After the Friday night portion of The Masters at Cedar Lake Speedway was rained out after all qualifying was done, it set up a huge night of racing on Saturday night with three make up feature races from Friday before the entire qualifying process started once again for the Saturday night show which was paying the biggest prizes of the weekend.
A tremendous number of laps and races were held starting at 6 pm on Saturday and when the final checkers waved at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, there were some hugely divergent results for the drivers to either revel in or hate and the same for the fans.
Among the biggest winners were the Panitzke family from Lonsdale Minnesota where not only did fourteen year old Cam win the USRA Saturday night feature, but dad did the same in the Late Model class, taking home twelve grand for his upset win.
Jake Timm also had himself one of his most successful nights in some time, winning the Friday night Late Model feature and then coming back to top the USMTS finale on Saturday which also added twelve grand to his check book.
Other winners included Mitch Fenske in the USRA Late Models along with Cade Dillard in the USMTS Friday night show.
Things were in quite a dither even before the first green flag flew on Saturday, especially in the Modified pit area. Three drivers that had been disqualified for a frame rail violation and likely then lost starting spots in the Friday feature were instead reinstated on Saturday and they got their spots back. I'm told various reasons why this happened and not being able to find either Todd Staley or tech inspector Darlo Mulder on Saturday, I don't wish to speculate because I didn't get to find out the story first hand.
In any event, the reinstatements made a huge difference in the lineups for both the feature and B Features for the USMTS in their make up event from Friday. Several drivers that thought they had made the show were surprised to find out that instead they had to run a B Feature and all three that were initially disqualified instead earned starting spots in the Friday feature race. As you might guess, this caused quite the buzz in the open wheel pit area. However, there was racing to be done and money to be won so the show went on, riled up drivers or not.
And while all this was going on, Tanner Mullens, Terry Phillips and Reece Solander all made motor swaps for the Saturday night action, so there were some expensive heat races on Friday before it rained.
They went right into racing at 6 pm with the make up B Features and then the three feature races from Friday night. The USRA feature race was a grinder with five yellow flags and only about half the starting field still on the track at the finish as they were provided a fast track to begin the night and there was perhaps just a bit too much adrenalin flowing.
However, it was an historic race for Mitch Fenske as he won his first ever feature race at Cedar Lake in the USRA class and picked a great night to do so. He started on the outside pole and led all laps to get the win but had to fight through all the restarts and pressure from first Patrick Kelley and then later from Cam Panitzke. For Panitzke it was just a preview of even bigger things to happen later on. Lucas Peterson came from the fourth row to finish third. Fenske is the son of the late Modified and Late Model star from Winona Minnesota, Karl Fenske.
It was the open motor Late Models vs. the spec engine cars in the first Late Model feature and round one would go to the big horsepower cars. Jake Timm started on the outside pole and would be scored the leader of all forty laps but it was much more challenging than that statement would make it seem.
Early on he was challenged by Kyle Peterlin who was having a great race in his 525 crate powered car, moving into second and all over Timm for the lead. Eventually Cade Dillard, who started fifth, would pass Peterlin for second and by the halfway point of the race was putting big pressure on Timm for the lead. They engaged in a series of slide jobs that saw them crossing over each other in corner after corner for a number of laps that started at about the halfway point.
Eventually you knew that something would happen and it did on lap thirty four when Dillard got into Timm as he tried to race under him off turn two. Timm went around, creating the fourth and final yellow of the race and everyone waited to see what the call would be and who would go to the tail.
When Dillard pulled off the track, it was clear that he was called for the yellow and parked his car rather than start at the back of the field. He, in a later interview with Pat Graham, would indeed confirm that the call was correct and the mistake was his.
Timm then held on for the last seven laps for the win but was pressured by Cole Searing as the South Dakota driver drove up from the fourth row and very nearly stole the win. James Giossi came from the seventh row to claim third.
Dillard didn't have long to stew over what happened in the Late Models as the Modified feature was next and he focused instead on that event with the result being a successful forty lap run that earned him five grand. He started in row two but before the first lap was finished, he had passed both Clayton Wagamon and Gary Christian to take the lead.
Jake Timm quickly moved to second by lap three and the two went at it again for the win. However, this time Dillard was able to pull away and as Timm faded, the biggest challenge to Dillard was Kaden Blaeser who had started in row three. Blaeser used the top side of the track to drive into contention and he was the thorn in Dillard's back the rest of the race, continually challenging through the four yellows that slowed the race.
Tanner Mullens had moved into a challenging position but contact with a lapped car saw him get a flat tire and pull up lame on the track, creating the final yellow with a dozen laps left.
