August 3, 2015 at 4:42 p.m.
Class championships up for grabs at TNT Motor Speedway
Class championships up for grabs at TNT Motor Speedway
Going into the night, Rhinelander's Cory Allen had only a 14-point lead over Eagle River's James Koga in the Pro Truck class. That means that heat race finishes will become a factor as to who wins the class championship. It was in the heat on Saturday that Allen was involved in an altercation with John Johnson, Sr. The accident knocked both of them out of the race.
Koga was cruising to a victory in the heat until the final lap when Koga spun out coming off Turn 4 heading to the checkered flag. That gave the win to the young gun of the class, 12-year-old Parker Retzlaff of Rhinelander. Pelican Lake's Herb Dettman took second and a dejected Koga ended up third.
While the win in the heat would have narrowed Allen's points lead significantly, both Allen and Koga knew the big race would be the Pro Truck feature.
Allen started the feature in the back of the pack. By the second lap, Allen was in the lead and vowed to take no prisoners. Retzlaff continued to impress his fellow competitors and the fans with an impressive runner-up finish. Johnson finished third, and Koga ended up fourth.
The Pure Stock class has three racers battling for the class championship. Rhinelander's Tyler Lundberg entered the night 15 points ahead of Eagle River's Jason Melton at 506 and 18 ahead of David Blackberg. After the first Pure Stock heat, won by Blackberg, he temporarily moved into second place in the points standings as Melton finished fifth in the heat.
Lundberg held serve in the second heat with a respectable runner-up finish.
Melton leapfrogged back into second in the standings, winning Saturday night's feature. Lundberg battled throughout the race to take a second. Blackberg got into trouble in traffic and brought out a caution midway through the race and eventually finished sixth.
Up until a week ago it looked like the WISSOTA Street Stock championship was a lock for Bruce Crossing, Michigan's Jordan Kurtti. When an employment opportunity took Kurtti out of the area for the rest of the year, a door opened for Tomahawk's Nate Langberg, who is 58 points behind Kurtti.
Playing the "spoiler" role in the class is Langberg's Tomahawk neighbor, Derek Eberl. Eberl won his second straight WISSOTA Street Stock feature Saturday night Once Eberl got the lead from Chetek's Steve Karshbaum, he pulled away from the pack. The race to watch in that feature was the battle between Karshbaum, Brit Bromann and Ken Valeria. It was Valeria's first race of the season in the prestigious WISSOTA Street Stock class. While Eberl made his way to the NAPA Victory Lane, Bromann fought off the hard charge to the finish line by Karshbaum and Valeria. Langberg finished last in the six-car field.
The class that has thrilled the fans the past few weeks at TNT is the Junior Sprints, where children as young as 5 years old get the chance to race a Sprint-chassis car. Once again this past Saturday night, the Junior Sprinters were racing side-by-side throughout the race.
Dayton Rein of Conover started off the special Eagle Waste Junior Sprint feature with the lead. Then Phelps' Dustin Kangas passed him. Then, with only a couple of laps to go, Woodruff's Hunter Tingley took the point and held on for the win. Earlier in the night, Kangas edged Rein for the win in the heat race.
While three of the classes are still up for grabs when it comes to the track championships, Rhinelander's Dan Melton continues to show the large fan turnout at TNT Motor-Speedway why he is at the top of his game. Melton went into Saturday night's races with a whopping 140-point lead over Eagle River's Jonathon Miller. Melton extended his lead by keeping Eagle River's Guy Carley, Rhinelander's Dennis Mikkelson, and the Upper Peninsula's Jesse Aho in check in the feature.
Melton's biggest challenge in the night was in the heat race when he edged Aho.
Melton's 140-point lead may sound insurmountable, but it's nothing compared to Merrill's Louis Malluege is doing in the Stinger Class. Malluege started the night with an impressive 189-point lead. His best competition thus far this year was this week. Seven cars started the heat, however only five were able to run in the feature - which was won by Malluege. Gleason's Brandon Langbecker took second and, racing in his first race of the year at TNT, Mosinee's Randy Luedtke finished third.
While it was only the Larson brothers, Denver and Dylan that raced in the Micro Sprint 600s. The 14- and 15-year-olds from Shiocton ran side-by-side for the first half of the feature. Dylan, the younger of the racing brothers, had the lead on his Yamaha-powered sprinter until Denver passed him on the high side. Denver went on to get the win and holds his lead in the class.
TNT Motor Speedway will hold its first Side-by-Side/UTV X-Challenge this coming Saturday night. The popular off-road vehicles will be racing on a course full of jumps and obstacles in the infield, then on to the front stretch. This will be in addition to the regular weekly action-packed seven-class program. Hot laps will start around 6:30 p.m.
TNT Motor Speedway is located south of Three Lakes off of U.S. Highway 45.
Comments:
You must login to comment.