ROHLOFF REPEATS AT MANITOWOC! By Bill Schlei

June 26, 2002; Manitowoc, WI - It's was man vs. Mother Nature Wednesday night at Manitowoc Expo Speedway with man pulling off the upset.

Just before the seven o'clock start time a thunderstorm came out of the West threatening to close out the show before it began. The ground crew at the Expo waited out the rain which lasted about fifteen minutes and then set about attempting to massage the track back into shape.

With the help of a road grader and the drivers on hand, they were able to get the program underway and complete the evening's events.

The IMCA Modified feature had Eric Scribner of Kiel on the pole and looking for his first feature win at Manitowoc. Two Rivers' Jerry Wenzel started on the outside of the first row.

Scribner took the green flag and beat Wenzel to turn two to take the lead. Unfortunately, Scribner's engine died two laps later stranding him on the backstretch and bringing out the first caution.

On the restart, Brad Rohloff drove inside of Wenzel in turn two and assumed the lead only to have his progress interrupted by another yellow flag, this time because the car driven by Dean Mauer of Kewaunee spun out and became hung up on the apron in turn two.

Rohloff took the point on the restart and began to stretch out a lead over the field when another caution came out on lap ten when David Andrews of Green Bay landed in nearly the exact spot that Mauer had earlier.

Because of time constraints the race was sent to a "green, white, checker" situation in which Rohloff led the field to the finish line to capture his second straight feature at Expo. Mike Wedelstadt of Hortonville was second followed by Jared Seifert and Julie McDermid.

The IMCA Stock Car feature showed off some of the best side by side racing of the entire evening. Mike Wietor of Green Bay started on the pole with Luxemburg's Larry Ingebretsen outside. They stayed that way until Wietor managed to gain an advantage at the beginning of lap three and pulled ahead by only a car length. But even that slight advantage disappeared on lap five when the yellow flag was displayed for debris in turn three.

When they attempted to restart, the car driven by Jeremy Christians of Horicon got loose in four and spun into the front stretch infield mud causing another caution.

The next attempt at a restart was successful with Wietor once again retaining the lead until lap eight when Pulaski's Larry Karcz, Jr. used a daring move down low in turn two to pass for the lead.

Another five laps would go by until the ninety-nine car of Christians again had problems and spun out bringing the yellow out again. Christians would be sent to the back of the pack for the next restart.

Karcz managed to hold off Kewaunee's Greg Gretz for the remaining laps and take the victory. Travis VanStratten came home second with Christians working his way from last place to fourth.

Street Stock once again showcased the skill of Two Rivers' Tom Leonard who won his third Street stock feature in a row outlasting Greenleaf's Jeff Treml and Kewaunee's Doug Morgan.

The last race of the evening was the Hobby stock feature which had Terry Burmeister guest driving for Phillip Reichwaldt and leading wire to wire for the win. Second went to last week's winner Andy Waack of Manitowoc with Eric Wetenkamp and Jason Arenz rounding out the top five.

Next week is Papa John's Pizza night at the Expo Speedway and perhaps an opportunity for either a IMCA Mod or Stock Car driver to accept the Emmert Construction "Shotgun Bounty" Challenge where the feature pole sitter can elect to start from the rear and if victorious collect a bonus of $500 in the Mods or $250 in the Stock cars on top of the winners share of the purse.

For more information, go racingonline.com and click on the Manitowoc County Expo Speedway box at the bottom of the page.

Manitowoc Expo Speedway has racing every Wednesday with gates opening at 4:30 PM and racing at 7pm.

MANITOWOC COUNTY EXPO RESULTS - June 26, 2002