Langsdorf latches onto Late Model win,
Schmidt stops streak in Street Stocks!
By Jim Remsik
June 8, 2001; Columbus, WI. - A large crowd was on hand for
Junior Fan Club night this Friday at Columbus 151 Speedway. Nearly every car and driver in
the pits found their way to the track for a special half-hour autograph session. Those in
attendance were invited trackside to meet the drivers and get an up close look at the
stock cars competing that night.
Mike Langsdorf of Doylestown finished ahead of last week's
winner Gerry Junget of Rio to grab the Miller 50 Night Two Late Model feature victory. Tim
Noble of Janesville and Gerry Auby of Sun Prairie lead the field to the green flag. Noble
and the inside line took control at the start. Auby brought out the caution on lap six as
he spun in turn two. A number of cars spun to avoid and wound up spending time in the pits
including Aaron Wilke of Waterloo, Denny Bergeron Jr., Bruce Havel of Deerfield, and Will
Godding of Cross Plains.
On the restart Noble held the advantage followed by Don Gaserude of
Fort Atkinson and Russ Goodwin of Beloit. Caution fell again on lap sixteen as Brian Lind
spun to the infield. By lap twenty Langsdorf and Junget had made their way to the lead
pack. The pair raced through the pack and came out in one and two and began to pull away
from the rest of the field. Final results were Mike Langsdorf, Gerry Junget, Tim Noble,
Don Gaserude, and Russ Goodwin.
In Street Stock action Bret Schmidt of Watertown was able to keep ahead of Scott Riedner
of Waunakee. Riedner had edged out Schmidt by mere inches in week three racing action. The
twenty-five lap main event was lead out of the pits by Tom Collins of Lake Mills and Ed
Jackson of Madison. As the field came up to speed Chris Kuhr got out of shape on the
backstretch, Kuhr's Malibu came to a rest in the infield and a caution was avoided. R.C.
Coppernoll of Bristol grabbed the lead by lap three with Shane Radtke of Helenville in
Second and Collins falling to third. The yellow flag fell for two incidents on lap eight.
Bobby Stough Jr. of Waunakee spun from contact in turns three and four.
The cars of Ed Jackson of Madison, Ron Coppernoll and James Helmer of
Fox Lake were involved in contact, which would send Coppernoll and Helmer to the pit area.
R.C. Coppernoll lead the field back to the lap eight restart and began building a sizeable
lead. Riedner and Ron Preskar of Juneau moved to the outside and began charging toward the
front; Bret Schmidt made the move to the outside as well earning the third spot by lap
fourteen.
Caution slowed the race on lap nineteen as John Schaeffer of Monona
and Ken Scott of Rio got together. The caution eliminated the lead Coppernoll had built
and Riedner and Preskar had crept in to the third and fourth positions respectively. As
the green flag again flew Schmidt dove under Shane Radtke who had been running second.
Riedner moved up a groove and Preskar raced beneath him.
Bret Schmidt began to pressure Coppernoll and on lap twenty-three got
the inside lane. Riedner moved to the inside of Preskar and took the third spot, he then
followed Schmidt passed Coppernoll. Radtke followed the pair took the fourth position from
Preskar. At the finish line it was Bret Schmidt, Scott Riedner, R.C. Coppernoll, Shane
Radtke, and Ron Preskar rounding out the top five.
James Schmidt of Jefferson and Lincoln Keeser of Milton were the front row of the
twenty-lap hobby stock main event. John Remsik of Madison moved to the outside groove on
lap three. As Schmidt and Keeser fought it out for the lead Remsik charged to third and by
lap seven had nosed out Schmidt for the lead. Lap eight had the caution flying for Justin
Schultz of Columbus as he spun in turns three and four. On the restart Remsik held the
lead while Grant Lindner of Madison and Rodger Stephenson battled for second. On lap
eighteen the leader found heavy traffic which allowed Lindner to get on the inside but,
not quire enough for the win. The official results are John Remsik, Grant Lindner, Rodger
Stephenson, Jim Rohrbeck of Portage, John Hibner of Pardeeville, and Dennis Gaserude of
Arena.
The Back-Up division had a new face in victory lane this week as Matt Wachuta of Brooklyn
picked up his first career back-up win. Rick Verdon of Fitchburg grabbed the lead at the
start. He managed the lead for seven of the eight laps before spinning in turns one and
two. Wachuta picked it up from there and held off the previously undefeated Bruce Havel of
Deerfield. The top five at the line were Matt Wachuta, Bruce Havel, Mark Remsik of
Madison, Dave Moore of McFarland, and Steve Oetzel of Marshall.
The Ad World Spectator races were also held this evening. The top three in the
eight-cylinder division were Bob Rabe of Madison, Tobin Hess of Edgerton and Shane
Grunewall of Columbus. Corey Corbett of DeForest and Mike Bleecker of Watertown topped the
six-cylinder class. In four cylinder street car competition Luke Wilheln of Madison beat
out Rick Krajewsky of Sun Prairie.
Bob Taylor of Watertown, Tim Noble and Gerry Auby registered late model heat race wins.
Bob Jacobs and Bobby Stough Jr. were victorious in the street stock heats. Dennis Schwark
of Sun Prairie and Grant Lindner recorded wins in the hobby stock heats. Scott Kleist
claimed the Junior Motorsports dash. Heat wins went to Brian Shonasky of Wyocena and Steve
Rist of Sun Prairie.
For complete results from the RACESTAT computer click here |
