Kaanta and Oliver Win Mixer at Eagle Raceway

By Greg Soukup

The Super Late Model Mixer presented by Auto Trans Matic was run under
clear skies and cool temperatures Thursday evening at "America's Home
Track" Eagle Raceway. Also on the card were the Bud Light Wingless 360
sprints, making their first visit to Eagle Raceway since they were a
regular feature last season. Among the sprint drivers were not 1 or 2,
but 3 sons of local racing legends; including Don Droud Jr. (son of
Don Droud Sr.), Tige Jensen (son of Lonnie Jensen) and Robby Wolfgang
(son of Doug Wolfgang).

Heat winners for the WDRL/NCRA Late Models were the #71 of Andrew
McKay, the #07 of Kelly Boen, John Kaanta in the 85, Bryant
Goldsmith's #24, the #14 of Kyle Berk and Eric Pember's 90X.

The Pole Dashes were then run to set the starting positions for the A
Features. The top 2 in the wingless sprints were the 1X of Don Droud
Jr. and the 77 of John Klabunde. In the Late Models the front row was
decided when Goldsmith came home first, followed by Kaanta.

In the Wingless 360 Sprint A Main Don Droud came past the flag stand
first, with Tige Jensen's #77 second and the #80 of Dylan Smith in
third. Unfortunately for Smith, he spun in turns 1 & 2 bringing out
the yellow flag. That made the running order Droud, Jensen, the #97 of
Bret Melenberge and the 2X of Gerod Oliver. On the restart Oliver
moved quickly into third, but the car on the move was the #51 of Doug
Martens. The next lap Martens got past Oliver, Melenberge and Jensen
to snag the second spot. Soon after he also got around Droud to take
over the race lead. On the same lap Oliver moved up to third behind
Droud. Shortly thereafter the 7X of Danny Lee spun out. On the restart
Matt Hasara spun his #87 sprinter in turn 2 and Lee had nowhere to go,
making contact with Hasara. Hasara was taken to the pits on the
wrecker, but Lee was able to continue. Oliver stayed hot on Droud's
heels until with only 8 laps left he got past Droud for second. It
took Oliver just 2 more laps to pass Martens for the top spot. Oliver
then held off Martens to take the victory.

The WDRL/NCRA Late Model A Feature then came onto Eagle's high banks.
Almost as quickly as it began, the race was quickly yellow flagged as
Mike Stadel made hard contact with the front stretch wall and came to
a rest at the entrance to the pits. On the second attempt at a start
John Kaanta took advantage of his front row starting position to grab
the lead in his #85 with Bryant Goldsmith's #24 in second, the #14 of
Kyle Berck in third, Eric Pember's 90X in fourth and the #25 of Chad
Simpson in fifth. Although Kaanta caught lapped traffic on the seventh
circuit, he managed to extend his lead to nearly a quarter of a lap at
times. It took 39 of the scheduled 50 laps for Goldsmith to reel in
Kaanta. But, try as he might, Goldsmith would have to settle for the
runner-up spot as Kaanta held him off to take the checkers.

"I'm happy with the win, to say the least" Kaanta stated. "Of course,
it's an advantage to start up front, but we needed that advantage with
all of the heavy hitters racing tonight. The car was great all night,
and that let us hold the lead once we got it" he continued. When asked
about his sponsors, Kaanta related "We don't really have any sponsors
this year, but we're sure looking for some. GRP Motorsports helps out
some, and Masterbuilt Chassis along with Pro Power Engines do their
thing for us also" he concluded.

Be sure to come out Saturday night for "Christmas in July" Fan
Appreciation Night presented by Colby Ridge and The Brew. Adults will
receive $5 off of their general admission price with a donated toy.
All toys will be presented to the Toys for Tots campaign coordinated
by the US Marine Corp.

Also be sure to mark your calendars for July 17th as Eagle Raceway,
"America's Home Track" brings you the Bootleggers Run Race of
Champions presented by Jack Daniels. You will have a chance to see
Sprint Cup drivers Kenny Schrader, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and
Sterling Marlin battle it out in TWO eight lap Late Model races on the
fastest 1/3 mile track in the country. For more details go to
www.eagleraceway.com and click on the schedule.

Eagle Raceway Results for July 3rd, 2008:

Wingless Sprints:
A Feature-
1) 2x Gerod Oliver
2) 51 Doug Martens
3) 1x Don Droud Jr.
4) 97 Bret Melenberger
5) 95 Dan Satriano
6) 96kx Adam Gullion
7) 71 Tige Jensen
8) 1 Robby Wolfgang
9) 80 Dylan Peterson
10) z83 Zeb Larson
11) 7x Danny Lee
12) 77 John Klabunde
13) 4 Eric Schultz
14) 7 Bob Ruisinger
15) 87 Matt Hasara

WDRL/NCRA Late Models:
A Feature-
1) 85 John Kaanta
2) 24 Bryant Goldsmith
3) 14 Kyle Berck
4) 90x Eric Pember
5) 25 Chad Simpson
6) 71 Rick Hanestad
7) 07 Kelly Boen
8) 31 Jason Utter
9) 51 Matt Furman
10) 1m Rob Moss
11) 2j John Anderson
12) 50 Denny Eckrich
13) 1f Jason Frisen
14) 92 Delbert Smith
15) 53 Joe Kosiski
16) 58 Dave Eckrich
17) 15w Mike Wiarda
18) 3 Mike Collins
19) 32 Chris Simpson
20) 98 Ben Schaller
21) 2h John Hampel
22) 56 Chris Spieker
23) 99 Frank Heckenast
24) 6 Al Humphrey
25) 40 Shawn Harker
26) 7 Mike Stadel