By: Paul Reichert
November 11, 2018
The 2018 season at Tomah-Sparta Speedway was a memorable season for everyone. The first year for Greg Oliver being a track promoter. The staff, drivers, teams, fans, and sponsors returned in force to make this the place to be on Friday nights in the heart of Cranberry County. Everyone gathered at Club 16 in Sparta last Saturday night to celebrate the season completed with the first Champions’ Banquet in several years for Tomah-Sparta Speedway.
After the invocation was delivered by Modified champion Paul Brown, everyone enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner served by C&C Catering. Then it was time to hand out some hardware and door prizes. Representatives from Tomah Area Credit Union were also on hand to give out $50 bonuses to randomly chosen drivers in the six weekly divisions.
Matt Moore was one of the big winners on the night claiming two division championships and the Hard Charger Award. Paul Finch and his daughter Jordan captured a combined four awards on the night. Paul was recognized in the Dash division and claimed both the Sportsmanship and Social Media awards, while Jordan was named Most Improved Driver. Dan Frye also scored three awards on the night, being recognized in two divisions and winning one of the $50 TACU bonuses.
The night came to a conclusion with the first-ever Sportsmen of the Year Award. The person named as the first recipient of the award was Modified champion Paul Brown, for being a stalworth veteran who has stuck with Tomah-Sparta Speedway through thick and thin. That award would cap off a bountiful night for Brown as he won the $50 TACU bonus, the Competition Achievement Award given by Dan Deicher and earned the Modified championship hardware.
A complete gallery of award winners will be available in the coming weeks on track photographer Mary Schill’s web site, fortedesignsite.com
Greg Oliver would like to thank everyone for making the 2018 season a competitive and memorable season. Greg will be back to run the show once again in 2019. Everyone is looking forward to an even bigger and better season next year. So stay tuned to the track’s web site (gopromo.racing/tomah-sparta) and the track’s Facebook page during the off-season for news and updates leading up to the 2019 season, which will start up in late April.
2018 Tomah-Sparta Speedway Award Recipients
Captain Chaos–Matt Moore
Hard Luck Award–Derrin Salo
Sportsmanship Award–Paul Finch
6 Shooters $50 Bonus from Tomah Area Credit Union–Dan Frye
6 Shooters Top 5–Matt Moore, Dan Frye, Tim Murphy, Al Bartels, Alex Rud
Best Appearing Car and Crew Award–Jeffery LaFave, Jr.
Hornets $50 Bonus from Tomah Area Credit Union–Alec Devito
Hornets Top 5–Alec Devito, Dan Frye, Brandon Bergstrom, Lonnie Wood, Jr., James Rittenhouse
Rookie of the Year–Brandon Bergstrom
Most Improved Driver Award–Jordan Finch
Midwest Dash $50 Bonus from Tomah Area Credit Union–Patrick Thicke
Midwest Dash Top 4–Patrick Thicke, Wayne Maulsby, Paul Finch, Peggy Olson
Hard Charger Award–Matt Moore
Hobby Stock $50 Bonus from Tomah Area Credit Union–Andy Moore
Hobby Stock Top 4–Jeffery LaFave, Jr., Ike Andrews, Andy Moore, Jake Schiller
Social Media Award–Paul Finch
Competition Achievement Awards–Paul Brown (by Dan Deicher)
Doug Oliver (by Brad Warthan)
Lee Wildes (by Jason Backus)
Sportsmen $50 Bonus from Tomah Area Credit Union–Tom Farra
Sportsmen Top 2–Tom Farra, Bill Schott
Extra Effort Award–Lonnie Wood, Jr.
Modified $50 Bonus from Tomah Area Credit Union–Paul Brown
Modified Top 4–Paul Brown, Denny Schott, Derrin Salo, Kevin Seidler
Sportsmen of the Year–Paul Brown