By: Paul Reichert
July 29, 2022
The fans always get excited to see some new blood win a race, especially when it is their first feature win. We are seeing younger drivers getting behind the wheel and showing that have the talent to be the next Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott or Joey Logano. High school students have a new avenue thanks to the High School Racing Association competing here at Tomah-Sparta Speedway. There are even younger students in their early teens that are here to say they are the future of racing while competing in Bandolero or Legends cars. 12 year old Ayrton Brockhouse got the better of his dad Tim to claim his first career Legends feature win in his rookie season after competing in the Bandoleros.
Rose Borntreger got on the gas quicker than Russ Weiler to take the lead at the start of the Wisconsin Fastrac Legends feature. Tim Brockhouse followed right behind Borntreger and powered by her on lap two to settle into the top spot. The race then turned into a family affair as Tim’s 12 year old son Ayrton began to apply pressure for the number one position. Young Ayrton dove low on his dad to take command of the race on lap three, and the rest of the race would see which Brockhouse would end up in TACU Victory Lane. As the feud between the Brockhouses became a race within a race, Andrew Borntreger was on the move in his quest to challenge the Brockhouses for the win. Borntreger powered his way by Weiler to crack the top five on lap five, then shot past his sister Rose to settle into fourth on lap seven. Borntreger dropped Elliott Weiler out of the top three on with six laps to go, but he had a tall task to catch the ‘Battling Brockhouses’ for the race lead. In the end the student got the better of the teacher as Ayrton held off dad to notch his first ever feature win at Tomah.
In the Modified feature the brothers DeVito started on the front row. Tim Myer Memorial winner Larry surged ahead of brother Rick to lead the field. Jason Stark got around Jesse Vian for third on lap two, then powered around Rick DeVito to settle into second a lap later. Stark was competing in his very first Modified feature ever as he took over the driving duties of Bill Schott’s car. Stark quickly caught up to Larry DeVito and used the outside groove to shoot by him for the race lead on lap six. The fight over second become a battle for the point lead in the division. Veteran DeVito was doing all he could to fight off the challenges of 15 year old Weston Marthaler with only eight points separating them in the title fight. DeVito stuck to the inside lane while Marthaler struggled to get around him on the outside. DeVito would hold onto second and add a few more points to his lead, while Stark checked out on the field to capture his first ever Modified feature win in his Modified debut.
The Clark Powersport of Hillsboro Hobby Stock feature saw a great side-by-side battle to start the race between Landon Lockington and Aaron Hendricks. While Lockington hit the line first during the opening three circuits, a bobble in turn two allowed Hendricks to surge by him down the back straight to be the man showing the way on lap four. Hendricks began to open up a sizable lead as the rest of the field was trying to sort itself out. The menacing presence of Andy Moore began to slice and dice his way through traffic after starting at the tail end of the field. Moore powered his way around Grant Witcraft to take over second as the field received the crossed flags. The Hendricks’ faithful hoped and prayed that Aaron could hold on to the lead, but Moore was taking big bites out of the deficit. Moore got a big run in turns one and two to charge past Hendricks for the top spot with two laps remaining. Charles Vian, Jr. took second away from Hendricks coming to the white flag, but Moore had a large enough of a gap to score his fourth feature win this season and his second straight.
Rookie Jeffrey Von Ruden took the lead from Tristan Finnegan at the start of the Command Post Saloon Hornet feature. As Von Ruden led the front runners for the first time in his young racing career, Mason Morphey was weaving his way through traffic after starting shotgun on the field. Von Ruden maintained a few car lengths lead on the field even after a yellow flag for debris on lap three, but Morphey was quickly closing in on the lead pack. Morphey powered by Von Ruden on the outside to charge into the top spot at the mid-race mark. Paul Finch tried to keep pace with Morphey as he also took to the outer groove to wrestle second away from Von Ruden with six laps to go. Finch did everything he could, but Morphey was in the zone as he captured his fifth checkered flag of the season.
