Dobbratz scores in Late Model action at
Columbus 151! May 18, 2001; Columbus, WI. - Steve Dobbratz of Rio and Rick Coppernoll of Marshall lead the field to the green flag for the Late Model feature event. The lead went to the pole-sitter Dobbratz and he didn’t look back.
The race was slowed as the caution flag flew twice during the event. Contact between Don Gaserude of Fort Atkinson and Butch Mierendorf of Waterloo brought out the yellow flag on lap four. After the restart leader Steve Dobbratz slowly pulled out to a sizeable lead. Scott Patrick of Dousman brought the field back together with a spin
around lap forty. Second place runner Russ Goodwin from Beloit had a shot at the restart
but, Dobbratz motored away again, working up a lead of two car lengths by the time the
checkers fell. After Dobbratz and Goodwin at the line it was Rick Coppernoll of Marshall,
Gerry Junget of Rio and Randy Breunig of Columbus. Dan and Bret Schmidt of Watertown brought the field up to speed for the twenty-five lap street stock feature. Bret Schmidt found his way to the lower groove quickly to take the lead on lap two with Dan Schmidt falling in behind to second place and Ron Coppernoll of Madison grabbing the third spot. Bret Schmidt found Chris Kuhr of Madison on lap seven. Kuhr slowed quickly in turns three and four, contact between the lapped car and the leader sent Kuhr spinning to the infield. Following that incident the lead pack found a gauntlet of lapped traffic, being forced high and then low by the slower traffic. Ron Coppernoll took advantage of the bottlenecks and made his way to second, challenging for the lead on lap fourteen. Lap sixteen found contact between Coppernoll and Schmidt. Scott “Chico” Riedner slid into the third position, and the quickly dispatched Ron Coppernoll. Bret Schmidt who had the advantage from lap two was now being challenged with two laps to go. Schmidt held off Riedner until the veteran drove him hard into the final turn. Bret Schmidt got loose and Scott Riedner pulled up nose to nose. At
the checkered flag the station wagon bodied car of Riedner edged out Schmidt by mere
inches. The official finish order was Scott Riedner, Bret Schmidt, Ron Coppernoll, Dan
Schmidt, and Ron Schmidt having his best runs of the season finished out the top
five. Grant Lindner of Poynette and John Remsik of Madison led the Hobby Stock feature to the green flag. Remsik got the jump at the start of the race and by turn three of the first lap had almost cleared Lindner who was running the lower groove. Remsik, who won an earlier heat race, cut down and made contact with Lindner. The move sent Remsik spinning to the infield and Grant Lindner went on to win the main event. Lap eight had the leader in lapped traffic as he passed Jesse Cowell
also of Poynette. Caution flew over the raceway on lap eighteen as Dennis Gaserude of
Arena made contact with Larry Moen of Madison leaving Moen facing the field in turns one
and two. The order remained the same for the Green, White, Checker with Grant Lindner
taking the victory. The official tally showed the finishing order as Lindner, Roger
Stephenson of Cambridge, Justin Schultz of Columbus, Chuck Egli, and Jerry Chapman of
Juneau. Matt Wachuta of Brooklyn and Jim Remsik of DeForest sat on the front
row of the Back-Up division feature. From the standing start Wachuta had the early
advantage in the backwards race, until he spun and handed the lead to Remsik. Remsik held
the lead until Mark Williams of St. Louis, MO was found broadside in turns three and four.
Remsik slowed to navigate around the spun car as Dave Moore, Bruce Havel and Mark Remsik
sped around the outside. Bruce Havel of Deerfield went on to win his third Back-Up
division race of the season. Mark Remsik of Madison put on a strong charge to pass Dave
Moore of McFarland, but fell just short at the finish line. The final order at the line
was Bruce Havel, Dave Moore, Mark Remsik, Jim Remsik, and Rick Verdon of Fitchburg. Gerry Junget of Rio in the Late Model Division turned in the quick
qualifying time of the evening at 13.894. Scott Riedner turned in a street stock quick
time of 14.801. Hobby Stock fast time went to Jerry Chapman with a time of 15.593. Ben
Kreyer of Poynette set a quick time of 16.649 in the Junior Motorsports division. Heat races in the Late Model division went to John Lamberty of Verona, Brent Knight of Watertown and Clayton Braaksma of Beaver Dam. In the Street stock division Jason Thoma of Jefferson and Tom Collins of Lake Mills picked up their heat races. Madison native John Remsik and Poynette Resident Grant Lindner won their heat races, the two also wound up as the front row of the feature event of the Hobby Stock division. Ben Kreyer, won the Junior Motorsports Fast dash while Scott Kleist and Ray Kreyer won their heat events, all three are from the Poynette area. |
