Gerry Junget grabs career first Late Model victory, Riedner on a roll in Street Stocks!
By Jim Remsik

May 18, 2001; Columbus, WI. - The crowd on hand braved thunderstorms in the area and falling temperatures at Columbus 151 Speedway for Fan Appreciation night. Those in attendance witnessed Gerry Junget of Rio pick up his first career Late Model Feature victory. The thirty-five lap main event went flag to flag without a caution.

Photo Highlights

Late Model rookie Gerry Junget (#71) earned his first career feature victory here at Columbus 151 Speedway. Using the challenging outside lane Gerry Junget (#71) powers past defending champ Al Weishoff (#46) and Dean Schultz (#34) on his way to victory in the Late Model main. Scott "Chico" Riedner (#26) has been tearing up the competition in the Street Stock division winning his third straight feature race. Bruce Havel (#15) holds off a charging Mark Remsik (#84) to win the Backup feature. Dennis Gaserude (#18) takes the " High Road " to get around Lincoln Keeser (#19) and go on to win the Hobby Stock feature. Vern Brown, (#38) holds off   Chris Julian (#3) for a win in the F.I.R.A. feature event.

The thirty-five lap main event went flag to flag without a caution. Polesitter Jeff Falbe of Beaver Dam and Don Gaserude of Fort Atkinson spent the first half of the race battling door to door. Lap nineteen had Junget charging up from his eighth place starting position to take the lead from Falbe. At the finish line it was Junget, Falbe, Dean Schulz of Juneau, Al Weishoff of Columbus and Gaserude.

Scott Riedner of Waunakee made it a clean sweep in the Street Stock division to continue his domination of the class this season. Riedner sits atop the point standings for this division by nearly a forty percent margin. The pack of seventeen were lead to the green flag by Shane Radtke of Helenville and R.C. Coppernoll of Bristol.

Shane Radtke left the race quickly after making contact with R.C. Coppernoll on lap one. A pair of Coppernolls became the new leaders in R.C. and Ron Coppernoll of Madison. Lap six found Bret Schmidt of Watertown making contact with Bobby Stough Jr of Waunakee and the 39 of Ken Scott of Rio. Schmidt made his way to the infield with a flat tire. Up front Ron Coppernoll was being challenged at every corner by Ron Schmitt of Jackson.

Riener had found his way halfway through the pack by lap eight and by lap seventeen he had tooled his wagon around the outside of Schmitt and the brothers Coppernoll to take the lead. Ron Preskar followed Riedner to the outside and made his way to second and a battle with R.C. Coppernoll. At the checkered flag following Scott Riedner, R.C. Coppernoll nosed out Preskar, Ron Coppernoll was fourth, followed by Ron Schmitt and Bobby Stough Jr.

Lincoln Keeser of Milton and Dennis Schwark of Sun Prairie brought the Hobby Stock feature up to speed. By lap two the caution was flying for Ryan Selgren also of Milton. Selgren got out of shape on the backstretch and rear-ended the outside retaining wall in turn three, the contact forced him out of the race. On the restart Dennis Gaserude of Arena went to the high side against Keeser. On lap seven the slower traffic of Mark Lawson split the leaders Gaserude still high with Keeser down low. Justin Schultz of Columbus was taking evasive action to get below the traffic jam when he threw a cloud of dirt on the track, the caution was flew for clean-up.

Gaserude found smoother sailing on the restart, while Keeser hand his hands full with John Hibner of Pardeeville. The leader found lapped traffic again on lap seventeen but they finished the same, Gaserude, Keeser, Hibner, Jerry Chapman of Juneau, Jim Rohrbeck of Portage, John Remsik of Madison, Grant Lindner of Poynette, and Dennis Schwark of Sun Prairie.

As the points dictated Jim Remsik of DeForest and Matt Wachuta of Brooklyn again sat on the front row for the eight lap Back-Up division feature. Wachuta grabbed the early lead with Jim Remsik following in second. Wayne Hook of Oregon and Ron Schniedewind both spun on lap two.

The leader found the disabled car of Schneidewind on the front straight. Jim Remsik maneuvered through the stopped cars to take the lead. Steve Oetzel of Marshall who had been running third wasn't so lucky as he spun to avoid but recovered quickly. Bruce Havel of Deerfield found his way through the carnage and in second place he was being chased by Mark Remsik of Madison.

Jim Remsik held the lead until lap seven, contact between Jim Remsik and Havel sent Remsik spinning to the infield. Bumper to bumper at the line it was Havel, followed closely by Mark Remsik, third place went to Dave Moore of McFarland followed by Jim Remsik, and Steve Oetzel. Bruce Havel is undefeated in the Back-Up division this season.

Late model heat race wins were registered by Brent Knight and Will Godding of Cross Plains. Kevin Anderson of Cottage Grove and Scott Riedner were victorious in the street stock heats. Grant Lindner of Poynette and Lincoln Keeser recorded wins in the hobby stock heats. The Formula Indy Racing Association (FIRA) heat and Feature went to Vern Brown of Waunakee.

Fast time in the Late Model division was posted by Gerry Junget of Rio. Scott Riedner made the sweep complete with a time of 14.678 to top the Street Stock Division. In the Hobby Stocks Jim Rohrbeck of Portage posted a time 15.569 and the FIRA quick timer was Jacque Carlson of Madison with a 13.728.

Racing action continues this Friday night at the Columbus 151 Speedway with Miller 50 Challenge Night Two. The late model division will race the second 50 lap feature of the three challenge night events. There will also be a coin drop for the kids at Intermission. For more on the Columbus 151 Speedway visit http://www.racingonline.com/columbus151.

For complete results from the RACESTAT computer click here