IRA Sprint Special to Mike Reinke!   Spacek tops Mod Main!
By Janis Weigel

July 11, 1999; Unity, WI. - Thursday nights storms and scattered showers on Friday were the cause of a cancellation at MHR Friday night, however a big night was held on Sunday with the IRA Sprint Cars making their second appearance at the track this season and full fields of Supers, Streets and Modifieds were running. Races were sponsored by Pepsi and K99 - WIGM.

The IRA Outlaw Sprints were on hand to thrill fans and they didn't disappoint.  When the action was over Mike Reinke #02 stood in the winners circle.

Throughout the week K99 - WIGM held a phone-in Jeff Gordon Trivia contest and lucky qualifiers participated in "The K-99 Big Dog Derby Race" on the track, in front of thousands of spectators. Cardboard Derby cars, constructed by the K99 crew, were hand held and the race was on.

Kevin Strebig of Medford took first, winning the Jeff Gordon - Pepsi jacket. Taking second was Roger Walworth also from Medford.

The WISSOTA Super Stocks continue to hold impressive features week after week. With only one caution held in this twenty lap race. Twenty-five of the twenty-six starters crossed the finish line.

Mike Bauer, with pole position and the early lead was followed by Scott Johnson and Lonnie Leu. Moving quickly into second, hard charging Leu chased after Bauer to take the lead six laps later. Randy Spacek positioned himself behind Bauer for third.

With the restart after a caution in the tenth lap, Lance Leu made a fast move, grabbing fourth from Johnson. With five laps left, the leaders ran smoothly through lapped traffic ending a well run race. Feature winner, Lonnie Leu, Bauer was 2nd, Spacek 3rd, Leu 4th and Johnson 5th.

The fastest cars to take to the track all season have been the 800+ horsepower IRA Sprints, from left are, Kurt Winker (#20) who finished 8th in the main event, Ty Bartz (#75) and Jim Melis (#51).   The feature race went non stop from green to checkered.

The IRA Sprint Cars held a thrilling twenty-five lap, non-stop Feature race, flying around the track at record speeds, Keeping an eye on #02 Mike Reinke, who grabbed the lead quickly, it's hard to figure out who's running where as cars are quickly running into lap traffic. The lap counters in the booth had their hands full and I was totally impressed by their abilities to keep track of these thrilling, fast paced racers. Steve Sinclair will furnish a complete article on this feature race. #02 Mike Reinke finished in first, #27 Donny Goeden 2nd and #61 Joe Roe 3rd.

Current point leader in the IRA Series, is Donny Goeden (#27). The sharp looking sprint car picked up a checkered winning the second heat.  Goeden later came back and took second in the feature race.

Making his first appearance at MHR Mike Cole from Marenisco, MI. with pole position led the WlSSOTA Street Stocks in their feature race. Curt Myers, running in second, had early pressure from Todd Lindner who would pass Myers in the fifth lap. Closing in on Cole, Lindner went low inside, bumping into a track tire which would cause him to spin out, bringing out the yellow flag.

At the restart, Kevin Adams made a fast move, passing Myers for second. Holding the lead throughout the race, taking the feature win was Mike Cole, Adams was 2nd, Myers 3rd, Rick Hanestad 4th and Mike Paul in 5th.

Jack Larson held the lead in the WISSOTA Modified Feature. Jeff Spacek and Paul Harelstad running second and third were closing in on Larson by the fifth lap. Spacek moved past Larson for the lead three laps later, though Larson did manage to grab the lead back in the thirteenth lap, by running high. Spacek and Harelstad dove underneath Larson who would wind up running third. Jerry Weigel, running in ninth would bring out the single caution with motor problems in lap sixteen.

Four laps later, charging through corner three to take the checkered flag, Spacek held off Harelstad by less than a half car length for the win. Making his first appearance at MHR, Harelstad looked strong taking 2nd, Larson 3rd, Scott Duval 4th and Gary Baxter 5th.

RESULTS

WISSOTA MODIFIEDS:
FIRST HEAT: 1.) Gary Batxer; 2.) Lance Burt; 3.) Jim Stargardt; 4.) Ray Karl Jr.
SECOND HEAT: 1.) Troy Kuyoth; 2.) Jed Moore; 3.) Jerry Weigel; 4.) Roger Andres
THIRD HEAT: 1.) Luke Schilling; 2.) Jack Larson; 3.) Scott Duval; 4.) Jarry Hartmann
FOURTH HEAT: 1.) Jeff Spacek; 2.) Brad Seehafer; 3.) Paul Harelstad; 4.) Rich Lofthus
FIRST B - FEATURE: 1.) Jerry Campbell; 2.) Steve Isenberg; 3.) Butch Oertel; 4.) Robby Bunkleman
SECOND B - FEATURE: 1.) Eric Pember; 2.) Tim Isenberg; 3.) Kevin Rogers; 4.) Daniel Larson Jr.
FEATURE: 1.) Spacek; 2.) Harelstad; 3.) Larson; 4.) Duval; 5.) Baxter; 6.) Hartmann; 7.) Moore; 8.) Schilling; 9.) Kuyoth; 10.) Burt

WISSOTA SUPER STOCKS:
FIRST HEAT: 1.) Lance Leu; 2.) Terry Gorst; 3.) Lonnie Leu; 4.) Eric Bolosky
SECOND HEAT: 1.) Randy Spacek; 2.) Scott Johnson; 3.) Duane Dunbar; 4.) Ken Davis
THIRD HEAT: 1.) Robear Dielke; 2.) Mike Bauer; 3.) Steve Cogar; 4.) Mark Stender
FEATURE: 1.) Lonnie Leu; 2.) Bauer; 3.) Spacek; 4.) Lance Leu; 5.) Johnson; 6.) Davis; 7.) Bolosky; 8.) Deilke; 9.) Paul Erickson; 10.) Gorst

WISSOTA STREET STOCKS:
FIRST HEAT: 1.) Todd Lindner; 2.) Curt Meyers; 3.) Kevin Adams; 4.)  Mike Paul
SECOND HEAT: 1.) Mike Cole; 2.) Rick Hanestad; 3.) Rod Herman; 4.) Dave Teatz
FEATURE: 1.) Cole; 2.) Adams; 2.) Meyers; 4.) Hanestad; 5.) Paul; 6.) Rodd Heier; 7.) Ivan Simmerman; 8.) Teatz; 9.) Herman; 10.) Kevin BogdanovicT

IRA OUTLAW SPRINTS:
FIRST HEAT: 1.) Jerrod Hull
SECOND HEAT: 1.) Donny Goeden
THIRD HEAT: 1.) Raymond Hensley
"B" - MAIN: 1.) Joe Roe
FEATURE: 1.) Mike Reinke; 2.) Donny Goeden; 3.) Joe Roe; 4.) Todd Daun; 5.) Scott Neitzel; 6.) Mike Frost; 7.) Jim Carter; 8.) Kurt Winker; 9.) Wayne Modjeski; 10.) John Haeni