9/6/03
Cedar Lake Speedway
New Richmond, WI
Jerry Richert Memorial #3
IRA/Knoxville/NOSA Challenge
47 cars
Colin Northway (3rd car out to time) served notice by shattering Danny Lasoski's track record with a lap of 11.028 seconds around the 3/8 mile high banks in time trials. Terry McCarl (10th car out) was second quick, followed by Travis Whitney (28th), Kerry Madsen (2nd), Brian Brown (40th), Justin Henderson (21st), Skip Jackson (23rd), Brooke Tatnell (14th), Danny Smith (44th) and Mike Reinke (19th). The night was perfect, with little or no wind leading to a pretty racy surface.
Heat one (started): 1. Smith 4 (4) 2. Northway 60 (6) 3. Brown 6 (5) 4. John Sernett 91 (3) / 5. Brian Kristan 5 (7) 6. Mike Moore 69 (8) 7. Mike Kertscher 80K (9) 8. Don Droud Jr. 7x (11) 9. Jason Johnson 44 (10) 10. Al Hargrave 8H (12) 11. Scott Biertzer 4B (1) 12. Wayne Modjeski 77 (2)
Northway surged early to challenge the leader, Biertzer. After coming up on his bumper, Northway made heavy contact with the backstretch wall and surrendered second to Smith. Smith and Biertzer raced side by side for several laps before Biertzer came to a stop with engine woes on lap seven of ten. Droud who timed in a miserable 41st quick, was battling with Modjeski for sixth when the two came together and spun in turn two. Modjeski retired, and Droud mustered eighth in the last three laps. The lap seven restart saw Smith leading Northway, Sernett, Brown and Moore back to green. Brown got by Sernett and Kristan was gaining speed on Sernett, but ran out of time for the final transfer.
Heat two (started): 1. Henderson R19 (5) 2. McCarl 24 (6) 3. John Haeni 21J (1) 4. Mark Dobmeier 13 (2) / 5. Scott Uttech 7 (3) 6. Scott McDonald 33 (12) 7. Ty Bartz 75 (7) 8. Chris Shirek 1 (11) 9. John Bridgeford 8 (10) 10. Mike Rich 519 (8) 11. Steve Meyer 85m (9) 12. Reinke 02 (4)
Haeni took the early advantage, before Reinke spin in turn two, after what appeared to be a left rear tire going down. Bridgeford was collected, but restarted at the tail. Haeni led Dobmeier, Henderson, S. Uttech and McCarl back to the cone. Henderson shot around the lead two cars on the restart and began to pull away before a lap four red for a spun Bartz. Rich had moved into position to challenge for a transfer, when his front end broke on the frontstretch, sending him headlong into the turn one wall. He was uninjured but done for the night. Henderson led Haeni, McCarl, Dobmeier and S. Uttech back to the lap six restart. S. Uttech and Dobmeier battled for the final transfer position. S. Uttech briefly passed Dobmeier with two to go, but ended up a close fifth.
Heat three (started): 1. Ricky Logan 17G (4) 2. Jaymie Moyle 10 (2) 3. Dave Uttech 68 (1) 4. Whitney 9 (6) / 5. Jackson 21 (5) 6. Bill Warren 95 (9) 7. Joe Roe 61 (3) 8. Joe Kouba 55 (11) 9. Kurt Davis 6K (7) 10. Mike Johnson 94 (10) 11. Matt Wasmund 4w (8) 12. Tony Kaus 73JR (12)
Moyle shot out from his starting spot with Logan in tow, before Kaus came to a stop on lap two. Moyle led with Logan second, D. Uttech third, Whitney fourth and Jackson fifth. Logan shot under Moyle using the low side of the raceway and led two laps until Wasmund flipped over the banking in turn three. He was uninjured. Logan led Moyle, Whitney, D. Uttech and Jackson back to green. Quickly, D. Uttech asserted himself and passed Whitney on the bottom. He set his sights on Moyle for second, but came short of him in a very good run. Jackson was also knocking on Whitney's door, but would head for the B main.
