Cole Czarneski had raced all over the United States the last couple of years, literally from sea to shining sea. He has raced his Modified and Stock Car at tracks from the Southwest to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and with just about every sanctioning body in the country at one time or another.
But when he got the opportunity to race on his "home track" and in front of his local fans and sleep in his own bed, he took advantage of that chance and had the most success of any driver on the track during the opening night of the Clash at the Creek XVII at the 141 Speedway located between Maribel and Francis Creek in Wisconsin, about a half hour South of "Titletown", otherwise known at Green Bay.
He won one of the qualifying features in the Modified class for the Modified finale on Wednesday night, a race that pays ten grand to the winner and also finished a half car length short of sweeping the program as he was edged out by Luke Lemmens in the Stock Car main event, by far the most exciting event of the night.
Three IMCA classes were in action on Tuesday with the Sport Mods and Stock Cars both running a full program of heats, B Features and a main event, which they will also do again on Wednesday night. The Modifieds ran qualifying events and with a format that they seem to change up almost every years to spice things up, this year's format including a pair of qualifying feature races that would establish the running order for the main event on Wednesday night.
For Czarneski, it was a rare opportunity to race at the track co-owned by his family and Toby Kruse and where he has managed to remain in the top ten in track points so far this year, even with his far flung racing adventures that have taken him to all parts of the country.
141 Speedway is known for several things nationally, with perhaps their biggest bragging point the huge fields of cars they get for their weekly racing programs. They start out the year by pulling in around two hundred and twenty cars or so for their weekly Saturday night shows with it now slipping to around one hundred and eighty weekly with other tracks now starting their racing seasons. Their fields for the three classes that are racing here this week are huge for their normal Saturday night show and there can't be many tracks in the entire country that host as many racers for their weekly shows as here at 141.
They are also famous for running off an incredibly speedy racing program and they must, as they have a 10;30 pm curfew established by the local township board as some local farmers complained. You know you are in "America's Dairyland" when you pull up to the track here as the track is literally surrounded by farms with cattle contentedly grazing right by the pits and behind the back straightaway.
The Modified racing program here this year is a complicated one, with a Philadelphia Lawyer necessary to fully comprehend it. Sixty three Modified drivers signed in to race on Tuesday with Iowa drivers dominating the visiting group. And although sixty three is an impressive group, it is nearly twenty short of the number on hand last year.
The drivers would draw for starting positions for twelve lap heat races. Only one set of heats this year as opposed to last year when they ran double heats. The winner of each of the six heats would be guaranteed a top three starting spot in one of the twin qualifying features. The next fourteen in the lineups would be based on heat race passing points earned. The remainder of the field would go into one of four B Features with the top seven in each making the feature. Thus, two twenty four car fields would race in twin Feature races. The top five in each feature would make the main event on Wednesday with everyone else running "The Ladder" to try and get into the Wednesday feature.
Czarneski started on the pole for the first Modified feature and he set a blistering pace as he drove away from Shawn Kilgore and Brian Mullen in the early going. One yellow slowed the race as with just one lap completed, Josh Long was involved in a turn four tangle and stalled. Drivers were allowed two spins on Tuesday as apposed to the normal one spin rule but they didn't abuse it and the show was another famously quick 141 event.
Back on green, Czarneski used the outside line, which was strongest for the Modifieds and he again pulled away from the pack. By the halfway point of the race, Benji LaCrosse had pulled into second spot with Johnny "Hitman" Whitman running third. Normally have those two behind you would be cause for concern but Czarneski was flying on Tuesday as he continued to hold his lead and perhaps even extend it a bit.
Late in the race he caught the back of the pack but that didn't slow him down whatsoever as he expertly navigated past five slower cars that he put a lap down as he drove on to a resounding victory. LaCrosse and Whitman would follow with Kilgore holding on for fourth. A last corner pass saw Cody Laney race his way into the show also.
The second feature looked like a Saturday night show at Boone as Ethan Braaksma and Izac Mallicoat shared the front row with Tim Ward starting right behind them. In what turned out to be a nonstop main event, they set a torrid pace with a couple of nasty slide jobs thrown in for good measure. Braaksma got the jump at the start but just three laps into the contest, Mallicoat threw a nasty slider exiting turn two that ran both cars up to the wall with Mallicoat driving away with the lead.
This didn't set well with Braaksma, however, as just one lap later he returned the favor with a "White Castle" that Mallicoat could taste! After that, they settled down to clean racing and Braaksma was just bad fast, setting a blistering pace that opened up some space for himself.
