Manitowoc Co. Expo Speedway
July 13, 2012
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Scheffler claims another victory at Manitowoc Co. Expo Speedway

With Jim Rychtik (Port Washington) blowing up in grand style on the final lap of his heat, and Jim Letizia suffering mechanical problems at the end of his, 17 drivers were left to battle for the checkered flag after the 8 car inversion was established. Last weeks winner Pete Parker was relegated to the eleventh starting spot, with Brad Mueller (Random Lake) and Tim Buhler (Glenbuelah) leading the field out, Justin Schmidt (Cleveland) and Craig Schueffner (Sheboygan Falls) anchored the second row. Buhler grabbed the first lap lead, while Russ Scheffler vaulted to 4th from his 8th starting position. Buhler led the first four laps, with Mueller, Schueffner, Scheffler, and Mark Rose (Elcho) in the top five. Something happened to the 7B on the next lap as he started to backslide in a hurry and eventually pitted after Lap 8 as something went majorly long in the engine compartment. Mueller took over the lead on Lap 5, with Scheffler in his tire tracks after he worked his way around Schueffner. Caution flew on Lap 11 after Dakota Geiger (Whitelaw) spun in Turn 2. On the restart it was Mueller leading Scheffler, Schueffner, Tom Naeyaert (Shawano), and Rose. Scheffler rode around Mueller for the lead on Lap 15, while Naeyaert cruised into the top 3 a lap later. Caution flew for the final time with 7 laps to go, bunching the field back up creating a 7 lap dash to the checkered after Justin Schmidt spun heading out of Turn 2. The restart was led by Scheffler, Mueller, Naeyaert, Rick Scheffler (Waukesha), and Schueffner. Naeyaert and Mueller battled high and low for the final few laps, with Mueller holding him off for second. Scheffler claimed another victory, backed up by Mueller, Naeyaert, Rick Scheffler, Parker, Turk Letizia (Milwaukee), Schueffner, Ron Stroika (Mukwonago), Jim Schmidt (Cleveland), and Rose. Hard Charger honors to Russ picking up 7 spots, runner up to Parker with 6 spots.

HEAT 1 - 1, Ron Stroika. 2, Mark Rose. 3, Tim Buhler. 4, Craig Schueffner. 5, Pete Parker. 6, Jim Schmidt. 7, Wayne Block. 8, Jim Rychtik. 9, Dakota Geiger. 10, Jim Letizia.
HEAT 2 - 1, Tom Naeyaert. 2, Justin Schmidt. 3, Brad Mueller. 4, Russ Scheffler. 5, Rick Scheffler. 6, Turk Letizia. 7, Eric Michaels. 8, Scott Haugstad. 9, Frank Geiger.
FEATURE - 1, Russ Scheffler. 2, Brad Mueller. 3, Tom Naeyaert. 4, Rick Scheffler. 5, Pete Parker. 6, Turk Letizia. 7, Craig Schueffner. 8, Ron Stroika. 9, Jim Schmidt. 10, Mark Rose. 11, Justin Schmidt. 12, Wayne Block. 13, Scott Haugstad. 14, Dakota Geiger. 15, Eric Michaels. 16, Frank Geiger. 17, Tim Buhler. 18, Jim Rychtik - DNS. 19, Jim Letizia - DNS.