Van Oudenhoven takes round two of the Budwiser Triple Crown

on Children's Hospital Night at WIR

By Dan Margetta

Kaukauna, Wis., July 24—Jeff Van Oudenhoven survived a hard-fought battle with Tim Rothe and then held off John Meidam to win the 50-lap late model feature Thursday night at Wisconsin International Raceway during the second round of the Budweiser Triple Crown on Children’s Hospital Night.
“Tim (Rothe) is a super guy and a lot of fun to race with, “ Van Oudenhoven told the crowd describing their wheel to wheel showdown during the second half of the event. “That was some good racing there,” Van Oudenhoven continued, “We were both jacked up off turn two it was almost like we were driving dirt late models.”
The intense tussle between the two was set up by a caution flag on lap 29 which bunched up the field with Rothe leading at the time over Van Oudenhoven, Gregg Haese, and Lowell Bennett. Rothe chose the inside lane for the restart while Van Oudenhoven lined up alongside and as the green appeared, they charged into the corner door to door. For the next three laps, they raced virtually glued together before Van Oudenhoven won the high speed game of “chicken” by firing his car into turn three on the high side, clearing Rothe for the lead on lap 31. Once out front, Van Oudenhoven began to pull away while Rothe bobbled slightly a lap later exiting turn two which allowed Meidam to race by into second. Another caution flag slowdown on lap 35 for a single car spin, gave Meidam a chance to challenge Van Oudenhoven but while Van Oudenhoven gave up ground entering the corners, he was able to pick up the throttle earlier on exit and he gradually pulled away to the win.
Rob Vanderloop led the opening nine laps, using the outer groove to take command at the start as Troy Nelson, Haese, and Rothe all battled for second. Haese claimed the spot within a few laps and quickly tracked down Vanderloop for the lead while Rothe used the inside line to make his way around Nelson. Within a few laps of taking over second place, Haese ducked to the inside of Vanderloop to race into the lead on lap ten and with Vanderloop stuck on the outside, Rothe, Nelson, and Meidam all were able to get by. The first caution flew on lap 21 when Tom Hockers spun in turn three while racing with Bennett and as racing resumed, Rothe shot into the lead charging by Haese on the outside entering turn one on lap 22. Haese began to come back on the inside and kept Rothe in his sights behind them Van Oudenhoven was making his march forward, getting around Meidam for third. Mike Gardner and Troy Nelson tangled while racing for sixth in turn two on lap 27 to draw the yellow flag again with Rothe leading over Haese and Van Oudenhoven.
Haese made a valiant charge for the lead from the outside on the restart, pulling alongside Rothe down the backstretch, but Rothe was too strong through turn three and while he was able to hold off Haese for the lead, Van Oudenhoven was right there to capitalize on Haese’s charge to take over second. Pete Vandermolen’s slide towards the turn one wall two laps later drew the caution flag on lap 29 that set up the fierce battle between Van Oudenhoven and Rothe in which Van Oudenhoven came out on top of at lap 31.
Van Oudenhoven led the final 19 laps to take the win while Meidam finished a strong second. Rothe crossed the finish line in third place while Haese and Bennett completed the top five in fourth and fifth respectively. Terry Baldry battled his way to a sixth place finish ahead of Eugene Gregorich and Andy Monday while J.J. Smith and Mark Schroeder rounded out the top ten finishers.
Mark Schroeder took top honors in the 12-lap late model last chance race, taking the win ahead of J.J. Smith, Doug Mahlik, and Andy Monday as the top four finishers transferred into the main event. Kyle Calmes just missed the cut and finished fifth. Eugene Gregorich was the winner of the late model fast dash and Lowell Bennett led a strong field of 28 late models with a lap of 19.539 seconds to nail down fast time honors.
Jim Duchow drove away from the field to win the 30-lap limited late model feature over Jeff Tisler and Brandon Conrad.
Tanner Bohlen and Barnaby Tomazevic paced the field to the green flag and Bohlen jumped to the early lead while Duchow quickly began to slice his way forward on the outside from his eighth starting position. With Bohlen out front, Duchow worked his way into the top five by the third lap while Gary Natrop worked his way to second ahead of Tomazevic and Andrew Kluck. By the fifth lap, Duchow was in fourth place and a few laps later took over third while Natrop began to track down Bohlen for the lead. Duchow caught the lead duo by lap nine and within the next circuit around the track he motored to the inside of Natrop for second. Duchow then took to the high groove to make his way around Bohlen for the lead on lap 12. Contact between Kris Kelly and Todd Verhagen on lap 14 sent Verhagen’s car spinning around in turn one and the incident collected the car of Tomazevic as well to bring out the first caution flag. On the restart, Natrop made a charge on Duchow, pulling even down the backstretch before Duchow pulled away through turns three and four. As the laps clicked by, Duchow built a substantial lead as the best battle on the speedway was between Brandon Conrad and Brett Moffitt for sixth. A final caution flag on lap 28 for a two car incident in turn three set up a green, white, checkered situation to the finish but Duchow was too much for the field to handle and he drove to the win unchallenged. Jeff Tisler chose the outside lane at the cone on the final restart and the move paid off as he was able to charge to a second place finish while Brandon Conrad also chose the top side and turned it into a third place result. Gary Natrop and Andrew Kluck rounded out the top five while Brett Moffitt was sixth.
Jessie Van Roy was the winner of the 12-lap limited late model last chance race, holding off Jim Ebben and Doug Carpenter at the finish. Tim Springstroh finished fourth to transfer to the feature and Jay Kassera was fifth. Gary Natrop scored the victory in the limited late model fast dash and Jim Duchow was the fastest qualifier, blistering the speedway in 20.293 seconds.
Dylan Wenzel was an excited winner of the 30-lap super stock feature, leading the final 12 laps en route to the victory. “The car wasn’t handling too well so it seemed like a long feature to me,” Wenzel stated after excitedly jumping on the roof of his car in victory lane.
Donald Van Camp took the lead at the start over Jeremy Wiitala and Ed Howard with Howard eventually working to the inside of Wiitala for second on lap six while Van Camp continued to set the pace. The first caution flag appeared on lap 14 when Denny Crass turned sideways in front of Greg Hauser and both cars rocketed off the track and into the barrier off turn three. On the restart, the field became stacked up entering turn one which resulted in contact between Wiitala and Van Camp, sending Van Camp spinning in front of the field. Howard inherited the lead with Allen Trudell in second and Wenzel in third as racing resumed. Howard set the pace for three laps before he drifted wide in turn four on lap 18, allowing Wenzel to charge by on the inside for the lead. Kraig Koehler advanced into second and began to track down Wenzel for the lead, but his charge was cut short on lap 23 when he looped his car in turn four while racing with David Hoerning for position. Wenzel held off Trudell to score the win while Hoerning finished third ahead of Dave Gauger Jr. and George Schwalbach.
Corey Manders was the winner of the 12-lap super stock last chance race over Larry Raygo and Travis Willing. Stephen Schweitzer nipped Terry Van Roy for the fourth and final transfer spot. Josh Sands, Corey Manders, and Neal Sannes all were the winners of super stock heat races and David Hoerning was the fastest qualifier at 16.082 seconds.
Jeff Van Handel was the winner of the 20-lap sport truck main event, taking the victory ahead of Tyler Vandermoss and Josh Jeske. Todd Kostichka led the opening lap before Jordan Carpenter took over the point on lap two. Dan Vixmer took advantage of Carpenter’s move to the lead to pass Kostichka on the inside for second. Vixmer then became the third leader in as many laps by racing to the inside of Carpenter to take the lead on lap three. While Vixmer was comfortably on front of the field, his truck suddenly fell off the pace and he coasted to the infield on lap six, handing the lead over to Van Handel. As Van Handel led, Ron Magdanz worked his way through the field and into the top five with Brandon Kucksdorf right behind him. Van Handel led the final 13 laps and scored the win over Tyler Vandermoss while Josh Jeske finished third ahead of Magdanz and Kucksdorf. Earlier in the evening, Van Handel also won a heat race while Vandermoss was the winner of the other heat race. Ron Magdanz was the fastest qualifier in the sport truck division.
Tim Richter edged Kyle Fink by inches to win the 15-lap Sizzling 4’s feature and Jared Baughman bested a field of ten cars to win the Figure 8 race to close out the evening.
 

Next week is July 31st— Vanderloop Equipment Night