In the TACU Credit Union Six Shooter feature, Chris Brown powered by Tory Lockington to assume command of the race early on. That lead only lasted a lap as Mike Gratz roared past Brown down the back straight to take over the top spot. Zachary Morgan and Andrew Moore tangled in turn three to cause the only caution period of the race on lap six. Dustin McCracken lined up alongside of Gratz on the restart, and McCracken wasted little time in surging by Gratz to become the new race leader. McCracken was opening up his lead on the field as Gratz fended off the challenges of Tim Murphy, Sr. Moore was recovering from his earlier incident, and with four laps remaining powered by Murphy, Sr. to settle into third. Gratz would be successful in fighting back Moore to keep a tight hold on second. No one could catch McCracken as he claimed his first feature win at ‘Daytomah’ in three years.
Matt Moore wasted little time to take the lead at the start of the Mini-Van feature. Fast qualifier Jay Raines drove his way through traffic in his quest to battle Moore for the lead. Raines only needed three laps to take the number two spot, and had Moore is his sights for the lead at the halfway point of the race. Raines first looked low to get around Moore, but Moore kept his mini-van hooked up on the bottom. Trying the high line a few was not working very well for Raines as he would lose a little ground to Moore and had to regroup for another try at the lead. Moore remained on the low groove the rest of the race and he would drive away with the win.
The Chaos event this week featured a lot of patience and driving skill in the Tire Race. Here you had to balance a tire on the hood of your car for five laps. Even the best like Matt Moore and Tim Murphy, Sr. could not keep their tire on an even keel. Matt Drazkowski maintained control of his tire the best to win the event, while videographer Rick Porter scored a career best second place in the event thanks to balancing his tire on the windshield and the roof of the car.
Action continues next Friday, August 5 with the Hornet’s turn to race for a little extra money in the annual Hornet Hustle race. They will be joined by the Modifieds, Six Shooters, the Wisconsin Fastrac Legends and the Wisconsin Mighty Bandos Traveling Series. Gates open at 5, qualifying starts at 6 and racing takes the green flag beginning at 7:30.
Call the track office at 608-461-1920, visit our web site at tomahspartaspeeway.com or check out the track’s Facebook page for more information about Tomah-Sparta Speedway and the 2022 schedule of events.
RESULTS
Wisconsin Fastrac Legends presented by Legends Direct
Feature (15 laps): 1. Ayrton Brockhouse, 2. Tim Brockhouse, 3. Andrew Brontreger, 4. Elliott Weiler, 5. Rose Borntreger, 6. Russ Weiler, 7. Mark Anderson, Jr., 8. Cael Slater, 9. Ayden Brockhouse
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Russ Weiler, 2. Mark Anderson, Jr., 3. Cael Slater, 4. Ayden Brockhouse
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Tim Brockhouse, 2. Ayrton Brockhouse, 3. Andrew Borntreger, 4. Elliott Weiler, 5. Rose Borntreger
Qualifying: 1. Ayrton Brockhouse 16.640, 2. Andrew Borntreger 16.728, 3. Tim Brockhouse 16.791, 4. Elliott Weiler 16.851, 5. Rose Brontreger 17.224, 6. Mark Anderson, Jr. 17.936, 7. Cael Slater 17.991, 8. Russ Weiler 18.430, 9. Ayden Brockhouse 18.919
Modifieds
Feature (15 laps): 1. Jason Stark, 2. Larry DeVito, 3.Weston Marthaler, 4. Jesse Vian, 5. Rick DeVito
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Larry DeVito, 2. Weston Marthaler, 3. Jason Stark, 4. Rick DeVito, 5. Jesse Vian
