By Scott Owen

Shawano (Wis.), April 23, 2016 — Another stellar car count of 124 cars signed in to do battle at Shawano Speedway. Marcus Yarie stayed consistent, winning his second race in a row. Mike Mullen, Travis Van Straten, Wyatt Block, and Jason Hopinka scored their first wins of the season at the track. For Hopinka, it was his first ever win at Shawano Speedway.

“Mighty” Mike Mullen burst onto the Late Model racing scene last season with multiple feature wins.  After having engine issues on opening night, Mullen started on the front row of the Late Model feature this week and lived up to the “Mighty” moniker. Mullen led every lap of the 25-lap contest.

Mullen lapped the field up to the 11^th position before a caution came out after lap 19. As the field relined up, Nick Anvelink, last week’s winner, started right behind Mullen. Anvelink, who started the race in 12th, kept Mullen in sight but could do nothing with him. Mullen went on to pick up his first win of the year. Anvelink took second followed by Jared Siefert, Troy Springborn and Ron Berna.

Clint Fostner led the opening lap of the IMCA Modified feature. While Forstner led, Lance Arneson made a three-wide pass to move up to second on lap two. On lap four Arneson went to the outside of Forstner to take the top spot away. By lap five Marcus Yarie had worked his way up to second place and began to reel in Arneson. Lap 12 saw Yarie go to the outside of Arneson in turns three and four and take the lead by a bumper at the start finish line. Yarie led the rest of the way for the win with Arneson on his rear bumper. Jerry Wilinski made a late race pass on Jamie Schmidt to finish in third. Benji LaCrosse crossed the line in fifth.

Trent Nolan started on the outside front row of the IMCA Stock Car feature race and took the lead on lap one. Nolan stayed in the lead until lap four when Rod Snellenberger snuck underneath in turn three and wrestled the lead away. A lap six melee slowed the pace of the race and eliminated fifth place running Brandon Czarapata. When the race restarted on lap seven, Travis Van Straten made a pass on Snellenberger to take the lead. On lap 11 Snellenberger coasted to the pit area with problems, advancing Dan Michonski to second. Van Straten led the rest of the race en route to his first win of the season.  Michonski, Nolan, Ryan Blank, and 16^th place starter Eric Zwirschirtz completed the top five.

In IMCA SportMod action, Justin Woller led the first nine laps of the race with heavy pressure from Brock Saunders and Wyatt Block before giving way to Block. Woller pursued Block for the remaining 11 laps but could not muster a pass. Jason Jach passed Saunders on the last lap to grab third. Saunders and Kyle Raddant finished fourth and fifth.

Jason Hopinka led every lap of the Mighty Four feature to win his first career feature at the Shawano Speedway. It was no cake walk though as former track champions Kasey Gross, Josh Slewinski, and Brad Wedde pursued Hopinka and finished second through fourth.  Grant Kastning took fifth.

Race Summary:

Late Model

Feature: 1)Mike Mullen, 2)Nick Anvelink, 3)Jared Siefert, 4)Troy Springborn, 5)Ron Berna, 6)Tom Naeyaert, 7)Brett Swedberg, 8)Rick Scheffler, 9)Taylor Scheffler, 10)Mark Rose.

Heat 1: 1)Mullen, 2)Jeff Curtin, 3)Doug Blashe.

Heat 2: 1)Joe Reuter, 2)Anvelink, 3)Rose.

Heat 3: 1)Siefert, 2)Springborn, 3)Naeyaert.

IMCA Modified

Feature: 1)Marcus Yarie, 2)Lance Arneson, 3)Jerry Wilinski, 4)Jaimie Schmidt, 5)Benji LaCrosse, 6)Clint Forstner, 7)Brian Mullen, 8)Joel Seegert, 9)Jerry Muenster, 10)Jeremie Hedrick.

Last Chance Qualifier: 1)Mullen, 2)Eddie Muenster, 3)Todd Dart, 4)Hedrick, 5)Cole Petit.

Heat 1: 1)Kevin Feck, 2)Yarie, 3)Chris Engels.

Heat 2: 1)John Berna, 2)Jesse Peebles, 3)Jerry Muenster.

Heat 3: 1)Wilinski, 2)Seegert, 3)Arneson.

IMCA Stock Car

Feature: 1)Travis VanStraten, 2)Dan Michonski, 3)Trent Nolan, 4)Ryan Blank, 5)Eric Zwirschitz, 6)Brian Ambrosius, 7)Mike Schmidt, 8)Jerry Winkler, 9)Tom Riehl, 10)Luke Uttecht.

Last Chance Qualifier 1: 1)Scott Blanke, 2)Josh Roehl, 3)Travis Springstroh.

Last Chance Qualifier 2: 1)Zwirschitz, 2)Chas VanOoyen, 3)Josh Mroczkowski.

Heat 1: 1)Rod Snellenberger, 2)Nolan, 3)Brandon Czarapata.

Heat 2: 1)Joe White, 2)Winkler, 3)Michonski.

Heat 3: 1)VanStraten, 2)Ambrosius, 3)Riehl.

IMCA SportMod

Feature: 1)Wyatt Block, 2)Justin Woller, 3)Jason Jach, 4)Brock Saunders, 5)Kyle Raddant, 6)Zach McKinnon, 7)Jordan Barkholtz, 8)Jordan Bartz, 9)Lucas Lamberies, 10)Chris Budzban.

Last Chance Qualifier: 1)Matt Valiquette, 2)Tyler Thiex, 3)Karah Taycher, 4)Dustin Fraaza, 5)Mike Phillips.

Heat 1: 1)McKinnon, 2)Brekken Kleinschmidt, 3)Raddant.

Heat 2: 1)Block, 2)Woller, 3)Brianna Ambroziak.

Heat 3: 1)Jach, 2)Brian Bruechert, 3)Lamberies.

Mighty Four

Feature: 1)Jason Hopinka, 2)Kasey Gross, 3)Josh Slewinski, 4)Brad Wedde, 5)Grant Kastning, 6)Dalton Nelson, 7)Lucas Hacker, 8)Matt DeWilde, 9)Hollie Welch, 10)Dylan Pingel.

Heat 1: 1)Welch, 2)Hopinka, 3)Slewinski.

Heat 2: 1)Hacker, 2)Kastning, 3)Taylor Becher.

Heat 3: 1)Pingel, 2)Gross, 3)Wedde.