Harelstad helps himself to
WISSOTA Mod victory at Monster Hall! August 31, 2001; Unity, WI. - Cobra Racing Products presented the races on Friday night at Monster Hall Raceway and all classes put on a great show for everyone in attendance. Five classes of racers circled around the high banked 1/3 mile with intense driving in every corner.
The Affordable Modified class started off the feature events with veteran Rob Genett on the pole and John Hackmeier next to him. At the drop of the green Genett immediately checked out from the pole with Hackmeier behind him. The track champion, Scott Anderson, held third and began to chase down the leaders. The surprise of the night came when the #01 normally piloted by Bill Purdy but driven Friday by Al Seehafer, went to the front and battled with Genett while Anderson waiting in the wings to capitalize. The seven lap battle was temporarily halted on lap 13 when Hackmeier and Anderson got together in the apex of turns three and four. That sent Hackmeier off the track. Seehafer was still in front and he brought the cars back to speed for the last two laps. Mickey Nosser made his charge to the front when the white flag was displayed, but to no avail. The checkers flew with Seehafer crossing the line first; following him were Genett, Nosser and Anderson. The WISSOTA Super Stocks gave the fans a dose of "sibling rivalry" with the Leu brothers, Lance and Lonnie, sharing the front row. Also, Robby Bunkelman jumped into the Stanton owned #55j, putting him back into a Super Stock for the first time in several years. The Leu brothers shuffled positions until lap seven before Dan Westaby got turned around in turn one, which brought the race to a halt. Lonnie Leu brought the stock cars back around for the green flag, and over the next few laps Jere Stanton and Robby Bunkelman jockeyed for position. From then on it was single file racing until lap 15, when Bunkelman lost a tire in turn two, which brought out another caution. The race was brought back to green and crossing the finish line first was Lonnie Leu, followed by Dan Westaby, Scott Johnson, Kevin Sonnetag and Lance Leu. The WISSOTA Street Stocks came to the high banks next with Brock Wright on the point and Jared Lindner on the outside. On lap five Wright found that he had his hands full with Brent Mindock, who was charging for the lead. On lap six Ron Hanestad entered the picture, making it three wide into turn one, but one lap later Hanestad was charged with a caution after getting together with Mindock. Mindock brought the race back to green but was unchallenged for the lead by Brock Wright and the #8 of John Goulden, who was driving the wheels off his car trying find the Budweiser winner's circle. The three cars battled it out until Mindock saw the checkers first for the second week in a row. Rookie Chris Crasper took home second place, and after battling his way from the back of the pack, Ron Hanestad earned the third place spot. For the WISSOTA Modified feature Scott Duval had the pole position, and on
the outside was rookie Jeremy Shilts behind the wheel of the #33S. Duval jumped out front
to grab the early lead, but as always in the modifieds, the lead spot didn't go
unchallenged. Luke Schilling drove his way around Shilts and made an attempt to challenge
for the lead, but Lance Burt worked his way up to the front of the pack and tried in vain to get around the Dodge powered #17D. The last five laps saw a lot of action with Paul Harelstad challenging for the lead. On the last lap Duval got into traffic, which allowed Harelstad to catch him in turn four. Harelstad took advantage of the gap between Duval and the tires and gunned the throttle out of turn four to beat Duval to the checkers. Harelstad crossed the line first with Duval in second and Dave Baxter in
third, followed by Luke Schilling and Lance Burt. WISSOTA Modifieds: WISSOTA Super Stocks: WISSOTA Street Stocks: A-Mods: Cruisers: |