Kurtti Scores Wins Five and Six at TNT By Jeremy Mayo

July 5, 2008; Three Lakes, WI -  If Bruce Crossing, Michigan’s Jordan Kurrti wanted to prove that last week’s second place finish in the WISSOTA Street Stock make-up feature at TNT Speedway was a fluke, he certainly made his point.

Kurtti, who had already won four features this year on high banks, led 46 out of a possible 50 laps Saturday on NAPA of Rhinelander/Toy Shop of Eagle River Night to capture his fifth and sixth features of the season at TNT.

Kurtti’s conquest began with the make-up of last Saturday's regularly scheduled feature. Just by starting the race, he clinched the TNT Midseason Championship. Starting eighth, Kurtti vaulted to fourth by the end of the first lap, to second after three laps and to the lead on lap four.

From there the question was who would finish second. Bill Froehlich answer that question, passing Ron Van Dusen for the runner-up spot with four laps to go. Dave Williams also passed Van Dusen and finished third.

After leading all 10 laps of his heat race, Kurtti was back to work in the feature, needing just a lap and a half to move from fifth starting spot to the lead. Kurtti had a formidable challenge in this feature as Mark Schuenemann, making his first start of the season at TNT applied the pressure.

The two battled side-by-side on laps two and three before the caution flew for a spin in the back of the pack. Kurtti was given credit for the lead and stretched his advantage on the restart. The field slowed again after a lap-10 spin by Erik Scharf and Schuenemann launched his best attack.

Getting a great restart, Schuenemann pulled along side Kurtti, and momentarily took the lead. Kurtti fought back on the outside, retook the lead and never let go. Cliff Houle, Froehlich and Dave Williams rounded out the top five.

Midseason championships were also decided in the TNT Bomber and Stinger classes on Saturday. If the fights for the track championships in August are half as good as the battles for the Midseason title were, then it is shaping up to be a great final two months in Three Lakes.

In the Bombers, John Johnson entered four points ahead of Todd Brass and needed to finish third or better to clinch the midseason title. Brass was doing his part. He jumped to the lead on lap seven when Ben Hendricksen retired with mechanical problems. Johnson was doing what he needed to do as well, running third.

That was until lap 12 when Johnson spun out on his own in turn four, bringing out the yellow. Attrition had taken its toll. By this point and only five cars remained on the lead lap, but Johnson needed to pass one of those cars for a tie and two to win the title outright.

He shot past both Ron Resse and Jay Wilberding on lap 13 and held on for the final two laps to take the midseason title. Brass came up one point short, but walked away with a nice consolation prize – his first feature win this year at TNT.

Three drivers had a mathematical chance of winning the TNT Stinger Midseason Championship. Jason Isaacson was the first to bow out. He was not afraid to rub fenders as he clawed his way toward the front, but when he and Cory Dickman bashed while battling for the lead, track officials had seen enough and disqualified Isaacson for rough driving.

Ironically, Dickman would receive a rough driving DQ later in the night when he spun Isaacson in a heat race.

Nick Visser, who had a five-point lead over Bill Martin, was the next to blink. He cut down a right front tire with ten laps to go. He would return to the race, but was five laps down. Martin meanwhile had taken the lead and built a big advantage.

The race and the midseason title were Martin’s for the taking, but with four laps to go his right front tire went flat. He went into the pits and finished sixth, one spot ahead of Visser, but four points short.

All the chaos at the front handed the lead over to Pelican Lake’s Fred Feger, who led the final four laps and took his first career feature win at TNT. Will Lundberg posted a career-best second place finish and Bobby Sheldon took third.

Jerry Grasse led the final 15 laps of the WISSOTA Midwest Mod feature to claim his first win of the season at TNT. Grasse made his move in turn four when Troy Smart pushed up the track. Smart recovered to finish second ahead of Jason Zdroik and Terry Stebbeds, who despite picking up five spot in the firth eight laps, could not make it any higher than fourth.

Johnson came back to earn a clean sweep in the TNT Bombers, taking the lead on lap five of the feature and going on for the win. He extended his lead over Todd Brass, who took third in the feature, back to four points.

Isaacson shook off the adversity from the make-up feature to win the rest of his races in the Stingers. He held off a closing Martin in the feature when the caution flag came out on the final lap for a stalled car in turn two.

Racing continues next Saturday night at TNT Speedway, with hot laps at 7:00 PM, and racing at 7:45.


