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Repost of GRP's race summary:
Tatnell Captures
8th Annual Jerry Richert Memorial at CedarLakeSpeedway
09/06/07
By Greg Parent
Brooke Tatnell
wanted to win the Jerry Richert Memorial as much if not more than any of the 34
outlaw 410 sprint car drivers on hand at the Cedar Lake Speedway on Saturday
September 6. Now a member of the Richert racing clan, Tatnell accomplished his
goal when he drove the Forbrook #5 sprinter to victory in the 8th Annual
edition of this popular IRA versus Knoxville Challenge event. Tatnell put on a
dominating performance in leading all 25 laps, as he bested a strong field of
outlaw sprint car competitors in what has become one of the IRA Outlaw Sprint
Series biggest races each season with lots of extra bonus money and
contingencies available.
Grand Forks, North Dakota's Mark Dobmeier
was the only driver of the 34 cars on hand to break into the 10 second barrier
in IRA time trials, as he turned a quick lap of 10.925 seconds around the 3/8
mile high-banked oval. Dobmeier's lap was less than 2/10ths off of Terry
McCarl's track record of 10.757 seconds set at the 2004 edition of this race.
The four IRA qualifying heat races were run off in very quick fashion with all
four running nonstop. Making his first CLS appearance ever, Knoxville Raceway
weekly competitor Bronson Maeschen drove to a convincing win in the first heat
over fellow Knoxville
competitor Kaley Gharst. With a large contingent of Richert family, friends
and fans in attendance, Jerry Richert, Jr. gave them something to cheer about
when he led all the way for the victory in the second heat. Long-time IRA
racer "Smokin" Joe Symoens raced to the win in the third heat,
besting two-time and defending Jerry Richert Memorial Champion Mike Reinke.
Scott Uttech led the first four laps of the fourth heat, but Royce City, Texas
driver Justin Zimmerman found the quick way around on lap 5 and went on to record
the win in his first appearance at CLS driving the Karl #7K sprinter.
A special 8 lap
Dash for Cash was held prior to the running of the B Main. Brooke Tatnell
wasted little time in blasting into the lead from his pole starting position
and never looked back enroute to a $500 win. Two-time and defending IRA
Champion Travis Whitney raced from sixth to second. With a brief rain delay
earlier in the evening, track and series officials kept the program moving
along quickly with the B Main rolling out trackside soon after the dash was
completed. Scheduled to start on the pole, Mark Dobmeier had experienced some
engine problems in the dash and was unable to run the B Main. This moved Billy
Hafemann up to the pole position. After one false start, Hafemann raced to the
win 15 nonstop laps later to defeat Davey Heskin, Brad Barickman, Gary Dewall,
and Donny Goeden. Scott Biertzer just narrowly edged out Brian Kristan for the
sixth and final transfer spot into the feature race, as all 17 starters were able
to run the entire distance.
The Northern
Vintage Stock Car Racers were also on hand. They ran two series of heat races
for their two divisions, the full body or stock cars and the open wheel or
super modified class. Winning the NVSR feature race for the second year in a
row at CLS in the stock car division was weekly late model racer Dave Friendt.
Not to be outdone by a fellow weekly CLS competitor, modified rookie Keith
Lepinksi drove to a convincing win in the super modified division besting the
likes of Dennis Olson and Butch Bethke. Following the vintage car features,
the outlaw sprint cars were pushing off for their main event when the light
rains returned for a second time. This time the delay was much longer than the
first time. Well over one hour later, the light rain had subsided and the
track was packed backed in to racing condition.
Former IRA Champion
Scotty Neitzel and Brooke Tatnell brought the 22 car starting grid to the green
for a scheduled 30 lap A Main. The race was immediately under the red flag
when contact exiting turn two caused Davey Heskin's car to roll over. The car
landed upright with only the top wing sustaining damage. Heskin's crew
repaired the wing in the work area, and he returned to restart at the tail of
the field. On the second attempt to get the race underway, contact again at
the exit of turn two saw Joe Symoens sustain a broken front end on his
sprinter. Smokin Joe's night ended with a ride on the wrecker. The third time
proved to be the charm, as Tatnell blasted into the early lead. Just two laps
into the race, the yellow blinked on for the second time when Ryan Irwin did a
complete 360 spin into the infield in turn one. Although he was able to
continue on, the yellow was turned on for safety reasons and Irwin was
relegated to the tail of the field. When the green replaced the yellow,
Tatnell once again quickly swept away from the field leaving Scotty Neitzel and
Travis Whitney to battle for the runnerup spot while Bronson Maeschen and Bill
Balog moved forward. Lapped traffic came into play just six laps into the
race, but Tatnell masterfully maneuvered his sprinter through the lapped cars.
During a 14 lap green flag run, Tatnell put several lapped cars between himself
and Neitzel while many fan's were watching the progress of current IRA point
leader Bill Balog. Balog had started 16th and was marching forward. With 16
laps in the books, fourth place runner Bronson Maeschen got crossed up in turn
four while battling for third and brought out the third yellow of the race.
