SCHRAUFNAGEL TOPS BUD MID-SEASON CHAMPIONSHIPS AT MANTY! By Bill Schlei

July 10, 2002; Manitowoc, WI - Race fans at the Manitowoc Expo Speedway took in some great racing action Wednesday night.

The IMCA Modified feature began with Chad Rathke of Random Lake and Jay Schraufnagel on the front row. Schraufnagel went to the lead at the green flag with Kiel's Eric Scribner right on his heels

They would battle for six laps until the action was halted when the car driven by Luxumburg's Chris Derenne struck the guardrail in turn three and was unable to continue. Derenne was shaken up as a result of the collision but was examined by the medical personnel from the track ambulance and required no further treatment.

On the restart it was Scribner and Schraufnagel again fighting over the top spot, this time until lap 10 when the 66 car of Jared Seifert blew a right rear tire and, while trying to get to pit road, was struck from behind by the Jerry Wenzel of Two Rivers. Wenzel's car became airbourne for a moment then slammed to the ground in the front stretch infield. Seifert's vehicle was not able to continue but Wenzel's crew made repairs in time to return for the restart.

When the field got back underway, Scribner saw an opportunity on the low side in turn two and launched into the lead. He was able to hold on for only two more laps, though, as something let go under the hood putting Scribner on the trailer for the night. This put Schraufnagel back in front where he would finish for the second time in as many weeks.

Tom Stark of Egg Harbor had his best Expo finish of the season in second followed by Pulaski's Brad Rohloff and a very game Jerry Wenzel who recovered from his early race crash to finish fourth just ahead of Kewaunee's Dean Mauer.

Not to be outdone, the IMCA Stocks provided their own brand of excitement. Larry Ingebretsen of Luxumburg and Mike Wietor of Green Bay lead them to the green with Larry getting a slightly faster start and assuming the point. This lasted only three laps however as Green Bay's Brett Piontek moved past him to take the lead.

As the race moved to the halfway point, Piontek continued to run in front but it appeared that he would soon face a double-barrelled challenge from Rod Snellenberger of Pulaski and Jeremy Christians who had moved from his second to last row starting position to fourth.

By lap 19 Christians had moved to third and was trying to pass for second when his car spun out in turn four dropping him to the fifth spot.

The remaining six laps would be almost all side by side racing with Piontek and "Hot Rod" dicing back and forth trying to take the position and the win. Piontek would prevail and take his first feature victory at Manitowoc with Snellenberger, Jamie Collwell of Greenleaf, Brandon Czarapata of Pulaski and Christians covering the top five.

Lance Arneson of Krakow won the battle of attrition that was the Street Stock feature. Four in a row feature winner Tom Leonhard of Two Rivers fell to a flat tire while crowd favorite Doug "The Captain" Morgan dropped out with mechanical problems of his own.

Meanwhile, it looked early on that Mishicot's Paul Kuene would dominate the race as he led his nearest rival by the length of the straightway when a lap 9 caution flag for the disabled car of David Hoerning effectively erased the advantage.

On the restart, Greenleaf's Jesse Collwell began to try and chase down the lead car of Kuene and, in the process, mad e contact with Kuene's car causing both of them to spin into the infield. Collwell was "black flagged" as a result and Kuene had to restart from the rear putting the car of Kewaunee's Keith Kickbusch on the point. Kickbusch soon relinquished the lead to a hard-charging Arneson who hung on to win the event. Kickbusch fell to second with Greenleaf's Jeff Treml, Appleton's Chris Lange and Green Bay's Frank Paul going third, fourth and fifth.

The Hobby Stock main event began calmly enough with Kiel's Jason Arenz leading the first two laps when Manitowoc's Andy Waak lost the rear bumper to his vehicle and the race was stopped to remove the debris.

On the restart, Dale Frank took over the top spot for a short time until his was overtaken by newcomer Marcus Moede of Casco. Moede looked strong enough to perhaps win the whole deal until lap six when perennial feature winner Eric Wetenkamp clsoed to his back bumper and began challenging for the lead.

The time around he moved inside the car driven by Moede off of turn four and proceeded to start muscling his car up to the wall causing Moede to back off the throttle and relinquish the lead. Moede did end up making contact with something that tore half of the front nose piece off his vehicle causing him to retire.

Wetenkamp then went on to the win amid a mix of cheers and catcalls from the grandstand. Dale Frank was second followed by Derek Moede.

Next week the Cawley Company will sponsor the evening's race action with a special guest class; the flyin' four cylinders that have been highly entertaining to the fans at Seymour on Sunday nights and at Francis Creek's enduro races.

Gates open at 5 with racing getting underway at seven.

For more information, go to their website at racingonline.com and click on the Manitowoc Expo box.

MANITOWOC COUNTY EXPO RESULTS - July 10, 2002