N.E.W. Dirt Closes Season With 19th Annual Awards Banquet! By Dave Panske

November 9, 2002; Seymour, WI - N.E.W. DIRT Officially closed their 2002 season with their 19th annual banquet and awards program Saturday night, November 9th at Doxbee’s supper club in Seymour.

Photo Highlights

The 2003 Seymour Tri-Oval track champions gather, shown from left to right are Street Stock Mike Coel who won his first career title. IMCA Stock Car champ Jeremy Christians who took his second straight title, IMCA Modified champ, Brian Mullen who scored his fifth Tri-Oval track title and WISSOTA Late Model champ Troy Springborn who won his fourth straight title. The top rookies this past season included, Street Stock Jeremy Wiitala, WISSOTA Late Model A.J. Diemel and IMCA Modified Dave Andrews. Special service awards to N.E.W. Dirt were presented to Kathy Carpenter (left), Lynn Zegers (center) the retiring treasurer and Steve Van Pay (right) the retiring president.

The IMCA Modified division saw 60 different drivers compete this past season. Brian Mullen led the way with 2 feature wins and consistent top 3 finishes to win his 5th Tri Oval track championship. Jay Schraufnagel won a division leading 6 features during the year and finished second in the standings. R.M. Van Pay finished the year with 2 feature wins to take third place. Travis Spaulding was fourth and a tie for fifth was shared by Mike Cole and Jeremy Jacobs.

The WISSOTA Late Model division was led by Troy Springborn. Springborn entered the season as a three time defending champion and became the first driver in club history to win four straight titles. Terry Casey led the points during the year and finished second by only 8 points. Casey was tied for most wins in the division this year with 3 feature victories. Another former three time champ, Tom Naeyaert finished the season in third. Tim Buhler secured a fourth place finish in the standings with Randy Markwardt rounding out the top 5.

Mike Coel bested a field of 47 different Street Stock drivers to win his first career track championship. Coel won 1 feature on his way to becoming the 14th different division champion in the 15 years the division has run on Sunday nights.

Jeremy Wiitala ran to a second place finish in the standings only 12 out of first place. He missed winning a feature, but, was a steady top 5 runner all season. Shawn Van Ooyen stepped up his program this year and finished a strong third in the points. Jeff Treml chased the point leaders all season and finished in fourth this year. Lance Arenson rounded out the top five in the points.

Defending IMCA Stock Car champ, Jeremy Christians, took top honors for the second straight season. He won a division leading 3 features and became the second driver to win back to back titles. Shawn Wagner improved his season to take second in the standings this year. Benji LaCrosse was one of three drivers to win more than 1 feature and placed third in the final tally. Former champion, Tim Van De Hei picked up one feature to place fourth. Jason Czarapata finished one point behind Van De Hei to take fifth.

Each division also crowned a Rookie of the year. Dave Andrews finished 12th in the points and took the Modified title.

A.J. Diemel ran to a division leading tie for most wins with 3 features, including the season ending special. Despite missing one night, he finished 6th in points to earn the rookie title in the Late Model division. Second place driver in the Street Stock division, Jeremy Wiitala, also took the rookie crown with his strong performance this season. Jesse Cullen was awarded the IMCA Stock Car rookie title.

Steve Van Pay and Lynn Zegers were presented plaques for their services the past 2 years as club president and treasurer. Kathy Carpenter was presented a plaque for her continued support of the club.

Any driver that competed at the track in 75% of the races this past year, were surprised to receive an additional bonus at the banquet.

Despite the tough year in 2002, the club was able to finish very strong. After completing track work this fall and paying off all of the club debt, the club had money left, and for the first time in the 19 seasons, was able to reward the drivers with a club point fund.

Also announced were the opening dates for the 20th anniversary season in 2003.

There will be an open practice and a 4 Banger race on Sunday, April 27th. The regular season will kick off the following week, May 4th. All five divisions will return in 2003 on the unique 1/3 mile clay tri Oval.

The club holds monthly meetings on the first Monday of every month throughout the year. Meetings are held at Doxbee’s at 8 PM.