6/8/2018
Granite City Motor Park
MARTINI THE SURVIVOR IN MODIFIED ACTION AT GRANITE CITY SPEEDWAY
SAUK RAPIDS, MN (JUNE 8, 2018) – It wasn’t a desert island on a reality TV show, but the outcome was similar as Eric Martini was a Survivor in the WISSOTA Modified Feature at Granite City Speedway.
Kyle Thell and Don Eischens started alongside each other on the front row. When the green flag waved, it was Eischens who got the jump. Fifth starting Martini soon found himself in second as Eischens tried to break away. Martini would catch the leader with only a handful of laps remaining. With less than three laps left, Eischens blew his engine going into turn three, locking his car up and spinning in front of the field. Martini narrowly missed Eischens as he took the lead as the caution waved. On the restart, Denis Czech found himself in second and looked to make a challenge on the new race leader, Martini. Shortly thereafter, Czech slowed dramatically on the backstretch before his car came to a stop with fire coming out of it just prior to entering turn three. The final restart saw Martini still maintaining the point as J.T. Johnson and Justin A-Strike were right behind. Johnson rallied alongside Martini as the white flag waved, but Johnson’s car drifted a little too high in turn one and hit the wall, causing him to lose momentum and opening the door for A-Strike to take second as Martini rolled on to take his second win in the last three weeks.
Veteran driver Dave Mass turned in a perfect performance as he won the WISSOTA Super Stock Feature. From the start, Mass was power on as he outran Jordan Henkemeyer in the dash into the first turn. Mass quickly extended his lead as Dexton Koch was working his way into second. Mass looked to go untouched as Koch couldn’t cut into the lead. With three laps left, Henkemeyer slowed on the frontstretch to bring out the race’s lone caution. When the green flew again, Mass picked up where he left off as he shot off to the win. Koch had to settle for second, while Kurt Beckon finished third.
“The car was hooked, I could go into the corners pretty fast” said Mass afterwards. “I wasn’t excited when the caution came out with three laps to go. I thought I had it done, but then we had to go again. Restarting up front you can control the race and it helped out for sure.”
Zach Benson had a memorable night as he capped off a clean sweep by winning the WISSOTA Midwest Modified Feature. Tom Gill led briefly before Benson took over on the opening lap. Despite Gill’s strong run, Benson had an even stronger run as he tried to get away in the lead. A pair of cautions through the middle stages of the race allowed Bud Martini to position himself in second. In the stretch drive to the finish, Benson kept his steady and quick pace and took it the rest of the way to take the win. Martini would finish about three car lengths back, while Gill would finish third.
Dane Olson scooped up the lead and never looked back as he won the Outlaw Mini Mod Feature. John Dulmage tried to make a bid for the lead from the start, but it was Mark Jacobson who led at the completion of lap one. Jacobson’s stay on top was brief as on lap four, he slowed dramatically and then pulled off on the backstretch. Olson took over the lead as the race stayed green. Tommy Patton trailed Olson, but couldn’t do anything to challenge as Patton chased Olson to the win.
After a bad finish, just one week ago, Adam Prieve reversed his fortune in a positive way as Prieve won the WISSOTA Mod 4 Feature. From the start, Prieve took command of the race as he quickly broke away from everyone. Dean Larson would climb into second, but Prieve wasn’t about to let anyone near him as he continued his strong run the entire race, taking the checkered flag by nearly a half of a lap ahead of Larson and Dustin Holtquist.
“It was really hammer down,” said Prieve following the race on the very tacky track. “I didn’t have to lift much. It (the track) was a little rough, but it wasn’t bad.”
Justin Schelitzche didn’t waste the opportunity of a great starting spot as he led wire to wire in the WISSOTA Hornet Feature. Schelitzche and rookie Zach Schreder ran hard in the opening couple of laps. However, Schelitzche set the pace and wasn’t about to let off as he gradually put some distance between himself and Schreder. Brittany Smith, who was gunning for yet another win, had a tight race with Schreder for second. Schelitzche used that battle to his advantage he to shot off to take the win. Schreder was able hold off Smith as the pair finished off a close race for second.
