May 17, 2003; Tomahawk, WI. -
Starting the season a week late must seem just fine right now with Dustin Ochodnicky.
Ochodnicky's win was surprising, given that he made only a few
appearances at the speedway last year, encountering some mechanical gremlins when he was
racing. On this night, though, he was stout, taking His job was made tougher when Mark Listle overtook Marquardt for second on lap 16. Listle began hot pursuit of the leader and ate away about half the margin, but Ochodnicky appeared safe until a lap 27 caution after Brian Bartelt blew an engine and laid a swath of oil on the track. Restarting with four laps to go, Listle and Tim Nawrocki were side-by-side behind the leader, and it was Nawrocki who challenged in the final laps, even getting right alongside Ochodnicky on the white flag lap. However, Ochodnicky pulled a half a car length ahead of Nawrocki on the final backstretch, and he was able to hold the 2T car off for the win. Wausau's Lyle Nowak won the 25-lap Late Model feature event, moving through a short field quickly and then putting it on cruise control. Larry Olson of Dorchester was second, followed by Allen Brunker, John Paszek and Matt Schulz. Nowak started seventh in the feature and went through the slim pack of seven cars in workmanlike fashion. He moved by Nick Larson for third on lap 6, was second after passing Brunker on lap 10, and passed Olson for the lead two laps later. He went on to win by ten car lengths over Olson. Maybe the most excitement in the race came after it was over. Right before the winner's celebration, Schulz's #38 car caught fire under the hood on the frontstretch. The small-but-persistent blaze was finally put out by the track clean-up crew after a few minutes. Curt Luedtke of Wausau had an eventful night himself, losing a clutch on his car before racing even began. However, his pit crew repaired the problem quickly in time to get him out for his heat race, and later on their hard work paid big dividends as Luedtke ran away with the 20-lap Pro Stock Bandit feature. Luedtke passed Phil Malouf for the lead on the race's sixth circuit and then checked out on the field, winning the caution-free event by a full straightaway. Jason Isaacson posted his best feature finish ever with a second, while Bob Schult, Nick Erickson, Jr. and Amanda Schara rounded out the top five. Keith Troutman of Tomahawk won the Street Bandit feature. He inherited the lead after a lap six caution for a pair of incidents, one which included leader Stacy Lipke being spun on the frontstretch right before taking the yellow. Troutman's yellow and black Chevy Cavalier led the rest of the race and won comfortably over Al Giese and Matt Troutman. Racing continues at PRP next week, when the Mid-American Super Trucks will
be on hand for a 50-lap feature event. Time trials are at 5:30, with racing starting at 7
p.m.
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