by Lee Ackerman
Omaha, Neb. - Many of the WDRL Series regular drivers made the long pull to the Superior Speedway in Superior, Wisconsin on August 5, and when the dust had settled it was New Richmond, Wisconsin’s Pat Doar standing in victory lane.
Doar
and his black number 11 started eighth in the 24-car, 50-lap main event which
saw the caution flag wave seven times. At the drop of the green, it was Dave
Eckrich taking the point with John Hampel, Don Copp and Ace Ihm in pursuit.
Three laps into the action Mitch Johnson and John Anderson got together in turn
two.
When
the green waved Hampel and Berck battled for second behind Eckrich with Copp
and Doar battling for fourth. Then Ihm spun in turn two bringing out caution
number two. This time on the restart it was Eckrich, Berck and Doar moving into
third up high. Shortly it was Berck to the point for a short time before Doar,
still running high on the track, taking the lead.
Doar
started to run away from the field and had a straightaway lead when Ed Kosiski
spun with 31 laps remaining. Two laps after that caution, the yellow waved
again with Copp going pit side. Then as the green waved Rusty Seaver spun bring
out the yellow again.
Finally,
with a clean restart Berck took a shot at Doar but to no avail and it did not
take Doar long to catch the back of the back. At the half-way mark it was Doar,
Berck, Hampel. Ihm and Ryan Aho. Following the final yellow, Berck took one
last shot at Doar but came up short and Doar widened the gap on his way to the
checkers.
At
the line it was Doar, Berck, Ed Kosiski, Hampel and Donnie McClellan. Heats
went to Todd Gehl, Eckrich, Ihm and Aho. Steve Laursen won the consolation
event and Eckrich bested Hampel and Copp in the dash.
Two
days later, on August 7 the Mr. Goodcents WDRL series visited the Fayette
County Speedway in West Union, Iowa where Gary Webb of Blue Grass, Iowa picked
up the win in the Mr. Goodcents 50.
Starting
on the inside of the second row, Webb dove to the bottom at the drop on the
green and shot under front row starters Denny Eckrich and Kyle Berck to grab
the lead. The caution waved on lap two and on the restart Webb, Berck and Brian
Birkhofer waged a wheel-to-wheel battle over the next 20 laps with Webb running
low and Berck challenging on the high side.
On
lap 22, Birkhofer got under Berck to claim second on the 3/8-mile oval but
could never mount a serious challenge to Webb. Webb ran the bottom the entire
length of the event and skillfully worked his way through traffic to pick up
the win by ten car lengths over Birkhofer. Following Webb and Birkhofer to the
line were Berck, Darren Miller and Chris Smyser.
“This
is definitely the high point of the summer for us,” said Webb in victory lane.
“We’ve kind of struggled a bit, so this is a good win. The win gave Webb a
$6,000 payday.
“I
knew we had a good car tonight, so I went to the bottom from the start,” added
Webb. “I think Denny (Eckrich) washed out a little, and I think Kyle (Berck)
challenging me on the outside, but I decided we were either going to win this
thing or finish tenth, but we were going to stay on the bottom.”
Qualifying
events went to Dave Eckrich of Oxford over Webb, Berck over Kevin Kile of West
Liberty and Rob Toland of Hillsdale, Illinois over Birkhofer. Milan, Illinois
Ray Guss, Jr. claimed the consolation event over Marshalltown’s Darrell
DeFrance.
The
following night the series traveled to the Winnebago County Speedway in
Pecatonica, Illinois where “the Wisconsin Wildman” Dan Schlieper became the
ninth different winner in 10 series events.
Starting
on the outside front row Schlieper got the jump on pole sitter Brian Birkhofer
when the green flag waved, but “Birky” stayed glued to Schlieper and took the
lead in turn four of lap 4. Two circuits later and the pair were already in
lapped traffic.
As
the two cleared turn two on lap 8, Schlieper took back the point from Birkhofer
but the two continued to stage wheel-to-wheel racing until lap 14, when a
lapped car crashed into the tire barrier on the backstretch. Birkhofer was
caught up in the crash and his car sustained front end damage that eliminated
him from further competition.
When
the green waved again, Schlieper took control of the event surviving several
more caution flags and late race challenges from Dave and Denny Eckrich to secure
the win. Following Schlieper to the line were Denny Eckrich, Gary Webb, Dave
Eckrich and Brian Harris. Schlieper, Birkhofer, Ely, Iowa’s Terry Neal won
qualifiers with Birkhofer taking the pole dash.
Forty-six
late models were on hand when the series visited Nebraska Raceway Park near
Greenwood, Nebraska for the Cornhusker Classic. When it was time for the 50-lap
feature it was “the Thriller” Darren Miller of Chadwick, Illinois behind the
wheel of his NAPA Auto Parts/MasterSbilt race car starting on the pole.
Early
in the event Miller had to fight off the challenges of series point’s leader
Kyle Berck before Berck retired from the race on lap 15. Following Berck’s exit
from the race Henderson, Colorado’s Kelly Boen inherited the runner up spot
until lap 35 when Iowa City’s Matt Furman roared off the bottom and into the
position. Late in the race Miller’s big challenge was two restarts and he
survived them both, holding off Furman for the win.
“A
win over here feels really good,” said Miller following his win. “We’ve had a
good year this year, but a win like this is overdue. Miller took home $5,000
for the win.
“The
racetrack was pretty interesting tonight,” continued Miller. “It was super tacky
at the start but by the end it got really slick. There was a bit of a cushion
in turns one and two and when I went up there after the last start, I couldn’t
believe how fast it was.”
A
lap 43 restart gave Miller a real scare when before the green had waved
Miller’s car got a nudge from behind that sent the field scattering. “I thought
the leader could start the race at the pace he wanted.” noted Miller. “Boen got
me turned sideways, and then somebody else came in from behind and got my rear
wheels off the ground. I just slowed down because I knew the restart wasn’t going
to stick.”
Furman
crossed the finish line in second behind Miller, but his car failed a post-race
inspection, and he was disqualified. The official order was Miller, Boen, Denny
Eckrich, Skip Frey, and Delbert Smith.
Heat
race wins went to Berck, Denny Eckrich, Boen and Furman. Consolation races went
to Joe Kosiski and Todd Davis with Miller winning the pole dash.
The
following weekend was the finale for the Mr. Goodcents World Dirt Racing League
when the series invaded the Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa for the
Hawkeye 100. The only 100-lap race of the season for the series turned out to
be a great ending to the 2002 racing season as Denny Eckrich held off the
charges of Ray Guss, Jr. John Seitz, and Brian Harris to take the win.
Eckrich became the 11th winner in 12 WDRL events. When the season had ended, 188 super late models had competed in series events with an average car count of 35.9 cars per event.
“The Marquette Missile” Kyle Berck won the championship with 1,594
points, Joe Kosiski was second with 1,502, Ed Kosiski third with 1,312, Donnie
McClellan fourth with 1,296 and Gary Webb fifth with 1,046.
The
World Dirt Racing League would continue to provide outstanding racing
throughout the Iowa and Nebraska and surrounding areas through the 2009 racing
season.
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