The annual "Clash at the Creek" wrapped up on Thursday night, June 18th at the 141 Speedway just North of Francis Creek Wisconsin and for the third time since this event was started, it was Ricky Thornton Jr who again sat in victory lane and collected the ten thousand dollar top prize. Support class winners, worth a grand each were Barry Maas in the Sport Mods and Luke Lemmens in the Stock Cars. Lemmens was a story in itself as he managed to sweep both nights of Stock Car action against a field of forty top notch entrants.
It was another beautiful night for racing in eastern Wisconsin with sunny skies, warm temperatures and quite a breeze out of the South. The only person that these conditions wouldn't favor would be the person in charge of track prep as keeping moisture in a race track would be very tough under these conditions. The result of that issue would pop up later in the evening.
One hundred and fifty four cars would sign in to race on Thursday with only two of the Modifieds that were on hand Wednesday not returning. They were Michael Long and Luke Lamberies, both of whom had miserable nights on Wednesday with Long returning to Illinois and not even being on the grounds while Lamberies didn't bother to unload his car, given where he was starting in a Last Chance race.
The program for Thursday would include five Last Chance races for the Mods plus the "Final Four" race that would qualify the last entrants. The Sport Mods and Stock Cars would draw once again on Thursday and both would run a full program.
Once again the show would start right at the advertised time and with less races on the schedule for Thursday, we would get done even earlier than the previous night, even though the show was topped by a fifty lapper for the Mods.
Twenty qualifying races for the three divisions would proceed the three main events and when it comes to racing here, they just simply race and don't cause yellow flags. Any driver that spins knows he better move quick or he will be in the pits and that's just what they do. It is so refreshing to not have the evening bogged down by a torrent of yellow flags being waved. On this night in those twenty qualifying races, all of which are very important and carry significance, the yellow flag waved only six times in total! That is remarkable to me but allows a speedy program to be run and the fans to know that they won't be spending a late hour at the track and those two things help make the show interesting and refreshing and that may very well be a top reason why 141 draws so many racers and fans.
One of the most crowd pleasing moments of the night occurred during a B Feature for the Sport Mods where female racers from Arizona, Shelby Frye and Taylor Kuehl finished first and second with both making the main and pleasing the crowd with their performance.
Sport Mods were up first for their main event and this was another race that went nonstop, green to checkered. The starting and finishing positions in this race might not reflect just what happened. Barry Maas and Derek Fehling started and finished first and second but that doesn't tell the tale of what actually happened in the race.
In truth, they battled side by side for the entire twenty laps, going side by side for almost the entire race and trading the top spot at the line more times than I can remember. First one, than the other would sure ahead but never by enough to clear the other driver and perhaps change lines on the track. So basically they raced side by side for twenty tours, racing for the lead.
In the late going Jayden Schmidt picked up the pace after starting fifth and he closed in to make it a three car battle. He might have been the fastest car on the track in the late going, but it was tough to find an opening to make a pass.
The top three raced to the line in a bunch with Maas holding on by half a car length for the win and Fehling nipping Schmidt by inches for second in and entertaining race.
Luke Lemmens has been dominating here all week in his Stock Car and he did it again on Thursday as he took his second win of the week. He started sixth but quickly closed in on leader Brandon Ross and when Ross slid up the track, Lemmens was right there to drive under him and take over the top spot.
Lemmens was able to put a little distance on the field but the race for second was a pack style event with about five cars jockeying for position. This race had two yellows and the last ten laps ran off nonstop with Lemmens adding to his lead at the end.
Ross hung on for second with Josh Mroczkowski edging Jeremy Christians and Kyle Frederick behind the dominating Lemmens.
Then it was time for the Modified fifty lap feature. The top ten in points earned on Wednesday night redrew for their positions in the starting field, an exercise that didn't seem quite fair since that was the whole point of Wednesday, to earn as many points as possible to start up front, or at least that's what I thought they were racing for.
In any event, when Thornton Jr redrew the pole, it was bad news for the field. He would have started outside pole if the passing points were used straight up, so it really didn't matter. Thornton Jr got the jump on Mike Mullen and led all fifty laps for the win.
Quite frankly, it was a rather anticlimactic way to wrap up two nights of spectacular racing but that is the way things play out sometimes. Sadly, the track locked down after about ten laps and it was a race to the bottom lane and then follow the leader after that.
There were four yellows in the first half of the race, most the by product of drivers running over the top of each other trying to get to the tires in the low groove. A few drivers would experiment with moving up a lane and sometimes they were able to gain a position, only to lose two if they tried the same move again. The last yellow, with twenty three laps complete, was when Tyler Stevens, who had been able to gain a few positions with this strategy, dumped Felix Dart on the front chute with both drivers calling it a night.
Terry Phillips got by Mullen for second and he occasionally tried to move up the track, usually on restarts but soon gave up on that and tucked in behind the smooth running Thornton Jr, who was hitting his marks on lap after lap and not providing any openings.
Near the end of the race, for the first time, the leaders caught the back of the pack without a yellow to bail them out, and it was up to Thornton Jr to maneuver through them. Dave Zeitler moved out of the way nicely and Thornton Jr timed his runs so that he could catch the back markers but not be forced to try a passing move as all cars were about the same speed at this point.
They were nose to tail the last few laps as Thornton Jr was not about to try a risky second lane pass and while Phillips rode him close, he was there to collect a check and not try any wild and unlikely to succeed last lap banzai outside run, so he just tucked in behind Ricky and rode it home for a second place finish. Mullen would be third with Ethan Dotson and the race's hard charger, Billy Kendall. completing the top five.
It was a somewhat disappointing end to what had been quite a couple of days of racing but sometimes that does happen, despite the best intentions of everyone. The same nice weather that everyone enjoyed was also the culprit in large measure that provided the kind of track that we saw for the finale. We all know that prepping a dirt track is about the toughest thing in our sport to do and sometimes the weather just throws a curve ball but by the same measure it is disappointing when it happens.
I waited around for Thornton Jr to do the traditional dive into the pond in the infield at 141 and he never did do it. I'm not sure if he did it later or not but I gave him plenty of time to do it and no belly flops were ever produced. Perhaps three times a winner is getting to be "old hat" or perhaps our current health situation had something to do with that.
The crowd was a huge one and perhaps the biggest ever I've seen at 141. For those states still with restrictions, forget it, we were shoulder to shoulder and butt to butt in the packed grandstands and the only mask I saw all week was when I was forced to wear one at my motel. That doesn't necessarily mean it's right, it's just a statement of fact.
Kruse, meanwhile, continues to hit "home runs" with his promotions and what a turnaround he and his top notch crew have done to convert an abandoned asphalt track in the middle of Wisconsin farm country into one of this country's most successful race tracks is a story for the ages. Thanks again to everyone at 141 for a great couple of nights of racing.
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