Point leader
Mullen tops Mod action at The Berg! August 11, 2000; Luxemburg, WI. - Following a week off for the county fair, the final three week streak of the 2000 season kicked off at the Luxemburg Tri Star Speedway on a perfect night for racing on the 1/3 mile oval.
The Modifieds took to the track for their feature with Dave Gracyalny leading the way for the first half of the event. Jeremy Jacobs, Jared Siefert, Randie Back, Joe White, Dave Fisher and Mike Klenz were behind. Cautions on laps 7 and 9 shuffled the pack with Gracyalny still setting the pace with Fisher, Jacobs, point leader, Brian Mullen, R.M. Van Pay, Klenz and White behind. Fisher worked into the top spot for 2 laps before Van Pay found the lead on lap 14. Mullen moved into the runner up spot 1 lap later and the pair started to pull away from the pack a bit. On lap 22, Mullen made a quick move into the top spot entering turn three and once in front, pulled away to record his 4th feature win of the year. Dan Ratajczak, from the back of the field, took the runner up spot from Van Pay with 2 laps left with Van Pay finishing in third. Gracyalny took fourth with Doug Maurer in fifth and Klenz rounding out the top six. The win by Mullen gained him 2 points over Van Pay, 474 - 463, for the track title with 2 races left in the season.
Bobby Rezek settled into the lead of the Street Stock main at the start followed by Laurel Ettien, Tom Leonhard, Ed Anschutz, Jeff Treml and Dave Baenen. Point leader, Travis Van Straten worked his way from mid pack to the front, threading through traffic where ever he wanted to and pulled into the top spot on lap 2. He started to pull away until a cautions on laps 11 and 13 bunched the field. Van Straten again pulled away after the final restart leaving the battle for the runner up spot. Rezek, Ettien, Leonhard, James Tebon, Treml, Jamie and Jesse Colwell were bunched together. On lap 17, action out of turn two when a couple of the cars hooked bumpers spread the pack with Tebon the only one out of the race. Van Straten collected his second feature of the year with Rezek taking the runner up spot. Leonhard was third with Treml, Brandon Czarapata and Baenen rounding out the top six. Van Straten now holds a 477 - 465 point margin over Jamie Colwell with the point chase becoming to a 2 car battle over the final 2 weeks of the season. Both drivers are looking for their first career track titles. Rookie contender, Greg Gretz, set the pace for the first 3 laps of the Stock Car main, and following a lap 2 caution, Tim Van De Hei quickly powered to the front and took over the lead on lap 4. Van De Hei pulled ahead of the pack fighting for second place. Gretz, Craig Paque, Larry Karcz, Jr, point leader, Eric VanIten, and Brandon Czarapata were bunched together. The group swapped positions until a lap 18 caution bunched the field on the leader. Van De Hei held the lead with Gretz taking the runner up spot and held on for his best finish of the season in second Paque held off Czarapata for the third place finish. Karcz and VanIten rounded out the top six. The point standings bunched up from second back to tenth with several race incidents keeping those drivers in the middle to back half of the finishing order. VanIten holds a strong 454 - 428 margin, leaving runner up, Jeremy Christians with 26 points to close over the last two weeks. Brian Ciha led the opening 2 laps of the Sport Truck main before point leader, Kevin Strebel moved into the top spot after a lap 3 caution. Jerry Scray, Dave Davister and Ciha stayed with the leader for the rest of the race for a good close race to the finish. Strebel held off the last lap charge by Scray to win his 6th feature of the year with Scray, Davister Ed Danoff, Ciha and Shawn Dorn rounding out the top six. Strebel is 16 points ahead of Danoff in the standings, looking for his second straight track title. RACING SUMMARY IMCA Modifieds: IMCA Stock Cars: Street Stocks: Sport Trucks: |
