MANITOWOC COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS
May 20, 2011
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Luedke, Naeyaert, Gilles, & First-Time Winner Laurent Win at EWSC

by John Tienor
MANITOWOC, WI. (May 20) – On a warm night with the fog slowing creeping in from the Lake, Emergency Services & Military Night at the Races looked to be a fantastic evening.

The field of EWSC Late Models rolled out their 25 Lap A-Main with Gordy Seegert Jr. (Oostburg), Bob Cullen (Chilton), Tom Naeyaert (Shawano), Paul Parker (), Tim Buhler (Glenbeulah) and Rick Scheffler (Waukesha) on point. Cullen jumped to an early lead from the outside, followed by Seegert Jr. and Naeyaert. A caution on Lap 5 for debris brought the the car of Travis Jellum to the pits, and the restart order of Cullen, Seegert Jr., Naeyaert, Buhler, & Parker. Cullen again jumped to the front, with Buhler getting around Naeyaert for second on Lap 12. Another caution for debris on the track brought a host of cars to the pits, including Rick and Russ Scheffler (Waukesha), Kyle Odekirk (Plymouth), Eric Michaels (Cleveland), and Frank Geiger (Whitelaw). The restart showed Cullen, Buhler, Naeyaert, Seegert Jr., and Craig Schueffner (). Naeyaert put a strong move on Cullen on Lap 17 to take the lead and would go on to take the win. He was followed across by Cullen, Seegert Jr., Parker, Schueffner, Randy Markwardt (), Ron Stroika (Mukwonago), Jim Rychtik (), Buhler, and Nick Cochart (Burlington). Hard Chargers for the race were Ron Stroika with 8 cars passed and Randy Markwardt with 6.

LATE MODELS

HEAT 1 1, Tom Naeyaert. 2, Gordie Seegert, Jr. 3, Paul Parker. 4, Eric Michaels. 5, Brett Swedberg. 6, Kyle Odekirk. 7, Nick Cochart.
HEAT 2 1, Craig Schueffner. 2, Robert Cullen. 3, Jim Rychtik. 4, Scott Haugstad. 5, Travis Jellum. 6, Frank Geiger. 7, Russ Scheffler.
HEAT 3 1, Rick Scheffler. 2, Tim Buhler. 3, Jim Schmidt. 4, Randy Markwardt. 5, Ron Stroika. 6, Dingel Bros.
A FEATURE 1, Tom Naeyaert. 2, Robert Cullen. 3, Gordie Seegert, Jr. 4, Paul Parker. 5, Craig Schueffner. 6, Randy Markwardt. 7, Ron Stroika. 8, Jim Rychtik. 9, Tim Buhler. 10, Nick Cochart. 11, Scott Haugstad. 12, Dingel Bros. 13, Rick Scheffler. 14, Russ Scheffler. 15, Eric Michaels. 16, Frank Geiger. 17, Kyle Odekirt. 18, Jim Schmidt. 19, Brett Swedberg. 20, Travis Jellum.


The EWSC 360 Sprintcar 30 Lap A-Main was pushed out for their unique start with the fog getting much thicker. Once formed up, the front 6 cars were Brian Portschy, Al Schlafer (Sussex), TJ Luedke (Plymouth), Paul Pokorski (West Bend), Danny Schlafer (Sussex), and Tim Haddy (Waupan). Portschy jumped out to the early lead with Al Schlafer and Luedke in his wake until a caution at Lap 4 for the spinning car of Jay Riemer. With a smooth pass just before the caution, Al Schlafer led the field at the restart with Portschy, Luedke, Haddy, and Billy Balog(Brookfield) making an early charge in the top five. Another quick caution flew at Lap 6 as Lance Fassbender (Burnett)spun out in Turn 4, staying on all 4 wheels unlike his incident in the same place 2 weeks ago. Shuffling in the top 5 showed a restart of Schlafer, Luedke, Balog, Haddy, and Portschy. Lap 9 produced another caution when Robbie Pribnow (Mayville) went hard into the Turn 3 & 4 guardrail. Pribnow was ok, but the car was finished for the evening. Schlafer, Balog, Luedke, Portschy and Haddy were the top 5 again with Pokorski knocking on the door. Haddy took the lead on Lap 12 as the eventual HRP Hard Charger Scotty Thiel (Sheboygan) was making a strong climb through the pack. The final lead change took place when Luedke got around Haddy on Lap 25 and would go on to win the race, followed across by Haddy, A. Schlafer, Balog, Thiel, D. Schlafer, Ben Schmidt (Howards Grove), Portschy, Pokorski, and Jeremy Schultz (Beaver Dam). Hard chargers were Thiel passing 11, Doug Wondra (Oakfield) 6, Schultz 5, and Balog and Haddy with 4 each.

The Behling B-Main advanced 6 cars to the A, they were Pete Ostrowski (East Troy), Kyle Marten (Plymouth), Wondra, Brandon McMullen (Plymouth), Elliot Kulow (Elkhart Lake), and Justin Miller (Plymouth).

The Grand National 20 Lap A-Main came to the line with Donny Kulow (Plymouth) and Brian Gilles (Plymouth) up front, followed by Ryan Minster (Sheboygan), Brad Juckem (Chilton), Paul Perrone (Plymouth), and Steven Weber (Plymouth). The race was slowed on the first lap as the car of Matt Jackson (Sheboygan) had a fire under the hood and and to be removed from the track. The race was restarted with Gilles quickly jumping into the lead and eventually leading wire to wire. The only other stoppage was a caution on Lap 13 for newcomer Nick Strobbe (Germantown) spinning in Turn 3. Following Gilles to the checkers were Kulow, Minster, Logan Rhode (Manitowoc), Juckem, Strobbe, Perrone, Steve Hiers (Germantown), Bernie Schomner (Chilton), and Joe Brenner (New Berlin). Hard charger was Rhode who improved 5 positions

Brad Ruh (Elkhart Lake) and Craig Koehler (Francis Creek) made up the front row of the EWSC Hobby Stock 15 Lap A-Main. Although Ruh experienced immediate difficulties as he lost a rear hub assembly. The race restarted with Koehler out front followed by Kevin Naidl (Cato), Brad Laurent (Manitowoc), Kyle Resch (Manitowoc), and Robert Hensel (Two Rivers). After the early caution, the race was run incident free, with Laurent bringing home his first feature win, followed by Koehler, Resch, Jeff Bender (Plymouth), Greg Olsen, and Hensel.

Please join us next week, May 27th for the Happy Laack Memorial Race and a bike giveaway for the kids.