By: Paul Reichert
August 2, 2019
A beautiful but warm summer night brought the race fans back to Tomah-Sparta Speedway for another action packed Friday night. Last week we saw La Crosse Hornet driver Shawn McCarthy have a successful debut at ‘Daytomah’ and win the feature event. This week McCarthy would have a little more challenging night, but he would come out on top again to go two-for-two in the Hornet division.
Jordan Finch led the opening few laps of the Hornet feature. Shawn McCarthy and Mason Morphy both tried to go around ‘Jellybean’, but she was able to fight back and stay in the lead. Finch lost it coming out of turn four on lap four and tagged the inside wall to bring out the yellow. On the restart, McCarthy would take over the top spot. Mike Hennessy and Alec DeVito began to make their way through the field. Both drivers would catch Morphy to take second and third at the halfway mark, and began to zero in on the leader. Things got a little rough between Hennessy and DeVito with three to go, causing DeVito to come to a stop in turn two and bring out the caution. ‘The Joker’ would pull away from Morphy during the three-lap shootout to capture his second straight feature win.
In the Modified feature, the brothers DeVito would bring the field to green. Rick drove under Larry at the start to lead the first few laps. Coming from the back was point leader Brad Wildes. It only took Wildes two laps to drive past Rick DeVito to move into the top spot. Paul Brown was trying to make his way around both DeVitos and make a race of it with the ‘Wild Man’. Brown would get around Rick and Larry by lap seven and tried to catch the run away leader. Brown tied everything he could to get closer to Wildes during the second half of the race. Wildes maintained a sizable lead over Brown to pad his point lead with his fourth win of 2019.
Troy Dobbratz and Lonnie Wood, Sr. would battle side-by-side at the start of the Sportsmen feature. Wood used the inside line to charge past Dobbratz and take over the race lead on lap two. Over the next eight circuits, Wood had the entire field of Sportsmen breathing down his neck. Larry Bolster made a bold move to get in between traffic and shot past Wood to assume the race lead on lap ten. Jason Stark was not far behind as he motored around traffic to take second. Stark, driving Sam Messel’s sportsmen car, only needed two laps to catch and pass Bolster to become the new leader. Stark would pull away in the final few laps to score the win.
Joel Geisser’s El Camino lead the way early in the Hobby Stock feature. Coming from the back of the field, Andy Moore would charge past Geisser on lap four to assume command of the race. Moore’s biggest challenger this season was also making his way through the field. Raymond Hardy got around Geisser to settle into second on lap eight. Hardy began to whittle away at Moore’s lead as the laps wound down. Hardy got the difference cut down to a car length, but once again Moore would prevail and drive away with feature win number six on the season.
Austin Schott led the early going of the TACU Credit Union Six Shooter feature. Al Bartels came from mid-pack to charge by Schott to take over the lead on lap four. Coming from the back were the top two drivers in the division, Dan Frye and Matt Moore. Moore would get around Bartels on the outside on lap nine to be the new race leader. A lap later, Frye also used the outside to motor around Bartels for second. This time around, Frye was the one trying to catch and pass Moore for the lead. Frye did what he could in the final few laps, but Moore held on take the checkered flag first and ring the victory bell in TACU Victory Lane.
The Chaos division had an unexpected race as part of tonight’s show. Their event was The Tire Race, where you had to balance a tire on the hood of your car. Matt Moore and Dan Frye were running away with the six-lap race until Frye lost his tire in turn four coming to the checkered flag. Moore would be the ‘last tire standing’ and claim the win.
Action continues next Friday, August 9 with the Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Hornets, Six Shooters and Mini Stocks racing at ‘Daytomah’. The Mid-American Stock Car Seires will make their annual appearance that night as well. Gates open at 4:00, qualifying begins at 6:00 and racing kicks off 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. Brad Wildes, 2. Paul Brown, 3. Rick DeVito, 4. Larry DeVito
Heat: 1. Brown, 2. Wildes, 3. R. DeVito
Qualifying: 1. Wildes, 2. Brown, 3. L. DeVito
Sportsmen
Feature: 1. Jason Stark, 2. Devin Schmidt, 3. Larry Bolster, 4. David Borntrager, 5. MIke Krueger, Jr.
Heat 1: 1. Jake Schiller, 2. Krueger, Jr., 3. Troy Dobbratz
Heat 2: 1. Stark, 2. Schmidt, 3. D. Borntrager
Qualifying: 1. Stark, 2. Schmidt, 3. D. Borntrager
Hobby Stocks
Feature: 1. Andy Moore, 2. Raymond Hardy, 3. Joel Geisser, 4. Alex Rud, 5. Aaron Hendricks
Heat: 1. Lonnie Wood, Jr., 2. A. Moore, 3. Geisser
Qualifying: 1. A. Moore, 2. Hardy, 3. Hendricks
Hornets
Feature: 1. Shawn McCarthy, 2. Mike Hennessy, 3. Mason Morphy, 4. Jazelynn Myer, 5. James Rittenhouse
Heat 1: 1. Jordan Finch, 2. Morphy, 3. Amelia Marshall
Heat 2: 1. Rittenhouse, 2. Hennessy, 3. McCarthy
Qualiifying: 1. Alec DeVito, 2. McCarthy, 3. Myer
TACU Credit Union Six Shooters
Feature: 1.Matt Moore, 2. Dan Frye, 3. Al Bartels, 4. Tim Murphy, 5. Clayton Haessig
Heat 1: 1. Austin Schott, 2. Tory Lockington, 3. Austin Volepek
Heat 2: 1. M. Moore, 2. Frye, 3. Haessig
Qualifying: 1. Frye, 2. M. Moore, 3. Bartels
Chaos Tire Race: 1. Matt Moore, 2. Dan Frye, 3. Tim Murphy
