Justin won the first heat race for the 25-lap main event and became the race’s top qualifier in the process. During intermission he pulled a seven of spades during the traditional cut of the cards, meaning he would start seventh in the feature.

Third-generation driver Eric Scharf started from the pole and took the early lead. On lap four, Jesse Aho worked his way to the lead and began to pull away. Scharf began to free-fall through the field, and by lap eight was involved in a caution and fell out of the race.

On the restart, Aho began to pull away once again. It looked as though he may be on the way to one of the most dominant performances in the race’s history. That changed on lap twelve when the oil filter came off his car. Aho’s night was over in the puff of smoke. That gave the lead to Rhinelander’s Brad Pasanen. The next lap, Nick Visser’s car sustained heavy damage and came to a rest on the front straight away.

Just after halfway, several great stories were developing at the front of the field. Pasanen was looking to win on his 19th birthday. Justin, looking to become the first driver to win the Shootout in an eight-valve car was third. Keith Troutman, who was not able to arrive until the feature was up to fifth after starting last.

The air came out of Pasanen’s birthday story on the restart when his right front tire went flat. That gave the lead to Woodruff’s Matt Troutman. He and Justin were getting set to do battle for the lead when a scary moment occurred in the back of the pack. Something broke in the rear suspension of Jim Deau’s car in turn four, causing his car to roll. Deau was alert and responsive to safety workers, but it took him a couple minutes to get out of his car.

Following a nine-minute red flag, Justin put heavy pressure on Matt Troutman for the lead and made the pass with nine laps to go. Matt soon lost second place to his brother Keith, setting up a furious battle for the win.

Caution flew again with six laps to go when Oliver Shawano’s car stalled. The fifth yellow flag brought the race up against its 30-minute time limit, meaning that the next caution would end the race.

On the final restart, Keith Troutman was on the chase. Lap after lap, he tired to make a move in turn one and three. He would drive deep into the corners and drive to the inside of Justin, but Justin kept the momentum up on the high-line to hold the lead. As the white flag flew, Troutman wanted to make one final attempt to take the when, but he never got the chance. Randy Charbarneau was involved in an incident in turn four, bringing out the caution flag and ending the race.

Steve Justin pocketed $210 for winning the fifth annual 4-Cylinder Shootout. Keith Troutman worked his way from a 19th place starting spot to second. His brother Matt finished third. Kevin Cogar and Bill Martin rounded out the top five.

4-Cylinder Shootout Results: Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Heat 1: 1st 49-Steve Justin; 2nd 25X-Jesse Aho; 44-Eric Scharf; 4th 43X-Kevin Cogar; 5th 11-John Johnson Sr.; 6th 1X-Oliver Shawano

Heat 2: 1st 27-Bill Martin; 2nd 25-Jay Wilberding; 3rd 12-Kyle LeSieur; 4th 29T-Matt Troutman; 5th 87-Jim Deau; 6th 3-Gunard Hoogland

Heat 3: 1st 17X-Brad Pasanen; 2nd 8-Randy Charbarneau; 3rd 93-Pat Borths; 4th 30-Nick Visser; 5th 65-Mark Rose; 6th 64-Larry Leonarduzzi

5th Annual 4-Cylinder Shootout: 1st 49-Justin; 2nd 28T-Keith Troutman; 3rd 29T-M.Troutman; 4th 43X-Cogar; 5th 27-Martin; 6th 8-Charbarneau; 7th 3-Hoogland; 8th 11-Johnson Sr.; 9th 1X-Shawano; 10th 64-Leonarduzzi; 11th 87-Deau; 12th 17X-Pasanen; 13th 65-Rose; 14th 25X-Aho; 15th 30-Visser; 16th 44-E.Scharf; 17th 25-Wilberding; 18th 12-LeSieur; 19th 93-Borths