August 25, 2002; Seymour, WI - A beautiful night for the final point race of the 2002 season Sunday at the Seymour Tri Oval Raceway. Four divisions crowned champions in a busy night completed just after 10 PM.
The WISSOTA Late Models took their feature action first with Pete Parker taking off from the pole into the lead. Point leader, Troy Springborn took up second followed by Terry Casey, Ron Bomber and Nick Anvelink. The top three pulled away from the field and after a couple laps, Casey took to the outside and set up Springborn for a pass into the runner up spot on lap 6. It took 6 more laps to work his way into the top spot and then pulled away in the non-stop event to collect his second straight feature win and third of the season. Parker held off Springborn for the runner up finish. Anvelink pulled up on Springborn over the final few laps but could not make the pass and settled for the 4th place finish. A.J. Diemel came through the pack to finish 5th and Tom Naeyaert rounded out the top six. Springborn entered the night 10 points ahead of Casey in the point battle and finished 8 point ahead to earn his fourth straight division title. He is the only driver in N.E.W. DIRT history to win four titles in a row. The IMCA Stock Cars were next up with Jesse Cullen jumping into the top spot at the start, but Jerry Wilinski pulled into the top spot to lead the opening lap. Following a lap 3 caution, Greg Gretz moved into the runner up spot and started top hassle the leader. The pack stayed tight and made moving up difficult. Brandon Czarapata and Jason Czarapata led that charge from mid pack with Tim Van De Hei, defending and 2002 champion, Jeremy Christians and Benji LaCrosse along behind. Wilinski was able to open a slight lead until a caution flew on lap 13 bunched the field again. Jason Czarapata took advantage of the restart to take the outside line by Gretz into second and was moving in on the leader when a final caution set up a 3 lap dash to the finish. Wilinski held off the pack to collect his first feature win at his home track since August 15, 1999. Jason Czarapata took the second place finish with Gretz nipping Van De Hei at the line for third place. Shawn Wagner and LaCrosse rounded out the top six. Christians ended up 7th and had clinched his second straight division title last week. Al Sedo took the top spot in the Street Stock main followed by Rick Naparalla, Troy Wilson, Lance Arneson and Leon Schott. The first of several cautions slowed the race on lap 3 and Naparalla found his way into the lead after the restart. Wilson moved into second on lap 6 with Arneson, Jeremy Wiitala, Bob White, Jr and Shawn Van Ooyen moving up. Lap 9 brought a couple cautions with Naparalla holding the top spot . Wiitala made a run at the lead on the restart and was scored as the leader on lap 10, but Naparalla fought back to regain the lead one lap later. Arneson came up to battle Wiitala, which allowed Naparalla a chance to open a lead on the field. The lead was erased by a lap 16 caution. The race was restarted as time ran out just as the white flag was to appear, the final caution flew instead, ending the race and giving Naparalla his first career feature win. Wiitala was in the point hunt during the night and finished second followed by Arneson. Darren Otto finished fourth with Shawn Van Ooyen fifth and Schott in sixth. Mike Coel was the point leader entering the night and had to make the main and then finish no further back than 16. He had a cut tire in the heat and made the feature through the consy and finished 7th in the main to clinch his first career track championship. The mods made the final run of the night with Art Siefert taking control at the start followed by Lance Arneson, Jamie Schmidt, Brad Rohloff and Jared Siefert. Rohloff lopped his car in turn 2 on lap 6 bringing out the lone caution of the race. Siefert continued his run a the lead after the restart with R.M. Van Pay moving into the runner up spot on lap 8. Brian Mullen was alongside and moved into second for four laps before Van Pay again pulled into the spot. Jay Schraufnagel moved into fourth on lap 13 as the action at the front heated up. On lap 15, Mullen again moved into second place but Siefert encountered a problem and pulled high out of the way, which allowed Van Pay to move into the lead. Schraufnagel took advantage of the mix up to move into the top spot on lap 17 and pulled away over the final 3 laps to win his sixth feature of the season. Van Pay chased Schraufnagel in second place until Dennis Young made a late race charge and nipped Van Pay at the line for second, only to have the move erased after the race because he jumped several cars on the restart back on lap 7, which put him out of the top six. Van Pay and Mullen moved into the top three with Jamie Schmidt taking his second top four finish . Jared Siefert took fifth and Travis Spaulding was sixth. With Brian Mullen qualifying for the main, he clinched his fifth career Tri Oval division title. Todd Wilcox topped off the nights racing by winning his first 4 Banger feature event to become the 10th different winner of the year. Adam Haegle was second for the second week in a row. This was the final point race of the season. The 6th Annual Miller Lite Shootout will close the season this Sunday night, September 1st. Racing starts a bit earlier, at 6 PM. Pit gates open at 3 PM and all cars will draw for heat line ups and re-draw for feature. Grandstand opens at 4. All five divisions will be in action topped by 25 lap features. This race has always produced the largest field of cars running for the largest purse of the season. SUMMARY IMCA MODIFIED WISSOTA LATE MODEL STREET STOCK IMCA STOCK CAR |
