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Quam Claims Mid Season
Championship Feature
By Andrew Schaller |
June 28, 2008; Jefferson WI -- Chris
Quam of Stoughton captured his first career Late Model feature win last
Saturday in the Mid Season Championship 50 sponsored by Smith Motors of Fort
Atkinson. Quam started his trek to the front from the outside of row three
while Mike Taylor was taking the early lead. Luke Padfield tucked in behind
Taylor for second with Quam sliding into the third spot. The leaders ran
nose to tail until lap 12 when Quam snuck inside Padfield to take away the
second spot.
Trent Erdman followed Quam under Padfield to move into third just as the
first of multiple cautions flew over the field. Quam dove to the inside of
Taylor for the lead on the restart, but before they could complete the lap,
caution number two waved and slowed the field once again. As the green
returned, Quam charged back to the inside of Taylor and made the winning
pass a lap later. Erdman again followed Quam to gain a position to second.
Quam began to open up a sizeable lead as Jason Erickson began to challenge
Erdman for second. The third caution flew on lap 31 as Taylor lost control
and spun, erasing Quam's large lead. On the restart, Erickson got to the low
side of Erdman to battle for second. But Erickson would lose some grip and
fall back allowing Steve Dobbratz to move up and make his bid for second.
Meanwhile, Quam was able to move back out to a comfortable lead while they
fought behind him. Quam endured three more caution periods, but none proved
to ruin his run to the checkers for his first win. Dobbratz managed to get
by Erdman as they finished second and third respectively. Roger Behlke and
Erickson rounded out the top five.
Oconomowoc's James Helmer charged to the front of the 35 lap Mid Season
Championship Sportsman feature to take the trophy in victory lane. John
Handeland and Kody Hubred made up the front row at the start as the field
was slowed for the only caution of the event before the completion of lap
one. After the restart, Handeland took control of the race with Hubred
pulling in behind for second. Handeland began to pull away from the pack as
Nick Balis moved around Hubred into the second spot. Helmer moved into the
top five and up to fourth on lap six. Helmer motored into third on lap 13
and second two laps later when Balis bounced off the backstretch wall.
Helmer immediately started to run down the leader, closing the gap a little
more each tour. Helmer finally caught Handeland on lap 26 and he slipped to
the inside looking to lead. The duo battled side by side for a lap until
making heavy contact in turns one and two, allowing Helmer to move out into
the top spot all alone and pull away. At the stripe, it was Helmer with a
comfortable advantage followed by Handeland, Ken Scott, Shaun Scheel and
Tory Bagley.
In International action, it was Jefferson's Kenny Au taking honors in the 25
lap feature event. Trent Rueth and Craig Knapp lead the field to the green
as Peter Shelley made it a three wide battle for the top spot on the opening
lap. Shelley and Knapp emerged side by side with Shelley gaining control on
lap four. Meanwhile, Au was slicing through the pack and into third behind
the battle for the lead. Au made quick work of Knapp and went right to work
on Shelley for the lead. Au got inside and by Shelley for the top spot on
lap seven. Mark English eventually got through the traffic to the front, but
Au already owned a large lead that English could not overcome. Au cruised to
the win with English, Shelley, Brandon Pendleton and Neil Higgins rounding
out the top five.
Jimmy Robinson of Orfordville used a late race charge to grab the win in the
30 lap Hobby Stock feature event. Buck Stultz and Brett Carson battled door
to door at the drop of the green until Carson took the initial lead on lap
three. Nick Newton motored to second and then past Carson into the lead a
lap later. The first of several cautions flew on lap five. The restart
allowed Tim Lange to get inside Carson for second just as caution period
number two waved when Carson spun. As the green returned, Lange dove to the
inside of Newton looking to lead. The two competitors battled side by side
as the pack bunched up behind them to watch the fight. Lange finally took
control of the lead on lap 13 as Newton got shuffled out of the top five.
Lincoln Keeser slid into second with Jim Tate right behind for third. After
two brief caution periods, Steve Sauer tried to look inside Tate for third
at the same time Tate peeked inside Keeser for second. All three made
contact and spun bringing out yet another yellow flag and sending all three
to the back for the restart. This allowed Robinson to inherit second as the
green flag flew once again. With five laps remaining, Robinson got to the
inside of Lange as he pulled even with the leader. They raced side by side
over the final five laps trading the lead several times. At the stripe, it
was Robinson with a very slight advantage for the win with Lange in second.
Rounding out the top five were Zac Schmidt, Jason Dunn and Bart DiMattina.
