Capacity Crowd Jams Cedar Lake Speedway for School Bus Night
New Richmond, WI
by Greg Parent (5-15-10)
With the popularity of the annual School Bus Race Night at the Cedar Lake Speedway continuing to produce record crowds, the 6th annual edition once again proved to be a huge success on a wonderful spring evening as the track was literally filled to capacity. Also in action on Saturday night May 15 were the NASCAR Late Model and Midwest Modified divisions along with the first appearance of the season of the Winged Mods. In an outstanding feature race, Bob Smith topped Andy Jones to earn his first NASCAR Midwest Modified main event victory of the season. Turning back the pages in track history, Mike Kelley Jr raced to the feature win in the Winged Mods. Another first in the NASCAR Late Models saw Chad Mahder take home top honors for his first-ever CLS feature win. Rounding out the program in the always popular and highly entertaining school bus races, the feature event saw the Osceola High School bus defeat the Baldwin-Woodville bus in a slam-bang race filled with excitement.
As the School Bus Race Night continues to amaze and gain in popularity each year, the 6th Annual event proved to be the biggest yet with local area high schools providing a band, choir and tons of students. School buses from seven area high schools were painted in various schemes and driven by teachers, a food service director and an actual school bus driver from Amery, Baldwin-Woodville, Osceola, New Richmond, Somerset , St. Croix Central and Unity. Add in three additional buses, two from the Cedar Lake Speedway driven by Ron "The Swamp Man" Bernhagen and Brad "Leadfoot" Both along with a third bus piloted by stunt driver Clay "The Wild Man" Gallagher, and you have a formula for a very entertaining evening.
Amery and Somerset won the two bus heat races to set the stage for the big feature event. The second bus heat saw them actually race backwards the whole way. With two lady bus drivers (St. Croix Central and Somerset) on the pole for the 15 lap feature race, action got underway with a crash on the opening lap in turn three involving the New Richmond and Unity buses. With school buses racing two and sometimes even three wide, the wild event was filled with crashes, crunches and dramatic moments for the large crowd. The Osceola bus came from the sixth starting spot to take the lead and pulled away a bit before more wild action took place. With three laps remaining, the CLS Swampman bus rolled on its side on the back stretch pinching the second and third place buses of Baldwin-Woodville and Somerset for a while. The St Croix Central bus was able to gain on the leaders, as suddenly with just a couple laps to go the Osceola bus blew a right front tire. On the final lap, the Osceola bus got turned around on the back stretch and finished the race backwards to take a popular win while the St Croix Central bus unlapped herself to finish behind Balwin-Woodville and Somerset. Four buses finished on the lead lap. The popular promotion will return next May for what will likely be another record-setting night at the Cedar Lake Speedway, as local area high schools vie for bragging rights on a fun-filled evening at the races.
The 34 car NASCAR Midwest Modified field was pared down to 24 cars for their 20 lap feature, as heat race wins went to Jake Miller, Dan Wheeler, E J Heitala, and Bob Smith. 2009 track champion Jason Vandekamp won the B Main. Mike Mueller led the opening lap of the feature race before E J Heitala took over on lap two. With two laps scored, a five car crash in turn one brought the race under caution. The cars of David Swearingen and Jason Meyer required wrecker assistance to the pits while the other cars were able to restart. After another quick caution for a car slowing on the back stretch, the race was under green again. The battle for the top spots was very entertaining, as Heitala continued to lead Jake Miller, Mueller and Bob Smith. Andy Jones was on the move forward from his 12th starting spot as was Dan Wheeler. They soon joined the lead pack battle making it six cars. Smith got by Mueller for third and then moved past Miller for second on lap six. Jones was up to fourth a lap later while Wheeler cracked the top five the following lap.
With Heitala and Smith having a great back and forth battle for the lead, Smith took the top spot on lap 9 only to see Heitala jump back past him to lead lap 10. A spin at the halfway mark brought out the caution. One lap later, third place Miller spun in turn four and the race was under yellow again. Robbie Franklin and Steve Houle got collected in the incident and were out of action. When the race returned to green, the battle up front continued to thrill the fans. Heitala was able to hold off Smith for several laps while Dan Wheeler and Andy Jones traded the third spot on several occasions. On lap 17, Smith got around Heitala for the lead once again. A final caution flew the next lap for a spin, setting the stage for a three lap shootout to the finish. It was Smith, Heitala, Wheeler, Jones and Vince Corbin in the top five. With some wild racing taking place behind the leader, the 2-5 spots changed hands during the final three laps. Bob Smith went on to record his first CLS win of the season while Andy Jones raced hard to finish second. As the next three cars crossed the line in a group, E J Heitala held on to third with B Main winner Jason Vandekamp and Vince Corbin in a near photo finish for fourth and fifth. Dan Wheeler, Alex Gerlach, Bryan Siercks, Mike Gibson and Jake Miller completed the top ten.
