Anvelink cruises to 9th win at speedway

Nick Anvelink was once again dominant as the second-generation racer won his ninth feature of the year in Late Model action at Shawano Speedway on Aug. 21.

Marcus Yarie won his fifth IMCA Modified feature. Trent Nolan rolled to his second IMCA Stock Car feature. Dylon Waldvogel got win one in the IMCA Northern Sport Modified feature, while Tanner Westphal picked up Mighty 4 win four. Jasper Drengler and Paul Elertson got wins in Spectator Eliminator action.

The IMCA Stock Car feature was the first to hit track. Pole-sitter Asa Doxtator grabbed the lead at the start of the race. Soon Dylan Stedjee, Kyle Frederick and Nolan began marching forward.

Stedjee took the lead on lap three. That would only last for one lap however, as Frederick took over on lap four. Nolan moved underneath Frederick on lap seven to snag the lead and began to pull away from the field.

As Nolan led, Travis Van Straten worked his way through the field from his 17th-place starting position. Van Straten moved to second on lap 15 when the caution flag waved.

With five laps left, Nolan led the field back to green. Van Straten applied constant pressure over the closing laps, but Nolan would not be denied. Nolan scored his second win of the year followed by Van Straten, Frederick, Stedjee and Dan Michonski.

The IMCA Sport Mod feature proved to be the Waldvogel show. The young Antigo racer won his heat race earlier in the night and followed that up by leading every lap of the feature for his first win of the year.

Waldvogel was followed to the checkers by fellow Antigo resident Zackery Raab, Tyler Sobiesczyk, point-leader Jayden Schmidt and Teagan Wudstrack.

The Mighty 4 class got the call to run third this week along with having on-track driver introductions. Jody Cornelius grabbed the early lead as Westphal and Carl King gave chase.

A bobble by Cornelius on lap three allowed Westphal to get to the inside and take the lead. King followed Westphal to second. Lucas Hacker soon joined the battle at the front of the field.

The caution-plagued race was cut short with Westphal taking the win followed by King, Hacker, Alexis Michonski and Cornelius.

Gunner Frank shot to the lead at the start of the Late Model feature; Anvelink, though, quickly motored toward the front.

Anvelink powered past Frank with an outside pass on lap four and decisively checked out from the rest of the field en route to victory.

Chris Engels finished second; a late race pass saw Ron Berna take third. Frank finished fourth, and Luke Postl grabbed fifth.

The IMCA Modified feature hit the track fifth. Veteran Eddie Muenster, back behind the wheel after a number of weeks out of action, took the lead on lap one. Hunter Parsons and Marcus Hoeppner battled for second as Muenster led.

As laps ticked away, Yarie went to work steadily advancing from his ninth-place starting position. On lap eight, Yarie passed Parsons to move to second. Yarie then went to work to erase the lead that Muenster had built up.

On lap 13, Yarie caught Muenster and the two former track champions began a high-speed chess match for the lead. The pair caught the tail of the field on lap 16 as Muenster still led.

Muenster fought off constant challenges from Yarie until lap 18 when Yarie finally got past Muenster for the lead. In the end, it was Yarie followed by Muenster, Konnor Wilinski, Parsons and Andy Karl.

Racing continues Aug. 28 with the Racing for a Reason 30 Late Model Special. Late Models will race for $5,000 to win. All five divisions will be in action.

Only two weeks remain in the 2021 season; information can be found online at ShawanoSpeedway.net and on social media by searching “Shawano Speedway.”