Morrissey collects his division best, sixth win
Kendall finishes second to push his final championship margin to 89 points.
By Bob Blaschke
DRP Media
The Leo's Upper Dells Bar Super Late Models put the nightcap on the inaugural 2007 season at the Dells Raceway Park, just before Sunday morning with DeForest's Andrew Morrissey winning his sixth DRP Feature of the season.
The race also crowned the Great Lakes Component's fifth Champion of the night, as Montello's Jeff Kendall, who finished second to Morrissey in the 50-lap finale, pushed his final championship margin to 89 points.
Under DRP's championship night format, no qualifying took place, so the starting grid was set by a roll of dice plus two starting spots. Kendall who owned an 82-point advantage coming into the Great Lakes Components championships rolled a two to start fourth. The division's top 10 were then inverted based on Kendall's roll.
After a six lap non-points warm up session for the top 10, a pair of 12-lap qualifiers were run. The finishing order of the first qualifier set the remainder of the inside row for the Feature, with the second qualifier setting the outside row.
Based on his sixth-place standing and Kendall's roll of two, Plainfield's Todd Stapleman started on the Pole. Morrissey started beside Kendall in the fifth spot.
Looking for his third win in his last four DRP starts, Stapleman paced the field for the first 39 laps, before Morrissey took the point with 10 laps to go. The DeForest racer had moved up to second on lap 15 and followed Stapleman for 25 laps before moving to the front.
Kendall, who secured the 2007 Leo's Upper Dells Bar season title with his previous DRP start, kept pace with Morrissey and moved past Stapleman into the second spot with six laps to go.
At the checkers, Morrissey was followed by Kendall, Stapleman, Portage's Tom Lichtfeld, and La Crosse's Don 'Thunder' Turner. The 50-lap division finale was held up for just a single lap-23 caution, when Reedsburg's John Raupp went around in turn 1.
Qualifying wins went to Markesan's John Zimmerman and South Milwaukee's Terry Patnode. The six-lap warm-up Dash went to Stapleman.
Leo's Upper Dells Bar Late Models
Sept. 8, 2007
50-lap Feature: Morrissey, Kendall, Stapleman, Lichtfeld, Holzhausen, Reiser, Turner, Kempf, Zimmerman, Gunderson, Gawronski, Storm, Kinder, Patnode, Carlson, Raupp, Ruffalo, Van, Trapp, K Seidler, Brescia, P Seidler; Qualifier 1: Zimmerman, Kinder, Brescia, Ruffalo, Van, K Seidler, P Seidler; Qualifier 2: Patnode, Raupp, Storm, Holzhausen, Bill, Trapp; Dash: Stapleman, Kempf, Lichtfeld, Reiser, Kendall, Carlson, Morrissey, Gawronski, Turner, Gunderson.
Final Top 10
1 00K Jeff Kendall 543
2 39M Andrew Morrissey 454
3 2R Kenny Reiser 419
4 75L Tom Lichtfeld 414
5 7T Don Turner 380
6 77S Todd Stapleman 354
7 97K Pete Kempf 341
8 4G Mike Gunderson 314
9 48C Jim Carlson 312
10 17G Matt Gawronski 304
Byrne wins his second
Schumann edges Klawitter in shortened Feature.
Burlington's Matthew Byrne added his second Feature win of 2007 to his resume, besting a starting grid field of 18 Schulz Automotive Limited Late Models for the season finale.
Started as a 50-lap shootout to determine the 2007 championship between Montello's Eric Klawitter and Portage's Rich Schumann Jr., who both entered the Great Lakes Components' championship race tied at 449 points.
With no points at stake for the warm-up Dash, or qualifying races, the season championship was slated to be determined by the two drivers out on DRP's one-third mile.
Klawitter lined up to start sixth, with Schumann to his left (starting fifth). Portage's Rocky Breezer and Reedsburg's James Kruschke III shared the front row at the start. Making his No. 64 stick, Breezer edged Kruschke at the start-finish line for the lap-one lead. Lap two saw Matthew Byrne move up into the outside groove, allowing Schumann to move in behind Kruschke.
Caution flew on lap six, when co-points leader Klawitter and Union Grove's Keith Tolf made contact in turn one. Tolf's night ended with a ball of fire erupting out of his front tire well. Though damaged, Klawitter remained on the track and was sent to the rear of the field.
