April 21, 2001; Marshfield, WI: - The season opener was packed full of action, cars and fans. Kevin Peterson set fast time of the year in the Super Late Models. Shawn Stelzer was quick tonight in his chevy setting fast time in the CWSSA Super Stocks, Al Smith in the Legends and Glen Bargender in the 1-Man Cruisers.
Dean LaPointe took off with the lead in the Super Late Model feature. Jay VanDerGeest and Brian Back right behind. As LaPointe stretched out his lead Jeff Weinfurter passed Back for third. Lap 14 the only caution of the race came out. When the race resumed, Weinfurter went by VanDerGeest for second and began to chase down LaPointe. As LaPointe and Weinfurter came around for lap 21, LaPointe drifted high coming out of turn four and Weinfurter took the inside lane to grab the lead. Weinfurter held off LaPointe for the win, Peterson finished third, VanDerGeest fourth and Judd Brandl fifth. The first two laps of the CWSSA Super Stock feature were led by Marv Flick. The caution flag flew on lap two for a spin in turn three. The next lap Allan Sankey held the lead, then lap four it was Flick again. Once again the caution was out, this time for a spin in turn one. The restart saw Merle Weinfurter take the lead, Shawn Stelzer and Cale Laessig close behind. Stelzer and Laessig passed Weinfurter on lap 7. For the last time in this race the caution was out for a spin in turn four. When the race restarted Stelzer was leading, Laessig second and Scott Hamel moved into third. Hamel and Weinfurter battled back and forth for the third spot, but when the checkered flew Weinfurter had it. Stelzer won, Laessig second, Weinfurter third, Hamel fourth and Cary Lyons fifth. The Legend feature ran green to checkered with Dean Fisher leading the first seven laps. Chad Schnitzler and Tom Schnitzler running second and third. Tom passed Chad for second and then Curt Gnatzig and Russ Weiler passed him for third and fourth respectively. Lap six Gnatzig took second from Tom and then took the lead from Fisher on lap eight. Gary Lamonte moved through the field and was in second spot by lap nine but was unable to get the lead. Gnatzig won, Lamonte second, Fisher third, Tom Schnitzler fourth and Al Smith fifth. Scott Rueth led the first two laps of the 1-Man Cruiser feature. Rodney Feltz made his way from the last spot up to the lead for lap three. Glen Bargender and Lester Kuehn who started in the back also worked their way to the front for second and third spots on lap four. Feltz continued to hold the lead to the end, Kuehn finished second, Bargender third, Don Tieman Jr. fourth and Rob Detwiler fifth. The winning team of the 2-Man Cruiser race was Jared Graveen and Will Garton. Next week Friday and Saturday is the Spring Shootout 2-Day event. Friday night is the MARS Late Model Practice and Qualifier race, full show of Mid-America Super Trucks (50 Lap Feature), Legends and Mini-Stocks. Saturday night is the full MARS Late Model Show (100 Lap Feature), Super Stocks, 1-Man and 2-Man Cruisers. Both nights gates open at 5 p.m., qualifying at 6 p.m. and racing at 7:30. |