Heat four (started): 1. Tatnell 50D (5) 2. Jerry Richert Jr. 45 (2) 3. Todd King 97 (10) 4. Scotty Neitzel 2w (7) / 5. Wade Nygaard 9x (8) 6. Robert Bell 71 (11) 7. Todd Hepfner 28 (3) 8. Eric Vanderploeg 57a (1) 9. Clint Garner 55x (4) 10. Madsen 82 (6) 11. Mike Stefka 35s (9)
Richert, the son of the race's namesake and a previous winner, jumped out to an early lead before Stefka flipped on lap two. Under the red, flames jetted out of the headers of Richert's mount and flattened his left rear. He restarted at the tail. Now Vanderploeg (back racing) led Garner, Tatnell, Hepfner and Madsen back to green. This race of attrition lost the leader on lap four when he sputtered to a stop. At the same time Madsen lost his front end due to contact and spun in turn three and Garner flattened the left rear on the 55. Only Vanderploeg would restart, but he would exit quickly. Now Tatnell inherited the point, followed by Hepfner, Neitzel, Nygaard and King. Nygaard spun on the restart and joined at the tail. Hepfner was still in second on the sixth circuit when he flipped in turn three. He was unhurt. Six cars remained with Tatnell leading Richert (who had bonsaied back on the high side), King, Neitzel, Nygaard and Bell. They held that order until the checkered.
B main one (started): 1. Madsen (1) 2. Roe (3) 3. Davis (6) / 4. Kristan (5) 5. Garner (2) 6. Modjeski (4) 7. Meyer (7) 8. Nygaard (8) 9. Shirek (12) 10. McDonald (11) 11. Bell (9) 12. Johnson (10) DNS - Rich, Johnson, Reinke, Biertzer
Madsen was the class of the field despite two stoppages in this 12 lapper. The first was a lap three Garner flip. Garner landed on all fours, restarted at the tail and got back up to fifth on the last lap. Nygaard spun on the restart, and essentially put himself out of contention on a tough night for him. Kristan put on a charge late, but couldn't quite get by Davis for the final transfer.
B main two (started): 1. Jackson (1) 2. S. Uttech (2) 3. Kertscher (8) / 4. Droud (9) 5. Warren (7) 6. Moore (6) 7. Hargrave (11) 8. Bridgeford (10) 9. Kouba (12) 10. Bartz (3) 11. Vanderploeg (4) 12. Wasmund (5) DNS - Hepfner, Kaus, Stefka
Wasmund exited early. Meanwhile, Jackson led with Uttech in tow. Bartz slowed to a stop on the frontstretch on lap four. Jackson led S. Uttech, Moore, Droud (from 9th) and Vanderploeg back to green. Droud took the final tranfser from Moore, before Moore spun on lap nine. This put a hard-charging Kertscher on Droud's bumper. Kertscher worked the bottom to perfection and slipped under Droud in turn four of the final lap to claim a spot in the A main.
A main (started): 1. McCarl (3) 2. Madsen (11) 3. Logan (7) 4. Tatnell (9) 5. Smith (8) 6. Brown (1) 7. Jackson (12) 8. Northway (4) 9. Sernett (6) 10. Richert (16) 11. Whitney (2) 12. Dobmeier (5) 13. Roe (14) 14. Kertscher (21) 15. Haeni (17) 16. King (22) 17. S. Uttech (13) 18. Henderson (10) 19. Davis (19) 20. D. Uttech (18) 21. Neitzel (20) 22. Moyle (15)
The initial start saw Henderson spin in turn one, collecting Roe, Richert and Neitzel. All were given enough time to repair and continue, with Richert going without the nose wing. Brown jumped out to an early advantage, before Neitzel came to a rest on lap two. He would later drop out on lap nine. Brown led McCarl, Whitney, Northway and Logan back to green. McCarl would make his move on the restart, but it would only last a lap, as Haeni would spin, bringing out the final caution of a yellow and red filled night. Now McCarl would lead Brown, Northway, Whitney and Smith back to the last restart of the 30 lapper. McCarl was the class of the field the rest of the way masterfully working through lapped traffic. A few were on the move behind him. Madsen worked feverishly both low and high to become the hard-charger gaining second from 11th. He and Logan tussled for second during the late stages in traffic. Richert, minus his nosewing would come through from the tail to earn a top ten finish.