Mother Nature Welcomes Columbus 151 Speedway Season Opener!
By Jim Remsik

April 29, 2001; Columbus, WI. - Clear skies and temperatures in the low 80’s welcomed the start of the Columbus 151 Speedway season. The Sunday, April 29th opener gave the opportunity for six divisions take to the track for the first time this year. .

Photo Highlights

Jason Erickson (#1) started his season off at Columbus 151 Speedway with a trip to victory lane after the Late Model feature. Eric Severson (#27) took top honors on opening day in the Hobby Stock division. Tom Cormack (#77) wheeled his Formula Indy Racing Association car to victory in the Pro-division feature contest.

Jason Erickson of Cambridge and Don Gaserude of Fort Atkinson held off the pack to finish one, two in the Late Model feature. Three yellow flags slowed the event, #6 spun and left the race on lap three. Terry Sauer developed an engine fire mid race and left the racing surface. Al Weishoff looped his car around lap twenty-seven.As they came across the line the top five were Erickson, Gaserude, Meirendorf, Dobbratz and Schultz.

Radke (#18) and Schmidt (#20) lead the field to the green in the Street Stock Main Event. By lap three Dylan Skyler was knocking on the door in second place. Lap five saw Skyler become the leader and he didn’t look back. Lapped cars started to affect the leaders mid race on lap 14 when slower traffic strung out the leaders to single file. Ken Scott (#39) and Ron Schmidt (#6) got together with just four laps to go, the contact ended with Schmidt slapping hard against the freshly replaced section of concrete retaining wall coming out of turn two. Scott “Chico” Riedner took advantage of the opportunity and jumped from sixth to third on the restart. Taking the checkers for the first Street Stock Feature of the year it was Skyler (#33), Coppernoll (#75), Reidner (#26), Radke (#18) and Scott (#39). Skyler however failed to pass the post race tech inspection. Therefore giving the win to Ron Coppernoll (#75).

Of note were the two station wagon bodied cars taking the field. Scott “Chico” Reidner (#26) powered his grocery getter to the third position while Bob Jacobs trailed the field in his “War Wagon” with obvious mechanical problems.

In the Hobby Stock Division Eric Severson of Rio picked up the first feature win from outside row one. With Severson out in front the battle fell to the middle of the field and by lap two the cars of Finnegan (#8) and Keeser (#99) made contact sending Finnegan to the infield and the caution was avoided. The yellow did fall three laps later as Keith Miller (#20) got the worst of a three wide race to the corner with Dorn (#10) and Keeser (#99), Miller locked his brakes entering turn one and made hard contact with the wall at the apex of the corner. Ten laps after the restart Severson had a sizeable lead and was coming up on lapped traffic. Rohrbeck and Lindener made hard runs to finish second and third respectively. To end the season opener feature for the Hobby Stocks it was Severson (#27), Rohrbeck (#99), Lindener (#30), Chapman (#7) and Keeser (#99)

Bruce Havel recovered from slow acceleration off of the line to take the 8 lap Wild & Crazy Back-Up Race. Havel’s sluggishness at the start gave the early lead to Steve Oetzel (#87). Rick Verdon (#83) and Ron Schneidewind (#CYA2) made contact on the opening lap sending Verdon to the infield. Around lap five Steve Oetzel (#87) and Schneidewind made heavy contact taking the CYA2 car out of contention, while Oetzel went on to finish third. At the line it was Havel (#15), Moore (#11) and Oetzel (#87).

Ray Kreyer of Poynette took the leaders three wide on lap two of the Junior Motorsports feature and went on to win it. The feature almost appeared to be a crash safety test for the division as Scott Kliest (#31) and Dean Powers (#20) showcased the strength of their roll cages as the barrel-rolled their cars down the front straight in separate incidents. The first three to the finish line were Kreyer (#3), (#24) and (#18)

Tom Cormack of Chicago, IL. was victorious in the Pro division feature of the Formula Indy Racing Association. Don Spiewak of Batavia took the checkered in the Pro-Am division feature.

Fast times for the afternoon were turned in by Mike Langsdorf in the late model division at 13.840, Ron Preskar in the street stocks at 14.567 and Jerry Chapman in the hobby stock division at 15.683. Shayne Pochnelt topped the Junior Motorsports at 16.442. Neil Gillentine came up fastest in the Formula Indy cars qualifying at 13.482.

Late model heat race wins were registered by Bruce Havel of Deerfield, Jason Erickson of Cambridge and Terry Sauer of Waterloo. Ron Coppernoll of Sun Prairie and John Schafer were victorious in the street stock heats. Jim Rohrbeck and Eric Severson claimed the hobby stock heats. Junior Motorsports heat wins were recorded by Steve Rist and Ray Kreyer. Ray Kreyer also took the Junior Motorsports dash. Formula Indy heat wins went to Chris Julian and Tom Cormack.

Coming Up May 4th: Friday Night Races Begin - A complete show plus the BJ's Roadside Roll-over Contest and Junior Motorsports plus NASCAR Collectibles give away