April 27, 2001; Marshfield, WI: - Veteran racer Bill Prietzel survived a wild battle to win the 40-Lap McLeodUSA Super Truck feature as Spring Shootout 2001 opened Friday night at the Marshfield Speedway. Prietzel crossed the finish line less than a truck length ahead of Heinritz with Gordon Swanson a close third. Jason Hicks wasn’t far behind in fourth position while fifth went to Al Brace and sixth to Mark Anderson. 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. Anderson paced the 20-truck field for five laps. On lap six rookie Jamie Farrell performed a wild spin while running third. Somehow the rest of the pack managed to scatter along the front stretch. Series point leader went outside of Anderson to take the lead on lap 8, but his truck suffered a right front suspension failure. He dropped out and Vincent Wilkinson surged ahead. There was a six truck freight train with Wilkinson closely followed by Kim Hedberg, Prietzel, Heinritz, fast qualifer Jerry Seibel and Donnie Woller. Prietzel moved into second place on lap 19. Rick Lemmens spun off the track along the backstretch on lap 26 to bring out the caution flag. Hicks and Swanson joined the lead pack in a bumper-to-bumper battle when the race was restarted. Prietzel dogged Wilkinson and finally squeezed past on the outside lap 45. Wilkinson and Woller tangled in turn one in a battle for second. The two trucks spun wildly in turn one and again the rest of the super trucks scattered in all directions. Mid-American Super Trucks:
Summary: A preliminary 20-lap last chance race for the McLeodUSA MARS late models was won by Rod Wheeler of Appleton, WI followed by Dean LePointe of Marshfield; Rory Melbinger of Marshfield; Gary Back of Vesper; Wayne Breitenfeldt of Wausau; Jason Weinkauf of Merrill; Jim Duchow of Kaukauna; Kevin Peterson of Nekoosa; Rick Loch of Muskego; and Justin Hirt of Tigerton. Wheeler automatically advances to Saturday night's 100-lap McLeodUSA MARS late model feature. Duchow led Friday's qualifying with a one-lap time of 17.936. A field of approximately 40 late models will re-qualify for Saturday's program. The lead of the Legend feature changed four times in the first six laps. Jon Lewerer led lap one, Rick Jensen lap two, Chad Schnitzler the next three and Russ Weiler took charge on lap six. He pulled away from the field by about five car lengths. Meanwhile, Gary Lamonte and Tom Schnitzler worked their way into the top spots behind Weiler. Jason Kamerud, his first night on the track grabbing fifth spot. The pack caught Weiler, but not soon enough. Weiler won, Lamonte second, T. Schnitzler third, C. Schnitzler fourth and Kamerud fifth. The Mini-Stock feature was packed with twenty cars. Bill Schlei led the first five laps, Jeff Weinfurter then took over the lead for the win. Paul Berg second, Mike Peterson third, Schlei fourth and Randy Nething fifth. The 1-Man feature was led by Glen Bargender with Don Tieman hot on his heels. Tieman grabbed the lead on lap five. Tieman won, Les Kuehn second, Bargender third, Rob Detwiler fourth and Josh Elmhorst fifth. The 2-Man race was won by the team of Jon Dupee Jr. and Jon Brugh. |
