May 20, 2001; Seymour, WI - Third times the charm. After two weeks of weather delays, N.E.W. DIRT was ready to open their 18th season Sunday night at the Seymour Tri Oval Raceway. The track was dry slick but smooth and fast for a good opening night program.
A good field of 16 WISSOTA Late Models was on hand with Dean Maurer sitting on the pole for the start of their feature event. Maurer took control at the start followed by defending champion, Troy Springborn, Tim Buhler, Terry Anvelink, M.J. McBride and Pete Parker. Maurer held the top spot through the lone caution of the race on lap 9. Maurer continued to set the pace after the restart when the traffic at the front got heavy. Prior to the caution, Terry Casey found some bite up high and moved to the front.. After the restart, Casey continued to the front and moved into the runner up spot. Tom Naeyaert also took to the outside and slipped between Springborn and Casey on lap 14 to take over second. Naeyaert tried to work by into the top spot, but, Maurer was up to the challenge and drove off with his first career division feature win. Naeyaert took second with Springborn in third. Buhler, McBride and Anvelink rounded out the top six. Rod Snellenberger hopped into a modified for the first time this season and sat outside pole for the IMCA Mod headliner. Snellenberger took the car to the front on the start with Bob Zegers, Bill Lemmens, Scott Boyea, R.M. Van Pay and Jamie Schmit behind. By the mid point of the contest, defending champion, Brian Mullen had moved into contention, taking over third place. By lap 13, Mullen was in second and started to close the gap on the leader. Mullen was closing fast when a lone caution bunched the field on lap 18, setting up a 2 lap dash to the finish. Snellenberger drifted out a bit in turn two which allowed Mullen an open door to the lead. Scott Mullen and Jared Siefert were also able to slip by under Snellenberger. Mullen drove off with his first Tri Oval feature of the season with brother, Scott second followed by Siefert, Snellenberger, Van Pay and Brad Rohloff. Kevin Charles took off from the front row and led the early going of the Street Stock Main. The field sorted out a bit by lap 5 with John Hiles in second followed by Lance Arneson, Jamie Colwell and Jeff Treml. Charles was able to pull away during the race with Colwell able to make his way into second place on lap 12. It took until lap 14 before Colwell could make a move on the leader and on lap 15 was able to take over the top spot. A lone caution on lap 18 left the lineup as before with Colwell holding off Charles for his first feature win of the season. Hiles was in third followed by Arneson, Treml and Jesse Colwell. The finishing order was changed following the race, first, by Hiles, who pulled into the pit area instead of reporting to the claim area, erasing his third place finish. Charles was disqualified for refusing a claim made on the motor following the race. The moves put Mile Cole and Jamie Van Ooyen into the top six finishing positions. Jeremy Christians took command of the Stock Car main at the start followed by Benji LaCrosse, Shawn Wagner, Jon Wolf and Tim Van De Hei. Christians was well ahead in the race until the lone caution appeared on lap 15 for debris. Christians held off LaCrosse, Van de Hei, John Wolf, Shawn Wagner and John Heinz for his first feature win of the season. SUMMARY IMCA MODIFIED WISSOTA LATE MODEL STREET STOCK IMCA STOCK CAR |
