August 6, 2004 Chateau Raceway Classic Dwarf Report by Matthew Grage

 

It was a somber start to week thirteen of racing action this past Friday Night at Chateau Raceway in Lansing.  Last weekend at another area track one of the Raceways regulars in the Classic Dwarf classic lost his life in a racing accident.  Jim Dahle, age 58 of Hayfield was remembered at the start of the night as a man who raced simply for the enjoyment. 

 

With his family gathered in the infield and his brother Larry of Austin in his Classic Dwarf car, the nights racing was dedicated to Jim’s memory.  He was remembered in the Invocation to start the night, followed by a Bagpipe version of Amazing Grace, than after the National Anthem played, drivers and pit crew members of all classes of cars released balloons off of turns one and two.  The Classic Dwarf drivers than went through the stands with there helmets taking up a collection for the family.   They also donated there entire purse for the night.  Several other drivers in other classes also signed there checks over to the family at the end of the night.  Than to top it all off Chateau Raceway Owner and Open Modified Driver Wally Bustad of Austin matched all donations for the night dollar for dollar.  With the collecting still not done the total with Bustads matching funds shortly after the races were done was near $5000 dollars.  An actual total will be announced next week at the races. 

 

Meanwhile on the track the drivers in all classes laid it all out there for some exciting action.  The wildest moment of the night came in the Classic Dwarf Feature.  Off a restart on lap six a couple cars got sideways in turn one, with everyone trying to take evasive action Roni Vanriper of Glenville got tagged in the rear - wheel hopped another car and went airborne flipping his car high enough in the air that one car drove under him.  Afterwards Roni said one arm was a bit sore but otherwise it was just cosmetic damage to the car and he would be ready to go again next week. 

 

In the race Tate Bestor jumped from the pole to the front and lead flag to flag for his second feature win of the season.  It was by no means an easy win for him as he had company all the way.  Early on it was Matt Aarsvold of Rochester and Vanriper working on him.  Vanriper was sent tail end on a lap two incident when he got into Aarsvold turning him around, Aarsvold than spun on his own a couple laps later and went tail end.  Taking advantage of the early yellows was Brian Kiehne of Harmony who worked his way from row five up to second.  Kiehne, with five feature wins so far this year was looking for number six, couldn't find a line to pass on and had to settle for second.  Brian did get one of the classes heat wins, Vanriper took the other.

 

Heat 1

Heat 2

Feature

1. Roni Vanriper

2. Tate Bestor

3. Matt Aarsvold

4. Drew Jech

5. Larry Dahle

6. Jeremey Anderson

7. Jamey Ulven

8. Dave Anderson

1. Brian Kiehne

2. Greg Kral

3. Jeff Jech

4. Mike Gaines

5. Chris Lewison

6. A.J. Wiste

7. Derek Olson

1. Tate Bestor

2. Brian Kiehne

3. Jeff Jech

4. Greg Kral

5. Mike Gaines

6. Drew Jech

7. Larry Dahle

8. Jamey Ulven

9. Jeremy Anderson

10. Dave Anderson

11. Matt Aarsvold

12. Roni Vanriper

13. Chris Lewison

14. A.J. Wiste

15. Derek Olson

 

 

 

 

August 7, 2004 Deer Creek Speedway Classic Dwarf Report by Bill Nelson

 

139 cars checked into the pits at Deer Creek Speedway on this August night. The night started out with a moment of silence and with the Jim Dahle family gathered on the infield and drivers and crews standing beside them corner worker Eric Thronson sang the National Anthem with the color guard present. The family was presented money collected from the week before as drivers had made their way into the stands during the red flag incident. Charter Communications has announced that 10% of their sales will go to the family during the course of last week and this week. The Deer Creek track crew and promoters put in another donation and Layne Roberts from KRA was on hand also to present money collected at their track on Thursday. A 50/50 drawing was held and raised almost $1300.00. Becky Noble drew the winning number and a member of the Dahle family held the winning ticket. Approx. $7,000 was distributed to the family of the fallen racer. It was a great closure to a tough week for everyone at Deer Creek. Thanks to the excellent field of cars and the great crowd that were on hand for the activities. A special thanks to the Dahle family and everyone who helped us, called us or e-mailed us with their thoughts, prayers and wishes as we worked through this rough time.

 

Heat 1

Heat 2

Feature

1. Brian Kiehne(2)
2. Corey Whalen(5)
3. Curtis Luhmann(4)
4. Todd Kiehne(1)
5. Rick Utley(8)
6. Jeff O’Connor(7)
7. A.J. Wiste(3)
8. Nick Norton(9)
9. Matt Aarsvold(6)

1. Drew Jech(2)
2. Tate Bestor(3)
3. David Marso(5)
4. Jeff Jech(7)
5. Gavin Wangen(8)
6. Jacob Schotanus(1)
7. Dave Anderson(6)
8. Warren Boysen(4)

1. Tate Bestor(1)
2. David Marso(2)
3. Corey Whalen(5)
4. Jeff Jech(3)
5. Brian Kiehne(8)
6. Jeffrey O’Connor(11)
7. Curtis Luhmann(9)
8. Matt Aarsvold(17)

9. Jacob Schotanus(12)
10. Todd Kiehne(4)
11. Gavin Wangen(10)
12. David Anderson(14)
13. Rick Utley(7)
14. Warren Boysen(16)
15. A.J. Wiste(13)dnf
16. Nick Norton(15)dns

( ) =Starting Position

DNF=Did Not Finish

DNS=Did Not Start