Godding tops Late Model feature action at
Columbus 151 Speedway! May 4, 2001; Columbus, WI. - Will Godding (#67) held off a hard charging Al Weishoff (#46) and wheeled to his first feature win in the Late Model Division. Pole-sitter Brett Knight (#79) of Watertown got the jump at the green flag but Will Godding reclaimed the lead quickly by the end of lap two. Al Weishoff heated up the outside groove by lap ten as he made his way to the front of the pack. Four laps later Al Weishoff was pressing for the lead as Brett Knight and Steve Dobbratz (#52) got together. The contact sent Steve Dobbratz to the pits as well as the #27 car of Clayton Braaksma.
At the restart Al Weishoff moved back to
the high groove, the two battled door to door for many laps but Will Godding managed to
hold off the outside charges. The race ended in a Yellow/Checkered condition as Braaksma
spun in turn three. The top five at the line were Will Godding, Al Weishoff, Bruce Havel,
Gerry Junget (#71) and Jeff Falbe (#95.3) Dylan Schuyler (#33) crossed the finish line first in the twenty-five lap street stock feature and picked up his first official Feature win of the year. The Yellow flag flew quickly as Shane Radkte (#18) made hard contact with the concrete backstretch wall. Shane Radkte got sideways through turns one and two and over-corrected leaving him pointed directly at the outside retaining wall. The ambulance was at the scene for precaution but everyone was Ok. On the restart Dylan Schuyler jumped out to a four car length lead only to be slowed back down on lap four for the second caution of the event. Ron Schmitt (#6) continued his streak of no luck, after hitting the wall last week, by blowing his engine in turn four. With that out of their systems the Street Stocks commenced with some good racing. At the green flag Dylan Schuyler began to slowly pull away from the field. Scott “Chico” Riedner hopped up into the fifth spot and began to run down the leader. It would prove too little too late though as lapped traffic become a factor by lap seventeen. Lap twenty had Ron Preskar (#71) of Juneau up
to the third position but far from the leaders. Crossing
the checkers first were Dylan Schuyler, Scott Riedner, Ron Preskar, Bret Schmidt (#20) of Watertown, and R.C.
Coppernoll (#36) of Bristol. Dennis Gaserude (#18) made the second Hobby stock feature of the year his after twenty laps. Lap two featured the cars of Lincoln Keeser (#99) of Milton and Roger Stephenson (#88) of Cambridge as the two cars were locked together. They raced tightly as they took the white flag and went three wide into turn three. Don Gaserude on the inside got the best of the
situation squeezing by untouched. Contact was made between John Hibner (#68) and Jerry
Chapman (#7). Jim Rohrbeck (#99) slid by both to gather the second position. Jerry Chapman
finished third and John Hibner took fourth with a flat tire. The fifth position belonged
to Grant Lindner (#30) of Poynette. Rick Verdon (#83) of Fitchburg led most of the Wild & Crazy Back-Up Division Race. The leader spun and was tagged by Ron Schneidewind (#CYA2), Rick Verdon eventually took third in a field of Eleven Cars taking to the track in reverse for eight laps at nearly sixty miles per hour. Veteran Dave Moore (#11) of McFarland was the beneficiary. He received the race lead after the contact between Rick Verdon and Ron Schneidewind. Bruce Havel (#15) of Deerfield motored past Moore on the final lap to take his second win of the season. As the crossed the finish line it was Bruce Havel, Dave Moore, Rick Verdon, Ron Schneidewind, and Matt Wachuta (#03) of Brooklyn. Fast times for the evening were turned in by Andy Tomlinson in the late models at 13.897, Ron Preskar in the street stocks at 14.618 and Jerry Chapman of Juneau in the hobby stocks at 15.557. Clayton Braaksma of Beaver Dam and Butch Mierendorf of Waterloo registered late model heat race wins. Street stock heat race action saw wins recorded by Scott “Chico” Riedner of Waunakee and Jack Reuter of Columbus. Hobby stock heat race wins went to Grant Lindner and Jim Rohrbeck of Portage. Racing action continues this Friday night with the Miller 50 Night Challenge One. The late model feature will be 50 laps. Formula Indy Racing Association will also be in action plus there will be a toy toss for the kids. |
