By: Paul Reichert
August 16, 2019
A picture perfect night brought the race fans out in force to Tomah-Sparta Speedway as we enter the homestretch of the 2019 racing season. This season has seen Darin Salo struggle with his racing engine, preventing him from hitting the track and contending for wins or even a track championship. Tonight those struggles would be a thing of the past as Salo led all the way in the Modified feature and came away with his first win of the season.
At the start of the Modified feature, Darin Salo worked his way around Larry DeVito to assume the top spot. As Salo started to open up his lead, the rest of the field was trying to sort itself out. Paul Brown eventually got around DeVito to move up to second by lap five. Nick Quinnell, last week’s feature winner. tagged the back straight wall on lap eight but was able to continue on. The yellow flag flew a lap later for Kevin Seidler’s spin in turn one. Brown lined up alongside Salo on the restart, with Brad Wildes behind him. Salo was shot out of a cannon and quickly pulled away from both drivers on the restart. With five laps to go, Wildes dove under Brown to take over second place. Wildes did everything he could to close up on Salo, but Salo was having his best run of the year. Salo would claim the win and proudly rang the Victory Bell in TACU Victory Lane.
Troy Dobbratz took the lead at the start of the Sportsmen feature. Dobbratz held the lead for the first five laps before Jake Schiller charged past Dobbratz to claim the top spot. A lap later, points leader David Borntrager got around Dobbratz to move into second. Borntrager closed on Schiller and the fight for the lead and the win was on between the two drivers. Schiller had his hands full with Borntrager over the second half of the race. Borntrager tried going low, then high. Schiller fought off the advances of Borntrager to capture the checkered flag first.
Brandon Gallagher would take the lead early in the Hobby Stock feature. Mike Krueger, Jr. took over the lead on lap four and started slowly pulling away. Andy Moore and Raymond Hardy were slowly making their way from the back of the pack. Moore would motor past Gallagher to take over second on lap nine, while Hardy sturggled to get around Gallagher for third. Moore tried to close the distance between Krueger, Jr. and him. Krueger, Jr. would be no match for the field this night as he claimed the win.
The Hornets and Mini Stocks ran a combined feature once again. LaCrosse NASCAR Late Model regular Mike Carlson shot to the early in the Mini Stock portion. An off-qualifying night put Jazelynn Myer on the pole for the Hornets, and she quickly took the lead. Paul Finch got up to second by lap five and tried to catch up to Carlson. A few laps later Alec DeVito drove past James Rittenhouse for second and slowly started to close in on Myer. Finch tired several times to go around Carlson for the lead, but he could not get the job done on the outside. DeVito also tried to motor past Myer, but she would hold her position. Mason Morphy joined their battle with four laps to go and made things a little more interesting. Carlson would keep Finch in his rear view and score his first ever Mini Stock win at Tomah. Myer would fight off both DeVito and Morphy to claim her third Hornet win of the year and strengthen her point lead.
Austin Schott led the first few laps of the TACU Six Shooters feature. Tim Murphy would drive around Schott to take over the lead on lap four. Murphy began to open up his advantage over the field. Would Murphy get the win this time after coming oh so close last week? Dan Frye, who took the lead away late from Murphy to win last week, and Matt Moore were having to work a little harder getting through traffic to the front. Moore got around Al Bartels for second with five laps to go. Moore quickly cuaght up to Murphy and got around him with three laps to go. Moore would drive off with another feature win.
The Chaos division went ’round and round’ in their Double Spin to Win race. A couple new entries joined the fun as Andy Moore brought out his Hobby Stock and Brad Wildes came out with his Modified. Doing the spinning on the back striaght helped Wildes and Moore show the way in the race. On the second spin, Wildes spun through the grass and almost did not get back on the track. Wildes just got out ahead of Moore and scored the win.
Action continues next Friday, August 23 with the Modifieds, Sportsmen, Hobby Stocks, Hornets, Six Shooters and Mini Stocks. The Chaos division will crown their champion for the year with the final race of the season, the 2nd Over the Line Wins race. Gates open at 4:00, qualifying starts at 6:15 and racing begins at 7:30. For more information about 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. Darin Salo, 2. Brad Wildes, 3. Paul Brown, 4. Denny Schott, 5. Larry DeVito
Heat 1: 1. Quinnell, 2. L. DeVito, 3. Rick DeVito
Heat 2: 1. Brown, 2. Wildes, 3. D. Schott
Qualifying: 1. D. Schott, 2. Brown, 3. Wildes
Sportsmen
Feature: 1. Jake Schiller, 2. David Borntrager, 3. Troy Dobbratz, 4. Lonnie Wood, Sr.
Heat: 1. D. Borntrager, 2. Schiller, 3. Dobbratz
Qualifying: 1. D. Borntrager, 2. Schiller, 3. Dobbratz
Hobby Stocks
Feature: 1. Mike Krueger, Jr., 2. Andy Moore, 3. Brandon Gallagher, 4. Raymond Hardy, 5. Bill Schott
Heat 1: 1. Aaron Hendricks, 2. Krueger, Jr., 3. Lonnie Wood, Jr.
Heat 2: 1. Hardy, 2. A. Moore, 3. Alex Rud
Qualifying: 1. A. Moore, 2. Hardy, 3. Schott
Hornets
Feature: 1. Mike Carlson (Mini Stock), 2. Paul Finch (Mini Stock), 3. Jazelynn Myer, 4. Alec DeVito, 5. Mason Morphy
Heat: 1. Myer, 2. Shawn McCarthy, 3. Jordan Finch
Qualifying: 1. Morphy, 2. A. DeVito, 3. Amelia Marshall
Mini Stocks
Heat: 1. Paul Finch, 2. Mike Carlson, 3. Steven Rozak
Qualifying: 1. P. Finch, 2. Rozak, 3. Carlson
TACU Credit Union Six Shooters
Feature: 1. Matt Moore, 2. Tim Murphy, 3. Al Bartels, 4. Dan Frye, 5. Rob Schliefer
Heat 1: 1. Austin Schott, 2. Clayton Haessig, 3. Schliefer
Heat 2: 1. Bartels, 2. M. Moore, 3. Frye
Qualifying: 1. Frye, 2. M. Moore, 3. Jestin DeLap, Sr.
Chaos Double Spin to Win: 1. Brad Wildes, 2. Andy Moore, 3. Tim Murphy