This tightened up the field and Balog found himself in fourth place.
Two laps after the
race went green, the second and final red flag appeared when something let go
in 8th running Mike Reinke's car and his sprinter shot straight up the banking
and into the turn one wall. Reinke's car flipped over a couple of times before
landing upright in turn two. Reinke's bid for his third straight Jerry Richert
Memorial title ended with a ride to the pits on the wrecker. Again Tatnell
quickly distanced himself from the field when the race restarted. As the laps
clicked by, IRA officials became concerned about fuel and the race was
shortened to 25 laps instead of 30. Tatnell had built up a large lead again
and went on to record what he called a very special win for the transplanted
Australian driver now calling Forest Lake, MN home. It was Tatnell's second
410 sprint car win at CLS, having won a World of Outlaws feature back in July
2005. Scotty Neitzel, Travis Whitney, Bill Balog and Scott Winters completed
the top five finishers. On the final lap of the race, a rock was kicked up by
another car and hit the arm of Kaley Gharst. Gharst, running seventh at the
time, was unable to finish the final lap. Gharst was checked out by medical
personnel and was reported to be okay. Rounding out the top ten finishers were
Dusty Zomer, Justin Zimmerman, Bronson Maeschen, Jerry Richert Jr and Gary
Dewall, as 18 of the 22 starters were able to finish. On the cool down lap
after the race, a couple of cars ran out of fuel so the decision by IRA
officials to run 25 laps certainly seemed to be a valid one.
With the campfires
burning into the early hours of Sunday morning, many fans swapped stories and
relived past races as memories were rekindled and friendships made. Brooke
Tatnell joined Kim Mock, Don Droud Jr, Terry McCarl, Justin Henderson and Mike
Reinke as champions of this great sprint car event. Racing action continues at
the Cedar Lake Speedway with the Legendary 100 on September 10-13. Four big
nights of action-packed racing will take place under a very popular format.
The NASCAR street
stocks and midwest modifieds take center stage on Wednesday night September 10
with complete programs for each division paying $1,000 to win. The NASCAR late
models, modifieds and super stocks run two preliminary programs with a complete
show each night on Thursday and Friday September 11 & 12. The top eight
finishers in the qualifying feature each night are locked into their
championship feature race on Saturday night. The four cylinder hornets run a
full show on Thursday night while the local area pure stocks have a complete
program on Friday night. Then it is time for the grand finale on Saturday with
Last Chance races and the big feature events for the NASCAR late models,
modifieds and super stocks paying $5,000, $3,000 and $1500 to win
respectively. The makeup for the rained out Billy Anderson Memorial for 360
sprint cars will also be held on Saturday night September 13 with a full show
of heats and their feature event. A field of 20 or more 360 sprint cars are
expected. Race fans will certainly want to be a part of this great four night
racing extravaganza at one of the nation's premier dirt racing facilities.
Start times on Wednesday-Friday at the Legendary 100 are 7:00 PM with a 6:00 PM
start time slated for Saturday's show. On the web, check out
www.cedarlakespeedway.com for more information including ticket prices,
detailed race formats and purse breakdown.
Race Summary:
Fast Time (34
cars): Mark Dobmeier #13, 10.925
Heat 1 (10 laps):
Bronson Maeschen, Kaley Gharst, Bill Balog, Brooke Tatnell, Mark Dobmeier, Kim
Mock, Donny Goeden, Russell Borland, Duane Olson
Heat 2 (10 laps):
Jerry Richert Jr, Scott Winters, John Sernett, Troy Manteufel, Billy Hafemann,
Gary Dewall, Brian Kristan, Steve Meyer, Leigh Thomas
Heat 3 (10 laps):
Joe Symoens, Mike Reinke, Ryan Irwin, Travis Whitney, Andy Hunt, Bill Wirth,
Joseph Kouba, Davey Heskin
Heat 4 (10 laps):
Justin Zimmerman, Scotty Neitzel, Dusty Zomer, Scott Uttech, Scott Biertzer,
Brad Barickman, Bill Warren, Dave Uttech
Dash for Cash (8
laps): Tatnell, Whitney, Zomer, Dewall, Heskin, Hafemann, Dobmeier
B Main (15 laps):
Hafemann, Heskin, Barickman, Dewall, Goeden, Biertzer, Kristan, Borland, Meyer,
Warren, Hunt,
Wirth, Mock, D Uttech, Thomas, Kouba, Olson, Dobmeier
A Main (25 laps):
Tatnell, Neitzel, Whitney, Balog, Winters, Zomer, Zimmerman, Maeschen, Richert,
Dewall, Biertzer, Gharst, Sernett, Goeden, Barickman, S Uttech, Irwin,
Manteufel, Heskin, Reinke, Hafemann, Symoens
Lap Leader: Tatnell
1-25
IRA Hardcharger:
Bill Balog 16th to 4th**Photos are posted in the gotomn gallery**
Stan Meissner
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