The next event at Granite City Speedway will be Dad’s Night on Friday June 15th. Racing is scheduled to start at 7:30pm. For more information and to purchase tickets online, go to www.gcspeedway.com
WISSOTA Modifieds
Feature (15 Laps): 1. D1RT-Eric Martini, [5]; 2. 46-Justin A-Strike, [7]; 3. 89JR-J.T. Johnson, [6]; 4. 00-Kyle Thell, [2]; 5. (DNF) 2-Denis Czech, [8]; 6. (DNF) 442-Aaron Johnson, [3]; 7. (DNF) 9E-Don Eischens, [1]; 8. (DNF) 27-Tony Proell, [4]; 9. (DNF) 40-Charlie Hillukka, [9]; 10. (DNF) 3-Brandon Linquist, [10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 89JR-J.T. Johnson, [3]; 2. D1RT-Eric Martini, [5]; 3. 442-Aaron Johnson, [1]; 4. 00-Kyle Thell, [2]; 5. (DNF) 3-Brandon Linquist, [4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9E-Don Eischens, [4]; 2. 46-Justin A-Strike, [2]; 3. 2-Denis Czech, [1]; 4. 27-Tony Proell, [3]; 5. 40-Charlie Hillukka, [5]
WISOTA Midwest Modifieds
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 17B-Zach Benson, [2]; 2. 4Q2-Bud Martini, [4]; 3. 20-Thomas Gill, [1]; 4. 00T-Keith Thell, [5]; 5. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth, [6]; 6. 112-Brennan Gave, [8]; 7. 29-Andy Mayavski, [3]; 8. 17-David Slovick, [9]; 9. 7D1-Mitchell Kittridge, [10]; 10. 27-Matt Baker, [7]; 11. 11B-Mike Boston, [11]; 12. 3-David Pixley, [12]; 13. (DNF) 16X-Richard Chasteen, [13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Brandon Mehrwerth, [1]; 2. 4Q2-Bud Martini, [4]; 3. 00T-Keith Thell, [5]; 4. 20-Thomas Gill, [2]; 5. 17-David Slovick, [6]; 6. 11B-Mike Boston, [3]; 7. 3-David Pixley, [7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17B-Zach Benson, [1]; 2. 112-Brennan Gave, [2]; 3. 27-Matt Baker, [6]; 4. 29-Andy Mayavski, [5]; 5. 7D1-Mitchell Kittridge, [3]; 6. (DNF) 16X-Richard Chasteen, [4]
WISSOTA Mod 4
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 9-Adam Prieve, [2]; 2. 37-Dean Larson, [4]; 3. 5H-Dustin Holtquist, [8]; 4. 7L-Tyler Larson, [6]; 5. 5-Robert Holtquist, [7]; 6. 01-Justin Pogones, [3]; 7. 32-Dwight Gilyard, [5]; 8. 30-Dean Shaver, [9]; 9. 95-Brenda Shaver, [1]; 10. 89-Chris McClain, [10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Adam Prieve, [2]; 2. 32-Dwight Gilyard, [3]; 3. 5-Robert Holtquist, [4]; 4. 01-Justin Pogones, [1]; 5. 30-Dean Shaver, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Dean Larson, [1]; 2. 7L-Tyler Larson, [3]; 3. 5H-Dustin Holtquist, [4]; 4. 95-Brenda Shaver, [2]; 5. 89-Chris McClain, [5]
Outlaw Mini Mods
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 4AL-Dane Olson, [6]; 2. 41-Tommy Patton, [5]; 3. 81-Jerry Larson, [3]; 4. 43J-John Dulmage, [2]; 5. 02-Kyle Jacobson, [7]; 6. 43W-William Dulmage, [1]; 7. (DNF) 12-Mark Jacobson, [4]; (DNS) 96-Taton Hansen,
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 81-Jerry Larson, [2]; 2. 41-Tommy Patton, [4]; 3. 43J-John Dulmage, [5]; 4. 12-Mark Jacobson, [7]; 5. 43W-William Dulmage, [3]; 6. 4AL-Dane Olson, [6]; 7. 02-Kyle Jacobson, [8]; 8. 96-Taton Hansen, [1]
WISSOTA Hornets
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 14-Justin Schelitzche, [1]; 2. 11-Zachery Schreder, [2]; 3. 5-Brittany Smith, [4]; 4. 99-Nate Servaty, [5]; 5. 5L-Luke Geisler, [3]; 6. 7BR-Lucas Boyce, [6]; 7. 3-Thomas Inderieden, [8]; 8. (DNF) 16J-Jay Cheese, [7]
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 5-Brittany Smith, [1]; 2. 11-Zachery Schreder, [2]; 3. 14-Justin Schelitzche, [6]; 4. 5L-Luke Geisler, [5]; 5. 99-Nate Servaty, [7]; 6. 7BR-Lucas Boyce, [3]; 7. 16J-Jay Cheese, [4]; 8. 3-Thomas Inderieden, [8]
WISSOTA Super Stocks
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2-Dave Mass, [1]; 2. 78K-Dexton Koch, [6]; 3. 70X-Kurt Becken, [4]; 4. 30-Kevin Burdick, [7]; 5. 27X-Andy Miskowic, [5]; 6. 15-Devin Fouquette, [3]; 7. 11K-Davey Kruchten, [10]; 8. 33-Austin Niemeyer, [11]; 9. X-Shawn Wageman, [12]; 10. 10X-Josh Schmidt, [13]; 11. 11H-Harley Kroening, [14]; 12. (DNF) 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer, [2]; 13. (DNF) 18-Kevin Schmidt, [8]; (DNS) 77-Scott Lawrence, ; (DNS) F5-Chad Fouqette,
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27X-Andy Miskowic, [2]; 2. 70X-Kurt Becken, [7]; 3. 11A-Jordan Henkemeyer, [1]; 4. 15-Devin Fouquette, [4]; 5. 77-Scott Lawrence, [8]; 6. 33-Austin Niemeyer, [3]; 7. 10X-Josh Schmidt, [5]; 8. (DNF) F5-Chad Fouqette, [6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30-Kevin Burdick, [2]; 2. 2-Dave Mass, [5]; 3. 78K-Dexton Koch, [3]; 4. 18-Kevin Schmidt, [1]; 5. 11K-Davey Kruchten, [6]; 6. X-Shawn Wageman, [4]; 7. 11H-Harley Kroening, [7]
Article Credit: Dean Reller
Submitted By: Dean Reller
