Justin Zoch's Upper Midwest Ramblings, Part Two
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Dennis Moore Jr. is now crewing for Colin Northway as he rehabs his shattered left arm. Moore’s recovery has not been smooth and it looks as though he’ll miss the entire 2005 season. Meanwhile, Jonathan Allard won the Jim Raper Dirt Cup for Moore’s owner Morrie Williams…David Hesmer has retired following another horrible night on June 11. Hesmer flipped hard in turn two and sent out a press release two days later. Will June 11, 2004, actually be the end of the all-time King of the 360s at Knoxville? I’m inclined to doubt but every one has to step away sometime and perhaps this was Hesmer’s moment…Nice to see Bob Weuve back at Knoxville in 19 car. Weuve made just one start last season in Greg Jones’ 35x…Ryan York is still busy running USMTS Modifieds but he promised to have a Sprint Car assembled by the 360 Nationals in August. York has motors but is lacking the frame rails to set them…George Sibet raced his 1935 Coupe at vintage night on Friday in Knoxville. Sibet still owns the 45 Sprint Car but he has left it in the garage this season as his Jerry Richert Jr. has hooked up with Joe Kouba. Sibet fielded cars for Tony Norem and Jerry Richert Jr. for several seasons…Another vintage car of note was driven by Dave Sauer. The 1979 Stewart Midget was run by his son Eddie at this season’s Chili Bowl with some success.
Tommy Kamrath finally made it to Knoxville after 22 years of racing. He spent four years in Midgets and the next 18 in Sprints before debuting. Kamrath runs a Stevenson Chassis outfitted with a ex-Butch Donahue Weseman. His brother Greg, a former Wissota shoe, was wrenching the car…Alan Gilbertson brought out the family 97 for its first run of the 2005 season and ended a streak of horrible evenings at Knoxville. He loaded it on the trailer 10th in the B-main and hopes to return next week…David Hall was leading the B-main when the engine killed mysteriously exiting turn two. He refired but missed the A for the second straight Saturday…Brett Mather’s bid for three straight feature wins at Knoxville came up two spots shy. He charged from mid-pack with a stumbling motor. Mather is now fourth in points. Larry Ball Jr., the point leader, went backwards with a faulty fuel pump. Jake Peters is now second over Johnny Anderson…Dusty Zomer will make his World of Outlaws debut next Saturday night at Knoxville after running the 360 on Friday night. He could make regular Saturday night starts in the 410 by season’s end…Ian Madsen has medical clearance on his left arm and could return to the Simmons F5 for this weekend’s WoO show. More than likely, he’ll return the next Saturday. On Friday, Kerry Madsen tested a Mopar engine at Eagle…Seth Brahmer has fully recovered from the concussion he suffered at the Knoxville IRA show but he is still not cockpit ready. He broke a wrist in a household accident and may be out of a few more weeks. His father Rich returned for a Saturday night start at Eagle a few weeks back.
Back on May 15, Terry McCarl made his first start of the season at Huset’s and stole victory from Gregg Bakker in the final turn. Bakker remembered that heartache and didn’t let it happen again this Sunday night. McCarl quickly charged from 12th to second and actually slid past Bakker on the final lap in turn two. Bakker, however, drove back by McCarl to take the lead. Contact was made and McCarl spun to the inside of the raceway with a broken front end. It was Bakker’s first win of the season at Huset’s and third of the season, counting his two Jackson triumphs…Johnn Cressman was absent from the Huset’s pits after blowing his engine in hot laps on Saturday night at Eagle with the Outlaws…Gary DeWall has had a forgettable season and finally registered his first finish of the year with a solid fourth at Huset’s…Jody Rosenboom blew the engine in his racer and pulled out his father’s 14R for the B-main. He came one spot shy of the transfer and used a provisional to start the A-main. His father, Randy, is confining his racing to Rock Rapids and Jackson this season…Shane Spurlock made his first start with a 410 on Sunday night. Spurlock, who moved from Wyoming to Elk River, Minnesota, over the winter, now calls Sioux Falls home…Randy Droescher won the make up feature for the 360s over Brandon Rokusek and Dusty Ballenger. The 410 feature from June 12 will be made up on Sunday, July 3. Next week, it’s a Late Model Stock Car double dip…Mark Dobmeier skipped Huset’s to run night three of the Roughrider Classic in Minot, North Dakota, but used a free right rear tire as payola to con Brock Dump into flying his 13. Doug Martens also subbed for Minot-bound Donavon Peterson in the Tom Wilson 10, which flew a 51. Huset’s awards points to cars instead of drivers.
Randy Wagler sent correspondence that he is still now content to enjoy racing from the grandstand side of things but he is still involved with his business Wagler’s Petron Plus. They’re a sponsor for Ryan Jamison and on the web at www.waglerspetronplus.com. As for Paul Poncelet, he’s still involved in racing as a sponsor for Joe Riedel. He fills his days at Poncelet Welding. Many kind words filtered in remembering Poncelet’s 25. Next up, let’s find out what happened to Dave Westercamp? If anyone knows the whereabouts of the 7B, send them to Justin@mompub.com.
Tidbits
Randy Hannagan really digs I-55 Speedway in Pevely and showed it again on Wednesday night as he scored the midweek 410 special. In 2001, he scored his first World of Outlaws win there and a hypothermic evening…Why is it that teams generally have their best finishes when they first connect? Brian Leppo replaced Jeff Shepard in the Apple 12 car and won his first night at Williams Grove, a track where Leppo has never been particularly fast. Shepard has already landed in the Kasey Kahne 9…Eric Lutz won the race to the rubber at I-90 Speedway on Saturday night…It was a big night for the Johnsons on Friday as Wayne won his second IRA show of the season at Cedar Lake and his nephew Buddy won the Super Sprint feature at Oklahoma City. Last year, Buddy made a start in Sprint Bandit action for Terry McCarl, who was sidelined with kidney stones, at US 36…Joey Saldana is recovering at home from a concussion suffered at Eagle on Thursday. He’ll miss the Wednesday night show at Sedalia and could miss Knoxville’s two-night stand. Saldana set a NTR when the Outlaws last visited Knoxville…Kelly Kinser is now three for four in MASS action after winning his second feature of the season at Tri-State Speedway. His other finish is a runner up to Kevin Huntley at Attica…First time winners continue in the 317s at Jackson as Ben Crees scored the win on Saturday. He joins Jeff Luhman, Steve Yager and AJ Childs as winners this season. The division is now five-for-five with new winners in 2005. Last year, only three drivers, Troy Schmidtke, Bruce Anderson and Frank Phipps, won all season.
Next up is the World of Outlaws visit to Knoxville for a two-night stand and then it is off to Ohio for five nights of Ohio Sprint Speedweek with the All Stars with a possible stop at Lincoln Speedway in Illinois for Sunday night weekly non-wing action. In the meantime, keep me in the know, or at least entertained, at Justin@mompub.com.
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