Zdroik, Kurtti Among Repeat Winners at TNT By Jeremy Mayo

July 19, 2008; Three Lakes, WI -  One of the largest crowds of the season got to see one of the largest car counts of the season do battle on Oldenberg Lakeshore night at TNT Speedway.

Return visits to Reliv Victory Lane highlighted the night in the two WISSOTA/Amsoil Dirt Track Series classes. Eagle River’s Jason Zdroik scored his second consecutive Midwest Mod victory while Jordan Kurtti scored his seventh win of the season in the Street Stocks.

Both had to hold off strong challenges. Zdroik had to hold off the recently resurgent Troy Smart, while Kurtti dueled with Mark Schuenemann for the third consecutive week.

Rhinelander’s Will Roffers led the first ten laps of the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature, searching for his first main event triumph. But following a caution at the halfway point, Zdroik charged to the inside and assumed the point.

Roffers, point leader Bruce Belland and Smart tussled for second with Smart eventually winning the battle. Samrt went to work in the final six laps closing in on Zdroik and got to within a car length on the final lap. Zdroik was able to hold Smart off to claim third feature of the season. Roffers held on for third over Belland and Mickey Nosser.

It was Kurtti vs. Schuenemann III in the Street Stock Feature. Kurtti took round one two weeks ago. Schuenemann got the better of Kurtti last week. This time Schuenenmann propelled himself from fourth to the lead in just two laps, but Kurtti was not far behind.

Kurtti passed Kevin Maulson, Jr. for second on lap four and the battle was on. Schuenemann led until lap ten when Kurtti was able force his way to the inside. Schuenemann drove a little to deep in turn three allowing Kurtti to finish the pass.

Cautions flew on laps 13 and 16, giving Schuenemann two more chances to make a comeback. Each time Schuenenmann got a fender to the inside of Kurtti, but could not get by. Kurtti took round three, with a fourth battle likely looming soon. Maulson, Jr., John Johnson, Jr. and Jeff Klopstein rounded out the top five.

13 Bombers appeared to be the recipe for another crash and bash feature. Yet after last week’s seven-caution, nine-lap smash fest, just three cautions flew in a relatively clean feature.

Todd Brass of Argonne was the benefactor, surviving a green-white-checkered finish to score his first win of the season. One of those cautions came just one lap in as point leader John Johnson made contact with Jason Melton.

Johnson was relegated to eleventh as a result of the caution and spent the rest of the race picking his way back through the field. He had made his way up to third with two laps to go when mechanical troubles for Michael Votis brought out the yellow.

Brass gained a bit of advantage on the restart while Johnson roared to the outside of Lee Bradley for second. Johnson finished the pass coming to the white flag, but could not catch Brass, who trimmed Johnson’s lead to seven points with five races remaining. Bradley wound up third with Chad Rosinski and Jake Ison completing the top five.

Merrill’s Jason Isaacson won the Stinger feature, his fifth win in the class this season. He passed Leo Nippa with five laps to go. Bill Martin finished third, but took a huge jump in the point standings as Nick Visser suffered tire problems for a second straight feature. Visser finished 12th as Martin’s point lead ballooned to 13.

The ASCI Truck returned to TNT for the third time the season and finished with a third different winner. Birnamwood’s Forrest Crandall cruised to an easy victory. Crandall’s lone threat came from Scott VanProoyen who was poised to make a charge after getting to second on lap five, but soon there after VanProoyen’s right front tire went flat.

Racing resumes at TNT Speedway next Saturday night with 94.5 FM, WRJOldies serving as the sponsor. WISSOTA Midwest Mods and Street Stocks, and TNT Bombers and Stingers highlight the action with hot laps at 7:00 PM and racing at 7:45.