Although the Winged Modified field was rather slim, their feature race saw a page from history past turned. Mike Kelley Jr had raced in the division when it was popular back in the 1980s and early 1990s era. Kelley immediately grabbed the lead and looked strong. Soon Rick Kobs, another throw-back to the earlier winged outlaw modified era, was challenging Kelley for the lead. Kobs slipped past to lead lap three, but Kelley returned the favor. As Kobs stayed close for several laps, Jason Miller held third. Kobs tried a couple more times to get past Kelley, but he was unsuccessful. In the latter stages of the race, Kobs lost ground to the leader and Miller soon was close behind. As Mike Kelley Jr earned the victory, Rick Kobs narrowly held off Jason Miller for second. Shawn Phillips and Scott Kobs were the only other cars to finish the 12 lap feature race, as Dave Lear and Jason Gross dropped out while Adam Martinson and Terry Hanson did not start. Miller won the heat race.
A solid field of 28 NASCAR Late Models saw Brent Larson, Ashley Anderson and Eric Breeschoten top the heats with veteran racer Joel Cryderman winning the B Main. Jesse Redetzke and Eric Breeschoten brought the thundering field to the green for their feature race. At the conclusion of lap one, Jesse Redetzke looped his car in turn one causing other cars to scatter. Pat Doar made side to side contact, but Doar was able to continue. As not all cars had completed the opening lap, a complete restart was called with Redetzke tagging the tail and Toby Patchen moving up to the pole position. Patchen grabbed the early lead over Breeschoten, as the two cars diced back and forth. Breeschoten moved to the point on lap three, but Patchen regained the lead the next lap only to see Breeschoten return to the front on lap five. Mike Nutzmann and Chad Mahder were on the move forward, and they soon were second and third when a second caution waved for Pat Doar with six laps scored. Doar went to the work area to change a flat tire and returned. Also under caution, Jeff Patchen's car was towed to the pits, Jesse Redetzke pulled off and Adam Hensel went to the work area to change a tire. Hensel returned but quickly dropped out when the race went back to green. On the restart, Chad Mahder went from third to first to lead lap seven with Breeschoten and Nutzmann close behind. Brent Larson, Steve Laursen and Rick Egersdorf battled for fourth.
The caution blinked on for the third time with 10 laps in for a spin in turn four. On the ensuing restart, Brent Larson's car appeared to have a tire go down and shot into the turn three wall. The B1 late model required two wreckers to remove it from the track. Another attempt to restart saw Pat Doar slow which brought out another yellow. Doar was out of the race. Finally the race returned to green flag action with Chad Mahder, Breeschoten, Nutzmann and Toby Patchen in the top five. Steve Laursen got by Patchen a few laps later. The running order up front remainded the same, as John Kaanta, Cory Mahder and Joel Cryderman were working their way forward. The sixth and final caution flew when Mike Bear's car lost a spring and blew a tire. With the race nearing the time limit, the distance was reduced to 25 laps. The final five laps went off without incident, and Chad Mahder raced to his first career CLS feature victory. Eric Breeschoten, Mike Nutzmann and Rick Egersdorf held second through fourth. John Kaanta got by Steve Laursen for fifth on lap 22 and closed in on Egersdorf, but Kaanta had to settle for fifth. Laursen, Cory Mahder, Cryderman, Toby Patchen, Jake Redetzke and Darrell Nelson completed the top ten.
Racing returns next Saturday night May 22 at the Cedar Lake Speedway with all four regular NASCAR divisions in action. Come on out and enjoy an evening on dirt track racing at the Legendary Cedar Lake Speedway featuring NASCAR Midwest Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Modifieds and Late Models. Racing gets underway at 6:00 PM. Each race program this season has been completed before 10:00 PM. For more information, please visit our website at www.cedarlakespeedway.com or call 1-866-4CLS-FUN.
