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The Kent Pearson Memorial Stateline Challenge definitely lived up to its expectations.
We had almost 30 Coca-Cola Late Models in attendance, including surprise visitors John Beale from Gilden Racing and our old friend Dalton Zehr. The two drivers have teamed up to form Gilden Racing, which is located in Verona, Wis. Both of them are top notch talents and have become formidable competitors in the Upper Midwest.
Beale started off the night by winning the fast dash and Zehr raced to a win in the fast heat. NASCAR's Johnny Sauter, who started in the rear of the field, got in an altercation with track champion Dan Lindsley and was sent to the rear. With 35 laps left, Sauter worked through the pack and finished third. It seemed like he passed every car twice.
Zehr, who has hundreds of laps around Norway Speedway, finished second and, for the second year in a row, Wisconsin phenom Justin Mondeik was your Stateline Challenge champion.
I want to say we had the biggest crowd in years but actually it's the biggest crowd since Johnny Sauter was here in 2018. Sauter will be back next year and possibly a couple of other NASCAR drivers, including Natalie Decker from Eagle River, Wis., and a couple others that have become friends of the Speedway.
Though they had some rough luck, special thanks go out to Wisconsin racing legend Mark Mackesy, and rising star Braison Bennett from the Chase Motorsports team. It was great to see Bennett's dad, Lowell, who's one of Wisconsin's winningest drivers, socializing with Bob Menor, Mark Miller and the rest of the drivers as he was supporting his son. Louis Goss was also a surprise entry in the Tom Gee Motorsports car.
This week we have another complete racing show with the second round of the SXS Series that seems to be picking up steam. We've had a few corporate teams show up but we still don't have that many locals with the conventional vehicles. Anyone with any side-x-side is allowed to participate. There is a division for every type of vehicle. Safety requirements must be met. The driver gets in free and crew gets in at half-price.
The exciting Wisconsin Sport Trucks are back this week and many local teams will be on hand as well as the traveling teams. Currently Cody Vanderloop leads Andy Secrist by one point and Brad and Brent Barglind are a solid third and fourth, respectively, in that division.
Congratulations to 141 Auto Stock Car winner Jon Maenpaa. After struggling for the first few weeks, he put together a solid night of racing, winning his heat race and ending up seventh in the feature. Defending champion Preston Weddel made a strong return to the Speedway finishing second in the feature after a bad opening night crash.
In the Auto Value Super Stock division, it was great to see John Komp from Menominee in a new beautiful super stock car that he and his family put together. I am sure they will be a team to beat as John has experience that goes way back. It was also great to see John Mattia Jr. come out and have a strong third place finish in a stout field of cars.
Tonight looks to be another exciting show out at the Speedway. I hope to see you there.