World Dirt Racing League Visits Monster Hall Raceway!
By Matt Bablick

August 5, 2003; Unity, WI. - On Tuesday Night August 5th the Monster Hall Raceway held it’s second annual Motor Mania Spectacular which featured the second appearance of the season by The PolyDome Super Series World Dirt Racing League. Seubert Calf Ranches, K99-WIGN, and R&J Promotions Sponsored the night’s racing program which also featured the Wissota Super Stocks vying for a $1,000 first place check.

     Jimmy Mars won the first race of the Series by picking up a win the previous night at the Superior Speedway. Mars was not present Tuesday night due to prior obligations with the Extreme Dirt Car Series. 36 Late Models made the trip to Monster Hall, but it was Kile Berck who came away with the win and a $5,000 check for his efforts. Out of the stellar 30 car Super Stock field, it was Dave Shackelton who picked up the win in the grueling 25 lap A-main.

     The Wissota Super Stocks were the first to contest their feature race of the evening. Hard charging Steve Thomas drew the covented pole position alongside Dave Shackelton, Steve Thomas jumped to the early lead on lap one and the caution flew immediately on lap two for a car slowed on the front stretch. It took two restarts to finally get the race back to green flag status on lap three. Thomas, again held the lead ahead of a close four car battle for the second and third positions between Dave Shackelton, Curt Meyers, Steve Hallquist, and Paul Erickson. Meanwhile, Lance Leu, Randy Spacek, and Adam Hensel made a strong charge through the field to challenge in the top ten. Steve Thomas continued to hold his lead after caution flags on laps eight and twelve.

     On the lap 13 restart Thomas had the lead ahead of two fantastic battles between Dave Shackelton who ran the middle groove and Curt Meyers who kept one tire touching the birm in the corners trying to get a run under Shackelton for second. And another close race for fourth with Steve Hallquist working to hold off the charge of Kevin Adams. Adams made the pass on Hallquist on lap 17 just as Steve Thomas pulled off the track handing the lead over to Dave Shackelton.

     A caution on lap 21 set up an exciting four lap dash for the win. Shackelton led the field to the green ahead of Meyers, Adams, Hallquist, and Leu. Shackelton kept the lead after the restart with Meyers and Adams running side by side waiting to jump on any mistake made by the leader in the closing laps. Behind them Lance Leu made the pass on Steve Hallquist on lap 24 for the fourth spot. Shackelton held on for the win and a cool $1,000 paycheck. Curt Meyers challenged for the lead on several occations but had to settle for second ahead of National Point leader Kevin Adams. Lance Leu had a fantastic run coming from 18th to a fourth place finish. Steve Hallquist rounded out the top five ahead of Adam Hensel who gained 13 positions before finishing sixth. Randy Spacek was another man on the move as he picked up 15 spots and ended up seventh.

     The final race of the evening was the World Dirt Racing League 50 lap shootout. The front row consisted of Pole Dash winner Dennis Erb and Darren “The Thriller” Miller. Erb and Miller ran door to door for the first two laps. Erb pulled ahead of Miller on lap three before Miller got a run and took the lead on lap four. A good battle was shaping up behind the leaders between Kerry Hanson, Terry Anvelink, and Kile Berck. Berck got his car to hook up in turns three and four and shot past Anvelink and Hanson on lap seven to take over the third spot. A caution on lap eight bunched the field up once again and brought Miller and Berck within striking distance of the leader.

     On lap 13 Miller worked his way around Erb and back into the lead. Erb continued to put pressure on Miller for first followed by Berck, Hanson and a father son battle between Terry and Nick Anvelink for fifth. Miller finally pulled to a comfortable lead over his pursuers on lap 18 while Berck mounted a strong challenge for second against Dennis Erb. Heartbreak struck Darren Miller’s crew on lap 23 when he made contact with the backstretch wall ending a fine run as he relinquished his lead to Dennis Erb.

     The caution flew twice more before the field could get a full lap in but when they did the race stayed green for the remaining 27 laps. Dennis Erb inherited the lead for the restart ahead of Kile Berck, Kerry Hanson, Nick Anvelink, and Steve Isenberg. Dennis Erb held the lead until lap 35 when he got loose in turn four allowing Berck to dive low and make the pass for the lead. Kile Berck, Dennis Erb, and Nick Anvelink then began to pull away from each other as well as the rest of the field. But behind them Steve Isenberg sat in fifth looking to challenge Kerry Hanson for fourth with only a handfull of laps remaining.

     Kile Berck continued to put up fast lap times and picked up a convincing win while adding to his WDRL points lead. Dennis Erb led nearly half of the fifty lap event but in the end didn’t have quite enough to catch the leader. Nick Anvelink ran strong all night and took home third place. Kerry Hanson finished the night fourth ahead of local Hot Shoe Steve Isenberg. John Anderson was the hard charger in the Late Model Feature by coming from a 20th place starting spot to a sixth place finish.

WISSOTA Super Stocks
25 lap Feature- Dave Shackelton, Curt Meyers, Kevin Adams, Lance Leu, Steve Hallquist, Adam Hensel, Randy Spacek, Mike Anderson, Nick Herrick, Shawn Huse
B Feature- Jim Willner, Randy Spacek, Scott Johnson, Charlie Overmueller
Heat 1- Tim Brandenburg, Jerry Stanton, Bobby Bunkelman, Terry Gorst
Heat 2- Steve Thomas, Kevin Adams, Mike Anderson, Brian Nayes
Heat 3- Curt Meyers, Steve Hallquist, Nick Herrick, Shawn Huse
Heat 4- Cory Mahder, Dave Shackelton, Paul Erickson, Paul Lieders

WDRL Super Late Models
50 lap Feature- Kile Berck, Dennis Erb, Nick Anvelink, Kerry Hanson, Steve Isenberg, John Anderson, Joe Kosiski, Justin Fegers, Kevin Kyle, Gary Webb
B Feature- Chris Carlson, John Anderson, Joel Cryderman, Gary Webb
Heat 1- Kile Berck, Kerry Hanson, Mark Hessler, Pete Parker
Heat 2- Terry Anvelink, Nick Anvelink, Justin Fegers, Don Mcellum
Heat 3- Darren Miller, Dennis Erb, Ace Ihm, Tom Waseleski
Heat 4- Mitch Johnson, Terry Casey, Steve Isenberg, Kurt Kyle