Doar survives late race Monster scare!
Thatcher best in Mod action, and Adams tops in Stocks!

By Chris Stepan

July 3, 2000; Unity, WI. - Two first time winners and one familiar name stopped in victory lane at
MHR's second annual WISSOTA Late Model event on Monday, July 3rd presented by White City Glass. Pat Doar survived a late race altercation with a lapped car to win his first WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series event in defense of his '99 title. Craig Thatcher hung on to out duel local favorite Jeff Spacek to win his 9th WISSOTA Modified feature of the season and Kevin Adams added yet another win to his resume in the Streeters at Monster Hall.

The 43 car Modified field was trimmed to 24 and the feature was up first on the card. Carl Fenske and Craig Thatcher paced the field to the green. Fenske got the early jump on Thatcher as the green flag dropped, but as the pack charged down the backstretch, Scott Duval's # 17 fell off the pace,
causing an eleven car pileup in turn 3. Duval, Gary Baxter, Keith Foss and Dave Mayala were forced to retire from the event.

On the restart, Fenske again got ht jump on Thatcher, but Craig powered his # 91 through turns 1 and 2 to take the lead racing out of turn 2. Thatcher then built up a slight advantage as Jeff Spacek moved in to battle with Fenske for second. Spacek got to the inside of Fenske in turn 1 and the two
made heavy contact, but were both able to correct and raced side by side into turn three, when Fenske retaliated for the earlier shove from Spacek and drilled Jeff and sent him spinning. Fenske was sent to the tail for the infraction and Spacek was restored to Thatcher's rear bumper for the
restart.

Again on the restart, Thatcher blasted off with Spacek and Steve Keuster in tow. A great battle had begun for fourth as Butch Oertel, Jim Randall and Tyler Keyser began to scrap it out on their way to the front. The yellow flew once again on lap 4 as Keuster broke on the backstretch, slowing the field for the final time.

Thatcher set the pace once again with Randall moving up to the high groove and beginning to challenge Spacek for third. Pat Doar had also made his way up from his sixth row starting spot to begin to mount a challenge on Keyser for fifth. Keyser, Doar and Oertel swapped the fifth spot several times until both Keyser and Doar were able to get by on lap 8. Back up front Thatcher held a commanding lead as Spacek had his hands full with Randall for second. Thatcher went on to win his 9th Modified feature of the season over Spacek who was able to hold off Randall for second. Keyser finished a   solid third with Doar rounding out the top five. Other chargers on the night   were Jerry Weigel who came from 18th to finish 6th and Jerry Hartman who  came from to finish in 19th to finish in 8th.

Street Stocks were up next with pole sitter Chris Oertel failing to make the starting grid. This allowed Rod Herman to jump into the lead at the start with Kevin Adams following him into second. Curt Myers immediately shot from his fifth row starting spot into fourth on lap 1 and looked to be charging
toward yet another win when the caution waved for Steve Zurek and Myers was drilled from behind under yellow, ending his night.

On the restart, Adams shot to the low side of Herman and took over the top spot. Adams then wasted no time stretching his advantage over Herman, who settled into a solid second. A great battle was ensuing for third as Brent Mindoch, Jeff Lien and Jason Kellner were racing three-wide for position. Mindoch was able to slip through the scramble first into third as was Lien, dropping Kellner back into the wrath of Kevin Bogdonovic and Steve Surprenant. Back up front Adams was steadily walking away from the field as Mindoch was reeling in Herman. Mindoch did reel in Herman and began to work on him for the second position as the white flag flew.  Adams went on to pick up the easy win over Herman, who held off a furious last lap charge from Mindoch to come home in second. Surprenant and Bogdonovic rounded out the top five.

The mighty Late Models were up next with Ashley Anderson and defending Challenge Series champion, Pat Doar pacing the field. Anderson got a good jump on the field and took the lead at the flag stand, but Doar bolted around the high side of turns 1 and 2 and retook the lead from Anderson and set off down the backstretch. Joel Cryderman also was able to make his machine work on the low side of the track as he slipped by Anderson into second on lap 2 and began to chase Doar. A good early race battle took place for the fourth spot as Lance Matthees, Porky Brust and Jon Kurshinsky were duking it out behind the leaders. Kurshinsky was able to get by both Matthees and Brust into fourth and began to reel in Anderson.

The first caution flew on lap 7 as Duane Mahder spun in turn four, collecting Jon Olsen and Terry Anvelink. Anvelink was able to continue, but Mahder suffered heavy front-end damage on his # 55 and Olson was forced to retire from the event as well.

On the restart, Doar stuck to the rubber that had been laid down on the low side of the track and quickly pulled away from Cryderman. The running order remained the same as the train flew around the speedway. The frontrunners began to encounter lapped traffic on lap 16, which allowed Cryderman to reel in Doar. Doar began to move through lapped traffic until Corby Metzgar spun
in turn 1 just as Doar was about to put him a lap down. Doar narrowly avoided contact with Metzgar, which would have been disastrous for the leader.

