May 4, 2003; Seymour, WI - N.E.W. DIRT officially kicked off their 20th Anniversary season with their first full regular program of the year Sunday night. The pit area was full with 106 teams entered for the night and a hearty crown came out despite the cloudy, windy, cold night.
The Street Stocks took the track first for their feature with Marc Marcille taking charge for the first 3 laps before Jeremy Wiitila took the outside line into the lead on lap 4. Lance Arneson followed into the runner up spot. Wiitila remained in the upper grove and Arneson hugged the inside as the pair pulled away from the pack. Over the last half of the race, Arneson and Wiitila swapped the lead several times until traffic gave Arneson a break and a couple car length lead on lap 17 that he carried to his first feature win of the season. Wiitila finished season with Marcille holding third. David Hoerning came from near the back of the 24 car field to place fourth with Troy Wilson fifth and Dean Kellner sixth. The IMCA Stock cars put a strong field of 20 cars on the grid next. On the opening lap, 4 cars tried to get into the same spot at the same time and caused a crash in turn two, that put two time defending champ, Jeremy Christians out of the contest. Jamie Colwell grabbed the lead on the restart with Shawn Kilgore using a strong outside move on lap 2 to take control. Jason Czarapata was running the inside and ran alongside Kilgore for a couple laps before taking over the lead on lap 8. Kilgore continued to press the leader until the final few laps when Czarapata was able to build a couple length margin and hold on to win his first career Tri Oval feature since moving up after claiming the 1999 Street Stock title. Kilgore held off Brandon Czarapata for a close second place finish with Greg Gretz taking fourth followed by Colwell and Jerry Wilinski. The IMCA Mods had trouble NOT running over the tires on the inside of the track which pulled several out of the ground and caused five cautions over the first six laps of their feature. A final black flag warning to the field kept the green out for some tough racing action. Brad Rohloff took the lead at the start and was followed by Jared Siefert, Mike Wedelstadt, Mike Cole, Scott Mullen and Art Siefert. After the series of early cautions, defending champion, Brian Mullen pulled into second with Cole Scott Mullen and Dan Deau right behind. Rohloff was holding a couple length lead until a lap 14 red flag when Art Sieferts car erupted in flames on the front chute. Siefert was not injured. The caution caused a time limit finish to the race with Rohloff having to battle with Mullen over the final laps. Rohloff captured his first feature win here since July 22, 2001 with Brian Mullen taking second. Scott Mullen edged Deau for third. Deau made a strong challenge on the final restart and almost took the lead but slid wide out of the tri oval and finished fourth. Travis Spaulding was fifth and Mike Klenz sixth. Pete Parker, the all time feature win leader at the Tri Oval, drew the pole for the main and took charge at the start. Terry Casey moved into the runner up spot and chased Parker for the first half of the race with Nick Anvelink, Troy Springborn and Tom Naeyaert in a battle for third. Casey closed right behind Parker and on lap 9 made in inside move in the rough Tri Oval for the lead, only to have the car jump in the hole inside and bounce up into Parkers car out of the Tri Oval. Parker retained the lead and Casey restarted from the back. Naeyaert took up the challenge in second while Anvelink and Springborn continued their race for third. Naeyaerts’ mount failed with three laps left and Parker chalked up feature win # 107. Anvelink held off Springborn for the runner up finish with Casey coming back to take fourth. Doug Klemp and T.J. White rounded out the top six. Greg Banker led the way in the 4 Banger nightcap with Marty Vande Hei, Jasper Drengler, Todd Welsay and Tim Krause behind. On the opening lap, Jeff Alexander rolled in the Tri Oval, landed on the wheels and drover the car to re- join the field, much to the delite of the fans, only to be forced off with a flat tire. Drengler took over the lead on lap 8 and held off Welsay to win his first ever Tri Oval race. Banker held on for third with Vande Hei taking fourth. Weekly Sunday night racing action continues through Labor Day at the Seymour Tri Oval Raceway. Racing starts at 6 PM. SUMMARY IMCA MODIFIED WISSOTA LATE MODEL STREET STOCK IMCA STOCK CAR 4 BANGERS |
