Anvelink wins fourth in a row

Nick Anvelink scored his fourth consecutive Late Model feature win of the year Saturday at Shawano Speedway. Travis VanStraten won his second straight race and took home $700 for winning the IMCA Stock Car feature after a disqualification. Jordan Bartz (IMCA Sport Mods) and Kasey Gross (Mighty Fours) won their first features of the season. Jerry Wilinski won his second IMCA Modified feature this summer. With all the rain Mother Nature dropped on Shawano last week, the racing surface was lightning fast for Hammond’s Farm and Greenhouse Night at the races. Late Models The Late Model feature began with pole sitter Robert Cullen taking the lead. Meanwhile, Anvelink began working his way through traffic from his 11th-place starting position. Anvelink had raced his way up sixth on lap No. 6 when the race was stopped after Jeff Curtin had a rollover. On lap No. 8, Anvelink moved into second place and began to track down Cullen. Anvelink pulled to the outside of Cullen entering turn one on lap No. 11 and took over the top spot exiting turn two. Anvelink led the rest of the way to win his fourth consecutive feature race. Troy Springborn raced his way around Cullen in the closing laps to finish second. Doug Blashe also got around Cullen to take third. Cullen finished in fourth. IMCA Modifieds Chad Olson grabbed the lead on the first lap of the IMCA Modifieds feature. The second-year pilot fended off the charges of Eddie Muenster and Wilinski. Wilinski, who started in ninth, was able to make the pass for the lead on Olson on lap No. 12. Wilinski led to the end while Olson, Muenster, Marcus Yarie, Cody Hudson and Mark Weisnicht waged a great battle for the next five spots on the track. At the end it was Wilinski, Muenster, Yarie, Hudson, Weisnicht and Olson making up your top six. The race went green to checkered without a yellow flag. IMCA Stock Cars Extra money was on tap for the IMCA Stock Cars as the winner would pick up $500 to win and bonus money for laps led in the 25-lap main event. Pole sitter Nate Michonski looked to have the car to beat in the early stages of the race. After eight laps Michonski was leading with VanStraten, Kyle Frederick, Harley Simon and Trent Nolan rounding out the top five. Coming into turn three on the next lap, Michonski’s car erupted in flames, bringing out a red flag. Michonski coasted to pit lane and the fire was put out. While stopped under the red flag, Trent Nolan’s car also had flames under the hood. The odd turn of events eliminated both drivers from the race. On the restart, VanStraten became the leader with Frederick on the chase. Frederick pulled even with VanStraten on lap No. 24 and held the lead as the white flag waved with the duo side by side. VanStraten pulled ahead of Frederick coming out of turn two on the final lap. Entering turn three for the final time, Frederick dove to the inside of VanStraten. The two cars raced side by side coming through turn four and were still door to door down the frontstretch. At the line it was Frederick by a whisker over VanStraten. In the post-race inspection, though, Frederick was disqualified for a rules infraction, handing the win to VanStraten. IMCA Sport Mods Brandon Nygaard led the first two laps of the IMCA Sport Mod feature before Bartz took the lead on lap No. 3. It would be all Bartz for the rest of the race. Joey Taycher tried to track her down, but Bartz was uncatchable. It was the first win of the year for the second-generation racer. Mighty Fours Gross won a time-shortened, caution-marred Mighty Four feature after passing Brad Weede on lap No. 4. Wedde held on to finish second. Racing will continue Saturday at 6:30 p.m. More information is available online at www.shawanospeedway.net.