September 9, 2015 at 4:46 p.m.
Champions crowned at Eagle River Speedway
Champions crowned at Eagle River Speedway
"I wanted to win that feature and the championship real bad for Bob (Kleinschmidt) and Arbor Vitae Marine," commented Aho.
Kleinschmidt, a long-time racer and sponsor of Aho's automobile, recently passed away.
Aho had been driving Kleinschmidt's familiar Bobb-0 car for the last month, after Aho's primary was totaled in an accident at Eagle River Speedway.
"My dad had been working on the No. 0 car since we were given the chance to race it for the rest of the year," Aho explained. "The 0 car and the 25 are two totally different cars. That didn't matter as my goal was to put that 0 car in the victory lane tonight and win the championship."
Aho has since purchased Kleinschmidt's car and will be racing it in the WISSOTA Race of Champions at Dakota State Fair Park later this month.
Tomahawk's Nate Langberg wrapped up the WISSOTA Street Stock track championship Friday. However it was Eagle River's Ryan Valeria who won the feature. Valeria looked to be cruising to an easy win, as Michigan's Jordan Kurtti was in a struggle to get around the car driven by his friend and teammate, David Blackberg.
Even when Kurtti was finally able to pass Blackberg, it appeared that Valeria had built up an insurmountable lead, but Kurtti quickly closed the gap. With three laps remaining, Kurtti had closed to the back bumper of the Valeria automobile. Valeria didn't move off of the groove that put him in the lead, even though the inside line was open for Kurtti, and held on for the win.
The most exciting race of the night was the Micro Sprint 600 feature. West Bend's Andy Rein checked out from the field early in the race. Then, with three laps to go, Dylan Larson hit the wall coming out of the hairpin third turn, bringing out a caution. That put Deerbrook's Jake Reif right behind Rein on the restart.
The two were hitting speeds of over 80 MPH, racing side-by-side. Then on the final lap the two collided. Neither was able to finish the race, thus handing the win to Jake's father, Jerry Reif.
Ty Springer of Eagle River had already clinched the points championship going into the final night. His younger sister, Tommi Jo, became the first female to win a points championship at Eagle River Speedway, as she won the Junior Sprint points championship. With their championships already in hand, neither of the Springers participated in Friday night's races.
Lake Tomahawk's Hunter Tingley took the feature win in the Junior Sprints while Josie Rae Reif held off Conover's Dayton Rein for second place.
The 17-car Pure Stock main event had the crowd on edge. Many thought the race would come down to the class champion C.J. Hedges Jr. of Tomahawk or the heat winners Jake Ison, Michael Brown, or Nick Paoli.
Paoli had car problems and left the feature early. Hedges, Ison, and Brown started in the middle of the packed field. Ison worked his way through traffic to get the lead midway through the race. With all the cars bunched up mid-pack, Ison was able to build a substantial lead.
Then the caution came out when Dustin White and Fritz Scharf connected on the front stretch. That put Eagle River's David Blackberg right behind Ison, and brought Brown and Hedges back into contention.
With only a couple of laps remaining, Blackberg took the lead, and held on for the win.
Hedges' fourth-place finish in Friday night's feature was enough for him to defend his Eagle River Pure Stock crown.
During the races, the late Kleinschmidt was honored through the presentation of the inaugural Bobby-0 SPIRIT Award, which went to Mark Glembin, former operator of Eagle River Speedway who passed away earlier this year.
Friday's Fan Appreciation Night races will close the curtain on the 2015 season at Eagle River Speedway. The spectator one-on-one races will make a return, along with the Quads/ATV's. Racing at the challenging Tri-Oval for the first time this summer will be the Pro Trucks. The track will also have the IMCA Sport Mods race against the WISSOTA Midwest Modified. Pure Stock cars from different tracks will be competing, along with the Street Stock cars. The Micro Sprint 600s and Junior Sprints are also on the program. Admission will be $5 for fans. Hot laps will begin at 7 p.m.
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