July 2, 2004 Chateau Raceway Report by Matthew Grage

The Annual Fourth of July Weekend of Fireworks and Racing lit up the night Friday at Chateau Raceway in Lansing.  Once again this year Track Owner Wally Bustad brought in an outstanding Fireworks show to put on for the fans.  Word has obviously spread on how great a show it’s been over the last five years as the largest crowd of the season packed the stands for the combination of Dirt Track Racing and Fourth of July Fireworks celebration.  The biggest field of cars was also on hand with 98 cars filling the pits.

On the track meanwhile it was Mid Season Championship Recognition night with the current point leaders in all five classes receiving trophies for there first half success on the season. Lewison will not win the season points championship however as he sold his car amid much controversy during the first half of the year the way he was dominating the class.  Dave reportedly has bought himself a Super Stock to run the rest of the summer and may also still run a few nights in somebody else’s back up Classic Dwarf car.  A rather humorous decal on the back of his old car read "If you can't beat 'em, Ban 'em". 

In Classic Dwarf action Brain Kiehne took over the points lead to start the second half of the season with Lewison moving out of the classic.  Brian scored a sweep as he picked up his third feature win of the season.  Danny Torgerson of Phoenix Arizona, a former local driver in the area for the Holiday Weekend was the early leader in the race before Kiehne caught and passed him with four laps to go.  Torgerson slipped back to third behind Mike Gaines of Glenville.  Tate Bestor of Harmony had the classes other heat win.  Jeff Jech meanwhile became the second driver on the night to establish a new speed record for one of the classes.  Jech recorded a fast lap of 16.757 in his heat to surpass Lewisons previous high by .241, almost a quarter of a second. 

Heat 1	Heat 2	Feature
1. Tate Bestor 2. Danny Torgerson 3. Jeff Jech 4. Matt Aarsvold 5. Mike Gaines 6. Todd Kiehne 7. Kevin Bigalk 8. Joel Kath 9. Dave Anderson	1. Brian Kiehne 2. Greg Kral 3. AJ Wiste 4. Roni Vanriper 5. Jim Dahle 6. Jamey Ulven 7. Larry Dahle 8. Drew Jech	1. Brian Kiehne-Harmony 2. Mike Gaines-Glenville 3. Danny Torgerson-Phoenix AZ 4. Drew Jech-Austin 5. Tate Bestor-Harmony 6. Roni Vanriper-Glenville 7. AJ Wiste-Adams 8. Jim Dahle-Hayfield 9. Jeff Jech-Austin	10. Joel Kath-Owatonna 11. Jamey Ulven-Rose Creek 12. Larry Dahle-Austin 13. Dave Anderson-Lyle 14. Greg Kral-Glenville 15. Matt Aarsvold-Rochester 16. Todd Kiehne-Harmony 17. Kevin Bigalk-Austin

July 3, 2004 Deer Creek Speedway Report by Bill Nelson

Saturday morning the weather look forecast looked optimistic for a racing program to be ran that night. The track crew headed onto the surface and worked to prepare it for the racing activities planned that night. About 1:00 about 70 guests of Brad Waits and his fiancé Sharon showed up at the racetrack. The occasion was their wedding to be performed at victory lane in the infield. The wedding procession walked down turn one and into the infield while Sharon rode on the side of Brad's WISSOTA Late Model. The car was piloted by family friend Dave Haberman. The attire was appropriate for the event with many racing t-shirts, shorts as fellow race fans and family participate in the event.

A few light sprinkles fell during the afternoon as the crew continued to prep the track. About 5:30 a quick rain came through making the track very slick. After working the track some more the drivers were polled and they went onto the track to pack it in. The track was worked in and just as they were calling up cars for a hot lap session more rain came out ending the chance of getting the racing action in.

With the racing action cancelled for the night everyone headed to the pit area for a little live music courtesy of the Waits family for their wedding reception. The party was attended by many and entertained those on hand until the early morning hours.