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Rusty Daufeldt
NEW RICHMOND, Wisc. (July 30) - On the first night of the annual USA Nationals here at Cedar Lake Speedway on Thursday, the WORLD Dirt Racing League Late Models took center stage, and Tim Fuller ended up in the spotlight.
Sixty-six of the nation's top dirt Late Model teams signed into the pit area for the annual event. Among the WDRL regulars were Matt Miller, who was trying to make it three wins in a row in the three-night Northern Swing. And drivers like Billy Moyer, Brian Birkhofer, Chad Simpson, Al Purkey and Jimmy Mars were on hand to try to spoil his streak.
As the cars and stars of WDRL took to the speedway for group qualifying, Jimmy Mars, of Menomonie, Wis., turned in a fast time of 14.010 seconds. Birkhofer had the second-fast time followed by Chad Simpson, the series point leader.
Seven competitive qualifying heat races, three consolation races and the Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation Pole Dash set the stage for the 50-lap, $5,000-to-win main event.
The Sweeteners Plus No. 39 Rocket of Tim McCreadie, out of Watertown, N.Y., was on the pole for the headliner. The No. 19 of Tim Fuller, also from Watertown, N.Y., who was competing in his first race at Cedar Lake Speedway, raced from the outside pole by virtue of his finish in the Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation Pole Dash.
At the drop of the green, Fuller used the top side of speedway to wrestle the lead away from McCreadie on the first circuit, only to become involved in a four-wide battle for the lead during laps 2-5 that he'd survive involving himself, McCreadie, Mars and Jason Feger. A caution that flew on lap 9 let everyone catch their breath and bunched the field together once again. During the caution, Feger made a pit stop, which at the drop of the green moved the Bloomington, Ill., driver to the rear of the field. Two other notable WDRL drivers, Denny Eckrich and Chris Simpson, retired to the infield at this time.
Five green flag laps and side-by-side racing mixed the running order on the track. But Wendell Wallace of Batesville, Ark., slowed coming out of turn number four, bringing out the caution on lap 15. In those five short green flag laps, Fuller maintained the lead, Mars moved past McCreadie to take second and Birkhofer and Miller were tearing through the field.
On the second and final restart, Birkhofer was able to gain a couple more positions and Chad Simpson was able to overtake Steve Laursen for the fourth position. Meanwhile up front, Fuller was opening up a comfortable lead over McCreadie, who was able to slip past Mars to recapture second place. McCreadie made a late-race charge on the bottom to get within striking distance of the Gypsum Express Rocket of Fuller, but it was not enough as Fuller was able to go flag to flag for the victory.
For more information on the WORLD Dirt Racing League or the latest WDRL Late Model Series schedule, check out the WORLD Dirt Racing League's Web site, www.worldraceleague.com.
RACE REPORT
CEDAR LAKE SPEEDWAY
NEW RICHMOND, WIS.
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2009
Group Qualifying: 1. Jimmy Mars (14.010), 2. Brian Birkhofer (14.219), 3. Chad Simpson (14.309), 4. John Anderson (14.337), 5. Jeep Van Wormer (14.377), 6. Dave Eckrich (14.939), 7. Will Vaught (14.429), 8. Chris Simpson (14.434), 9. Terry Casey (14.457), 10. Eric Pember (14.475), 11. Dennis Erb (14.533), 12. Rob Moss (14.567), 13. Pat Doar (14.587), 14. Bill Frye (14.592), 15. Chris Madden (14.607), 16. Scott Gilbert (14.627), 17. Nick Anvelink (14.628), 18. Dustin Hapka (14.646), 19. Steve Laursen (14.667), 20. Jason Feger (14.682), 21. Jason Utter (14.683), 22. Terry Phillips (14.701), 23. Billy Moyer (14.705), 24. Russ Scheffler (14.746), 25. Wendell Wallace (14.772), 26. Josh McGuire (14.776), 27. Chris Wall (14.778), 28. Denny Eckrich (14.799), 29. Tim McCreadie (14.815) , 30. Brady Smith (14.863) 31. Clint Smith (14.866) 32. Ashley Anderson (14.873), 33. Rodney Melvin (14.922), 34. Jon Kirby (14.932) 35. Jeremy Payne (14.941), 36. Chad Mahder (14.975), 37. Scott James (14.987), 38. Alan Mondus (14.998), 39. Al Purkey (15.007), 40. Jake Redetzke (15.021), 41. Dan Shilliam (15.029), 42. Justin Fegers (15.042), 43. Rick Hanestad (15.048), 44. Tyler Reddick (15.090), 45. Bill Koons (15.101), 46. Mike Balcaen (15.133), 47. Matt Miller (15.143), 48. Rick Aukland (15.224), 49. Zach Foster (15.239), 50. Pete Parker (15.245), 51. Brian Shirley (15.277), 52. Matt Aukland (15.318), 53. Adam Hensel (15.342), 54. Greg Hill (15.370), 55. Eric Turner (15.399), 56. John Kaanta (15.400), 57. Tim Fuller (15.543), 58. Paul Parker (15.544), 59. Bryan Wennen (15.612), 60. Dwaine Hottinger (15.659), 61. Zack Johnson (15.659), 62. Johnny Malcolm (15.736), 63. Mike Johnson (15.780), 64. Lee Thomason (15.949), 65. Tim Isenberg (22.123)
First Qualifying Heat Race: 1. Jason Feger (25), 2. Chris Wall (71), 3. Will Vaught (1), 4. Pat Doar (11), 5. Denny Eckrich (50), 6. Jeremy Payne (74), 7. Justin Feger (15), 8. John Kaanta (85), 9. Zach Foster (1F), 10. Lee Thomason (53)
Second Qualifying Heat Race: 1. Laursen (19), 2. McCreadie (39) , 3. McGuire (41), 4. Dave Eckrich (58), 5. Chad Mahder (55C), 6. Hanestad (71), 7. Tim Isenberg (9T), 8. Paul Parker (10p), 9. Pete Parker (10) 10. Rob Moss (1M).
Third Qualifying Heat Race: 1. Tim Fuller (19), 2. Wendell Wallace (88), 3. Brady Smith (2), 4. Scott James, 5. Jeep VanWormer (55), 6. Brian Shirley (3s), 7. Tyler Reddick (11), 8. Bryan Wennen (40), 9. Dustin Hapka (18)
Fourth Qualifying Heat Race: 1. Nick Anvelink (15), 2. Dennis Erb (28), 3. Russ Scheffler (74), 4. Alan Mondus (55M), 5. John Anderson (2), 6. Matt Aukland (12A), 7. Bill Koons (29), 8. Dwaine Hottinger (65), 9. Clint Smith (44).
First Consolation Race: 1. Rick Aukland, 2. James, 3. Scheffler, 4. Doar, 5. Denny Eckrich, 6. Shirley, 7. Redetzke, 8. Fegers, 9. Clint Smith, 10. Hanestad, 11. Kaanta, 12. Malcolm, 13. Hapka, 14. Pember, 15. Pete Parker,
Second Consolation Race: 1. Birkhofer, 2. Chris Simpson, 3. Jeep VanWormer, 4. Anderson, 5. Mondus, 6. Melvin, 7. Doar, 8. Paul Parker, 9. Mahder, 10. Hill, 11. Johnson, 12. Hottinger, 13. Shilliam, 14. Thomason.
Third Consolation Race: 1. Vaught, 2. Dave Eckrich, 3. McGuire, 4. Utter, 5. Isenberg, 6. Payne, 7. Matt Aukland, 8. Moss, 9. Balcaen, 10. Foster, 11. Koons, 12. Wennen, 13. Purkey.
Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation Pole Dash: 1. McCreadie, 2. Fuller, 3. Mars, 4. Feger, 5. Laursen, 6. Anvelink, 7. Phillips, 8. Chad Simpson.
50-Lap Feature Event: 1. Fuller, 2. McCreadie, 3. Mars, 4. Chad Simpson, 5. Birkhofer, 6. Miller, 7. James, 8. Hensel, 9. Feger, 10. Anvelink, 11. Erb, 12. Laursen, 13. Moyer, 14. Wall, 15. Frye, 16. Madden, 17. Anderson, 18. Purkey, 19. Vaught, 20. Smith, 21. Phillips, 22. Rick Aukland , 23. Wallace, 24. Dave Eckrich, 25. Chris Simpson, 26. Denny Eckrich.
INFORMATION OF INTEREST:
Entrants: 65
Lap Leaders: Fuller 1- 50
Time of Race: n/a
Margin of Victory: n/a
Caution Flags: 2
Red Flags: none
Chase Decals Rookie-of-the-Race: Chad Mahder
Hard Luck Driver: Eric Pember
Series Provisionals: Denny Eckrich, Al Purkey
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation: 1. Chad Simpson
QA1 Motorsports: Chad Simpson
The Brake Man: n/a
Champ Pans: n/a
Performance Bodies: n/a
Fast Shafts: n/a
Hooker Harness: n/a
BSB Manufacturing: n/a
Randy's Racing Filters 9th place finish: Jason Feger, 10th place finish: Nick Anvelink
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