Dale Sonnentag Memorial wins to Hartman, Spacek, Wilson and Anderson!
By Ben Brost

September 8, 2001; Unity, WI. - Rain washed out the first of two nights of racing for the 2nd Annual Dale Sonnentag Memorial race weekend, but there was enough action during Saturday's events to make up for Friday's cancellation..

The Affordable Modifieds kicked off the feature events on Saturday night with Scott Anderson and Shane Halopka sharing the front row. Anderson got the hole shot heading into turn one and didn't look back for the rest of the race.

Halopka had his hands full with veteran Rob Genett from the drop of the green and the battle for second raged on until lap 11, when Halopka left the track. What started off as a six car dash for cash turned into a three car shootout with only two laps to go. Anderson held his lead in style, and at one time held an entire straightaway lead over Genet and Al Seehafer. At the end, Scott Anderson crossed the line first to claim the bragging rights once again with Genet in second and Seehafer in third.

Twenty five WISSOTA Super Stocks circled the high banks next with Shawn Huse at the helm and Robby Bunkelman on the outside of row one. Bunkelman jumped out front right away leaving Lance Leu and Huse to battle it out for second  early on. It only took four laps for the cars to be completely spread around the track, which created exciting racing everywhere. On lap five David Elliot went off the track and was unable to return. Problems also plagued Ken Davis, who limped his car into the pits on lap seven.

Lonnie Leu lost a piece of sheet metal, which brought out the yellow flag, on lap nine. Bunkelman brought the cars back to green but Kori Richter and Randy Spacek were on the move. Another yellow flag flew on lap 12 when Scott Geiger got turned sideways and collected Jim Willner, Scott Johnson and Kevin Sonnentag. On lap 17 Dan Westaby went pitside, bringing his season to a close.

In a last lap effort for the win, Spacek passed Bunkelman to claim the top slot. They were followed by Bunkelman, Huse, Lance Leu and Richter.

Jason Kellner held the pole position for the WISSOTA Street Stock feature with Wayne Dean to his outside. Trevor Wilson quickly moved up and made his presence felt for the lead, but the battle to watch was between Jon Becher and Chris Oertel. Ken Slusser went off the track on lap six, which brought his night and season to a close.
On lap eight the leader, Jason Kellner, went off the track, ending  his weekend.

Ralph Stark had his hands full  on lap 10 as Oertel tried to get around him to get to the front. Trevor Wilson had two laps to go for the win and was trailed by Steve Karshbaum and Jay Kesan. Karshbaum and Kesan jockeyed for position for the remainder of the race while Wilson crossed the line first. Wilson was followed by Kesan, Karshbaum, James Bandow and Ralph Stark.

After just a short time in a WISSOTA Modified, Chris Oertel found himself on the pole position for the feature with the experienced Ray Karl, Jr. on his outside. Heading into turn one, Karl got the hole shot but Oertel ran a close second and overtook the leader in turn three.

Lap two brought a melee of action. Oertel got sideways and nearly rolled over in turn two, collecting Karl, Jed Moore and Lance Burt. On lap three Paul Harelstad   charged his way from eighth to sixth. On lap four, 2001 Modified track champion Tyler Keyser battled for position with Scott Olsen and just a short time later, Terry Hansen got around Keyser.

It took seven laps before leader Jerry Hartman entered lapped traffic. Lapped traffic continued to give Hartman problems, which allowed Spacek to catch him.

Hartman showed the way for the rest of the race and crossed the finish line first followed by Spacek, Burt, Keyser and Hanson. Officials from the Monster Hall Raceway would like to take this time to thank all of the drivers, pit crews and fans for a great season and look forward to seeing everybody back for great racing next season.

SUMMARY

WISSOTA Super Stock:
Heat 1:  #2 4/7 Tracy Larson, #14R Kori Richter, #14Z Lonnie Leu, #87 Ken Davis, #17 Terry Gorst, #22T Ken Truscott, #8M Mike Duhr, #17L Ryan Lindner, #8S Kevin Sonnentag
Heat 2:  #77 Jim Willner, #75 Scott Geiger, #55J Robby Bunkelman, #7X Duane Dunbar, #17H Steve Hallquist, #30 Scott Williams, #51 Larry Jackson, #66 Brad Thorpe
Heat 3:  #14L Lance Leu, #4X Dave Elliott, #1 Eric Olson, #1H Shawn Huse, #123 Gary Solum, #22 Randy Spacek, #51M Shawn McFadden, #8 Scott Johnson
Feature:  Spacek, Bunkelman, Huse, La. Leu, Richter, Solum, Elliott, Willner, Truscott, Duhr, Lindner, Thorpe, Olson, Jackson, McFadden, Sonnentag, Williams, Dunbar, Geiger, Hallquist, Johnson, Davis, Lo. Leu, Gorst, Larson

WISSOTA Street Stock:
Heat 1:  #17 Wayne Dean, #77 Jason Kellner, #12K Jay Kesan, #99 Ralph Stark, #8 John Goulden, #50 Jeremy Wolfe, #69 Kevin Fisher, #98 Ken Slusser
Heat 2:  #87 Trevor Wilson, #51 Chris Oertel, #32 James Bandow, #89 Steve Karshbaum, #11 John Becker, #17X Joe Bablick, #35 Ken Heser, #27 Mike Delo
Feature:  Wilson, Kesan, Karshbaum, Bandow, Stark, Bablick, Wolfe, Fisher, Heser, Oertel, Delo, Becker, Kellner, Dean, Slusser

WISSOTA Modified:
Heat 1:  #61 Ray Karl, Jr. #35B Dave Baxter, #51 Chris Oertel, #94 Brad Seehafer, #35X Andrew Baxter, #70 Mike Williams, #33S Jeremy Shilts, #43 Luke Schilling
Heat 2:  #9X Steve Isenberg, #57H Terry Hansen, #71 Scott Olson, #24 Kevin Rogers, #17D Scott Duval, #5 John Heser, #31 Butch Steckbauer
Heat 3:  #1 Paul Harelstad, #151 Lance Burt, #33 Jed Moore, #8 Todd Siddons, #3X Mike Bauer, #36 M. G. Johnson, #75 Steve Scott
Heat 4:  #21 Jerry Hartman, #7W Gary Baxter, #22 Jeff Spacek, #7K Tyler Keyser, #47H Wade Hanson, #58 Scott Vesely
B Feature:  #33S Jeremy Shilts, #5 John Heser, #75 Steve Scott, #43 Luke Schilling
Feature:  Hartman, Spacek, Burt, Keyser, Hanson, Harelstad, Olson, Siddons, D. Baxter, G. Baxter, Seehafer, Johnson, Williams, Bauer, Oertel, Karl, A. Baxter, Hanson, Vesely, Rogers, Isenberg, Steckbauer, Moore

A-Mods:
Heat 1:  #27 Scott Anderson, #3JR Shane Halopka, #16 Rob Genett, #01 Al Seehafer, #21 Brian Jensen
Feature:  Anderson, Genett, Seehafer, Halopka, Poyda, Jensen 

Cruisers:
Heat 1:  #15 Steve Jensen, #37 Jim Marshall & James Marshall, #60 Bryan Thornton & Jimmy Stargardt, #13 ½ Shawn Peterson & Ben Mann, #8UP Ed Hoffman & Travis Hamm, #8UPx2 Eric Hamm, & Luke Rindt, #39 Zach Kauth, #544 Jared Loos & Josh Olson
Feature:  Jensen, Peterson/Hamm, Loos/Olson, Hoffman/Hamm, Marshall/Marshall, Kauth, Thornton/Stargardt, Hamm/Rindt