July 30, 1999, Chilton, WI - After a caution filled feature, eighteen year-old Mike Kertscher from Fredonia managed to pull off his first win this season, proving he still has intentions of retaining his reign as Mini-Sprint track champion!
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Defending Calumet County Fairgrounds champ Mike Kertscher (#80) finally had some luck this evening and he powered home the winner in the feature event. The 18-year old hot-shoe is still in contention to defend his title this season after winning the championship as a rookie last year. |
After several line-up woes, drivers finally found their spots in line and were ready for the green. Mike Stagl from Milwaukee was set in the pole position, Chilton's Dave Lisowe was seated outside on row one, Kevin Eggert started third and Dan Krueger sat in fourth. Green flag out, Stagl and Lisowe ran away from the pack, only to be slowed one lap later for a caution involving a tangle between Chilton racer Steve Meir and Larry Juckem.
One lap in, Stagl and Lisowe still retained their spots on the front row. On the restart, the lineup remained the same, another caution flag flew though, again for Larry Juckem. Finally, things were set for the race to continue. Stagl held the leader on the restart, but this time Mike Kertscher moved up into the second spot. Kertscher didn't stop there as he pressured for the lead spot.
Lisowe now in the third spot lost another position to Eggert. Kertscher managed to claim the lead a circuit later and wasted no time building up a straightaway lead over Eggert. The big men on the move were Scott Uttech moving up several positions to the fourth spot and Scott Sippel to the sixth position.
A yellow for debris bunched up the pack a bit, Kertscher and Eggert would
run one-two on the restart. Trouble struck again a lap later when Glenbeulah's Jeff Harder
spun trying to get around a slow car. Scott Uttech used this caution to end up right
behind Kertscher in second. This caused the
time-limit to expire forcing the race to finish green-white-checkered. After ten laps the
checkers shown for Mike Kertscher for his first feature win this season. Trailing to the
finish were Scott Uttech, Dan Krueger, Scott Sippel and Mike Stagl.
Results: Chilton, WI - July 30, 1999
WIMSA Mini-Sprints
1st 10-lap heat: