Van Wychen Returns to Victory Lane

By: Sandy Shultz
July 30, 2009

(KAUKAUNA, WI) Nate Van Wychen won his second late model feature of the season on Thursday night at Wisconsin International Raceway. Van Wychen, who started third, took the lead on lap eight, passing early leader Kevin Eggert as the two battled through turns three and four, with Van Wychen pulling ahead on the front stretch. Van Wychen was able to pull away from the field, giving himself some breathing room from second place Robb Vanderloop. Further back in the field, fast-qualifier Lowell Bennett worked his way from the tenth position to fourth spot by the middle of the thirty lap race. Bennett passed Jason Vandenberg for the position as Kyle Calmes followed. Bennett raced side-by-side with Eggert for the third position, overtaking him on the backstetch on lap 19. Bennett now had eleven laps to catch up to Van Wychen and Vanderloop. With three to go, Bennett had closed in on Vanderloop, but wasn’t able to make the pass. Coming to the checkered flag, Van Wychen, Vanderloop, and Bennett were nose to tail. Van Wychen bobbled a little bit as he accelerated coming out of turn four, but neither Vanderloop or Bennett were able to make the pass. Van Wychen crossed the finish line just .177 seconds ahead of Vanderloop. Bennett held on to third position, followed by Calmes and Mark Schroeder. Point leader Jeff Van Oudenhoven pulled off the track during the warm-up laps and into the pit area, but his crew was not able to get him back in race condition. Van Oudenhoven finished last, completing just two laps. The poor finish allowed Bennett to close the gap. Van Oudenhoven still leads the point standings, now by only 5 points over Bennett.

Jim Duchow returned to victory lane in the limited late model division. Jessie Van Roy took the early lead and battled with Brandon Conrad, who passed her on lap four. Conrad led the next six laps before being passed by Duchow. Duchow started the 20 lap race from the eighth position, working his way to second on lap six. After passing Conrad for the lead, Duchow pulled away from the field. Point leader Kris Kelly started the race from the 12th position and had worked his way to fourth spot as Duchow took the lead. Kelly passed Van Roy for third position on lap eleven and then raced side-by-side with Conrad for three laps, passing him on the front stretch with just five laps to go. Duchow had built up a sizeable lead and Kelly didn’t have enough time to make up the distance. Duchow won his second feature of the season, crossing the finish line as the yellow was displayed for an accident at the entrance of turn three involving Gary Natrop, Brad Anthony, Donald Van Camp, Mike Meyerhofer, and Terry Miller. Kelly finished second, followed by Conrad, Van Roy, and Terry Van Roy. Kelly remains the point leader by 120 points over Duchow.

Todd Baumann won his first Super Stock feature of the season. Baumann took the lead from Denny Crass on lap nine after the two battled side-by-side. Dylan Wenzel followed Baumann, moving to second position. Wenzel challenged Baumann for the top spot, but was unable to nudge Baumann from the lead. Wenzel finished second, followed by Greg Hauser, David Satorius, and Crass. Baumann remains the point leader by 45 points over Wenzel.

Ron Magdanz took home his third win of the season in the Sport Truck division. Magdanz passed Jacob Boldig for the lead on lap three and never looked back going on to win the 20-lap feature event. Dan Vixmer finished second, followed by Boldig, Jason Plutz and Reagan May. With the win, Magdanz increased his lead over Vixmer in the point standings to 52 points.

Rachel Meyerhofer won the first Sizzling Four feature of the evening. Coming to the checkered flag, Meyerhofer dove inside the leader Brandon Otto, who was also challenged on the outside by Tom Schweitzer. The move paid off, with Meyerhofer taking the checkered flag. Schweitzer finished second, followed by Otto, Tim Richter, and Bill Bruehl. In the second feature, Cody Kippenhan passed Andy Wiese for the lead on lap nine. Wayne Sonkowsky finished second, followed by Wiese, Colton Marx, and Randy Sonkowsky. Richter remains the point leader by 57 points over Schweitzer.

Craig VandeWettering won the 15-lap Figure Eight feature. VandeWettering led every lap after starting from the pole position. Dan Gracyalny was second, followed by Jeff Beschta, Terry Van Roy, and Jared Baughman. Van Roy maintains a 70 point lead over Baughman in the championship standings.

Join us next Thursday evening for Big Wheel races and a full night of racing sponsored by Standard Electric.

The next FRRC event is August 6th 2009