By: Paul Reichert
August 23, 2019
The weather may not have been like the Dog Days of Summer at Tomah-Sparta Speedway, but the racing action on the track was hot and very intense. While the division championship battles are coming down to the wire, TACU Credit Union put up some bonus money for the Six Shooter division to celebrate their 80th anniversary. When TACU does that, the Six Shooters step it up a few notches in the feature. Matt Moore and Dan Frye tangled coming to the checkered flag, and that allowed Al Bartels to steal the win and the bonus money.
Jestin DeLap, Sr. took the lead at the start of the TACU Credit Union Six Shooter feature. Dan Frye and Matt Moore were methodically making their way through the field. By lap six, Frye drove around DeLap, Sr. to take over the top spot. Two laps later it was Moore’s turn to drop DeLap, Sr. another position to third. Frye would pick up an additional $80 for being the leader of the race on lap eight. Moore would catch up to Frye and be on his bumper by lap twelve. They battled hard over the final four laps to claim the win and $80 bonus waiting for the winner. Coming to the checkered flag, Moore tried to go under Frye. They made contact and Frye spun out. Al Bartels would drive past both of them to capture his first win of the year and the bonus bucks.
In the Modified feature, Keenan Shaw bolted to the lead from his pole position start. Larry DeVito would hold on to second as he had a monumental task of holding off the rest of the field. Shaw was pulling away from the field by nearly a full straightaway. Paul Brown and points leader Brad Wildes got around Nick Quinnell to move into third and fourth by lap nine. With four laps to go, Rick DeVito’s engine expired in a big way. Oil was all over turn one and DeVito spun in it. The race was red flagged to allow track workers to clean things up. On the restart, Shaw pulled away from the field again. Brown and Wildes got around Larry DeVito to take over second and third. They could do nothing but battle for second as Shaw took his Pontiac Banshee to his first ever Modified feature win.
Jason Backus wasted little time in the Sportsmen feature to take command of the race. Points leader David Borntrager got around Troy Dobbratz to take second on lap two. The rest of the feature would be dominated by the back and forth battle between Backus and Borntrager. Backus would take the lead for good from Borntrager with six to go to capture his third win of the season.
in the Hobby Stock feature, Aaron Hendricks lead the early going. Andy Moore made his way from the back to second by lap three. Moore would power around Hendricks on the outside on lap four to move into the race lead. Moore began to open his advantage on the field as the laps counted down. Bill Schott bounced off the back straight wall on lap 11 but was able to continue on. A lap later Schott and Hendricks tangled in turn three, sending Hendricks into the spin cycle and bringing out the yellow. The restart lasted only one lap when Hendricks’ car stalled in turn four. Moore had no problem pulling away from the field in the last four laps to claim his ninth win of 2019.
Rob Schliefer, driving Alex Rud’s car, lead the first five laps of the Hornet feature. Kenny Kraft blew a tire and hit the turn two wall hard to bring out a yellow flag. Mason Morphy got around Schliefer to become the new race leader on lap six. Morphy may be a rookie, but has shown a lot of improvement over the course of the season to be a feature win contender. Another caution flew on lap eight when points leader Jazelynn Myer spun out in turn one Morphy did not get up to speed on the restart, possible due to missing a shift. That allowed Shawn McCarthy to power his way to the top spot. Morphy fell to fifth, but found a gear and started to make his way back to the front. Morphy would get arouind Troy Tuma for second with three laps to go. That would be as far as Morphy got with McCarthy checking out on the field and capturing his third win in the past five weeks.
Paul Finch took the lead early in the Mini Stock feature. Mike Carlson would motor around Finch to claim the top spot on lap three. With both drivers racing within the Hornet feature, Finch was able to stay close to Carlson. Finch was looking for an opportunity to get back by the La Crosse NASCAR Late Model driver. Both drivers got through the Hornet field by lap ten and set off to settle the win. Carlson began to pull away from Finch over the last five laps to score his second straight Mini Stock feature win and ring the Victory Bell in TACU Victory Lane.
The Chaos division crowned a season champion after their final event of the year, the 2nd Over the Line Wins race. This time we would not witness a five-wide finish like the last time. Jonathan Burbach finished 2nd, and that was good enough to give him the win. As for the championship, Tim Murphy was one point up on Dan Frye entering the race. Frye finished behind Burbach, and Murphy was right behind Frye. They were tied after the final race. Dan Frye claimed the championship and the title of ‘Captain Chaos’ based on having won a Chaos event earlier in the season.
Action continues next Friday, August 30 with Season Championship night. The Modifieds, Sportsmen, Hobby Stocks, Hornets, Mini Stocks and Six Shooters will run their final night of points racing and crown their 2019 track champions. Gates open at 4:00, qualifying begins at 6:00 and racing action starts at 7:30. For more information on Tomah-Sparta Speedway or the 2019 schedule of events, please call the office at 608-461-1920 or visit tomahspartaspeedway.com.
RESULTS
Modifieds
Feature: 1. Keenan Shaw, 2. Paul Brown, 3. Brad Wildes, 4. Nick Quinnell, 5. Darin Salo
Heat: 1. Brown, 2. Quinnell, 3. Salo
Qualifying: 1. Quinnell, 2. Salo, 3. Brown
Sportsmen
Feature: 1. Jason Backus, 2. David Borntrager, 3. Troy Dobbratz, 4. Lonnie Wood, Sr.
Heat: 1. Backus, 2. D. Borntrager, 3. Dobbratz
Qualifying: 1. D. Borntrager, 2. Backus, 3. Dobbratz
Hobby Stock
Feature: 1. Andy Moore, 2. Mike Krueger, Jr., 3. Bill Schott, 4. Alex Rud, 5. Aaron Hendricks
Heat: 1. A. Moore, 2. Hendricks, 3. B. Schott
Qualifying: 1. A. Moore, 2. Rud, 3. Hendricks
Hornets
Feature: 1. Shawn McCarthy, 2. Mason Morphy, 3. Troy Tuma, 4. Rob Schliefer, 5. Nick Hadler
Heat 1: 1. Schliefer, 2. Jordan Finch, 3. Hadler
Heat 2: 1. Tuma, 2. J. Myer, 3. James Rittenhouse
Qualifying: 1. Tuma, 2. J. Myer, 3. Morphy
Mini Stock
Feature: 1. MIke Carlson, 2. Paul Finch
Heat: 1. P. Finch, 2. Carlson
Mini Stock Qualifying: 1. P. Finch; 2. Carlson
TACU Credit Union Six Shooters
Feature: 1. Al Bartels, 2. Jestin DeLap, Sr., 3. Jonathan Burbach, 4. Clayton Haessig, 5. Tim Murphy
Heat 1: 1. DeLap, Sr., 2. Austin Schott, 3. Murphy
Heat 2: 1. Haessig, 2. Matt Moore, 3. Bartels
Qualifying: 1. M. Moore, 2. Dan Frye, 3. Burbach
Chaos 2nd Over the Line Wins: 1. Jonathan Burbach, 2. Dan Frye, 3. Tim Murphy
Captain Chaos (2019 Champion)–Dan Frye