Again on the restart, Doar shot away from the field as Cryderman looked for a way to reel him in. Tom Nesbitt and Anvelink were fighting it out for position on the restart, as Anvelink was looking for a way around Nesbitt, but Tom was not about to let Terry by that easily. The leaders were flying
around the speedway and again encountered lapped traffic on lap 24. As Doar was about to begin maneuvering through lapped traffic again, he and the lapped car made contact sending Doar spinning in turn 1. Doar tried to keep his foot in it, but bounced his # 11 off a tire barrier on the infield,
bringing out the final caution of the event.

Doar's only damage was cosmetic and because the leader is always protected while in lapped traffic, Pat was restored to the front of the field for a 6-lap dash to the checkered.  As the green flag flew for the final time, Doar was gone as he pulled out to a huge advantage and cruised the final five circuits to pick up his first Challenge Series victory of 2000 and his ninth Late Model feature win of the season. Cryderman held off Anderson for second with Kurshinsky and Matthees rounding out the top five.

Results

WISSOTA Street Stock:
FEATURE:  Kevin Adams, Rod Herman, Brent Mindock, Steve Surprenant, Kirk Bogdanovic, Jeff Lien, Terry Sirek, Dave Teatz, Ralph Stark, James Bandow, Matt Theisen, Jason Kellner, Chad Schneider, Chris Lindner, James Gehrig, Curt Myers,Dennis Squires, Chris Oertel, Steve Zurek
Heat 1: Oertel, Adams, Herman, Bogdanovic, Theisen, Bandow
Heat 2: Teatz, Lien, Kellner, Squires, Schneider, Zurek, Lindner
Heat 3: Myers, Mindock, Surprenant, Heser, Stark, Gehrig, Sirek

WISSOTA Modified:
FEATURE:  Craig Thatcher, Jeff Spacek, Jim Randall, Tyler Keyser, Pat Doar, Jerry Weigel, Rob Bunkelman, Jerry Hartman, Butch Oertel, Darrel Nelson, Tim Hintz, Luke Schilling, Steve Kuester, Daniel Larson Jr., Paul Harelstad, Kevin Rogers, Karl Fenske, Jeff Hofer, Tony Devine, Steve Isenberg, David Mayala, Gary Baxter, Keith Foss, Scott Duval.
B-1 FEATURE: Paul Harelstad, Daniel Larson Jr., Brandon Kallenbach, Steve Goss, Mike Anderson, Lance Burt, Mark Baxter, Bob Sammann, Butch Steckbauer.
B-2 FEATURE: Darrel Nelson, Jeff Hofer, Marty Schwantes, Larry Kallenbach, Ray Karl,
David Baxter, Ron Prochnow, Tim Isenberg, Kim Mendrzycki, Larry Mendrzycki, Bill Byholm.
Heat 1: Kuester, Thatcher, Bunkelman, S. Isenberg, Harelstad, D. Baxter, Pankratz, K. Mendrzycki
Heat 2: Fenske, Oertel, Keyser, Mayala, Nelson, Burt, Schwantes, M. Baxter, B. Kallenbach
Heat 3: Devine, Hintz, Schilling, Weigel, Sammann, L. Kallenbach, Goss, Karl, L. Mendrzycki
Heat 4: Doar, Spacek, Randall, Hartman, Hofer, Steckbauer, Byholm
Heat 5: Foss, Duval, Baxter, Rogers, Larson, T. Isenberg, Anderson, Prochnow

WISSOTA Late Models:
FEATURE: Pat Doar, Joel Cryderman, Ashley Anderson, John Kurshinsky, Lance Matthees,
John Kaanta, Kerry Hansen, Tom Nesbitt, Terry Anvelink, Jerry Redetzke, M.J. McBride, Don Copp, Scott Kramer, Mark Hessler, Ron Berna, Darrel Nelson, Eric Pember, Tim Buhler, Jeff Provinzino, Porky Brust, Mike Sorensen, Corby Metzgar, Jon Olsen, Duane Mahder.
B-FEATURE: Corby Metzgar, Darrel Nelson, Jeff Provinzino, Eric Pember, Brent Larson,
Terry Casey, Greg Dhein, Bill Lindner, Jeff Keeney.
Heat 1: Redetzke, Olsen, Hansen, Anvelink, Kramer, Nelson, Larson.
Heat 2: Nesbitt, Kaanta, Anderson, Mahder, Buhler, Metzgar, Pember
Heat 3: Brust, Kurshinsky, Doar, Copp, Berna, Provinzino, Casey
Heat 4: Sorensen, Cryderman, Matthees, Hessler, McBride, Keeney, Dhein