Monster Hall Raceway Opens 2004
Season!! April 23, 2004; Unity, WI. - Monster Hall Raceway kicked off the 2004 season with a bang this past Friday night with a complete race program. Some noticeable renovations have taken place over the course of the off-season, which include an expanded pit area to give drivers and crews more room to repair and adjust their cars between races.
The first checkered flag of the 2004 season waved after the Midwest Modified feature as Mickey Nosser led the entire 15 lap event. Other feature winner’s included Steve Bangart who picked up his first ever feature win in the Wissota Street Stocks, Lance Leu in the Wissota Super Stocks, and Paul Knauf in the Wissota Modifieds. The first feature race of the evening belonged to the Wissota Midwest Modifieds who lined up with Mickey Nosser and Randy Bargender on the front row. Nosser immediately pulled into the lead ahead of Bargender and Shane Halopka. The fourth spot however, was still being determined as Jim Poyda held the position while receiving pressure from Joe Bablick and Dave Salzman. By lap six Nosser had built up a convincing lead while Bargender ran the low line trying to hold of Halopka who worked the high side of the track. Poyda sat securely in fourth ahead of another good battle for fifth between Bablick and Salzman. A caution on lap 12 set up a three lap dash for the win. Nosser again chose the middle groove and drove uncontested to the checkered flag. Halopka Jr. crossed the line in second after challenging for the lead early in the race. Jim Poyda picked up a nice third place finish ahead of Joe Bablick who had a solid run in his first race in a Midwest Modified. Dave Salzman ra! n strong all night and rounded out the top five. The Wissota Street Stocks pulled trackside with Jim Marshall on the pole alongside Steve Bangart. Bangart stuck his car up high on the start and took the lead ahead of a fierce struggle for second between Brock Wright and Roger Walker. A Caution on lap six bunched up the field and put some fast cars on the back bumper of Bangart for the restart. Bangart pulled to a three car lead after the restart while Brock Wright worked to hold off the the charge of Walker and Bruce Belland; who stuck his car on the inside birm trying to make the pass. This allowed Butch Kummer a chance to reel in the leaders and interject himself in the hunt for the win. On lap nine Belland was able to work his way into second and set his sights on Bangart who had a sizeable lead on his pursuers. In the closing laps Bangart and Belland were side by side on several occasions with Bangart being able to keep his momentum up high and stay in the lead. On turn four of the last lap Belland again dove below ! Bangart and the two made contact and got hooked together going across the finish line resulting in Belland being penalized for the incident. Steve Bangart started his 2004 season with a bang after leading all 15 laps and collecting his first ever feature win. Brock Wright crossed the line second after running up front all night. Butch Kummer, who came off a clean sweep last weekend at Eagle Valley Speedway capped off another good run finishing third. Roger Walker was able to run multiple grooves and it paid off with fourth place finish ahead of another hard charger Cory Crapser. Local fan favorite Lance Leu drew the coveted pole position for the Wissota Super Stock feature. A lap one caution caused a complete restart but when the race finally got underway Leu shot out front to take the early lead ahead of Sean Mcfadden, Wayne Stricker, and Adam Hensel. Leu retained the lead through the early laps while being heavily challenged by Mcfadden. Behind the leaders it was a free for all with Paul Erickson, Chad Zastrow, Mark Stender, and Randy Spacek all trading positions as well as some paint. Up front Lance Leu kept a strong grip on the lead while Hensel got his nose under Mcfadden and completed the pass for second on lap nine. The man on the move, however was Randy Spacek who worked his way past three more cars and found himself in fourth behind Mcfadden with four laps remaining. With the laps winding down Hensel was able to pull alongside Leu on several occasions but couldn’t get a big enough run out of the corner to make the pass. Lance Leu led the race from the green flag all the way to the checkers in a highly entertaining race. Adam Hensel gave Leu everything he had in the closing laps and nearly came away with the win but had to settle with second. Randy Spacek put on quite a show for the fans as he went from a 13th starting spot to a third place finish after passing Sean Mcfadden on lap 18. Last Year’s runner up in points Paul Erickson rounded out the top five. Next up was the main event in the Wissota Modified division. Paul Knauf led the field to the green flag alongside Jeff Spacek. Spacek pulled out front on the first lap but Knauf stayed close behind and on lap three he ducked under Spacek and took the lead in turn four. Knauf then stuck his left front wheel on the inside birm and started to pull away from the field until a caution on lap six took away his lead and sent the third place car of Scott Duvall to the rear for the restart. Knauf kept his lead after the restart but had to fight off advances from Spacek on several occasions. At the same time Luke Schilling and Jed Moore took advantage of the battle up front and began closing in on the front runners. Spacek took advantage of a lap 15 caution and again tried to work his way around Knauf who continued to run the low groove. The battle for third place was heating up as well with Moore and Oertl working over Schilling for the position. Paul Knauf survived a lap 19 caution and won the first Modified feature of the season. Jeff Spacek was second across the line after leading early on and then challenging for the lead the rest of the race. Defending point champion Luke Schilling finished third ahead of Chris Oertl who came from the back of the field after a mid race caution. Jed Moore rounded out the top five with a solid fifth place finish. The last race of the evening was in the Cruiser division. Steve and Dave Knauf started from the pole alongside Gary Schubert/Rich Delis. The car #54 car of Scott Davis/Joe Fitzgerald blasted from a sixth place starting spot to take the lead on lap three. Davis/Fitzgerald would go on to lead the remaning laps and come away with the win in a dominating performance. Wissota Modifieds: Feature- Paul Knauf, Jeff Spacek, Luke Schilling, Chris Oertl, Jed Moore, Mike Bauer, Paul Niznik, Roger Andres, Ray Karl Jr., Jason Nordhaugen Heat 1- Oertl, Knauf, Spacek, Bauer, Kent Baxter Heat 2- Scott Duvall, Schilling, Rob Genett, Niznik, Moore Wissota Super Stocks: Feature- Lance Leu, Adam Hensel, Randy Spacek, Sean Mcfadden, Paul Erickson, Chad Zastrow, Mark Stender, Brian Rau, Wayne Stricker, Ron Sischo Heat 1- Hensel, Leu, Zastrow, Terry Gorst, Scott Geiger Heat 2- Stender, Mcfadden, Jim Willner, Stricker, Erickson Wissota Midwest Modifieds: Feature- Mickey Nosser, Shane Halopka Jr., Jim Poyda, Joe Bablick, Dave Salzman Jr., Ben Mann, Randy Bargender, Ken Heser Heat 1- Nosser, Poyda, Halopka, Bargender, Bablick Wissota Street Stocks: Feature- Steve Bangart, Brock Wright, Butch Kummer, Roger Walker, Cory Crapser, Dave Teatz, Todd Lindner, Jared Loos, Mike Stangl, Bruce Belland Heat 1- Belland, Kummer, Wright, Dan Zelton, Crapser Heat 2- Walker, Bangart, Jim Marshall, Teatz, Lindner |
