Fresh Faces Take Firsts at TNT Fall Special By Jeremy Mayo

September 6, 2008; Three Lakes, WI -  Several drivers joined the party at TNT Speedway Saturday night in the season-ending Fall Special and several of them had success.

Wakefield, Michigan’s George Dalbeck scored a win the WISSOTA Midwest Mod special in his third start of the season. Hurley’s John Kallas finished one for one on the season at TNT with a win in the WISSOTA Street Stock special and another newbie, Wausau’s J.J. Woller, took first in the Bomber feature.

Track Champions held court in the Stingers and the Trucks as Eagle River’s Bill Martin and Birnamwood’s Forrest Crandall took feature wins.

Dalbeck led flag-to-flag from the outside of the front row. Track champion Bruce Belland was his main competition, closing to within two car lengths by halfway. Belland’s car went away in the second half of the race and he had to fight to hold on to the runner-up spot over Cody Schmidt.

John Johnson, Jr. held the lead early in the WISSOTA Street Stock main event, but dropped quickly through the field after giving up the lead on lap eight. He would have to pit with a tire problem and finished last.

That handed the lead to Chetek’s Steve Karshbaum, but as the race passed halfway Kallas closed in from four car lengths. Kallas wrestled the lead away on lap 15. Two laps later, Karshbaum made contact with Jordan Kurtti in a fight for second bringing out the yellow.

Kallas pulled away from Dennis LaCrosse, who inherited second with the caution, to claim the win. Lee Christjohn finished third.

Woller had the right strategy in the TNT Bombers – get to the front and hide. Woller passed Denny Tushoski on lap three and in short order the crashing and bashing began. Six cautions and a red flag waved during the race.

The red flag came on lap eight as Bomber point runner-up Todd Brass broke a rear axle in turn three and performed the first and only rollover of the season at TNT.

All the cautions led to a green-white checkered finish short of the 15-lap advertised distance. It proved to be a big break for Woller, whose car began to smoke in the final two laps. Coming off of turn four to the checkered, Woller’s engine appeared to let go and he coasted to the line, just ahead of John Johnson.

The Stingers featured a battle between Martin and the winningest driver of the season at TNT, Merrill’s Jason Isaacson. Isaacson led from the outside pole, but Martin closed in quickly. Their side-by-side battle for the lead began on lap seven. It was interrupted on lap 12 with Martin scored as the leader.

That was the break that Martin needed as he edged away from Isaacson in the final laps to take the win.

Crandall led all 15 laps of the truck feature. The 2008 champ kept ’07 champ Jeff Becker at bay throughout the race.

At the end of the night, the trophies for the ’08 season were handed out. WISSOTA Midwest Mod point runner-up Will Roffers was named the track’s Most Improved Driver and Belland was named Sportsman of the year.

On behalf of the Rutzen family, we thank all the fans, sponsors, drivers and employees that made the 2008 season possible. We look forward to May 2009 and the start of the 15th season of racing at TNT Speedway.


RESULTS: TNT Speedway – Saturday, September 6, 2008


WISSOTA Midwest Mods

Heat: 1st 22B-Bruce Belland; 2nd 18-Mike Kirtland; 3rd 13R-Will Roffers; 4th 15S-Cody Schmidt; 5th 23D-George Dahlbeck; 6th 22-Charlie Jackson; 7th 65-Larry Gasperini; 8th 7M-Jeff McDonald


Feature: 1st 23D-Dahlbeck; 2nd 22B-Belland; 3rd 15S-Schmidt; 4th 22-Jackson; 5th 18-Kirtland; 6th 65-Gasperini; 7th 13R-Roffers; DNS: 7M-McDonald


WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat 1: 1st 99-John Kallas; 2nd 22-Steve Karshbaum; 3rd 93-Lee Christjohn; 4th A8-Bill Forehlich; 5th 96-Dennis LaCrosse; 6th 3-Jake Mullins

Heat 2: 1st 23M-Kevin Maulson, Jr.; 2nd 11-John Johnson, Jr.; 3rd 26-Jordan Kurtti; 4th 5T-Keith Troutman; 5th 21-Jeff Klopstein

Feature: 1st 99-Kallas; 2nd 96-LaCrosse; 3rd 93-Christjohn; 4th A8-Froehlich; 5th 23M-Maulson, Jr.; 6th 21-Klopstein; 7th 26-Kurtti; 8th 5T-Troutman; 9th 22-Karshbaum; 10th 3-Mullins; 11th 11-Johnson, Jr.

TNT Bombers

Feature: 1st 15-J.J. Woller; 2nd 11-John Johnson; 3rd 21-Denny Tushoski; 4th 71-Wayne Nylund; 5th 190-Ben Pitlick; 6th 57-Ryan Schuppler; 7th 1T-Todd Pittsley; 8th 23-Devin Wilson; 9th 001-Jake Ison; 10th 189-Wilt McGhee; 11th 01Z-Ron Reese; 12th 2T-Todd Brass


TNT Stingers

Feature: 1st 27-Bill Martin; 2nd 87-Jason Isaacson; 3rd 52J-James Lawson; 4th 75-Cory Dickman; 5th 18-Bobby Sheldon; 6th 58-Jason Gaylord; 7th 97-Leo Nippa; 8th 2-Logan Lannet; 9th 57-Tommy Stromiski; 10th 88-Will Lundberg; 11th 97J-Shane Johnson; 12th 8-Randy Charbarneau


ASCI Trucks

Feature: 1st 15-Forrest Crandall; 2nd 88-Jeff Becker; 3rd 99-Robin Procknow; 4th 44-Harold Harvey; 5th 21-Dusty Brandt; 6th 26-Casey Cox; 7th 43-Robert Tullberg

Year End Awards

Rookies of the Year: Mods, 22-Jackson; Streets, A8-Froehlich; Bombers, 88-Michael Votis; Stingers 2-Brandon Ross

Hard Charger Awards: 14-Troy Smart (Mods); 11-Johnson, Jr. (Streets); 28-Lee Bradley (Bombers); 88-Lundberg (Stingers)

Sportsmanship Awards: 65-Gasperini (Mods); 26-Kurtti (Streets); 2-Neal Slizewski (Streets); 27-Martin (Stingers)

Most Improved Driver: 13R-Roffers (Mods)

Sportsman of the Year: 22B-Belland