Another visitor to Wisconsin on the move was Jordan Grabouski who started fifth on the grid. By the halfway point of the race, he was up to third and trying to track down Mallicoat for position.
The blistering pace took its toll as the leaders were soon in lapped traffic, but the slower cars for the most part stayed low on the track and allowed the faster ones to race by. At the conclusion of the race, only one car had dropped out but there were also only eleven cars on the lead lap as traffic was intense.
That didn't bother Braaksma, however, wo maintained his torrid pace and took the win over Mallicoat, Grabouski and Ward. Taylor Schmidt salvaged the fifth place for the Wisconsin drivers.
The most exciting race of the night was the Stock Car feature. Thirty six Stock Cars signed in to race which, believe it or not, is below a normal Saturday night car count but work kept many from attending.
Czarneski was both fast and lucky on this night as he also started on the pole for the Stock Car twenty lap main event. He got the early lead as he chose to run up the track, where as most of the Stock Car drivers were running right on the inside tires, as opposed to the Mods that were rim riding.
Czarneski had plenty of competition as Kyle Frederick, Luke Lemmens, Shawn Kilgore and Shawn Wagner were all running in tight formation right behind him. Following a lap five spin, Czarneski's higher line gave Lemmens the opportunity to run just inside him and for the next several laps, Lemmens would nose inside on every corner, only to see Czarneski edge him off the corners.
This scenario continued until just at the halfway point when Lemmens got a good run and edged past Czarneski to take over the lead, an advantage he moved out to a full car length as Czarneski then dropped to the low side to fight off Frederick and Kilgore.
A stalling Chase Parker brought out the yellow with just five laps to go. Parker proved to be the only driver in the twenty four car starting field that didn't finish the race with all on the same lap.
Czarneski restarted on the top side and used that late restart to boldly drive up on the top side and edge up next to Lemmens. It was a great race in those last five laps as Czarneski edged up beside Lemmens and they ran wheel to wheel for the win. At the white flag, they were dead even and continued so down the back chute.
Lemmens got a little better run off the final corner and edged past, winning by a half car length over Czarneski, who did a great job running that second lane and staying with the leader without rubbing him. Kilgore had a fine night for himself, doing great work in both the Mod and Stock Car with Wagner and a charging Mike Mullen completing the top five.
Both the Sport Mods and Stock Cars ran a draw/redraw program and with thirty nine Sport Mods on hand, they would run four heats and a pair of B Features to set their lineup. Although a strong field, theirs was not even an average field for a Saturday night but again, midweek shows are a problem for many working folks.
Colton See would be the driver to beat in this main event after starting on the outside of row one and no one was able to accomplish that task. He pulled away from the field quickly with Travis Schmidt moving up from the second row to drive into second by the halfway point of the contest.
Coy Vlies, one of the fastest drivers in this class here all year, made one of the strongest charges of the night. He started eighth and by the halfway signal, was up to third. As See drove away from the field, the battle for second was a good one and with just two laps to go, Vlies was able to drive by Schmidt on the outside to claim second at the checkers behind a dominating See.
Ryan Schmidt and Shane Bahr completed the top five in a race that saw only two starters not finish out the contest. This race was run non stop in just five minutes! And now, for the most amazing statistic of the night. The Sport Mods ran four heat races and two B Features as well as their main event. However, in those seven races, there was not a single yellow flag flown! In other words, all the Sport Mod races went green to checkers. Try and top that!
It was another 141 speedy program. They ran twenty six races on this night, four of them being feature races. They started right on the dot at 6:30 pm, their starting time and they were done well before 10 pm.
Ownership at the speedway has spent a considerable amount of money with upgrades since my last appearance here in 2024. Many of the seats have been replaced or repaired, a considerable amount of concrete has been laid down in the spectator walk areas and the turn one pits has been completely remodeled to improve things for the teams with new fencing among the many improvements. In the plans is a new driveway from the turn one pits to the main staging area so drivers don't have to go on to the track to get to staging but that might not get completed before 2026.
Toby Kruse got his start in racing, I believe, as an announcer. Since then he has moved on to a number of different duties at race tracks including ownership. But tonight he was back behind the mic and it really is a shame that he doesn't announce more as he truly is one of the best at that difficult task.
Wednesday night the Modifieds will fight it out for ten grand in their fifty lap main event while the Stock Cars and Sport Mods will run another complete program. Race time is 6:30 pm and for those not able to jump into the car and drive to Wisconsin Wednesday, the race will be on FLO.
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