State Park results: Breitenfeldt prevails in pure stocks, Nottestad and Kurth add feature wins

Adam Glatczak | State Park Speedway track writer

WAUSAU, Wis. (Aug. 18) – Brett Breitenfeldt ’s quest for his first track championship at State Park Speedway took another step forward Sunday night.

Breitenfeldt got past defending champion and closest points challenger Dave Cabelka late in the race on the way to winning the 25-lap Advance Auto Parts Pure Stocks feature. Blake Nottestad and Nick Kurth also added feature wins, with Nottestad winning the Snap-on Mini Mods feature and Kurth taking the Rockstar Energy Drink Mini Stocks main event on Breaman Merrill Ford Night presented by Sawmill Brewing Company.

Breitenfeldt entered the night with a 16-point lead over Cabelka in the pure stock standings and added onto that after a patient run in the feature proved successful.

Breitenfeldt moved into second behind Cabelka on lap 9 and was on the leader’s rear bumper two laps later, but then spent the next six laps looking high and low for an opening around last year’s pure stocks champion. An opening finally came on lap 17, when Breitenfeldt got inside Cabelka on the backstretch, and he completed the pass a lap later and went on to win his second feature of the season at the track.

Cabelka held on for second in the feature while driving the car typically campaigned by Alex Volm. Cabelka borrowed Volm’s car for the night after his own No. 74 car was heavily damaged after hitting the wall in the Detjens Memorial July 26. Cabelka won the class’s heat race Sunday, but Breitenfeldt netted a six-point advantage for the night and enters Thursday’s points finale with 539 points to Cabelka’s 517.

Few drivers visiting for the first time make State Park Speedway their personal playground the way Nottestad did Sunday night.

Nottestad posted a clean sweep in the mini mods class, setting fast time, winning the fast heat and then taking the 25-lap feature. The latter saw him quickly take the lead from points leader Tim Anderson of Pittsville on a late restart and win going away in the 25-lap feature.

Nottestad is a native of Cambridge in southern Wisconsin and member of one of the foremost racing families in that area, and he made the most of his first visit to State Park from the start, setting the fastest lap of the season in mini mods qualifying.

Nottestad started 10th of 14 cars in the feature, faced traffic early but moved into the top five midway through. He later passed Payton Olson of Stevens Point on the outside on lap 18 to move into second, and was running down Anderson when the race’s lone caution came out for a spin by Rich Lietz on lap 20.

Nottestad restarted outside Anderson and took the lead on lap 21 and was clear of him a lap later. Nottestad drove away in the final laps and won by nearly a full straightaway.

Anderson led 10 laps in the feature after taking the top spot from early leader Dale Louze of Mosinee on lap 10. Anderson finished second but moved to the doorstep of his second straight championship in the class, as he leads Josh Willhite of Wausau by 63 points heading into Thursday’s final points race. Olson finished third in the feature while cousins Cameron Kemnetz and Shawn Kemnetz of Hancock finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Kurth won his second feature of the season at State Park in the mini stocks, beating a posse of fast cars to the front. He slipped inside Amanda Rowe of Mosinee on lap 6 and led the rest of the way in the 25-lap race.

Kurth also handled a restart midway through the race, after Kooper Guralski’s car lost a wheel and spun in Turn 3 on lap 13. Clayton Phillips of Marathon started on the outside of the leader, but Kurth took the lead and slowly put distance on him, towing Phillips by four car lengths late and winning comfortably in the end.

Phillips finished second with Garret Strachota of Wausau third, Eric Breitenfeldt of Wausau fourth and Zack Rogers of Wausau fifth. Breitenfeldt leads Kurth by 39 points and Strachota by 45 points heading into Thursday’s final night of points racing, with Breitenfeldt looking for his third title in the class in four years.

Brad Lecher of Wausau also was a double-winner on the night, taking the second heat and then the semi-feature in his first racing appearance this season. Kendra Baumann of Wausau and Guralski also won heat races, and Rogers was fastest in Menke Auto Group Qualifying in his first time out racing at SPS this season.

State Park Speedway closes out Thursday night racing this Thursday with Agra Industries sponsoring the Wayne ‘Lodi’ Lodholz Memorial. It also will be Fighting Cancer Full Throttle Night and championship night for all classes, with six divisions of racing including super late models, pure stocks, mini mods, mini stocks, legends and Bandoleros. Menke Auto Group Qualifying begins at 6 p.m. with racing to follow at 7 p.m.

Advance Auto Parts Pure Stocks

Fast Qualifier: Brett Breitenfeldt, Wausau, 15.590 sec.

Heat: 1. Dave Cabelka, Wausau; 2. Tim Nawrocki, Wausau; 3. Jeff Spatz, Wausau; 4. Kyle Kluetz, Schofield; 5. B. Breitenfeldt; 6. Steve Schilling, Ringle; 7. Dustin Ochodnicky, Ogema

Feature: 1. B. Breitenfeldt; 2. Cabelka; 3. Spatz; 4. Kluetz; 5. Schilling; 6. Nawrocki; 7. Ochodnicky

Snap-on Mini Mods

Fast Qualifier: Blake Nottestad, Cambridge, 15.586 sec.

First Heat: 1. Payton Olson, Stevens Point; 2. Keagen Benz, Wausau; 3. Dale Louze, Mosinee; 4. Brian Marquardt, Weston; 5. Rich Lietz, Mosinee; 6. Tyler Muller, Sun Prairie; DQ: Travis Hill, Arpin

Second Heat: 1. Nottestad; 2. Cameron Kemnetz, Hancock; 3. Tim Anderson, Pittsville; 4. Shawn Kemnetz, Hancock; 5. John Lietz, Mosinee; 6. Pat Dickman, Marshfield; 7. Josh Willhite, Wausau

Feature: 1. Nottestad; 2. Anderson; 3. Olson; 4. C. Kemnetz; 5. S. Kemnetz; 6. J. Lietz; 7. Willhite; 8. Louze; 9. Benz; 10. Marquardt; 11. R. Lietz; 12. Dickman; 13. Muller; 14. Hill

Rockstar Energy Drink Mini Stocks

Fast Qualifier: Zack Rogers, Wausau, 16.629 sec.

First Heat: 1. Kendra Baumann, Wausau; 2. Shawn Carpenter, Marshfield; 3. Austin Bohman, Wausau; 4. Jenny Wegner, Wausau; 5. Jim Schara, Hamburg; 6. Joe Schoener, Wausau

Second Heat: 1. Brad Lecher, Wausau; 2. Amanda Rowe, Mosinee; 3. Tom Lecher, Wausau; 4. Justin Boykins, Wisconsin Rapids; 5. Scott Swanson, Wausau; 6. Trentyn Wanta, Wisconsin Rapids; 7. Jacob Hintze, Wausau

Third Heat: 1. Kooper Guralski, Wausau; 2. Zach Budleski, Wausau; 3. Garret Strachota, Wausau; 4. Eric Breitenfeldt, Wausau; 5. Nick Kurth, Wausau; 6. Rogers; 7. Clayton Phillips, Marathon

Semi-Feature: 1. B. Lecher; 2. Wanta; 3. Carpenter; 4. Wegner; 5. Schoener; 6. Bohman; 7. Baumann; 8. Schara

Feature: 1. Kurth; 2. Phillips; 3. Strachota; 4. E. Breitenfeldt; 5. Rogers; 6. Hintze; 7. Rowe; 8. Boykins; 9. Swanson; 10. B. Lecher; 11. Wanta; 12. T. Lecher; 13. Budleski; 14. K. Guralski