Once again Dillard continued to maintain the lead with Blaeser doing everything he could to get past but ultimately, Dillard was just a bit too strong and he drove on for the win with Blaeser setting for second with Jim Christian passing Timm for third. Only one driver in the twenty six car field failed to finish the race.
After some track prep, it was time to begin the Saturday night show with the first green flying somewhere past 9 pm. We did see track prep a number of times over the course of the evening but there were many laps put on the racing surface and the wind didn't help things either but the racing surface held up, only rarely and briefly showing rubber a couple of times and always being smooth with drivers all over the surface in multiple grooves and not much more than than can ever be expected.
The qualifying process was a repeat of Friday night with only the Modifieds qualifying. That portion of the show was topped by Mullens and Keith Foss with Foss being the only driver to drop into the fourteen second bracket.
Once again, heats and B Features would set the lineups for the second set of feature races and the running order remained the same. USRA Late Models went first and their main was again a grinder with five yellows and a couple of multi car tangles, the last with just three laps to go.
Jason McFadden led the opening lap but was quickly passed for the lead by Larry Fitzsimmons. He could only hold off Cam Panitzke for a pair of laps before the teenager drove by him to take over the top spot.
Panitzke then drove a very smooth line around the track, avoiding all the slower cars and wrecks that broke out and he led the final sixteen laps to claim the win. Fitzsimmons and Clayton Hofteig both pressured him at various points but Panitzke remained smooth and didn't the yellow flags faze him. At the finish, Lucas Peterson made another determined drive, this time from the eighth row to finish second with Fitzsimmons settling for third.
Veteran Terry Casey started on the pole and led a number of lap in the Late Model feature as he successfully knocked off the rust from his years of inactivity well. He and Nick Anvelink had quite a battle for first with Anvelink several times nearly getting past and throwing in a few sliders as well but Casey managed to fight off all threats.
Meanwhile, Nick Panitzke, who had started seventh, wasted little time getting to the front as he was up to third by the first yellow on lap twelve when Searing got a flat tire. He then for the next few laps battled with both Anvelink and Casey and on lap twenty two drove around them on the high side to take the lead.
Anvelink also got by and they then swapped the top spot three times until on lap twenty six, Panitzke finally claimed the lead for good. Following a yellow when Kevin Eder's strong run ended, the last fourteen laps of the race went nonstop and Panitzke pulled away to claim an impressive win. Anvelink finished second and Casey was impressive also as he hung on for third. Panitzke scored one for the sped engine drivers as his motor is a WISSOTA spec engine, not a big one like Casey, Dillard and Timm utilized.
With a late race pass, Timm completed his double win night and also provided the closest battle of the evening as the USMTS group wrapped up a long night of racing. Rodney Sanders started on the pole and led the opening lap but then, surprisingly, he started to quickly slip back into the field. Tanner Mullens then passed him and would lead the vast majority of the race.
Timm started eleventh on the grid but moved forward quickly, passing Brandon Davis, Sanders and Calvin Iverson to move into third. A grinding crash on the front chute saw a number of contenders eliminated including Harley Dais who flipped and Nick Ayotte who was making a great run to the front after Iverson looped it in front of a pack of speeding drivers.
Mullens continued to lead as Timm drove into second but Mullens seemed to have a fairly comfortable lead. However, Tanner hit some lapped traffic that was causing him grief and as he fought to get past them, Timm used the opportunity to quickly catch up to the leader. Mullens kept trying to get around the slower cars but he just couldn't quite make it and this gave Timm his chance as he shot under Mullens down the back chute and drove into the lead.
And once in front, Jake then pulled away as Mullens had nothing to offer in return with Jake stretching his lead over the final seven laps Mullens hung on for second with Sanders getting up on the cushion and fighting his way back up to third after slipping almost out of the top five. For Timm, it was a nice seventeen thousand dollar night after he has been ice cold of late.
It was a weekend of much speed but with that speed and intense competition, there were some bad wrecks too. After Onyx Johnson went to the hospital on Friday night after he totaled his Late Model, there were also some wild wrecks on Saturday including Taton Hansen who went over the wall in turn two with his Modified and nearly wound up in the pits, to Dais' wild flip on the front chute and Cooper Sundby who took a horrendous flip during a USRA Late Model heat. Fortunately, the word was that all were OK.
Thanks go out to Todd and the whole crew from the USMTS as well as the entire crew at the Cedar Lake Speedway and probably most pointedly, to the track prep crew who worked overtime for two straight nights to keep the track in racing shape. It was a demanding weekend of all employees, no matter what their job but without their efforts, we don't get to see races such as this and then we are the losers.
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