By Greg Aregoni
FRANCIS CREEK, Wis. (July 27) – Greg Gretz held off a hard-charging Josh Long to claim the IMCA Modified feature win Saturday at 141 Speedway. It was his first win of the season.
Gretz started up front and his racer was on point for 20 straight laps as he never relinquished the lead, while Long started ninth and quickly worked his way through the field.
Long got to the second spot only to see the leader using a perfect line. Long searched high and low around the 1/3 mile but could never find enough to get past.
An instant classic, as they say in the sports world, is what the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature brought to the table.
Larry Karcz Jr. started off up front and looked to have his night all planned out in victory lane. Unfortunately for Karcz, Rick Dix decided not to settle for third. Dix ran the bottom in the early stages but decided to go out of line with Todd Augustian and make a charge back to the front after losing spots early.
The duo seemed to draft on the top and gain on the leader every lap. Brandon Czarapata made his way around Zach Spangenberg mid-race and the trio started reeling in Karcz.
With two laps remaining, Karcz, Dix and Czarapata went three-wide for the race lead. Dix and Czarapata split Karcz and make it a drag race over the final 1/3-mile. They stayed even until Dix got hard on the gas off of turn four and found just enough to beat Czarapata to the line.
Last-lap excitement followed with Tom Schneider and the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods getting their turn.
Schneider had been knocking off positions but looked to have been running out of laps while excitement continued up front. He got his chance and took advantage.
Schneider stayed with Cory Kemkes until the white flag lap, then put his racer in to position with a power move inside the leader off turn two. Schneider grabbed the lead and picked up the win on the final circuit.