SCHRAUFNAGEL TOPS "TOPSY-TURVY" NIGHT AT EXPO! By Bill Schlei

July 3, 2002; Manitowoc, WI - Although fireworks were not on the program, the fans at the Manitowoc Co. Expo Speedway witnessed their share Wednesday night.

It began in the qualifying heats with three separate rollover incidents on the backstretch. The first occurred in the IMCA Modifieds when the car driven by Wildwood, Il. 's Jason Hyerdahl struck the guardrail, became airborne for about twenty yards and landed on it's roof in the center of the track. Although shaken, Hyerdahl was unhurt.

Next it was Greg Gretz of Kewaunee going "rubber side up" in nearly the same location. Not only did he walk away from the incident, but Gretz and his crew were able to make repairs in time to compete in the feature later in the evening.

Not to be outdone by the mods and stocks, Chilton's Ken Broeckel demonstrated his aerial skills in the hobby stock heat by colliding with the guardrail and flipping his car onto the roof as well. Once again, no one was injured.

The excitement did not end there, though, as the feature events of the night were even more eventful.

The Modifieds kicked off the night with Beaver Dam's Jay Schraufnagel and Luxumburg's Dave Zeitler on the front row. Schraufnagel found greater traction off of turn one and grabbed the early lead. He continued out front until lap 8 when Jerry Wenzel of Two Rivers and Todd Dart of Luxumburg tangled in two causing a caution period.

On the restart it was Schraufnagel and Zeitler battling up front once again. However, before the rest of the field crossed the start/finish line Scott Mullen of Seymour got sideways out of turn four in front of a line of cars causing a four car pile-up involving Mike Wedelstadt, M.J. Hintz and Julie McDermid. In fact, the 1M car of McDermid ended up underneath the 70 of Hintz and had to be lifted off with a wrecker. Wedelstadt, Mullen and McDermid had to retire for the evening while Hintz was able to repair his damage and continue.

The race restarted with Schraufnagel out front and ran that way to the end. Jared Seifert of Green Bay finished second with Dean Mauer, R.M. VanPay and Eric Scribner rounding out the top five.

The IMCA Stock Cars brought their own brand of excitement to the Expo this night. "Hot Rod" Snellenberger of Pulaski and Rick Mahlberg of Denmark led the field to the green flag and ran nose to tail for ten laps until Todd Rohde of Fairwater, WI. suddenly lost power in turn four and the caution flag was displayed once again.

On the restart, Snellenberger again took the lead but this time the dominant 99X car of Horicon's Jeremy Christians had used a daring outside move at the green flag to move up to second and challenge for the top spot.
This lasted only three laps, however, as the yellow flag flew again this time because of an altercation between Brett Wenzel and Kyle Fredrick of Gillett. These two had been trading paint throughout the early stages and would continue to do so after the race got back underway.

Christians took the lead at this point and seemed to be headed for his third feature win in seven nights at Manitowoc when he lost control at the bottom of turn two and spun into the infield causing another caution period.

When the green flag flew again it was Snellenberger out front and cruising with only four laps to go. Rod was starting to stretch his lead when his engine let go coming onto the front straight and his night was over leaving Travis VanStratten of Hortonville in position to claim the victory. Last week's winner Larry Karcz, Jr. was second with Brett Piontek, Larry Ingebretsen, and Mike Weitor third, fourth and fifth.

Tom Leonard of Two Rivers continued his string with a fourth consecutive win in the Street Stocks. James Tebon of Algoma was second followed by Keith Kickbusch, Jeff Treml and Jolene Mueller.

Eric Wetenkamp of Manitowoc continued his domination of the Hobby Stocks with another feature win. Second went to Phillip Reichwaldt with Jim Bangert, Andy Waack and Jason Arenz following.

Next Wednesday night, Budweiser will be the sponsor for the program at the Expo for the Mid-Season Championships. Gates open at 4:30pm with racing at 7.

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

MANITOWOC COUNTY EXPO RESULTS - July 3, 2002