WAUSAU (Aug. 24) – State Park Speedway announcer Curt Keene might have summed up best Ayrton Brockhouse’s dominance in Saturday’s Legends 55 special event at the track on Saturday.
“They could’ve run a thousand and 55 laps today, and nobody was catching the 12 car.”
Brockhouse has been one of the most dominant legends car drivers in the Upper Midwest and in the country the past few years, and the 14-year old delivered the goods to win the 55-lap legends feature at the Rib Mountain quarter-mile in the event celebrating Phil Bickley’s 55 years involved in racing at the speedway.
Brockhouse led the final 46 laps to collect a cool $5,500 first prize from the $30,000 purse for the event. He celebrated with a burnout and spinning donuts on the front stretch, holding his steering wheel in his hand out the window while spinning in circles.
Perhaps it was only fitting that a Brockhouse won the event in honor of Bickley, who brought legends racing to central Wisconsin in 1995. The Brockhouse family from Shakopee, Minn., including Ayrton’s father Tim, mother Amanda and also racing brother Ayden have been among the foremost ambassadors and promoters of the legends and Bandolero classes for the past 20+ years.
With NASCAR legends Mark Martin and Dave Marcis among those on hand, Ayrton Brockhouse needed just 10 laps to go from his ninth starting spot in the 24-car field to the lead. He moved into the top five on lap 5, slipped inside Robby Carter of Lakeville, Minn., for third a lap later, and passed Cameron White of Lakeland, Fla., for second on lap 8.
From there, he went to work on Rose Borntreger of Elroy, and on lap 10 got inside Borntreger for a lead he would not give up again. While Borntreger soon faced a challenge from White and Jackson Lewis of Lakeville, Minn., for the second spot, Brockhouse checked out and was hitting lapped traffic by lap 20.
Brockhouse likely didn’t need any help, but if he had he received it in that, after a caution for debris on lap 5, the race went caution-free the rest of the way, the final 51 laps going green. Of the 24 cars to start, 22 of them finished, resulting in cars strung out around the track throughout much of the race.
Brockhouse finished more than a straightaway ahead of Lewis, who got by White for second on lap 34 but had little chance to close on Brockhouse with the lapped traffic and without a caution flag. White finished third with Tristan Swanson fourth and Tim Brockhouse fifth to make it Minnesota drivers nabbing four of the top five spots.
Ayrton Brockhouse was asked by track announcer Brandon Aschenbrenner what he would be doing with the prize money. “I don’t get to keep all of it. My mom said I could keep a thousand of it, so I’m happy about that,” he said to laughs from the crowd.
White and Borntreger shared the lead in the race’s early stages while starting on the front row, with polesitter White leading the first four laps. Borntreger got a good jump on the restart following the race’s lone caution and led the next five laps before Brockhouse took over.
Karl Genett of Auburndale finished sixth with Borntreger seventh and Carter coming in eighth. Wausau’s Kole Guralski made the biggest charge of anyone in the field, first making it in through a qualifying race to start 19th, then briefly leaving the track during the caution before coming back up and finishing ninth. Cael Slater of Kendall rounded out the top 10, which also made up the number of cars to finish on the lead lap.
State Park Speedway 2024 legends champion Elliott Weiler of Marshfield finished 13th. A total of 40 cars qualified to start the day, with drivers coming from five states: Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Genett and Devin Dieringer of Marshfield won the twin 20-lap qualifier races, with the top four finishers in both advancing to the feature. Guralski and Art Hahn of Hartford won the two last chance races, with the top three in both of those moving to the feature. White also won the 10-car fast heat, among cars who were locked into the field after qualifying.
Legends
Fast Qualifier: Tim Brockhouse, Shakopee, Minn., 15.344 sec.
Fast Heat: 1. Cameron White, Lakeland, Fla.; 2. T. Brockhouse; 3. Rose Borntreger, Elroy; 4. Tristan Swanson, Elko New Market, Minn.; 5. Ayrton Brockhouse, Shakopee, Minn.; 6. Cael Slater, Kendall; 7. Robby Carter, Lakeville, Minn.; 8. Jackson Lewis, Lakeville, Minn.; 9. Ethan Ross, Rosendale; 10. Elliott Weiler, Marshfield
First 20-lap Qualifier: 1. Devin Dieringer, Marshfield; 2. Russ Weiler, Marshfield; 3. Ayden Brockhouse, Shakopee, Minn.; 4. Eric Niemi, Belleville; 5. Chase Hunter, Rio; 6. Andrew Borntreger, Hillsboro; 7. Devon Lee, New Lisbon; 8. Coty Gular, Tomah; 9. Tyler Edmundson, Johnson Creek; 10. Hayden Dieringer, Marshfield; 11. Dalton Lee, Hustler; 12. Kyle Mitchell, Middleton; 13. Spencer Polacek, New Berlin; 14. Alex Ruedinger, Larsen; DQ: Kolton Guralski, Wausau
Second 20-lap Qualifier: 1. Karl Genett, Auburndale; 2. Craig Haack, Fayetteville, Ohio; 3. Jacob Bradley, Rockwell, N.C.; 4. Jacob Stark, Palmyra; 5. Chris Weinkauf, Merrill; 6. Kaleb Baumgart, New Lisbon; 7. Alex Haese, Manitowoc; 8. Art Hahn, Hartford; 9. Ernie Duerr, Hewitt; 10. Ryan Mech, Greenfield; 11. Anthony Lashua, Mosinee; 12. Matt Schecklman, Marshfield; 13. Aaron Genske, Jefferson; 14. Ryan Laatsch, Milton; 15. Greg Erhardt, Forest Lake, Minn.
Last Chance Race No. 1: 1. Guralski; 2. A. Borntreger; 3. Devon Lee; 4. Ruedinger; 5. Dalton Lee; 6. Gular; 7. Edmundson; 8. Polacek; 9. Mitchell; DQ: Hunter, H. Dieringer
Last Chance Race No. 2: 1. Hahn; 2. Duerr; 3. Mech; 4. Laatsch; 5. Genske; 6. Erhardt; 7. Schecklman; 8. Lashua; 9. Haese; 10. Baumgart; DQ: C. Weinkauf
Feature: 1. Ayrton Brockhouse; 2. Lewis; 3. C. White; 4. Swanson; 5. T. Brockhouse; 6. Karl Genett; 7. R. Borntreger; 8. R. Carter; 9. Guralski; 10. Slater; 11. R. Weiler; 12. Ross; 13. E. Weiler; 14. Haack; 15. D. Dieringer; 16. Bradley; 17. Ayden Brockhouse; 18. Stark; 19. Hahn; 20. Niemi; 21. Mech; 22. Duerr; 23. Devon Lee; 24. A. Borntreger