July 1, 2001; Seymour, WI - For the first time this season, N.E.W. DIRT was able to run two full race programs back to back at the Seymour Tri Oval Raceway with one of the biggest shows ever, the Potawatomi Community Hit The Jackpot series. A field of 121 cars jammed both pit areas and the Late Models were 32 cars strong for their portion of the series event. A brief lighting problem just before the Stock Car feature caused a delay and a looming curfew. But, the final 3 features, 80 laps total, were run green to checker to save the day and an exciting, full program was complete just 10 minutes overtime.
The second leg of the Hit The Jackpot Series, rain delayed from Memorial Day, started a quality field of 22 cars in the 30 lap headliner. Terry Anvelink grabbed the lead from the get go with Ron Mahder and Tony Bahr pulling right behind. The leaders stayed bumper to bumper and started running into lapped cars by the mid point of the race. One lapped car was black flagged for not yielding the right of way for Anvelink, on lap 19, which allowed Bahr an opening to take over the lead. Bahr was able to pull away a bit one in the front and drove on to collect the $2000 award for winning the event. Anvelink took the runner up finish with Mahder right behind in third. Current track point leader. Troy Springborn, battled with Terry Casey, Don Copp and Pete Parker for most of the race to finish in fourth. Casey and Parker rounded out the top six. Jamie Colwell took charge of the street stock main at the start with Jeff Treml, Lance Arneson, Darren Otto, and Jesse Colwell right behind. The field stayed close nose to tail until a pair of mid race cautions slowed the pace. Once the green appeared for the final run, Jamie Colwell, the current point leader, was able to pull away a bit, while Treml, Arenson and Jesse Colwell put on a show for second. Jamie drove on to win his second feature of the season with Treml taking the runner up spot over Jesse Colwell, for a Greenleaf connection sweep of the front spots. Arneson held off Otto to take fourth with Dan Gracyalny, rounding out the top six. The lead position never changed in the Stock Car main with Tim Van De Hei, using the front row draw starting spot to take charge at the start. The battle was back in the field with Jerry Wilinski taking second, Benji LaCrosse, John Hienz and point leader, Jeremy Christians behind. LaCrosse used the inside line to move into second and a few laps later, Christians, who found the outside line to his liking, moved up to challenge LaCrosse. For most of the mid part of the race, the pair ran side by side, with Christians finally settling into second 6 laps from the end. Van De Hei navigated traffic to perfection to win his second straight division feature with LaCrosse coming home in third. Wilinski won the battle with Dave Bouche, Jon Wolf and Shawn Wagner to take fourth. Bouche and Wolf rounded out the top six. Dean Wilcox took the lead for the opening 2 laps of the Modified nightcap with Troy Kuyoth running on the outside to take over the lead on lap 3. Defending champion, Brian Mullen, came into the night winning two of the three features run this season, showed why he is the man to beat at his hometown track. Mullen followed Kuyoth to the front and it took only 2 laps to take over the top spot. Once in the front, Mullen pulled away to collect his second feature win in a row here and third for the season. The battle was for the runner up spot throughout the rest of the race. Kuyoth ran all grooves but liked the outside line. Wilcox stayed in contention for the entire race while R.M. Van Pay and Brad Rohloff made their was to the front. Van Pay also like the outside line and crept up on Kuyoth to take over the spot after the mid point of the race. Rohloff closed in and took third away five laps from the end of the race. Van Pay was able to close the gap on Mullen, but not enough to make any challenge for the lead, and took the runner up finish. Rohloff took third with Kuyoth in fourth. Wilcox took fifth and point leader, Scott Mullen rounded out the top six. The Hit The Jackpot series will return for the final round to the Tri Oval on Sunday night, August 26. A full regular program will return to the track this Sunday night, before taking a week off for the annual County Fair on July 15. Bahr Cashes in on Seymour
"Hit The Jackpot" Series Money! Eau Claire's Ron Mahder grabbed the lead from his pole position at the drop with Anvelink and Scott Cramer trailing. For the first few laps Anvelink and Mahder went wheel-to-wheel exchanging the lead no less than three times in as many laps, with Anvelink running the high groove and Mahder hooked on the bottom of the black, dry slick tri-oval. Meanwhile Bahr waged a door-to-door battle with Scott Cramer for third, with Bahr taking third on lap five and Anvelink taking the lead on the same lap as well. By lap eight Bahr tracked down Mahder and dogged him for the next several laps. Terry Casey had sliced his way from 10th to fifth in ten laps using the high line. Anvelink, the race leader, began encountering lapped cars by lap 11. As Mahder and Bahr ran nose to tail in the race for second Casey moved in on the pair, and by lap 12 it was a three car race for second. Anvelink got bottled up in lapped traffic and the trio squaring off for third soon became a quartet battling for the lead. Bahr and Casey both drove around Mahder to take second and third, respectively by lap seventeen. Three circuits later Bahr took advantage of Anvelink's getting caught up in lapped traffic to take the lead with ten circuits remaining. In the closing laps Casey worked the high side on Anvelink in the race for second. Both drivers caught up with Bahr in the closing laps but Bahr protected the inside line in the dry slick but smooth race track to collect the feature win. Anvelink settled for runnerup money. Ron Mahder placed third while Troy Springborn finished fourth. Casey rounded out the top five finishers. The next Potawatomi Bingo Hit The Jackpot series race will be Friday night July 6 at the Langlade County Speedway in Antigo. Racing begins at 7:30 p.m. SUMMARY WISSOTA LATE MODEL IMCA MODIFIED STREET STOCK IMCA STOCK CAR |
