Brown Wins Street Stock Thriller at TNT By Jeremy Mayo

July 26, 2008; Three Lakes, WI -  For the fourth straight week point leader Jordan Kurtti and challenger Mark Schuenemann duked it out for the WISSOTA Amsoil Dirt Track Series, Street Stock Division feature win at TNT Speedway.

This time, however, another player was involved. Mass City, Michigan’s Jeff Brown held off both drivers in a mad three-wide dash to the line to highlight the action on 94.5 FM WRJOldies night at the track.

It was Brown’s first win of the season at TNT, in two starts. Two others notched their first wins on Saturday night – Clearwater Lake’s Terry Stebbeds in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods and Rhinelander’s Denny Tushoski in the TNT Bombers.

Merrill’s Jason Isaacson notched his sixth feature win in the TNT Stingers to round out the night’s action.

Schuenemann and Kurtti started in the fourth row of Saturday night’s ten-car Street Stock main event. Both made their way into the top four quickly, but had a difficult time passing Dave Williams, who held down the second spot.

Finally on lap 10, Kurtti made his way past on the high side. He found himself eight car lengths behind Brown who was trying to run away and hide after taking the lead from the outside pole on lap two.

Kurtti had trimmed the lead to five car lengths on lap 12 when the caution flew as John Johnson, Jr. made contact with Bill Froehlich.

Starting on lap 14, Brown and Kurtti waged a side-by-side battle for the lead. Kurtti was given credit for the top spot on lap 15, but Brown maintained momentum on the high line and fought right back to retake the top spot.

Kurtti challenged again and got ahead of Brown coming to the line for two laps to go, but a caution flag for Jake Mullins’ stalled race car negated the pass and set up a three-lap showdown.

On lap 17, Schuenemann finally passed Williams for third and was in position to challenge for the win when the green flew again.

Scheuenmann was the first to launch an attack, battling side-by-side with Kurrti for second, just one car length off the lead. It remained that way until the final lap when the two tried to split Brown in turn three. Kurtti when high, Schuenemann went to the bottom. They came to the line three wide with Brown across first. Schuenemann edged out Kurtti for second.

Stebbeds, making his sixth start of the season, took his first win of the year in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods. He wrestled the lead away from Will Roffers on lap two and never looked back. His closest competitors were Jason Zdroik and Jerry Grasse, but they were too focused on racing each other hard. They were both sent to the back of the pack for an incident in turn two at halfway.

From there Stebbeds easily held off Bruce Belland, who maintained a 30-point advantage over Roffers in the class point standings with four points nights remaining.

The TNT Bombers once again ran up against the time limit. It took four tries just to complete two laps. Ben Hendricksen took the early lead, but something went amiss on his car on lap six, sending him to the pits. That opened the door for Denny Tushoski to assume the point.

On lap 11 caution flew yet again setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Tushoski opened up a little gap while Jay Wilberding and John Johnson battled for second. A three-car wreck in the back of the pack put a premature end to the race on the last lap.

Tushoski, making his third start of the season, won with Wilberding holding of Johnson for second. Todd Brass finished fourth but still trimmed Johnson’s lead in the Bomber points to four by virtue of a heat race win.

There were five lead changes among four drivers in the TNT Stinger Feature. Cory Dickman and Leo Nippa were among the early leaders, but both succumbed to mechanical failures while at the front.

Will Lundberg held the lead for a short while, but Isaacson made the pass on lap nine and led the final seven laps to claim win number six. Bill Martin finished second and put himself in the catbird seat for the Stinger championship. His nearest competitor in the points, Nick Visser, was a no show on Saturday. Now Martin has a 30-point lead over Isaacson.

Racing continues next Saturday at TNT Speedway with Mole Lake Casino & Lodge sponsoring the action. Hot Laps begin at 7:00 PM, with racing at 7:45.



RESULTS: TNT Speedway – Saturday, July 26, 2008



WISSOTA Midwest Mods

Heat 1: 1st 5-Jerry Grasse; 2nd 52-Terry Stebbeds; 3rd 22B-Bruce Belland; 4th 7-Joe Kin; 5th 7D-Charlie Derickson; 6th 65-Larry Gasperini

Heat 2: 1st 13R-Will Roffers; 2nd 1-Jason Zdroik; 3rd 14-Troy Smart; 4th 101-Leif Gunderson; 5th 22-Charlie Jackson

Feature: 1st 52-Stebbeds; 2nd 22B-Belland; 3rd 1-Zdroik; 4th 13R-Roffers; 5th 14-Smart; 6th 7-Kin; 7th 5-Grasse; 8th 22-Jackson; 9th 65-Gasperini; 10th 7D-Derickson; 11th 101-Gunderson


WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat 1: 1st 96-Mark Schuenemann; 2nd 8-Jeff Brown; 3rd 21-Jeff Klopstein; 4th 17-Dave Williams; 5th A8-Bill Froehlich

Heat 2: 1st 26-Jordan Kurtti; 2nd 23M-Kevin Maulson, Jr.; 3rd 11-John Johnson, Jr.; 4th 04-Ron Van Dusen; 5th 3-Jake Mullins

Feature: 1st 8-Brown; 2nd 96-Schuenemann; 3rd 26-Kurtti; 4th 17-Williams; 5th 23M-Maulson, Jr.; 6th A8-Froehlich; 7th 04-Van Dusen; 8th 21-Klopstein; 9th 3-Mullins; 10th 11-Johnson, Jr.


TNT Bombers

Heat 1: 1st 21-Denny Tushoski; 2nd 28-Lee Bradley; 3rd 1-Ben Hendricksen; 4th 25-Jay Wilberding; 5th 11-John Johnson

Heat 2: 1st 2T-Todd Brass; 2nd 001-Jake Ison; 3rd 4-Jesse Votis; 4th 88-Michael Votis; 5th 23-Devin Wilson

Feature: 1st 21-Tushoski; 2nd 25-Wilberding; 3rd 11-Johnson; 4th 2T-Brass; 5th 28-Bradley; 6th 88-M. Votis; 7th 4-J. Votis; 8th 001-Ison; 9th 1-Hendricksen; 10th 23-Wilson


TNT Stingers

Heat 1: 1st 27-Bill Martin; 2nd 75-Cory Dickman; 3rd 88-Will Lundberg; 4th 57-Ryan Schuppler; 5th 13T-Joe LaFreniere; 6th 18-Bobby Sheldon

Heat 2: 1st 97-Leo Nippa; 2nd 87-Jason Isaacson; 3rd 44-Fred Feger; 4th 13-John Barlowski; 5th 73-Chris Nylund; 6th 2-Brandon Ross

Feature: 1st 87-Isaacson; 2nd 27-Martin; 3rd 44-Feger; 4th 18-Sheldon; 5th 88-Lundberg; 6th 13-Barlowski; 7th 57-Schuppler; 8th 2-Ross; 9th 72-Nylund; 10th 13T-LaFreniere; 11th 97-Nippa; 12th 75-Dickman