Manitowoc County Expo Speedway
August 18, 2012
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Mars nearly laps the field at Manitowoc

MANITOWOC, WI - With Nick Anvelink (Navarino), David Fieber (Neenah), Justin Hirt (Tigerton), and Cody Welch (Coleman) transferring from the first B Main and Pete Parker (Kaukauna), Craig Schueffner (Sheboygan Falls), Ron Stroika (Mukwonago), and Mark Rose (Elcho) from the second, the George Scheffler Memorial field was set, ready to battle it out for 40 laps. Last weeks winner Billy Rezutek (Big Bend) relegated to the 11th starting spot, and only a 2 car inversion, Russ Scheffler (Waukesha) and Bret Swedberg (Shawano) sat on the front row. Jimmy Mars (Menominee) and Rick Scheffler (Waukesha) made up the second while Ron Berna (Green Bay) and Turk Letizia (Milwaukee) were Row 3 starters. Russ jumped out the early lead, while Mars in the white 28 tucked in behind him. This did not last long, as Mars worked his way around the black and green 74 and took off, setting a torrid pace. He began lapping cars on Lap 9 as Justin Schmidt (Cleveland) was the first, followed by Rose a lap later. Ten laps in it was Mars, Russ, Swedberg, Ricky, and Turk Letizia. Hirt was the next to be chased down by the leader, while the 10P of Parker pulled off with mechanical problems on Lap 13. Berna pulled off 2 laps later as Mars had caught Stroika and and last weeks winner Rezutek. There were several small battles going on throughout the field as the Diamond Jims cars, D1 of Turk and D7 of Jim were battling for position while Schueffner and Jim Schmidt (Cleveland) were trading positions lap after lap, even as they were lapped by the leader. Mid way through it was Mars dominating the field, Russ, Rick, Swedberg, Turk, Jim Letizia, Bob Cullen (Chilton), Tom Naeyaert (Shawano), Anvelink, and TJ Dolhoun (Milwaukee). Even as the leader was setting a punishing pace, the drivers a lap down were still fighting for positions as Anvelink and Hirt made their way into the top ten. With ten laps to go, the cars were spread out all over the track, running multiple lines and it was looking like it could go flag to flag, Mars held a commanding lead and lapped all the way to 5th place, with only Russ, Rick, and Swedberg still on the lead lap. At 4 to go Mars lapped the 4th place car and on the white flag lap was reeling in the 3rd place car. With the dominating win he rolled into Victory Lane for photos and interview. Hard Charger honors go to Anvelink picking up 8 positions, runner up to Hirt with 7 spots.

WDLMA LATE MODELS
HEAT 1 - 1, Rick Scheffler. 2, Turk Letizia. 3, Nick Anvelink. 4, Pete Parker. 5, TJ Dolhun. 6, Mark Rose. 7, Eric Michaels. 8, Dan Dippel. 9, Dakota Geiger. 10, Ted Dolhun Sr.
HEAT 2 - 1, Brett Swedberg. 2, Ron Berna. 3, Robert Cullen. 4, David Fieber. 5, Cody Welch. 6, Mitch McGrath. 7, Gordie Seegert. 8, Tim Buhler. 9, Brad Mueller. 10, Paul Parker. (DQ).
HEAT 3 - 1, Jim Letizia. 2, Russ Scheffler. 3, Craig Schueffner. 4, Justin Hirt. 5, Ron Stroika. 6, Jestin Danes. 7, Justin Schmidt. 8, Frank Geiger. 9, Jason Enoch.
HEAT 4 - 1, Jimmy Mars. 2, Jim Schmidt. 3, Billy Rezutek. 4, Tom Naeyaert. 5, Nick Cochart. 6, Scott Haugstad. 7, Jim Juneau. 8, Troy Springborn. 9, Tim Warner.
B-MAIN 1 - 1, Nick Anvelink. 2, David Fieber.3, Justin Hirt. 4, Justin Schmidt. 5, Nick Cochart. 6, Ted Dolhun Sr. 7, Frank Geiger. 8, Eric Michaels. 9, Dan Dippel. 10, Dakota Geiger. 11, Jason Enoch. 12, Cody Welch. 13, Scott Haudstad.
B-MAIN 2 - 1, Pete Parker. 2, Craig Schueffner. 3, Ron Stroika. 4, Mark Rose. 5, Paul Parker. 6, Tim Buhler. 7, Jestin Danes. 8, Brad Mueller. 9, Jim Juneau. 10, Gordie Seegert (DNS). 11, Troy Springborn (DNS). 12, Mitch McGrath (DNS).  13, Tim Warner (DNS).

FEATURE - 1, Jimmy Mars. 2, Russ Scheffler. 3, Rick Scheffler. 4, Brett Swedberg. 5, Nick Anvelink. 6, Jim Schmidt. 7, Tom Naeyaert. 8, Turk Letizia. 9, David Fieber. 10, Justin Hirt. 11, TJ Dolhun. 12, Billy Rezutek. 13, Robert Cullen. 14, Craig Schueffner. 15, Jim Letizia. 16, Ron Stroika. 17, Justin Schmidt. 18, Mark Rose. 19, Ron Berna. 20, Pete Parker.