Qualifying:. 1. Jason Stark 16.361, 2. Weston Marthaler 16.388, 3. Jesse Vian 16.705, 4. Larry DeVito 16.734, 5. Rick DeVito 17.374
Clark Powersport of Hillsboro Hobby Stocks
Feature (15 laps): 1. Andy Moore, 2. Charles Vian, Jr., 3. Aaron Hendricks, 4. Grant Witcraft, 5. Landon Lockington, 6. Andy Muller, 7. Shelby Lockington
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Aaron Hendricks, 2. Charles Vian, Jr., 3. Andy Muller, 4. Landon Lockington, 5. Grant Witcraft, 6. Shelby Lockington, 7. Andy Moore
Qualifying: 1. Andy Moore 17.742, 2. Charles Vian, Jr. 18.133, 3. Grant Witcraft 18.621, 4. Shelby Lockington 18.768, 5. Andy Muller 19.067, 6. Aaron Hendricks 19.433, 7. Landon Lockington 19.461
Command Post Saloon Hornets
Feature (15 laps): 1. Mason Morphey, 2. Paul Finch, 3. Jeffrey Von Ruden, 4. Bryan Wallace, 5. Shawn Breese, 6. Tristan Drazkowski, 7. Dan LInnehan, 8. Jamie Pearson, 9. Tristan Finnegan, 10. Travis Atkinson, 11. Amelia Marshall, 12. Jim Hendricks, Sr., 13. Justin Marshall
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Jeffrey Von Ruden, 2. Shawn Breese, 3. Jim Hendricks, Sr., 4. Bryan Wallace, 5. Tristan Finnegan, 6. Travis Atkinson, 7. Justin Marshall
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Tristan Drazkowski, 2. Mason Morphey, 3. Dan Linnehan, 4. Paul Finch, 5. Josh Schaller, 6. Jamie Pearson, 7. Amelia Marshall
Qualifying: 1. Mason Morphey 18.579, 2. Jamie Pearson 18.692, 3. Paul Finch 18.803, 4. Josh Schaller 18.866, 5. Amelia Marshall 18.921, 6. Dan Linnehan 19.028, 7. Tristan Drazkowski 19.203, 8. Bryan Wallace 19.252, 9. Travis Atkinson 19.575, 10. Justin Marshall 19.691, 11. Shawn Breese 19.706, 12. Tristan Finnegan 19.922, 13. Jeffrey Von Ruden 20.021, 14. Jim Hendricks, Sr. 20.169
TACU Credit Union Six Shooters
Feature (15 laps): 1. Dustin McCracken, 2. Mike Gratz, 3. Andrew Moore, 4. Tim Murphy, Sr., 5. Greg Brown, 6. Chris Brown, 7. Chuck Muller, 8. Seth Gnewikow, 9. Tory Lockington, 10. Tristan Drazkowski, 11. Landon Lockington, 12. Jon Beanken, 13. Austyn Blank, 14. Feather King, 15. Trenton Frye, 16. Tim Murphy, Jr., 17. Zachary Morgan, 18. Blake Von Ruden
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Landon Lockington, 2. Jon Beanken, 3. Austyn Blank, 4. Feather King, 5. Blake Von Ruden
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Chuck Muller, 2. Mike Gratz, 3. Andrew Moore, 4. Tim Murphy, Jr., 5. Chris Brown, 6. Tristan Drazkowski, 7. Trenton Frye
Heat #3 (8 laps): 1. Seth Gnewikow, 2. Dustin McCracken, 3. Tim Murphy, Sr., 4. Tory Lockington, 5. Greg Brown, 6. Zachary Morgan, 7. Ashley Tauscher
Qualifying: 1. Seth Gnewikow 18.912, 2. Andrew Moore 19.127, 3. Dustin McCracken 19.388, 4. Tim Murphy, Jr. 19.477, 5. Greg Brown 19.724, 6. Tristan Drazkowski 17.961, 7. Tim Murphy, Sr. 19.983, 8. Trenton Frye 20.231, 9. Zachary Morgan 20.299, 10. Mike Gratz 20.310, 11. Tory Lockington 20.383, 12. Chris Brown 20.397, 13. Ashely Tauscher 20.853, 14. Chuck Muller 20.908, 15. Landon Lockington 20.968, 16. Austyn Blank 21.277, 17. Feather King 21.976, 18. Jon Beanken 22.339, 19. Blake Von Ruden 23.244
Mini-Vans
Feature (15 laps): 1. Matt Moore, 2. Jay Raines, 3. Kevin Laufenberg, 4. Kelly Poff
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Matt Moore, 2. Jay Raines, 3. Kevin Laufenberg, 4. Kelly Poff, 5. Mike Gratz
Qualifying: 1. Jay Raines 19.917, 2. Mike Gratz 20.339, 3. Kevin Laufenberg 20.593, 4. Matt Moore 21.313, 5. Kelly Poff 21.958
Chaos
Tire Race: 1. Matt Drazkowski, 2. Rick Porter, 3. Mike Gratz, 4. Tim Murphy, Sr., 5. Jay Raines, 6. Matt Moore
