June 30, 2006; Columbus, WI. - Rob Retallick of Deerfield fended off a persistent Dean Schultz en route to his second feature victory in the Late Model division this season. Scotty Hatton and Rob Retallick brought the field up to speed for the 50 lap main event sponsored by Cheerwine soda with Retallick gaining the early lead. Denny Stair brought out the first caution on lap two spinning in turn three. On the restart the outside groove of Mike Taylor, Jerry Eckhardt and Tim Woollen took advantage of a back pedaling Hatton.

Photo Highlights

Rob Retallic is joined in victory circle by his Niece to celebrate his Cherry Bomb 50 Late Model Feature win. #1 Rob Retallic gets a nudge from #34 Dean Schultz but held him off to win the Cherry Bomb 50 lap Late Model Feature. Dan Schmidt (#19) worked the outside line to perfection on his way to winning the Street Stock feature. #19 Dan Schmidt works his way on the outside overtaking #21 Dan Gosda and #33 Dale Weatherwax on his way to his first Street Stock Feature win this season. Dustin Ward (#9) picks up another Hobby Stock Feature win. Greg Ovadal (#72) sits in victory lane after capturing the Bandit main event. #98 Tom Bleaker tries to hold off #72 Greg Ovadal from capturing another Bandit Feature win but Greg took him on the last laps, winning the Bandit Feature.

By lap six Dean Schultz made an appearance in the top five using the outside to get past Hatton. The caution flag fell again on lap eleven as Aaron Wilke (Waterloo) and Jerry Junget (Rio) got tangled in turn one, both cars resumed the race at the back of the field. The field got up to speed for three more laps before the yellow flag was flying again for contact between Scottie Hatton and Butch Mierendorf. On the restart Retallick retained the lead followed by Woollen, Schultz, Taylor and Eckhardt. Schultz and Woollen battled until lap twenty when a caution fell for no apparent reason. Track officials used the caution to penalize Woollen four positions for not obeying the "pick-a-lane" flag. With the competition cone in place the penalty was effectively seven spots as Woollen caused the caution and therefore did not have the option of choosing the outside groove. The restart would see Retallick reaffirm his lead and Dean Schultz give chase. Schultz's attempts would not be enough at the line it was Retallick, Schultz, Don Gaserude, John Wasserburger, and Eckhardt.

Aaron Wilke turned the fastest lap at 13.543 seconds. Victories in heat race action belonged to Butch Mierendorf and Denny Stair (Sullivan).

A pair of rookies, Dan Gosda (Sun Prairie) and Mike Amador (Mazomanie), brought the Street Stock feature to the line for the 30-lap feature event. Gosda grabbed the early lead in the low groove as Amador held up the high side. After clearing Amador, Tylor Schultz used the outside to challenge Dan Schmidt ( Watertown) for the second position only to go for a ride in turns one and two nearly hitting the outside retaining wall and subsequently make contact with Schmidt. By lap nine Schmidt tried the outside groove against Gosda and two laps later secured that position and gained a healthy lead. His lead would go unchallenged until lap twenty-six when the hard charging pair of Kevin Anderson ( Cottage Grove) and Don Trush (Madison) would catch him. Anderson tried the outside leaving the door open for Trush gain the second spot. At the checkers it was Schmidt for his second win of the night following his heat race victory. Trush, Anderson, Dennis Schwark (Sun Prairie), and Mike Amador rounded out the top five. Amador also picked up a heat race win to go with his top five feature finish. Kevin Anderson set the pace for the field with fast time at 14.133 seconds.

In the Hobby Stock feature another pair brought the cars to the line, a pair of #9 cars, Coletta Gomes and Dustin Ward (Madison ). Ward would grab the lead and never look back and was followed by Andy Junget (Baraboo) and Lincoln Keeser (Whitewater). By lap ten Larry Moen (Madison ) worked his way into third place with Jim Tate Jr. (Watertown) following close behind. On lap fifteen Ward found himself running side by side with Gomes again, this time as he put her down a lap. Moen and Tate ran side by side as they went around Gomes opening a door for Keeser to challenge Tate for fourth. Tate used the high-side to hold on, as they crossed the line Ward picked up his first Hobby Stock win followed by Junget, Moen, Tate and Keeser. Brian Pillar ( Watertown) earned a victory in the heat race and Larry Moen was fastest in qualifying turning a lap time of 15.410.


For the second time that night the front row shared a common number in the Bandit Feature as #29 Derek Childs (Poynette) and #29 Kevin Kulka (Deerfield ) rolled the four cylinder feature to the line. As they wound up the little motors Steve Privett ( Columbus) was bounced down the back straight like a pinball but would continue. Caution fell early in the event as Charlie Spry (Orfordville) was encouraged a little to hard from behind and was spun in turns one and two also collecting Nate Lacy (Monona). On the restart Childs would be followed by last week's feature winner Sean Watters (Sun Prairie). Kyle Klein ( Hartford) used the outside to gain the third position on lap two while Tom Bleaker (Watertown ) split the middle of traffic and passed a group of cars for fourth. Bleaker would continue his charge through the middle of the field and wind up in the lead by lap seven. Caution slowed the chaos on lap ten as Ashley Smith (Lake Mills), Michael Heimann, and Nate Lacy were parked high in turn four, all three would resume the race in the rear. Bleaker would lead the field back to the green followed by Sean Watters, Kyle Watters ( Stoughton), Greg Ovadal (West Allis), and Klein. Ovadal last week's runner-up chewed up the difference and using the lapped car of Michael Heimann (Waunakee) as a pick edged out Bleaker at the line. That pair was followed by Sean Watters, Bud Riedner (Waunakee), and Kyle Watters.

Jake Wetherell (Sullivan) bested the Bandit division in qualifying with a 16.093 second circuit. Ryan Oetzel (Brodhead), Jacob Vanoskey (Hartford ), Kyle Watters, and Kyle Klein all pulled out wins in their respective heat races. Ben Monday (Marshall) and Oetzel were the top two to move on from the consolation race into the semi-feature. That event was awarded to Jacob Vanoskey for win number two on the night.

In back-up racing action Jim Remsik and Wayne Hook took the green flag first. Rick Verdon (Fitchburg) and Ryan Oetzel (Brodhead) escaped the pack by lap two and went on to battle for the points lead one on one. The rest of the action packed event is a bit of a blur. Ryan Oetzel picked up the win with Rick Verdon close behind followed by Jug Hur (Waunakee), Dave Moore (Mc Farland), and Jim Remsik (De Forest)

The ThunderCats, "your local gods of thunder", put on an impressive fireworks display to round out the evening and start the holiday weekend with a bang!

For complete results from the RACESTAT computer click here