RESULTS: TNT Speedway – Saturday, July 19, 2008


WISSOTA Midwest Mods


Heat 1: 1st 22B-Bruce Belland; 2nd 1-Jason Zdroik; 3rd 13R-Will Roffers; 4th 23D-George Dahlbeck; 5th 14-Troy Smart; 6th 101 – Leif Gunderson; 7th 65-Larry Gasperini


Heat 2: 1st 15S-Cody Schmidt; 2nd 52-Terry Stebbeds; 3rd 34-Mickey Nosser; 4th 7M-Jeff McDonald; 5th 25-Jesse Aho; 6th 22-Charlie Jackson; 7th 7D-Charlie Derickson


Feature: 1st 1-Zdroik; 2nd 14-Smart; 3rd 13R-Roffers; 4th 22B-Belland; 5th 34-Nosser; 6th 23D-Dahlbeck; 7th 25-Aho; 8th 22-Jackson; 9th 15S-Schmidt; 10th 7D-Derickson; 11th 101-Gunderson; 12th 52-Stebbeds; 13th 65-Gasperini; 15th 7M-McDonald


WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat 1: 1st 96-Mark Schuenenmann; 2nd 26-Jordan Kurtti; 3rd 21-Jeff Klopstein; 4th 17S-Zach Shawano; 5th 11-John Johnson, Jr.; 6th 7-Gene Shawano, Jr.

Heat 2: 1st 23M-Kevin Maulson, Jr.; 2nd 17-Dave Williams; 3rd A8-Bill Froehlich; 4th 07-Oliver Shawano; 5th 3-Jake Mullins

Feature: 1st 26-Kurtti; 2nd 96-Schuenemann; 3rd 23M-Maulson; 4th 11-Johnson, Jr.; 5th 21-Klopstein; 6th 17-Williams; 7th 7-G. Shawano, Jr.; 8th 07-O. Shawano; 9th 3-Mullins; 10th 17S-Z. Shawano; DNS: A8-Froehlich


TNT Bombers

Heat 1: 1st 8-Chad Rosinski; 2nd 57-Wayne Nylund; 3rd 11-John Johnson; 4th 71-Andy Nylund; 5th 28-Lee Bradley; 6th 88-Michael Votis; 7th 25-Lee Bradley

Heat 2: 1st 21-Denny Tushoski; 2nd 2T-Todd Brass; 3rd 1-Ben Hendircksen; 4th 7-Jason Melton; 5th 001-Jake Ison; 6th 01Z-Ron Reese

Feature: 1st 2T-Brass; 2nd 11-Johnson; 3rd 28-Bradley; 4th 8-Rosinski; 5th 001-Ison; 6th 71-A. Nylund; 7th 57-W. Nylund; 8th 01Z-Reese; 9th 88-Votis; 10th 21-Tushoski; 11th 7-Melton; 12th 1-Hendricksen; 13th 25-Wilberding

TNT Stingers

Heat 1: 1st 30V-Nick Visser; 2nd 87-Jason Isaacson; 3rd 44-Fred Feger; 4th 31-David Scott; 5th 13X-Shawn Depies; 6th 2-Brandon Ross; 7th 18-Bobby Sheldon; 8th 72-Chris Nylund

Heat 2: 1st 97-Leo Nippa; 2nd 58-Jason Gaylord; 3rd 27-Bill Martin; 4th 75-Cory Dickman; 5th 88-Will Lundberg; 6th 13-John Barlowski; 7th 97L-Logan Lannet

Feature: 1st 87-Isaacson; 2nd 44-Feger; 3rd 27-Martin; 4th 13X-Depies; 5th 97-Nippa; 6th 31-Scott; 7th 18-Sheldon; 8th 13-Barlowski; 9th 2-Ross; 10th 75-Dickman; 11th 97L-Lannet; 12th 30V-Visser; 13th 88-Lundberg; 14th 58-Gaylord; DNS: 72-C. Nylund

Trucks

Heat: 1st 43-Scott VanProoyen; 2nd 88-Jeff Becker; 3rd 15-Forrest Crandall; 4th 99-Robin Procknow; 5th 44-Matt Marco

Feature: 1st 15-Crandall; 2nd 44-Marco; 3rd 99-Procknow; 4th 43-VanProoyen; 5th 88-Becker