Now with 12 cars between Schumann and Klawitter, it looked as though Schumann wrapped up the 2007 DRP title with the former Frank Kreyer Limited Late Model.
Restarting at the end of the line, if he had anything to say about the 2007 championship, Klawitter was not yet done. Needing to drive the race of his life to catch Schumann, the Montello driver caught a break of his own, on lap 26 when a massive pileup took place in turn one.
Hard contact brought out the red flag and stopped the race just before 11p.m. Ross Kenseth, Joel Soenksen, and Tyler Sauter all needed tows back up to the pits. Bryan Monday's ride (Pastor Scott's No. 23) suffered the worst damage after making hard head-on contact with the outside wall at the entrance to turn one. The No. 23 needed a pair of Blystone's wreckers to be carried back to the pits. Also suffering race-ending damage was Beau Sanden's No. 11. Able to run, Sanden drove his mount off the track scraping and rubbing all the way back to his hauler.
Of the cars involved only Prairie du Chien's Michael Ehde and Lodi's Nick Nolden were able to return to the race. They were both sent to the rear.
During the long delay and cleanup, Klawitter and Schumann now sat parked on the DRP front stretch with just three cars sitting between them and the season championship.
As the field fired their engines for the restart, fans were set to watch a 24-lap shootout as Klawitter looked to run down Schumann and Schumann looked to hold off Klawitter to claim the inaugural Schulz Automotive Limited Late Model Championship.
Just prior to going green, DRP officials elected to shorten the race 10 laps and restarted with only 14 laps left. Byrne led Breezer, Kruschke, Schumann, and Holmen's Andy Niles on the restart. Klawitter restarted eighth, behind Tomah's Donnie Fowler.
Returning to green-flag racing at 11:15 (after a 20-minute red flag), Klawitter quickly got past Fowler. Only Niles and Dane's Kurt Clapper now stood between Klawitter and Schumann.
With 12 laps left, Klawitter goes to the outside of Clapper looking for a way around the sixth-place car. With the leaders pulling away, it took Klawitter four laps to clear Clapper and then Niles. He now was behind Schumann, but had a lot of asphalt to cover to close in on the No. 54.
Needing a yellow for any realistic shot at passing Schumann and winning the season championship, it looked like things finally turned Klawitter's way when a large piece of sheet metal either flew off Klawitter's damaged car or was kicked up by the No. 22 as he battled though turn one with a determined Niles.
A caution with six laps to go would have put Klawitter right on Schumann's back bumper and given fans a thrilling finish to the season-long battle between Klawitter and Schumann.
Despite the body panel lying in turn one, DRP officials had no plans to wave the yellow and the field ran off the final six laps under green as Byrne picked up his second Feature of the year.
Finishing fourth, just ahead of Klawitter's fifth-place car, Schumann claimed the 2007 championship, edging Klawitter by two points, 507-505. Breezer and Kruschke finished second and third.
Mark Smiley took the R.A.C.E.S. B-Feature. Qualifying wins went to Tolf and Kenseth. Byrne won the six lap warm-up Dash.
Schulz Automotive Limited Late Models
Sept. 8, 2007
40-lap Feature: Byrne, Breezer, Kruschke, Schumann, Klawitter, A Niles, Clapper, Ehde, Fowler, Westenberg, B Niles, Nolden, Monday, Sauter, Soenksen, Kenseth, Sanden, Tolf; RACES Feature: Smiley, Burke, Fritz Sr, Dassow, J DeVito, Fritz Jr, L DeVito; Qualifier 1: Tolf, Monday, Niles, Soenksen, Smiley, Fritz Sr, Devito, Szelagowski; Qualifier 2: Kenseth, Fowler, Clapper, Westenberg, Fritz Jr, DeVito, Dassow, Burke; Dash: Byrne, Kruschke, Breezer, Ehde, Schumann, Niles, Sauter, Nolden, Klawitter, Sanden.
Final Top 10
1 54S Rich Schumann Jr 507
2 22K Eric Klawitter 505
3 18E Mike Ehde 463
4 21B Matt Byrne 461
5 64B Rocky Breezer 436
6 20K James Kruschke III* 403
7 14N Andy Niles 373
8 50S Tyler Sauter 345
9 67N Nick Nolden 343
10 7C Kurt Clapper 338 | 
