Kaanta Wins Round Four at Eagle Valley
Jim Falls, WI– On Sunday, July 1, Gordy’s County Market presented the races at Eagle Valley Speedway, featuring the WISSOTA Challenge Series Late Models. Coming into the night’s races, John Kaanta was a five point leader over Lance Matthees. Kaanta proved, once again, he had the stuff that champions are made of as he motored to, not only a heat win, but a feature win as well on Sunday night.
Shane Kisling continued his winning ways as he picked up another win in his WISSOTA/Amsoil Super Stock. Kisling was joined in the Gordy’s County Market Winner’s Circle by Cory Crapser who picked up win number seventeen of the year in his Midwest Modified. Cody Kummer also put another sticker on his Street Stock as he picked up win number fourteen of 2012. In Eagle Valley Pure Stock action, George Richards came from a seventh-place starting spot to win.
The Super Stock feature was the first feature of the night and began with Lucas Plank and Shane Kisling on the front row. Kisling immediately shot to the front with Plank and Eric Olson in hot pursuit. A caution occurred just as lap four was being completed when Ryan Olson spun as he came out of turn one. With the field lined back up, Kisling once again grabbed the lead with Olson running in second and Plank in third. At the half-way point Kisling was putting distance between himself and the rest of the field as Olson still ran second followed by Tommy Richards who had worked his way up from his tenth-place starting spot. Joining in the top five, at the time, were Plank and Tony Falkner. A series of two cautions, after lap eleven and lap thirteen, both caused by Mark Stender, sent Stender to the pits and Kisling back to
the front with Olson once again doing his best to get the top spot. Meanwhile Shawn Huse was on the move and was running third after starting eighth. When the checkered flag flew it was Kisling getting another win in his L L Excavating sponsored car. Rounding out the top five were Huse, Olson, Richards, and Plank. Cory Crapser and last week’s winner, Alex VanNatta, lined up side by side for the start of the Midwest Modified feature with Crapser leading the race as the green flag flew. With five of the fifteen laps in the books, Crapser continued to lead with VanNatta hounding him in the second spot. Shane Halopka had moved up from fifth to run third while Grant Southworth had come from eighth to run fourth followed by Nick Koehler. At the midway point, Crapser had a firm grip on first, Halopka moved up to the second spot followed by Southworth, Koehler and VanNatta. Crapser survived two caution restarts to come home the victor in his
Bob Seckora/Coldwell Banker sponsored car. Joining Crapser in the top five were Southworth, Halopka, Jake Smith, who had put on a late race surge, and Koehler.
Coming off a win the previous night in Rice Lake, Doug Wojcik started on the pole with Troy Fransway on the outside for the start of the Street Stock feature. Wojcik was quick to take the lead as Cody Kummer moved up to grab second followed by Jay Kesan who had come from fifth. With five of the fifteen laps in, Wojcik continued to lead as Kummer, Kesan and Adam Soltis had a spirited battle for second. Those four were joined by Mike Knudtson who managed to get his car
into the up-front action from time to time. With five to go, Kummer was done running second and made the pass on Wojcik for the lead as they came out of turn four. Wojcik then had no other option but to fight back and stayed right with Kummer as the cars rounded the track on the way to the checkered. By the time the checkered flag flew, the fans had once again been treated to a great Street Stock feature with Kummer, in his Troy’s Shop sponsored car, winning by just a half car length over Wojcik with Kesan a car length or two right behind. Just a car length or so behind Kesan, Soltis and Troy Fransway continued their battle to the checkered flag.
In Eagle Valley Pure Stock action, Pat Smith and Dalton Hazelton led the field to the green with Smith being the early leader, leading lap one. Hazelton would soon move to the lead and by the end of lap two was in control with Smith running second. Hazelton led five laps, but George Richards was on the move and by the end of lap seven had gone around Hazelton for the lead bringing Clay Potaczek along, sending Hazelton to third. Joining in the top five, at the time, were Smith and Todd Roshell. Once Richards had established himself as the leader the best the others could do was hang on for the ride as Richards took the checkered flag in his Krause Signs sponsored car. Rounding out the top five were Potaczek, Hazelton, Smith and Chris Sleep who had moved up to the fifth spot with three laps to go.
The final race event of the evening was reserved for the WISSOTA Challenge Series Late Model feature with A J Diemel, coming off of three successive wins in so many nights, and Jordan Yaggy sharing the front row. Diemel showed his dominance early, taking the lead as the cars rounded the track for the first time. Diemel was not without serious challengers, though, as Scott Gilberts kept the pressure on running in second and John Kaanta followed closing behind in third. Joining Gilberts and Kaanta were two other drivers of serious consideration, Yaggy and Lance Matthees. With sixteen laps in, the top five remained in the same, but Kaanta had moved to second as Gilberts ran third and Matthees ran fourth while Yaggy ran fifth. By this time, Diemel had lapped five or six of the cars in the remaining field and was on his way to what appeared to be his fourth victory in four nights. Just as lap seventeen was beginning, two successive caution flags were thrown, the only two of the feature. This dropped two cars out of contention, Todd Green for mechanical and Kerry Hanson when his number four car sparked the front stretch wall on a restart and then made heavy contact with the turn one wall. When racing resumed, Diemel once again shot to the lead followed by Kaanta, Gilberts, Matthees, and Yaggy. Back in the field, though, it was Jake Redetzke who was on the move. Redetzke had been running seventh for much of the race, but by lap nineteen had replaced Yaggy in fifth and by the end lap twenty one
was running fourth. With ten laps to go, the leaders began to run into lapped traffic and the field tightened up. Diemel was still in control, leading by as much as a full turn over Kaanta. Redetzke now ran third followed by Gilberts and Matthees. By lap thirty-one Diemel was still leading but his margin was dwindling a bit as Redetzke make the pass for second sending Kaanta to third followed by Gilberts and Matthees. Redetzke closed the gab even further on Diemel and more lapped traffic became an issue so that by lap thirty-five Diemel led by just a car length and Redetzke was threatening.
As the cars passed under the flag stand for the beginning of lap thirty-six, Redetzke seized the opportunity and got along side Diemel as the cars approached turn one. As both cars went for the same piece of real estate, they got together and the result was not good for either driver as Redetzke’s car was “toast” and Diemel was credited with the caution. With Redetzke and Diemel out of the picture, that left Kaanta in charge and in charge he was as he drove to the win in his Joe Provo Raceware sponsored car. Joining Kaanta in the top five were Gilberts, Matthees, Yaggy, and Chad Mahder who had put on a late race surge after running seventh or eighth most of the race.
The night’s race events were followed by a fireworks display to celebrate our country’s Fourth of July.
Racing resumes on Sunday, July 8 when River Country Coop presents the Eagle Valley WISSOTA Race of Champions events.
Keep the following dates in mind as these are schedule changes. July 15 will be “Meet the Drivers Night” at Eagle Valley Speedway-a chance for everyone to get on the track and shake the hand of those who entertain us every Sunday night. There will be autographs to be had and keepsakes galore.
Sunday, July 22, will now be Tim’s Automotive Night with rumored advanced pay-stay tuned for more on that in the upcoming news.
As usual, racing begins with hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6:00 every Sunday night. Be there “When the Valley Heats Up”!
Article source: http://speednetdirect.com/blog/?p=22527
