By: Paul Reichert
July 7, 2023
When the yellow flag flies for an on track incident in the very late stages of a race, it can come at the right moment for a driver while another wishes that caution had not come out as that driver’s huge advantage went POOF and quickly vanished. When leaders Kody King and Grant Brown tangled with four laps left in the Big 8 Late Model Firecracker 58 last week, Jon Reynolds, Jr. was the beneficiary of not only the lead but the win as well. Taylor McMullen wishes the caution had not flown with four laps remaining in Six Shooter Mania, the division’s premier event of the season at Tomah-Sparta Speedway. McMullen stood his ground and held back both Dustin McCracken and Matt Moore, the division’s top guns, to score the biggest win of his career and his first feature triumph at Tomah.
The 20 lap Six Shooter Mania feature for the TACU Credit Union Six Shooters had a very hard time getting started. An issue with Andrew Moore’s car even before the engines fired up sent him back to the pits on the hook. A three car tangle in turn one between Zachary Morgan, Austyn Blank and Chris Brown forced a complete restart. Tristan Drazkowski and Brown were having a hard time starting side-by-side coming to the green, and after two tries they were sent to the back. The third time was the charm as Tim Murphy, Sr. powered around both Blank and Morgan to take the early lead. Taylor McMullen, once again piloting Kenan Shaw’s race car, made his way through traffic to take over the runner-up spot on lap three. Three laps later McMullen powered by Murphy, Sr. on the outside and became the new race leader. Dustin McCracken was on a mission to win the race and take the point lead back from his tenth starting position, while Matt Moore was making his first appearance of the season and keeping up with McCracken’s pace. Both McCracken and Moore moved into the top three just before halfway, but were not able to make a dent in McMullen’s huge advantage until caution flew with four laps to go. Steve Scholze made hard contact with the back straight wall to end his night and gave Moore and McCracken new life. McMullen stuck to the inside groove on the restart as Moore and McCracken tried to look for a way around. McMullen was one cool customer as he fended off the top guns of the division to win Six Shooter Mania and rang the Victory Bell in TACU Credit Union Victory Lane.
The Clark Powersport of Hillsboro Hobby Stock feature had its own drama in the final few laps. Landon Lockington nosed ahead of Seth Gnewikow to lead the first two circuits, but Gnewikow’s tires got some bite on lap three as the rookie shot ahead of Lockington for the number one spot. Shelby Lockington drove around cousin Landon to move into second on lap five. Gnewikow and Lockington have had many great battles throughout the season and tonight was no different. Shelby was throwing everything she could at Gnewikow to find a way by him for the lead, but all that work was changing Shelby’s race car down the stretch. Gnewikow was able to pull away from Shelby, but now she would have to deal with Andy Moore. Now the drama begins. Shelby spun out in turn four coming to three laps remaining and it was right in front of Moore. Moore was able to get on the brakes, slow down and get back on the gas quickly. Shelby was able to right her car and continue on without forcing the yellow to come out. You would think the win had Gnewikow’s name written all over it. Not so fast my friends. Moore was able to take big swings and close up on Gnewikow in those three laps. Moore got a run in turns three and four on the outside to just get ahead of Gnewikow by a wheel to score an unexpected win.
Matt Satka, subbing for Matt Drazkowski, powered by Tristan Finnegan to take the lead early in the running of the Command Post Saloon Hornet feature. This was Satka’s first ever race at Tomah, but he was running like he had competed at ‘Daytomah’ for a few years as he opened up a lead on the field. Paul Finch began to progress forward through the field, and one of the drivers in the thick of the points race got around Finnegan for second on lap five. Finch needed just two laps to catch up to Satka. As Finch was trying to find a way around the leader, caution flew for an incident in the back involving Doyle Cavender, rookie leader Josh Schwartz and Mitchell Rinartz. Finch lined up alongside Satka for the restart, and he got shot out of a cannon to assume command of the race. Finnegan was doing his best to keep up with Finch, but Finch was no match for the field. After setting fast time in the first five straight shows, Finch finally got the ‘feature monkey’ off of his back with win number one of the year and found himself leading the points after the night’s racing action.
The High School Racing Association feature saw James Gratz outrun Logan Backus for the lead at the start. Curtis Hellickson and Ryatt Dobbratz started on row five and were quickly cutting their way through traffic to get to the front. Hellickson and Dobbratz settled into the top three by lap three, then Hellickson quickly caught up and passed Gratz to settle into the lead on lap five. The yellow came out shortly after that for a dust up in turn one with Ghage Moore, Caleb Arneson, Charlie Thompson and Trenton Frye. Frye suffered a hard hit to his radiator that brought his race to a sudden stop. Dobbratz followed Hellickson into second on the restart at Gratz’s expense. Yellow quickly returned on lap seven for a hard collision between Landin Frye and Thompson. The damage to their cars was enough to send them to the pits for good. A lap into the restart Hellickson suddenly slowed with an issue on his race car and Dobbratz zoomed into the lead position. Dobbratz was far and away the class of the field as he scored his first career HSRA feature win to go along with the first fast qualifier honor of his young career.
Bring out your goodie bags to Tomah-Sparta Speedway next Friday, July 14 for the annual Fan Photo and Autograph Night. Drivers from the Modified, Sportsmen, Hobby Stock, Hornet and Six Shooter divisions will have autographed hero cards to hand out, free stuff to take, and even a few drivers will have giveaway drawings. The Chaos division will join all of those divisions for their next crazy event. Gates open at 5:00, qualifying takes the green at 6:00, Fan Photo and Autograph Night starts at 6:30 and the high intensity racing action ramps up at 7:30.
