Manitowoc County Expo Speedway
August 3, 2012
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Scheffler back on top of Late Model action at Manitowoc

With a fast, heavy track and Tom Naeyaert (Shawano) starting in 11th, the two car inversion put Jim Schmidt (Cleveland) and Russ Scheffler (Waukesha) on the front row, the Late Model Feature was set up to be a battle. Pete Parker (Kaukauna) and Scott Haugstad (Plymouth) made up the second row while Rick Scheffler (Waukesha) and Craig Schueffner (Sheboygan Falls) made up row 3. Russ jumped to the Lap 1 lead, with Parker following him through and Schmidt settling into 3rd. Caution flew early though as Schueffner and Ron Stroika Mukwonago spun in Turn 2, Dan Dippel (Plymouth) took advantage of the caution to pit. Russ led Parker, Schmidt, Jim Letizia (Milwaukee) and Justin Schmidt (Cleveland) back to green. Before another lap was completed, Rick Scheffler brought out the red flag after huge, hard contact with the backstretch guardrail. The car was pretty much destroyed but Rick climbed out unhurt and watched as his car was taken off the track cradled between two wreckers. Russ led the field back to another try at green, and Justin Schmidt may have caught some of the debris and suffered damage as he spent the rest of the evening in the infield. Schmidt got back around Parker for 2nd but slid back a lap later. Turk Letizia (Milwaukee) was making a strong run in the top 5, battling for fifth with Naeyaert up from 11th on the grid. Lapped traffic came into play on Lap 9 as Josh Moesch (Shawano) and Dippel were the first 2 to go a lap down. The final caution flew on Lap 17 for Jim Schmidt who rolled immediately into the pits knowing the problem was terminal. The 8 lap dash to the finish was set up with Russ still leading, Parker, Jim Letizia, Naeyaert and Turk. Jim got around Parker on the restart, and Naeyaert and Parker battled for 3rd all the way to the checkered flag. Russ collected another feature win, with Jim Letizia, Parker, Naeyaert, Turk Letizia, Stroika, Schueffner, Haugstad, Moesch, and Eric Michaels (Cleveland) rounding out the top 10. Hard Charger honors to Naeyaert and Turk Letizia picking up 7 spots while Jim Letizia picked up 6.

WDLMA LATE MODELS

HEAT 1 - 1, Pete Parker. 2, Jim Schmidt. 3, Rick Scheffler. 4, Jim Letizia. 5, Ron Stroika. 6, Justin Schmidt. 7, Joshua Moesch.
HEAT 2 - 1, Russ Scheffler. 2, Craig Schueffner. 3, Scott Haugstad. 4, Tom Naeyaert. 5, Eric Michaels. 6, Turk Letizia. 7, Dan Dippel. (DNS)
FEATURE - 1, Russ Scheffler. 2, Jim Letizia. 3, Pete Parker. 4, Tom Naeyaert. 5, Turk Letizia. 6, Ron Stroika. 7, Craig Schueffner. 8, Scott Haugstad. 9, Joshua Moesch. 10, Eric Michaels. 11, Jim Schmidt. 12, Dan Dippel. 13, Rick Scheffler. 14, Justin Schmidt.