Mullen establishes new
record at Seymour! July 23, 2000; Seymour, WI - Following a week off due to the county fair, racing returned to the Seymour Tri Oval Raceway on a perfect night for action on the 1/3 mile tri oval.
WISSOTA Late Model point leader, Troy Springborn, took the lead at the start of the feature with Terry Anvelink following right behind. The pair started to pull away from the field with Tom Naeyaert, Pete Parker and Tim Buhler in their own battle for third. By the mid point of the race, Springborn was running alone having put several car lengths in front of Anvelink. Parker had moved into third and had dosed on Anvelink. Lapped traffic closed the gap on the leader, but once clear, Springborn again picked up the pace. Parker moved into the runner up spot on lap 15, but ran out of laps to run down the leader with Springborn picking up his third feature win of the season. Parker, Anvelink, Buhler and Naeyaert were behind with Jim Rychtik rounding out the top six. Mike Franzke set the pace for the opening 2 laps of the IMCA Stock Car feature before Brandon Czarapata pulled into the top spot. Czarapata was able to open up a slight lead before the first caution appeared on lap 9. A final caution 2 laps later set up a furious run to the finish. Shawn Wagner moved into the runner up spot after the first restart, and pulled right alongside of the leader after the final restart. However, point leader, Tim Van De Hei, Benji LaCrosse, T.J. White and Jeremy Christians were now in the lead pack. Czarapata, Van De Hei and Wagner put on quite a show for the lead, swapping several times at the front before Van De Hei pulled into the top spot on lap 16. Wagner was hooked up on the outside, and looking for his first career division feature win, challenged hard, swapping the lead over the final laps. Van De Hei was able to get a jump off the tri oval to the checker and collected his third straight feature win and fourth victory of the season. Wagner took the very close second place finish with Czarapata holding off LaCrosse for third. Christians and White rounded out the top six finishers. The win puts Van De Hei into a tie with John Gregorich, 1993, and Rod Snellenberger, 1995, as the only drivers in the division to win three straight features Charlie Kroll holds the record with four in 1995. Darren Otto paced the first three laps of the IMCA Modified main with Dennis Young taking over and leading after the first caution on lap 4 to the second caution on lap 6. Point leader, Brian Mullen, moved quickly from 12th to the lead after the restart and started to pull the field until the final caution on lap 11 bunched the pack for the final time.
Scott Mullen, Young, Joel Schmit, Jerry Muenster and Brad Rohloff were next in lime for the final run. Brian took off and pulled away over the rest of the race with Young battling Scott Mullen for several laps. Scott pulled into the runner up spot with 6 laps left but brother Brain was safely in the lead and drove to his fifth straight feature win this season. Scott took the runner up finish with Young, Schmit, Muenster and Rohloff rounding out the top six. The five straight wins by Mullen is a track record for the division. The season win record is within reach. He has a career best 7 season wins in 1997 with the division lead belonging to Kurt Jordan with 8 wins in 1994.
The Street Stock division closed the program with Phil Hiles leading the opening 3 laps before Jesse Colwell worked into the top spot on lap 4. A caution on lap 5 was the final of the race and made for several good races in the pack. Chaz Van Ooyen moved into the runner up spot after the restart and stayed with Colwell as the pair pulled away from the rest of the pack. Despite running through traffic over the final half of the contest, Colwell and Van Ooyen maintained their positions and lead to the finish. The battle was for third place with Jeff Treml, Tom White, Lance Arneson, Darci Czarapata, Shannon Smith and point leader, Jamie Colwell. Colwell rode up on the front guard rain on lap 8 and dropped back in the field, while the rest battled, and swapped positions several times to the finish. The win was the second of the season for Jesse Colwell with Van Ooyen running a close second. The finish was also good enough to put Van Ooyen into the point lead for the first time this season with a 326 to 320 margin over Jamie Colwell. Treml won the battle for third place with White having his best run of the season in fourth. Czarapata continues her strong season with the fifth place finish with Arneson rounding out the top six. Next Sunday night, the Spotlight series will return with the IMCA Stock Car division running a special 25 lap feature for an increased purse with $600 Going to the winner. RACING SUMMARY WISSOTA Late Models: IMCA Modifieds: IMCA Stock Cars: Street Stocks: |
