Entertainment returns to Shawano Speedway

SHAWANO — In an area deprived of sports, Shawano Speedway provided some much-needed entertainment during its opening night on Saturday.

Even with COVID-19 safety guidelines in place, the speedway grounds were still full of people. Brad Luepke, the speedway’s marketing and promotions manager, said fans were respectful of each other’s space and spread themselves out.

“Dirt racing is a tight knit community, so to be able to put on a show to bring them all together and give the community some sort of normalcy was pretty special,” said Luepke. “It was quite a bit of work to put all the procedures in place to do this properly, but it felt great to see it all come together.

“Shawano County officials have been very supportive toward opening, and we can’t thank them all enough for working with us to allow us to move forward with racing here.”

The race night was a breath of fresh air for many individuals as there were not many other entertainment options available the past three months.

“It was great to be back at the track to watch our favorite drivers and to catch up with friends,” said Jodi Gunderson, of Bonduel.

“This was my first time going to the races, but it was really nice and fun finally being able to go out and socialize and watch my friend (Max Oreskovich) race,” said Abbey Schreiber, a student at Clintonville High School.

The fans were treated to several entertaining races, with Nick Anvelink, Lucas Lamberies, Dan Michonski, Jeffery Teske and Tanner Westphal picking up feature wins.

Anvelink started the Late Model feature in the fourth position, alongside Brett Swedberg and behind Troy Springborn and Ron Berna. After a couple of early cautions, Anvelink surged to the top spot, followed by Springborn, Swedberg, Joe Reuter and Berna.

Anvelink soon built a comfortable lead before a third caution bunched the field back up again. The restart didn’t affect Anvelink, as he was able to rebuild his lead and cruise to victory.

“It’s fun to win at your home track,” said Anvelink, who credited his win to his fast start and being able to drive without much traffic around him. “We have a pretty good fan base built up here so it feels good to run good there.”

“It’s fun to be able to race in front of that many people.”

Springborn followed in second, with Swedberg, Berna and Reuter rounding out the top five.

“Getting back to racing, that’s kind of our life, that’s what we do,” said Berna, of Abrams, on getting back on the track. “Without that in it, we’re kind of lost and don’t know what direction to go because we have family involved and friends helping in the pit crew. It really makes our day to go back and do what we normally do.”

The IMCA Stock Car feature race was headlined by a back-and-forth battle between Michonski and Brandon Czarapata, who started in the first position.

Czarapata was able to fend off several strong pushes from Michonski before a caution with four laps to go reset the field.

“Brandon is one of the best when it comes to the stock car class. He is very fast and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes,” said Michonski. “I really thought we were just gonna be a second-place car at the end of the race, but he pushed up in corner one and two and lost some momentum and I was able to get a run alongside him down the back stretch.

“Going into corner three, I didn’t think I could make the pass because the fast line had been the top, but I was able to clear him off of four to complete the pass and lead the last two laps of the race.”

Following Michonski and Czarapata to the finish line was Jeremy Christians, who started in fifth. Travis VanStraten took fourth after starting seventh, while Jeremie Hedrick took fifth after starting fourth.

Teske controlled the majority of the IMCA Sport Mod feature, fending off a few different drivers along the way.

Teske took the early lead, being followed by Brock Saunders and Jeff Schmuhl.

After a restart, Teske again pulled ahead, with Jayden Schmidt, who started in 12th, sneaking up into the top five. Schmidt continued to pass up the drivers in front of him, eventually overtaking Saunders for second after a second caution flag.

Schmidt and Teske spent the remainder of the race battling for the top spot, but Teske successfully worked his way past some lapped traffic to seal up the feature win.

Schmidt, Saunders, Schmuhl and Teagan Wudstrack filled out the top five.

The IMCA Modified feature included plenty of movement, but it was Lamberies who led most of the way.

Lamberies started in the fourth position, passing up Kevin Feck, who started on the pole, just a couple of laps in. As Lamberies began to build a cushion, Jordan Barkholtz was able to maneuver into the second position.

A pair of cautions erased Lamberies’ leads, but he was able to earn it back quickly after the restarts and crossed the finish line first.

Barkholtz, Wyatt Block, Jason Czarapata and Eddie Muenster capped the top five. Four of the top seven finishers (Block and Muenster included) started outside the top 10.

Westphal started the Mighty Four feature in fifth, but quickly made his way to the front of the field. Clint Malueg started on the pole, but could only hold off Westphal so long.

Westphal had a comfortable lead before a caution flag was raised with five laps to go. The restart didn’t bother Westphal though, as he surged back ahead again and went on to win.

After starting 10th, Calvin Stueck worked his way through the field to take second. Brad Wedde claimed third, Lucas Hacker fourth and Kyle Jorgenson fifth.

Racing will continue this Saturday, with a 6 p.m. start for the races and gates opening at 4 p.m.

ONLINE

For full results and point standings, visit https://www.myracepass.com/profile/?r=1874&rt=track.

sports@newmedia-wi.com