Scott Owen Special to the Leader
Lucas Lamberies hustled back to Shawano from Iowa to race Saturday night.
It proved to be a good move for the Clintonville teenager as he won his second feature in a row to start the season.
Former track champions Ron Berna and Travis VanStraten each stormed their way into victory lane for their first features of the year while Mike Mullen and Max Oreskovich, no strangers to victory lane themselves, notched win number one on the young season.
Troy Springborn and Brett Swedberg began the Late Model feature with a door to door battle for the lead. Springborn would lead the first two laps before Swedberg made an outside pass to take the lead. Ron Berna moved past Springborn on the following lap to take second.
For much of the race it was Swedberg out front with Berna in pursuit. A caution after lap fifteen reset the field. As the race resumed, Berna took to the outside of Swedberg to move into the lead. Springborn followed suit to grab second. Berna would lead the remainder of the race for the win. Springborn, Swedberg, Rick Scheffler and Justin Schmidt rounded out the top-five.
The IMCA Modified feature saw Matt Oreskovich take the lead on the opening lap. Oreskovich immediately began to receive pressure from Mark Weisnicht. Further back, Mike Mullen and Marcus Yarie began to move forward further back in the field.
By lap six, Mullen had made his way to second. He would not stay there for long as he soon got beneath Oreskovich to take the lead. Yarie then made his way to second. As the checkered flag flew it was Mullen chased by Yarie, Oreskovich, Johnny Whitman and Jamie Schmidt.
Rod Snellenberger raced to the lead at the start of the IMCA Stock Car feature. While Snellenberger led, Jeremy Christians and Trent Nolan quickly joined Snellenberger in the top-three by lap five. Further back in the pack, Dan Michonski and Travis Vanstraten began working their way towards the front after starting deep in the field.
On lap nine, Nolan passed Christians for second and began to pressure Snellenberger for the lead. On lap 12, Christians moved back to the second spot. One lap later, Snellenberger’s engine expired, bringing out a caution and handing the lead to Christians.
When the race resumed Michonski worked past Nolan for second as Harley Simon joined the top-three. Michonski really began to pressure Christians with five laps remaining. VanStraten soon passed Simon to grab third and set his sights on the top-two.
Another caution after lap 17 set up a three-lap dash to the finish. Entering turn one on the restart, Christians, Michonski and VanStraten went three wide for the lead. VanStraten was able to split Michonski and Christians to take the lead down the back stretch. Over the final two laps, VanStraten led as Michonski and Christians gave chase. VanStraten would not be denied as he won his first feature of the year. Michonski, Christians, Nolan and Asa Doxtator completed the top-five.
In IMCA Sport Mod action Kyle Raddant led the first laps before succumbing to an outside pass for the lead by Jordan Barkholtz. By lap eight, Lucas Lamberies moved to second on the track.
On lap 13, Barkholtz got high in turn two and brushed the outside wall. That was the opening Lamberies needed as he stormed past Barkholtz to take the top spot. Lamberies led the rest of the way for his second win in a row. Barkholtz held on for second, followed by Jordan Bartz, Todd Wiese and Raddant.
Max Oreskovich led wire to wire in a caution free Mighty Four feature. Calvin Stueck, Brian Johnson, Mike Brehmer and DJ Jorgenson rounded out the top-five.
Racing continues next Saturday night as the Dirt Kings Late Model Tour will join the show. Racing will begin at 6 p.m. next week and remain at that time for the rest of the season. More information can be found online at www.shawanocountyfair.net.