St. Croix Falls, WI Sep 07, 2008 - Kopellah Speedway put a lid on its 2008 racing card by continuing a season-long theme. For the tenth time in fourteen events, a driver laid claim to a career first victory.
On the final race of the season, Hornet driver Tyler English did the honor of completing the “first ever” task. In what was likely the most action-packed Hornet feature of the season, English and Dan Strobach paced the field to the evening's first main event green flag. Strobach led the lap but quickly deferred to the #3XL of Doug Summer. Summer, however, only held the spot for a single lap before pole-starter English re-staked his claim to lead. At the crossed flags it was Summer's turn again, before falling to the advances of Rich Darkow. Darkow looked to have victory in hand until a high flying charge by English shot the #11 Mazda of English back to the point around the final set of turns, earning English career trophy number one. Darkow crossed the line in second place, ahead of teammate Rex Lutgen, with Jon Fick and Jason Christianson rounding out the top five.
Looking to make it three out of four, second heat race winner Will Hargreaves shot from the outside front row to lead the for the first five laps of the Pure Stock finale. On a lap six restart, three time winner Danny Richards shot passed Hargreaves and into the lead. Hargreaves would mount a series of challenges the rest of the way, but none were successful and he had to settle for second. Behind the lead duo, Skip Lutgen finished third, with rookie Krysta Swearingen fourth and Austin Galloway fifth.
After picking up his first career WISSOTA Midwest Modified feature win at Kopellah ten nights earlier, Jason VandeKamp didn't have to work quite as hard on his second one. After winning his heat race, VandeKamp bolted to the early lead with fourth starting Josh Bazey giving chase. After sliding back as far as fifth, Ronnie Rihn dove under Bazey for second on lap five and set his sights on VandeKamp. After bringing out the caution on lap three, Dan Wheeler restarted on the tail, and by lap twelve, Wheeler had worked his way back up around Vince Corbin and into third place. With Wheeler's RED1 in third, it helped VandeKamp's cause somewhat as Rihn had to contend with the crafty veteran while also sizing up the leader. With two laps to go, Wheeler momentarily stole the runner-up spot from Rihn, only to have Rihn snatch it right back on the white flag lap. At the checkers, the top three were VandeKamp, Rihn and Wheeler, followed by John Remington and Bazey.
The Amsoil Dirt Track Series Street Stocks were at the mercy of the the 2007 WISSOTA Modified rookie of the year Andy Miskowic for the first half of their 20 lap main. Miskowic started and the pole and led comfortably until about lap six. After initially sliding back to third, Chanda Fjorden Nord began putting pressure on Miskowic for the win a few laps prior to half way. Contact between the leaders brought out the caution on lap ten, with both cars significantly damaged. Fjorden Nord was tagged with the yellow and sent tail end, while the damage to Miskowic's ride was severe enough to end his night. The end result was third running Tommy Richards inherited the lead, a position the Mondovi, Wisconsin hot shoe rarely relinquishes. With only a handful of laps remaining, Dan Bork mounted a high-side charge, pulling even with Richards for a few circuits. But at the checkers, the #7R made it a daily double for the Richards family, picking up a win to match that of Danny just two races earlier in the Pure Stocks. Behind Bork, Shawn Kammerud finished third, with Quinn Arnoldy fourth and Kyle Howland adding to his season-long string of top fives.
Set to re-establish his late season hot streak, WISSOTA Super Stock pilot Dan Gullikson dominated his main event. Taking off from the outside of the front row, the #00x steadily pulled away from the field. Heat race winner Shane Kisling gave it his best shot, but the former Street Stock national champion is a tough cookie to crack on his home track. Gullikson cruised to comfortable victory ahead of Kisling, Brent Kobs, Marcus Berget and John Remington. The win was seventh of the season for Gullikson at Kopellah, and fourth in a row.
The final race of the 2008 season looked quite similar to the penultimate feature, with a dominating driving putting on a dominating performance. Kevin Adams was in attendance for eleven of the fourteen race nights this season at Kopellah, and would end his season at the Speedway with his tenth visit to victory lane. After starting the race in his comfort zone – outside and in front – Adams showed why he is the leader in the WISSOTA Modified national championship chase. First heat race winner and pole-starter Andy Miskowic quickly settled into second, and them simply tried to stay in the same zip code as Adams. Adding to his WISSOTA total of more than two dozen feature wins in 2008 at four different race tracks, Adams logged his ninth Kopellah clean sweep. Miskowic motored to a runner-up finish ahead of Keith Tourville, Mike Mueller and Steve Lavassuer.
Kopellah Speedway will celebrate its season and honor its champions at its annual awards banquet in October. For the second consecutive year, the Hog Will BBQ and Grill in Luck, Wisconsin, will host the event, while entertainment will again be provided by Bruce Jr.'s Karaoke. The night will include a social hour, buffet style dinner, awards presentations and a party and dance until the wee hours. After the Saturday, October 18 celebration, preparations will begin for the 2009 racing season. For details on the awards banquet, please contact the Speedway at 715-566-0647 or visit the track's website at www.kopellahspeedway.net.
