Surviving a rough-and-tumble Budweiser/Fabiano Brothers Limited Late Model feature was the ticket to success for Travis Volm picking up his first feature win of the season.
Volm kept his car pinned to the bottom of the track and held off a last effort by Brock Heinrich to win the 25-lap race, becoming the fourth different driver in five weeks to win a main in the division.
The multi-time track champion in the pure stock class picked up his first limited late model feature win in a race that was slowed by two lengthy yellows and saw just about every car involved in an incident in some way. That included Volm spinning after a caution was thrown on lap 13 when the car of Mondell Peters laid down oil on the track.
The same lap saw Heinrich and last week’s feature winner Dillon Mackesy get together in turn two, with Heinrich sliding into the mound surrounding a light pole. Both cars continued, including Mackesy at the front of the race, but Volm started on the outside on the restart and passed him quickly.
Volm also pulled ahead after another restart with nine laps to go, taking the lead after heavy amounts of oil dry left a steady cloud of dust around the track. He held on after Heinrich made several stabs to get underneath in the final two laps, including making contact coming out of turn four as they raced to the white flag.
“I got so much dust in my eyes, my eyes were watering, I could barely see out there,” said Volm.
“I just parked it on the bottom. I think we had a better car but I didn’t want to chance it, I wanted to get a win this year.”
Chad Dietsche remained hot in the Advance Auto Parts Pure Stocks class, chasing down early leader Dustin Ochodnicky to win the 25-lap feature, his second straight feature win and third this season.
Dietsche was stuck in traffic much of the first half of the race while Ochodnicky broke away from the pack, taking the lead after starting on the pole and leading the first 13 laps. Dietsche passed Ochodnicky on lap 14, though, and set sail from there, easily outdistancing second-place Brian Schramm and the rest of the field.
“Yeah, there was some traffic,” Dietsche said after the race. “You try to pick a lane, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t.
“Not bad. (Three wins) and we got fast time. It’s a good car.”
Longtime State Park Speedway veteran Dale Louze held off Jim Lietz in a side-by-side battle to win the 20-lap Snap-On Mini Mods feature.
Louze-a 49-year racing veteran at the track-took the lead on lap 6 and then dueled with Lietz the rest of the way as the two Mosinee racers traded the lead over the final 14 laps. Lietz edged ahead on the outside on lap 15 and held the lead at the line for the next four laps, but Louze took the lead back with two laps to go and held on to win by half a car length.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Louze after the race. “I didn’t know what happened there, I knew he was ahead of me, and then I think he got turned a little bit. I was actually surprised to see him coming back, I couldn’t see him on the outside. I had to work, George (Seliger) was giving me a little help.”
Kevin Tessmer cruised to the win the 15-lap Motors Service & Supply Pure Stock feature, scoring his first main event win of the season.
A two-time feature winner and a second-place finisher in points in the division last year, Tessmer got on track with his best showing of the season. He got a good jump on the outside of Amanda Rowe on a lap 3 restart, clearing her on the backstretch and leading the rest of the way. Tessmer won by eight car lengths with Rowe finishing second and Kyle Check coming in third, his best feature finish of the season.
“I’ve got to thank Greg for this, Greg Blount,” said Tessmer after the race, mentioning a friend and driver in the Snap-On Mini Mods at State Park Speedway. “He keeps me calm when I get a little irritated, and tonight he said ‘let’s just try this with the air pressure,’ and obviously it worked.”
Racing continues next Thursday, June 21 with the 15th annual Flip Merwin Memorial. A full race program will include all regular divisions plus bandoleros, with fan gates open at 4:30 p.m., Fred Mueller Qualifying at 6 p.m. and racing to follow at 7 p.m.