Mierendorf Mighty in Columbus 151 Late
Models! May 17, 2002; Columbus, WI. - Butch Mierendorf of Lake Mills drove to his second win of the season as he captured the thirty-five lap late model feature at the Columbus 151 Speedway on Friday night.
Bob Taylor of Watertown jumped into the lead at the start and led until lap five when Jeff Falbe of Beaver Dam was able to make his way around Taylor. Mierendorf moved in on Falbe and began to challenge for the lead about midway through the event. The two made contact with each other with Mierendorf doing a fine job of saving it. Falbe was able to maintain the lead but Mierendorf lost several car lengths. As the laps went by, Mierendorf again reeled in Falbe and was able to make his move on lap thirty-one to take the lead and go on to the win. Falbe drove to second ahead of Dean Schultz of Juneau. Schultz, who started in the fifteenth position, steadily moved up on the outside and by virtue of his strong finish moved into the point lead. Chris Kenney of Sun Prairie drove a consistent race to finish in fourth. Rob Retallick of Deerfield was fifth. Don Trush of Sun Prairie, in his rookie season in the street stock division, raced into the lead on lap thirteen and went on to record his first feature win in the twenty-five lap feature. Early race leader, Dennis Catencamp of Marshall, crossed the line in second. Dan Schmidt of Watertown moved into the point lead with his third place finish. Bret Schmidt of Watertown moved up from the last position to claim fourth. Dale Ripp of Sun Prairie was fifth. Ken Scott of Rio moved up from the sixth row to chase down Lincoln Keeser of Milton and move into the lead on lap seventeen of the twenty-lap hobby stock feature. Scott pulled away for the win and also moved into the lead in the point standings. Finishing in third behind Scott and Keeser was Bill Bush of Jefferson. John Remsik of Madison followed in fourth. Grant Lindner of Poynette was fifth. Scott Buhrow of Reedsburg appeared to be the winner of the Bandit feature. Unfortunately for Buhrow, a post race inspection found the car to be out of spec. Brandon Riedner of Waunakee was moved into the top spot. It was the first win of the season for the young first year driver. Charles Novotny of Mauston took second ahead of Bill Reynolds of Watertown. Travis Schneeberg of Marshall was fourth. Dave Hundley of Rockton, IL finished in fifth. Mark Remsik of Deerfield led from start to finish to record his first win of the season in the back up division. Jim Remsik of DeForest followed in second. Dave Moore of McFarland was third. Dean Schultz led the late model division in qualifying at 13.805. Rookie Justin Schultz of Otsego paced the street stocks at 14.646. Ken Scott turned in a lap at 15.342 to lead the hobby stock division. Scott once again just missed setting the hobby stock one lap record held by Gerry Junget at 15.332. Charles Novotny lowered the track record for the Bandits to 17.068 by beating his own record of 17.234 set on May 3 of this season. Late model heat race victories were recorded by Brian Lind of Stoughton and Jeff Falbe. Don Trush and Ed Jackson of Madison registered the street stock heat race wins. Hobby stock heat wins went to Jerry Chapman of Juneau and Lincoln Keeser. Scott Buhrow was victorious in the Bandit heat. "Lightning" Dave Hatton of Beaver Dam won the B.J.'s Roadside Rollover Contest. Racing action resumes this Friday night at the Columbus 151 Speedway with the Pepsi Triple 60's Challenge Series Round One. The late model division will run the first 60 lap feature of the three race series. |
