind him. The 80 and 12 cars were able to close the gap on Holzhausen's 97, but Holzhausen held off the charge to take the checkered flag. Reffner finished second, Mackesy third, Weinkauf fourth, and Knoblock fifth.
Lyle Nowak found his way back to Buffalo Wild Wings Victory Lane in the Super Stock division. Nowak and Hinner battled hard for the win and exchanged the lead a handful of time, but it was the 36 who held on for the win and now is just one point out of the lead in the point standings. The top three, Hinner, Nowak, and Gwidt are all separated by less than 10 points in the overall standings.
Bradley Conant picked up the win in the Pure Stock feature, but was disqualified during post-race inspection. Travis Volm and Kyle Gennett raced side by side and battled hard for second spot on the track. Gennett grabbed the spot at the line, so with Conant's disqualification, Gennett earned the win.
Adam Eckes worked his way to the front quickly in the Snap-On Mini Mod race, taking the top spot just four laps in. Eckes put distance on the rest of the field and easily grabbed the win. Dale Louze and John Lietz battled for second, with Louze taking the spot with under ten laps to go. Lietz finished third.
Complete results for all divisions can be found here: http://www.speednetdirect.com/results.php
For more information on State Park Speedway visit www.stateparkspeedway.com or contact Jana Jurkovich at stateparkspeedway@yahoo.com
This article was posted to the website on August 26th, 2011 • Click to view all related content in the following categories