RESULTS: TNT Speedway – Saturday, July 5, 2008


WISSOTA Midwest Modifieds

Heat 1: 1st 22B-Bruce Belland; 2nd 5-Jerry Grasse; 3rd 13R-Will Roffers; 4th 65-Larry Gasperini; 5th 52-Terry Stebbeds; 6th 7D-Charlie Derickson

Heat 2: 1st 14-Troy Smart; 2nd 22-Charlie Jackson; 3rd 7M-Jeff McDonald; DNS: 1-Jason Zdroik; DQ: 101-Leif Gunderson (unapproved tires)

Feature: 1st 5-Grasse; 2nd 14-Smart; 3rd 1-Zdroik; 4th 52-Stebbeds; 5th 22B-Belland; 6th 13R-Roffers; 7th 7M-McDonald; 8th 22-Jackson; 9th 7D-Derickson; 10th 65-Gasperinin; DQ: 101-Gunderson (unapproved tires)

WISSOTA Street Stocks

Heat 1: 1st 26-Jordan Kurtti; 2nd 96-Mark Schuenemann; 3rd 74-Cliff Houle; 4th 8-Ron Van Dusen; 5th 44-Erik Scharf; 6th 2-Neal Slizewski

Heat 2: 1st 23-Kevin Maulson, Jr.; 2nd 17-Dave Williams; 3rd A8-Bill Froehlich; 4th 3-Jake Mullins; 5th 11-John Johnson, Jr.

Feature: 1st 26-Kurtti; 2nd 96-Schuenemann; 3rd 74-Houle; 4th 17-Williams; 5th 8-Van Dusen; 6th A8-Froehlich; 7th 23-Maulson, Jr.; 8th 11-Johnson, Jr.; 9th 3-Mullins; 10th 44-Scharf; 11th 2-Slizewski

Make-up Feature: 1st 26-Kurtti; 2nd A8-Froehlich; 3rd 17-Williams; 4th 8-Van Dusen; 5th 23-Maulson, Jr.; 6th 11-Johnson, Jr.; 7th 2-Slizewski; 8th 3-Mullins; 9th 74-Houle; DNS: 50-Jermey Wolfe

TNT Bombers

Heat 1: 1st 2T-Todd Brass; 2nd 25-Jay Wilberding; 3rd 88-Michael Votis; 4th 23- Roger Wilson; 5th 01Z-Ron Reese; 6th 7x-Jeff Bauer

Heat 2: 11-John Johnson; 2nd 001-Jake Ison; 3rd 17-Dave Bauer; 4th 28-Lee Bradley; DNS: 1-Ben Hendircksen

Feature: 1st 11-Johnson; 2nd 001-Ison; 3rd 2T-Brass; 4th 25-Wilberding; 5th 23-R. Wilson; 6th 01Z-Reese; 7th 88-Votis; 8th 7x-K. Bauer; 9th 28-Bradley; DNS: 17-J. Bauer; 1-Hendricksen

Make-up Feature: 1st 2T-Brass; 2nd 001-Ison; 3rd 11-Johnson; 4th 25-Wilberding; 5th 01Z-Reese; 6th 88-Votis; 7th 28-Bradley; 8th 1-Hendircksen; DNS: 23-Devin Wilson, 321-Travis Juedes, 7-Jason Melton

TNT Stingers

Heat 1: 1st 87-Jason Isaacson; 2nd 30V-Nick Visser; 3rd 18-Bobby Sheldon; 4th 97-Leo Nippa; 5th 44-Fred Feger; 6th 88-Will Lundberg; DQ: 75-Cory Dickman (Rough Driving)

Heat 2: 1st 13T-Joe LaFreniere; 2nd 27-Bill Martin; 3rd 13-John Barlowski; 4th 81M-Steve Melton; 5th 97L-Logan Lannet; 6th 41- Dennis Mikkelson; 7th 2-Brandon Ross

Feature: 1st 87-Isaacson; 2nd 27-Martin; 3rd 97L-Lannet; 4th 30V-Visser; 5th 88-Lundberg; 6th 13T-LaFreniere; 7th 75-Dickman; 8th 81M-S. Melton; 9th 18-Sheldon; 10th 13-Barlowski; 11th 44-Feger; 12th 97-Nippa; 13th 2-Ross; DNS: 41-Mikkelson

Make-up Feature: 1st 44-Feger; 2nd 88-Lundberg; 3rd 18-Sheldon; 4th 13-Barlowski; 5th 97-Nippa; 6th 27-Martin; 7th 30V-Visser; 8th 75-Dickman; 9th 2-Ross; 10th 97L-Lannet; DNS: 72-Chris Nylund, 42-James Leitl; DQ: 87-Isaacson (Rough Driving)