Boettcher, Kurtti Claim WISSOTA Wins at TNT By Jeremy Mayo

May 31, 2008; Three Lakes, WI -  TNT Speedway benefited from a wet Friday in northern Wisconsin with a nice car-count on Saturday night in racing sponsored by Coyote 93.7 FM.

Chad Boettcher and Jordan Kurtti bested the deeper fields in the WISSOTA Midwest Mods and Street Stocks respectively, highlighting the night’s action.

Boettcher, from Eagle River, rocketed up from his sixth starting spot in the feature, took the lead on lap three and never looked back. His closest challenger was Phelps’ Jerry Grasse, who was back in the Mods after a year off. Grasse was in contention until lap 16 until a brush with the turn four wall ended his chances.

Young guns turned some heads in the Mod feature on Saturday. Leif Gunderson, making the transition from Bombers to Mods this year, held off veterans Cody Schmidt and Bruce Belland for second. Will Roffers, who won his heat race, finished fifth.

Bruce Crossing, Michigan’s Jordan Kurtti had to overcome a bit of adversity to pull off his second straight Street Stock feature. Kurtti battled with Ron Van Dusen for fourth place on lap five. The two made contact on the backstretch. Kurrti got loose. He saved the car, but spun a half lap later in turn one, brining out the caution.

Kurtti’s front bumper cover was damage in the spin and poked up into his line of sight. He would drive with that apparent distraction for the rest of the race.

Dave Williams held the lead for the first eight laps. He lost it on lap nine as John Johnson, Jr. and Jermey Wolfe got by. Kurtti moved up to third two laps later and took the lead on lap 13. Williams fought his way back to second, but could not catch Kurtti in the waning laps.

Travis Juedes nearly took the same worst-to-first route in the TNT Bomber Feature, but it was Crandon’s Jake Ison that finished in the top spot.

Juedes had the fastest car on the track, but spun early in the race battling Todd Brass for second. Juedes stayed a half lap off the lead until a synchronized spin by Ron Reese and Brass brought out the yellow with six laps to go.

Ison opened up a nice gap on the restart. Juedes needed just a lap and a half to move to second and started to close. Juedes got to Ison’s back bumper on the final lap, but could not make the pass in the closest finish of the night.

20 Stingers flocked to TNT on Saturday, prompting the first semi-feature of the season. There was no repeat for Shaina Aho as her engine appeared to grenade during the heat race while in the lead. She failed to start the semi-feature.

It looked like another Michigan driver, Leo Nippa, would pick up the slack. He led the first 10 laps of a hotly contested feature. Eagle River’s Bill Martin fought for the lead on lap 11. They came to the line in a virtual dead heat. Moments later the caution flew for a spin involving Steve Melton. Martin was ruled the leader by officials on the track.

Nippa fell off the pace on the restart, moving Nick Visser to second. But Visser, and no one else had anything for Martin, who took home his first feature of the season.

Racing continues at TNT Speedway this coming Saturday night. Hot Laps begin at 7:00 PM, with racing at 7:45.



RESULTS: TNT Speedway – Saturday, May 31, 2008


WISSOTA Midwest Mods


Heat 1: 1st 13R-Will Roffers; 2nd 22B-Bruce Belland; 3rd 101-Leif Gunderson; 4th 25-Jesse Aho; 5th 22-Charlie Jackson; 6th 14-Troy Smart

Heat 2: 1st 5-Jerry Grasse; 2nd 8-Chad Boettcher; 3rd 7M-Jeff McDonald; 4th 15S-Cody Schmidt; 5th 65-Larry Gasperini

Feature: 1st 8-Boettcher; 2nd 101-Gunderson; 3rd 15S-Schmidt; 4th 22B-Belland; 5th 13R-Roffers; 6th 14-Smart; 7th 7M-McDonald; 8th 22-Jackson; 9th 25-Aho; 10th 5-Grasse; 11th 65-Gasperini


WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat 1: 1st 26-Jordan Kurtti; 2nd 04-Ron Van Dusen; 3rd 17-Dave Williams; 4th A8-Bill Froehlich; 5th 28T-Keith Troutman

Heat 2: 1st 74-Cliff Houle; 2nd 8-Chad Boettcher; 3rd 50-Jermey Wolfe; 4th 11-John Johnson, Jr.; 5th 2-Neal Slizweski

Feature: 1st 26-Kurtti; 2nd 17-Williams; 3rd 50-Wolfe; 4th 11-Johnson, Jr.; 5th A8-Froelich; 6th 2-Slizewski; 7th 8-Brown; 8th 74-Houle; 9th 28T-Troutman; 10th 04-Van Dusen


TNT Bombers

Heat 1: 1st 11-John Johnson, Sr.; 2nd 7-Jason Melton; 3rd 001-Jake Ison; 4th 01Z-Ron Reese; 5th 1-Ben Hendrickson

Heat 2: 1st 321-Travis Juedes; 2nd 2T-Todd Brass; 3rd 28-Lee Bradley; 4th 88-Michael Votis

Feature: 1st 001-Ison; 2nd 321-Juedes; 3rd 11-Johnson, Sr.; 4th 2T-Brass; 5th 7-J. Melton; 6th 01Z-Reese; 7th 88-Votis; 8th 28-Bradley


TNT Stingers

Heat 1: 1st 18-Bobby Sheldon; 2nd 30V-Nick Visser; 3rd 88-Will Lundberg; 4th 8-Randy Charbarneau; 5th 75-Cory Dickman; 6th 31-David Scott; DQ 13-John Barlowski (rough driving)

Heat 2: 1st Chris Nylund; 2nd 97-Leo Nippa; 3rd 58-Jason Gaylord; 4th 81M-Steven Melton; 5th 97L-Logan Lannet; 6th 2-Brandon Ross; 7th 43-Bryce Cuggino

Heat 3: 1st 87-Jason Issacson; 2nd 29T-Keith Troutman; 3rd 27-Bill Martin; 4th 13T-Joe LaFreniere; 5th 22S-Shaina Aho; 6th 42-James Leitl

Consi: 1st 97L-Lannet; 2nd 13-Barlowski; 3rd 2-Ross; 4th 42-Leitl; 5th 31-Scott; 6th 75-Dickman

Feature: 1st 27-Martin; 2nd 30V-Visser; 3rd 58-Gaylord; 4th 18-Sheldon; 5th 13T-LaFreniere; 6th 13-Barlowski; 7th 42-Leitl; 8th 2-Ross; 9th 72-Nylund; 10th 81M-S.Melton; 11th 97L-Lannet; 12th 97-Nippa; 13th 8-Charbarneau; 14th 88-Lundberg; 15th 29T-Troutman; 16th 87-Issacson