Call the track office at 608-461-1920, visit our web site at tomahspartaspeedway.com or check out the track’s Facebook page for more information about Tomah-Sparta Speedway and the 2023 schedule of events.
RESULTS
TACU Credit Union Six Shooters
Six Shooter Mania Feature (20 laps): 1. Taylor McMullen, 2. Dustin McCracken, 3. Matt Moore, 4. Tim Murphy, Sr., 5. Greg Brown, 6. Austyn Blank, 7. Tory Lockington, 8. A.J. Finnegan, 9. Tristan Drazkowski, 10. Steve Scholze, 11. Chirs Brown, 12. Zachary Morgan, 13. Mike Gratz
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Tory Lockington, 2. Chris Brown, 3. Steve Scholze, 4. Zachary Morgan, 5. Austyn Blank, 6. A.J. Finnegan, 7. Tristan Drazkowski
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Taylor McMullen, 2. Matt Moore, 3. Mike Gratz, 4. Dustin McCracken, 5. Tim Murphy, Sr., 6. Andrew Moore, 7. Greg Brown
Qualifying: 1. Mike Gratz 18.915, 2. Dustin McCracken 19.081, 3. Matt Moore 19.199, 4. Andrew Moore 19.241, 5. Taylor McMullen 19.258, 6. Greg Brown 19.593, 7. Tim Murphy, Sr. 19.615, 8. Austyn Blank 19.635, 9. Zachary Morgtan 19.687, 10. Chris Brown 19.730, 11. Tristan Drazkowski 19.865, 12. A.J. Finnegan 20.268, 13. Steve Scholze 20.345, 14. Tory Lockington 21.072
Zoellick Home Repair and Log Staining Modifieds
Feature (15 laps): 1. Bill Schott, 2. Rick DeVito, 3. Anthony DeVito
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Bill Schott, 2. Rick DeVito, 3. Anthony DeVito
Qualifying: 1. Bill Schott 16.686, 2. Rick DeVito 16.831, 3. Anthony DeVito 17.110
Clark Powersport of Hillsboro Hobby Stocks
Feature (15 laps): 1. Andy Moore, 2. Seth Gnewikow, 3. Landon Lockington, 4. Shelby Lockington, 5. Grant Witcraft
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Andy Moore, 2. Seth Gnewikow, 3. Shelby Lockington, 4. Landon Lockington, 5. Grant Witcraft
Qualifying: 1. Andy Moore 17.566, 2. Shelby Lockington 18.061, 3. Grant Witcraft 18.500, 4. Seth Gnewikow 18.553, 5. Landon Lockington 19.225
Command Post Saloon Hornets
Feature (15 laps): 1. Paul Finch, 2. Tristan Finnegan, 3. Samantha Linnehan, 4. Matthew Heim, 5. Caitlin Wood, 6. Lonnie Wood, Sr., 7. Andrew Lamb, 8. Josh Schwartz, 9. Mitchell Rinartz, 10. Matt Satka, 11. Doyle Cavender, 12. Aubrie Leis, 13. Andrew Gardner (DQ), 14. Jamie Pearson (DQ)
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Doyle Cavender, 2. Andrew Lamb, 3. Tristan Finnegan, 4. Caitlin Wood, 5. Mitchell Rinartz, 6. Matt Satka, 7. Aubrie Leis
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Andrew Gardner, 2. Jamie Pearson, 3. Samantha Linnehan, 4. Paul Finch, 5. Lonnie Wood, Sr., 6. Matthew Heim, 7. Josh Schwartz
Qualifying: 1. Jamie Pearson 18.703, 2. Paul Finch 18.764, 3. Samantha Linnehan 19.249, 4. Matthew Heim 19.408, 5. Andrew Gardner 19.607, 6. Josh Schwartz 20.010, 7. Lonnie Wood, Sr. 20.189, 8, Caitlin Wood 20.218, 9. Tristan Finnegan 20.260, 10. Matt Satka 20.289, 11. Andrew Lamb 20.317, 12. Doyle Cavender 20.433, 13. Mitchell Rinartz 21.585, 14. Aubrie Leis 22.660
High School Racing Association
Feature (15 laps): 1. Ryatt Dobbratz, 2. Caleb Arneson, 3. Monty Odegard, 4. Braydon Lockington, 5. James Gratz, 6. Ghage Moore, 7. Trinity Aasen, 8. Logan Backus, 9. Zachary Neal, 10. Curtis Hellickson, 11. Landin Frye, 12. Charlie Thompson, 13. Trenton Frye
Heat #1 (8 laps): 1. Landin Frye, 2. Charlie Thompson, 3. James Gratz, 4. Trinity Aasen, 5. Monty Odegard, 6. Logan backus, 7. Zachary Neal
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1. Ghage Moore, 2. Caleb Arneson, 3. Ryatt Dobbartz, 4. Trenton Frye, 5. Braydon Lockington, 6. Curtis Hellickson
Qualifying: 1. Ryatt Dobbratz 19.759, 2. Braydon Lockington 19.944, 3. Curlis Hellickson 19.947, 4. Trenton Frye 20.004, 5. Ghage Moore 20.057, 6. Caleb Arneson 20.191, 7. Landin Frye 20.207, 8. Monty Odegard 20.418, 9. Charlie Thompson 20.436, 10. Logan Backus 20.697, 11. James Gratz 20.703, 12. Trinity Aasen 20.954, 13. Zachary Neal 22.738
