Cryderman Tops Rice Lake Challenge Series Race By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI Sep 01, 2008 - Joel Cryderman passed Steve Laursen with three laps to go and then held off Laursen by half a car length to top the Dart Challenge Series for WISSOTA Late Models Friday night at the Rice Lake Speedway and earn $3,000 for his victory. Other winners on day one of the annual Labor Day weekend doubleheader included Kevin Adams, Jason Forehand, Steve Stuart, Scott Paulson and Danny Richards.
One hundred and seventy two cars crowded the pit area on the opening night of the doubleheader with the Late Models taking center stage for their Dart Challenge Series event. Thirty Late Models signed in tonight with twenty five taking the green flag for their fourty lap main event. Laursen drew the pole following the invert after the dash was completing and he jumped into the early lead over John Kaanta with Cryderman quickly moving into third.
Only one lap was completed when the yellow slowed the contest for a Scott Gilberts spin. Laursen continued to lead on the restart with Cryderman pulling up beside Kaanta as they battled for second. A.J. Diemel and Adam Hensel were fighting for position behind them while Kerry Hanson also started to become part of the lead pack.
Laursen was strong in the first half of the race as he opened up a ten car length lead whle the battle for second continued with Cryderman pushing the outside as he tried to work his way past Kaanta. Hanson continued his charge on the very outside of the track as he eased past Hensel and put the pressure on Diemel. Laursen started to get into traffic as the leader caught the back of the pack but just at the halfway point the yellow waved again as Todd Gehl rolled to a halt with a flat tire.
The last half of the race would go nonstop with Laursen again pulling out to a six car length lead. However, Cryderman , who finally was able to drive past Kaanta on the high side and take over second , started to gradually close in on the leader. Slowly but steadily, Cryderman continued to cut into the lead of Laursen. With twelve laps to go, Cryderman had caught Laursen but then a slow car forced Joel to drop low and he lost some momentum. Gradually he again closed on Laursen and with five to go was right behind him. With a strong run off turn four, he nosed ahead of Laursen with three laps remaining. Laursen fought back and they raced side by side and as the white flag appeared, Cryderman carried a slight lead down the back chute. Laursen drove very deep into turn three and as they raced off the last corner, they were side by side. However Cryderman again had the strong run off the cushion and he edged Laursen by half a car length for the win. Hanson used the cushion to his
advantage also as he edged past Kaanta in the late going for third with Brent Larson charging into the top five near the end also.
Dart Series point leader Lance Matthees settled for ninth tonight with runnerup in points Pat Doar running eleventh so Laursen and Cryderman both gained valuable ground heading into the series finale at Hibbing on Saturday night.
Adams added another feature win as he continues his tussle for the national title in Modifieds as he held off the last lap charge of Doar and Diemel to take an exciting win. Mark Hanson and Rich Lofthus started in the front row with Lofthus taking the early lead and Adams quickly moving into third. Following an early yellow, Adams made a bold move as he split Hanson and Lofthus coming off turn two and accelerated into the lead. Two laps later the red flag flew when veteran Buddy Mayala was clipped by another car and flipped on the front chute. While Mayala was unhunt, the wreck damaged the cars of both he and his son Dave, who was caught up in the accident also.
Adams pulled away from the pack on the green but there was a dandy battle for second as Diemel and Lofthus raced for position with Joey Galloway and Luke Schilling also hanging with the leaders. Just a bit farther back in the pack. Pat Doar decided to try the cushion and he immediately started to some strong progress as he pulled up into the top five and continued to move forward. The trio of Lofthus, Diemel and Doar was starting to catch the leader when Jerry Weigel was turned around and the yellow flew with only four laps to go.
On the green, Diemel changed lines and went to the cushion as he nearly got up
beside Adams who continued to run the low line. Diemel then dived beside Lofthus and they ran inches apart. Doar also moved to the top again and with a big head of steam, closed in once again. As Adams took the white flag, he had a three car swarm right on his tail. Going down the back chute, Doar had a big run on the top side but Adams drifted up into his line and Doar gave him a solid rap in the rear bumper. They raced off the final corner with Adams holding off Doar by a car length and Diemel edging out Lofthus by inches for third and Schilling completed the top five.
Forehand led all the way to top the Super Stock feature but it wasn't nearly as easy as it might sound. After a first lap yellow for a spin, the last nineteen laps ran nonstop and Aaron Wilson rode the rear bumper of Forehand the entire time. Several times Wilson appeared ready to slip past Jason, but each time Forehand was able to fight off the challenges of Aaron. Scott Lawrence moved into third early and had the best seat in the house as he watched the battle unfold in front of him , but he wasn't able to close on the leaders and join the fray.
Wilson gave it all he had but Forehand just wasn't about to be beaten as he held off Wilson all the way to win by a car length at the wire. Lawrence finished third as Rich Bishop and Curt Myers battled side by side for the entire race behind Lawrence with Bishop using his favorite high line to take the spot in the late going.
Rookie Stuart shocked the Midwest Modified field as he led the entire distance to top a stellar field of cars and earn a feature win the first time he ever turned a wheel at the Rice Lake Speedway. Stuart got the early lead over Tito Viltz as rookie drivers finished first and second and showed the veterans the way on this night. While Stuart and Viltz were able to put some distance on the pack, the battle for third was a dandy as Mark Gerth fought it out with Jared Loos, Mark Thomas and Dan Wheeler.
Two significant accidents occurred during the course of the event with the resulting collisions eliminating the cars of contenders Shane Halopka, Jesse Ogston, Mickey Nosser, Kevin Monteith and Travis Saurer.
The final yellow set up a six lap sprint to the finish but it was all Stuart as he pulled away from the field to take the win. Gerth put the pressure on Viltz for second but Tito claimed the spot with Wheeler and Loos completing the top five.
The Street Stocks ran a nonstop main event and it was spectacular as Scott Paulson and Tommy Richards raced side by side for most of the distance. Richards surprised Paulson by jumping into the early lead but Paulson fought back and got beside Richards and eventually worked into the lead. However, Richards wouldn't give up and he was able to drive back around Paulson to retake the top spot. Meanwhile , Cory Hanson was having a great run as he held down the third spot with Butch Kummer, Clark Swartz and Adams Soltis all fighting for position.
Jimmy Randall and Scott Clark both started quite far back in the field but both were coming to the front like gangbusters as they waded through the heavy traffic.
Meanwhile, up front, Paulson had again rallied himself and he made a strong run in turn four when Richards momentarily bobbled , and Scott moved back into the lead. This turned out to be the deciding pass as while Tommy pushed hard, he was never able to get up beside Paulson again and Scott held on by a car length for the win. Randall and Clark look ready to battle for the "Little Dream" on Saturday as Randall charged all the way up to third at the finish over Hanson with Clark next in line. The running order was significantly altered in the tech inspection following the race however, as Richards was disqualified for having too much engine setback, thus elevating everyone by one position and moving Kummer into the top five.
Danny Richards notched yet another Pure Stock win as he drove around Darwin Brown to gain the victory. Brown had taken the early lead with Richards quickly moving into second and dogging the leader. C.J. Wagner, Mike Knudtson and Cody Kummer battled for position behind them while Doug Wojcik made a charge from the fourth row to become part of the action.
Richards was able to get around Brown midway through the race and while Darwin was able to stay close, he had nothing for Richards who drove on for another win. Wojcik made a late rush and nearly nipped Brown for second with Kummer having a solid run of his own as he finished fourth ahead of Dusty Brown.