Edgerton's Titus Helgestad gained the top spot early on in the 25 lap Bandit
feature and held on to take the victory. Paul Willett took the early lead
with Helgestad shadowing the leader in second. On lap three, Willett lost
control entering turn three, spinning and allowing Helgestad to take over
the lead. Meanwhile, Tommy Pfeifer and Chad Olds were picking their way
through the field. The duo entered the top five on lap 12 as Pfeifer went to
the high side to move forward on the scoreboard. Pfeifer got to second with
seven laps remaining and caught the leader a lap later. Pfeifer began to
peek to the outside of Helgestad for the top spot. Pfeifer finally pulled
even with the leader as they passed under the while flag. As the pair exited
turn four to see the checkers, Pfeifer pushed high allowing Helgestad to fly
across the line in first. Pfeifer was second with Tony Ciano, Olds and
Barrett Hammond completing the top five.
Next week, Jefferson Speedway will host the Independence Day Special on
Thursday, July 3. A regular program of racing is scheduled highlighted by
round one of the Goodyear Stateline Challenge with round two occurring on
Saturday, July 5 at the Rockford Speedway. The Late Model division will
compete in the Old Glory 50 lap feature on Thursday night. The evening will
include a fireworks spectacular as well as stock car rides and big wheel
races for the kids. Time trials begin at 5:30 with racing at 8 pm. Jefferson
Speedway is located halfway between Jefferson and Cambridge on Hwy 18. For
more information, please visit www.jeffersonspeedway.com.
Jefferson Speedway Race Summary
Late Model—
Feature Results- 1) 4 Chris Quam, Stoughton 2) 52 Steve Dobbratz, Rio 3)
11Trent Erdman, Fort Atkinson 4) 44 Roger Behlke, Jefferson 5) 94 Jason
Erickson, Fort Atkinson 6) 16 Luke Westenberg, Jefferson 7) 5 Casey Johnson,
Stoughton 8) 4 Luke Padfield, Jefferson 9) 7 Bob Kahler, Caledonia, IL 10)
71 Jason Deppe, Waterloo 11) 41 Mike Taylor, Stoughton 12) 1 Jody Krueger,
Edgerton 13) 29 Scott Lindsay, Dousman 14) 22 Jasper Gronert, Fort Atkinson
15) 13 Andy Brocker, Jefferson 16) 61 Jerry Eckhart, Johnson Creek 17) 71
John Ovadal, Watertown 18) 33 Dylan Schuyler, Jefferson 19) 3 Chuck Duncan,
Milwaukee 20) 7 Ed Kubicz 21) 99 Doug Hahn, Whitewater 22) 17 Duane Deppe,
Waterloo
Fast Qualifier- 94 Jason Erickson—14.275
seconds
Heat Winners- 1) 41 Mike Taylor 2) 99 Doug
Hahn 3) 44 Roger Behlke
Sportsman—
Feature Results- 1) 7 James Helmer, Oconomowoc 2) 19 John Handeland,
Belleville 3) 39 Ken Scott, Rio 4) 8 Shaun Scheel, Lake Mills 5) 52 Tory
Bagley, McFarland 6) 42 Tom Reents, Janesville
Fast Qualifer- 31 Dave Oswald—15.202 seconds
Heat Winners- 1) 41 Dick Reents 2) 39 Ken
Scott
International—
Feature Results- 1) 31 Kenny Au, Jefferson 2) 57 Mark English, Janesville 3)
5 Peter Shelley, Edgerton 4) 21 Brandon Pendleton 5) 66 Neil Higgins,
Watertown 6) 00 Scott Hoeft, Jefferson
Fast Qualifier- 57 Mark English—16.474
seconds
Heat Winners- 1) 00 Scott Hoeft 2) 57 Mark
English
Hobby Stock—
Feature Results- 1) 33 Jimmy Robinson, Orfordville 2) 96 Tim Lange, Dousman
3) 19 Zac Schmidt 4) 71 Jason Dunn, Sun Prairie 5) 5 Bart DiMattina 6) 96
Alan Dorn, Columbus
Fast Qualifier- 27 Jim Tate—16.535 seconds
Last Chance- 71 Jason Dunn, 07 Mike Maurer,
32 Craig Staude, 5 Bart DiMattina
Heat Winners- 1) 41 Nick Newton 2) 96 Tim
Lange 3) 42 Bobby Selsing
Bandit—
Feature Results- 1) 90 Titus Helgestad, Edgerton 2) 57 Tommy Pfeifer, Fort
Atkinson 3) 86 Tony Ciano, Janesville 4) 89 Chad Olds 5) 19 Barrett Hammond
6) 10 Dave Schmidt, Cudahy
Fast Qualifier- 57 Tommy Pfeifer—14.426
seconds
Heat Winners- 1) 93 Heather Stark 2) 89 Chad
Olds
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