It was an up-and-down night for the local drivers defending their turf against the incoming World of Outlaws Late Model Series regulars Tuesday at Shawano Speedway.
Seven drivers who have logged countless laps on Shawano Speedway’s half-mile dirt oval tried to make the 22-car main feature. Four succeeded. The others made up three of the five drivers who had to sit and watch Shane Clanton win the 50-lap race.
A.J. Diemel led the local drivers with a fourth-place finish. He lives in Elk Mound but hails from Navarino. He raced over a hundred races at the speedway when he was competing in IMCA Modifieds back in 1998.
It was Diemel’s fourth World of Outlaws race this year and his second top five.
“I was hoping for a top-10 finish, but the car just kept getting better and better,” Diemel said.
The other local drivers did not have such high expectations.
Mitch McGrath, of Waukesha, finished eighth and couldn’t have been much happier.
“I am ecstatic right now. I just wanted to qualify,” he said.
McGrath has raced at four Shawano events this year, and he said that experience helped him Tuesday night.
“It’s better than going in blind,” he said. “I think people (not used to the track) have trouble adjusting to the long straights.”
Justin Hirt, of Tigerton, qualified for his second World of Outlaws feature this year by making a last-lap pass during the heats. He ended up finishing 18th, same as his first Outlaws performance. He hopes to keep racing with the Outlaws and progressively improving his performance.
“You can’t get better unless you run with these guys,” Hirt said.
Brett Swedberg was able to build off his Late Model win at the track Saturday by qualifying for the Outlaws feature. He was unable to finish, however, and left the track with nine laps to go, finishing 20th.
The biggest story of the night for local race fans was current Shawano Late Model points leader Nick Anvelink’s failure to qualify for the main feature. After a rough qualifying start, Anvelink started near the back of his heat race and finished eighth. Then in the last-chance qualifier, he finished just one spot short of a clinching his ticket to the final.
“That was startling. I was really surprised,” fellow racer Doug Blashe said.
Anvelink was unavailable for comment.
Blashe and local entrant Dave Fieber also failed to qualify for the feature.
“I was very disappointed,” Blashe said.
Blashe learned some things from the race, though. He said his car needs an update after seeing the strong competition Tuesday. He also learned that many of the Outlaws run a completely different style around the track.
“Their corner entry and exit is different,” he said, “It’s hard to pick up on the arc through the turn.”
Blashe will try to run with the Outlaws again Thursday at the U.S. Nationals in New Richmond.
“We’ve just got to take what we learned and go out to Cedar Lake, regroup and make some shows there,” he said.
