June 11, 2012 at 6:19 p.m.
Rychlock scores Mod victory at TNT
Rychlock scores Mod victory at TNT
Three Lakes' own Stan Rychlock held off Tomahawk's C.J. Hedges, Jr. to score the victory in the WISSOTA AMSOIL Dirt Track Series Midwest Modifieds to cap off the June 9 program at Three Lakes TNT Speedway.
Saturday night also saw the dominance end for Jordan Kurtti of Bruce Crossing, Mich. Eagle River's Jason Jensen ended Kurtti's WADTS Street Stock winning streak at nine races. John Johnson, Sr. of Lac du Flambeau survived a demolition derby to win the TNT Pure Stock feature. Gleason's Kasey Gross scored his third win of the season in the TNT Stingers and Birnamwood's Sean Thayer scored his fifth feature victory in the TNT Trucks.
Rychlock led all 25 laps of the Midwest Mod main event, but had to hold off a trio of racers who entered the event tied for the class points lead - Hedges, Tomahawk's Jeff Klopstein, Jr. and Eagle River's Bruce Belland.
When the caution flag flew on lap 12 for a major drivetrain failure on Dennis Mikkelson's car, those three were able to restart right behind Rychlock. Rychlock pulled away initially, but the handling on his race car seemed to worsen as the final 14 laps clicked by. A six-car length lead with five laps to go shrunk to four and then two. By the time the white flag flew, Hedges was on Rychlock's back bumper. Hedges had one last chance to make a move, and drove his car deep into turn three on the final lap. He got inside of Rychlock, whose car pushed up the track slightly, setting up a drag race off the final corner. Rychlock was ahead by less than six inches as they hit the finish line.
Hedges did not get the win, but ended up with a nice consolation prize. His runner-up finish moved him into the points lead by one over Belland, who finished third and two over Klopstein, who finished fourth. Joe Kin of Greenland, Mich. rounded out the top five.
Thus far this season, Jensen has had the only car capable of keeping pace with Kurtti in the Street Stocks.
Kurtti made it nine victories in nine races, winning the heat from the pole, but Jensen had the outside pole for the feature.
He took the lead on the start with the idea of putting as much distance as possible between himself and Kurtti, who started fourth. That worked until lap three when Sugar Camp's Ben Pitlik crashed into one of the large tractor tires marking the inside of the racing surface in turn one. He spun up the track and collected Jim Larsen, Jr. and Jeff Mullins in the wreck. Pitlik was the only one of the three that was able to continue, despite heavy cosmetic damage.
The final 23 laps clicked by without a caution. Kurtti quickly moved to second on the restart and the two set sail from the rest of the field. The gap remained two to four car lengths for much of the feature. Kurtti made a late race push, but could never get alongside Jensen, who scored his first feature win at TNT. Pitlik recovered from his early mishap to finish third. Laona's Jake Terry and Eagle River's Ron Van Dusen rounded out the top five.
After some slamming and some lineup confusion on the drivers' part in the heat races, Three Lakes TNT track officials called a special drivers' meeting for the Pure Stock class at intermission.
It seemed that the drivers took the sermon to heart, clicking off the first six laps of the feature caution free, but once the first caution flew on lap seven the class reverted back to its typical crash and bash style.
Ron Reese led the first seven laps, but was sent to the back under one of the attempts to complete lap eight because of an improper restart. That handed the lead over to Johnson, who pulled away once they finally managed to complete the lap. The caution flew again on lap 12 for a spin involving Logan Lannet. By that time, the class's 20-minute time limit had elapsed, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Johnson edged away from a trio of Rhinelander drivers - Tyler Lundberg, Jesse Dettman and Brit Bromann - to score the victory. Laona's Mike Terry finished fifth.
Gross took the lead on lap four of the Stinger feature and cruised to victory. The battle was for second. Merrill's Zach Degner held it most of the way, but relinquished the position to Eric LaFreniere from Norway, Mich. with two laps remaining. Stinger rookie Rhianna Carne was impressive in her TNT debut. The Kingsford, Mich. driver finished third. Gleason's Brandon Langbecker edged Degner for fourth on the final lap.
Thayer again had the dominant truck Saturday night. He passed Gleason's Larry Roper, Jr. for the lead on the inside down the back stretch on lap five and pulled away over the final 11 laps. Thayer, like Kurtti in the Street Stocks, has won nine races in 10 starts this season at TNT. His only defeat came May 26, when he was caught up in a heat race accident. Roper, Birnamwood's Kyle Wanta, Wittenberg's Erik Kessen and Birnamwood's Forrest Crandall rounded out the top five.
Racing resumes June 16 at Three Lakes TNT Speedway, with hot laps at 6:30 p.m. and racing at 7:15.
Jeremy Mayo is the track announcer at Three Lakes TNT Speedway. He may be reached at [email protected].
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