Bennett wins Red Race

By: Sandy Shultz

June 11, 2009

(KAUKAUNA, WI)  Lowell Bennett took home the checkered flag in the 75-lap Red Race, sponsored by Budweiser / WAPL / L&S Electric, winning the first race of the Red, White & Blue State Championship Series.  Bennett, a former Red, White & Blue State Champion, started the race from the tenth position, steadily working his way to the front of the field.

Doug Mahlik took the early lead, passing Frank Nitzke on lap six, followed by Andy Monday.   Mahlik and Monday raced single file, while Steve Holzhausen, Tom Gee Jr, and Bennett were making their way to the front.  Holzhausen moved past pole sitter, Terry Baldry, on lap nine to take the fourth position, one lap later advancing to third position after passing Nitzke.  Gee raced side-by-side with Baldry for several laps, eventually clearing him coming out of turn four on lap 14.  Meanwhile, Bennett had moved into sixth place.

Bennett worked his way past Nitzke on lap seventeen and passed Gee the next lap to advance to fourth position behind Mahlik, Monday, and Holzhausen.   The front five raced single file, until Holzhausen dove inside of Monday in turn three on lap 26 to take second place.  Bennett took third place away from Monday on lap 34, passing him on the front stretch, before setting his sights on Holzhausen.   Bennett passed Holzhausen on lap 41, before the yellow came out as Holzhausen slowed in turn two, bringing out the first caution of the night.

On the restart, Bennett started outside of Mahlik, followed by Gee and Monday in the second row.  Bennett pulled ahead to take the lead on lap 42, which turned out to be the pass for the win.  Mahlik and Bennett raced side by side for a few laps, before returning to single file, with Bennett out front.

Behind the leaders, Gee worked his way around Monday in turn three on lap 56 to take third position.  As the laps were winding down, Mahlik took one more run at Bennett, but didn’t have enough to make the pass.  Bennett crossed the stripe first, closely followed by Mahlik, Gee, Monday and Jeff Van Oudenhoven.  Bennett’s win kept him in 2^nd place in the season long Fox River Racing Club point standings, now just 19 points behind Van Oudenhoven.

Jim Duchow turned the tables on Kris Kelly, winning his first limited late model feature of the season.  Kelly had won the first two features of the season while Duchow finished second, but tonight Duchow took home the checkered flag and Kelly was left to finish second.   Duchow started the race from the tenth position and worked his way up to fifth position, after the first caution of the race on lap nine.   On the restart, Kelly lined-up behind Duchow and the two worked their way past Andrew Kluck on lap ten and Corey Kemkes on lap eleven.  Duchow moved outside of Randy Van Roy on the backstretch on lap thirteen, passing him coming out of turn four.   Caution slowed the field a lap later, bringing on the restart that would vault Duchow to the lead.  Tanner Bohlen had the lead on the restart, but Duchow passed him on the outside going into turn one.  Kelly passed Van Roy on the outside to take third place a lap later and followed Bohlen, until passing him for second place on lap nineteen.  Duchow had pulled away from the rest of the field, finishing 2.3 seconds ahead of Kelly.  Bohlen held on to finish third, followed by Van Roy and Kemkes.  Duchow and Kelly are now tied atop the point standings, each with 256 points, while Gary Natrop is 43 points back in third place.

In Super Stock action, George Schwalbach jumped out to the early lead, before getting passed on the outside by David Hoerning on lap three.  Hoerning went on to lead the rest of the 25 lap race, but failed post race inspection.  Dylan Wenzel crossed the finish line second, but was awarded the win.  Schwalbach was second, followed by Todd Baumann, Neal Sannes, and Corey Manders.  Sawyer Effertz leads Baumann in the standings by 14 points.

Sam Haven won the 20 lap Sport Truck Feature.  Haven started the race from the twelfth position, working his way to sixth place before the caution flag.  Jason Plutz was the early leader, until Josh Jeske passed him on the restart on lap nine.  Haven passed Jeske to take the lead on lap twelve and pulled away from the field. Plutz closed in on second place, passing Jeske on lap nineteen to take second place.  Havens went on to win, followed by Plutz, Jeske, Ron Magdanz, and Brandon Klucksdorf.  Jeske holds a one point lead over Plutz in the point standings.

Tim Richter won the 15-lap Sizzling Four feature event.  Richter took the lead from Bill Bruehl on lap ten and held off Buehl to take the win, followed by Kyle Fink, Wayne Sonkowsky, and Andy Wiese.  Richter now leads the point standings by 12 points over Sonkowsky.

The figure eight race had the first head-on collision when Craig VandeWettering and Jared Baughman met in the middle of the track.  Thankfully, they both walked away and the race was able to continue.  Dan Gracyalny was the winner of the 15-lap feature, followed by Willy Van Camp, Ken Van Wychen, Craig Krueger, and Jeff Zwiers.  Van Camp leads the point standings by 5 points over Baughman. 

Next Thursday is Children’s Hospital Night featuring Big Wheel races at 6:45 pm.  The second event of the Red, White, and Blue State Championship Series will be held on July 16^th.

The next FRRC event is June 18th 2009