WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (July 9, 2011) - At some point during Saturday's Budweiser Late Model Crawford Oil and Propane Feature event, some famous Tom Petty lyrics must have been running through Dan Lensing's head.

The waiting is the hardest part.

Lensing started on the pole of the 40-lap main event and treaded through seven cautions, including two red flags, to pick up his first win of 2011.

"It felt like forever," Lensing said. "It seemed like every three laps we were having a caution. When I started in the back I couldn't get that kind of break. Tonight all of the fast cars (caught) up and I had to battle them."

After two false starts, Lensing locked into a dispute with outside pole-sitter Bobby Kendall for the top spot. Lensing secured the lead on lap four, leaving Kendall to deal with Andrew Kulka. Two laps later Kulka wrestled the second spot away from Kendall, and then set his sights on Lensing.

The first stoppage in the race came on lap 10 when Mike Ehde and Mike Beyer made contact on the front straight. Beyer snapped to the right and went hard into the outside retaining wall. Derek Childs and Matthew Clossey spun to the infield, but continued.

After a lengthy red flag in which several drivers were forced to drive around the infield in an attempt to keep their machines cool, attrition hit Kendall. Racing to the outside on the restart Kendall's engine went sour, forcing him to retire.

The following restart positioned Kulka, Mike Lichtfeld, Rich Schumann and Davey Pennel behind Lensing. A green flag run was short-lived again. Pennel and Schumann physically jockeyed for position until Pennel made hard contact with the outside retaining wall on the back straight just two laps after the restart.

Lichtfeld, Schumann and Kulka held on to the coat tails of Lensing through two more restarts in the next 12 laps, while a hard-charging Corey Jankowski ascended through the field. Jankowski joined the top five in the final 14 laps and began to pressure Schumann and Lichtfeld.

Lensing's greatest challenge came with 11 laps remaining when Lichtfeld closed in on the back bumper and tried to open the bottom line on the leader. Lensing kept the bottom sealed off and held on for three more laps until yet another caution forced a restart.

"It was mainly on the restarts," Lensing said of his challenges. "If I could get going I could run my own line. The toughest competition I had was Andrew Kulka at the beginning and Mike Lichtfeld at the end."

Over the final two restarts, Lichtfeld, Jankowski and Schumann exchanged second, third and fourth spot. Lichtfeld took the second spot from Jankowski with three laps remaining, and Schumann grabbed third at the line. Jankowski settled for fourth and Jesse Bernhagen rounded out the top five.

For Lensing, who had been caught up in several melees already in 2011, a stroke of good luck on a night when almost everyone seemed cursed left him with a smile.

"It felt real good. We've been having such bad luck all year. Starting on the pole tonight helped, but I knew we could do it."

Winters Breaks Through

Mike Winters had been waiting for his moment in the spotlight. Finally, it came on Saturday night in the Crawford Oil and Propane Feature for the RacingOnline.Com Sportsman.

Winters took the lead from Ron Grabarski two laps after a restart early in the going of the 25-lap main event and didn't look back.

Starting in the middle of the pack, Winters negotiated his way to the third spot by lap 21 when the caution flew for the first time. The caution involved 15-year-old Austin Nason who set fast time early in the night. Several machines spun in front of Nason, who had no time to take evasive action.

With Winters securing the lead from Grabarski on lap six, defending Champion Daron Fish and current point leader Scott Luck tussled for the runner up spot. Racing side-by-side the duo made contact and brought out a caution halfway through the event.

On the restart Winters powered out to a large lead over Grabarski while Fish and Luck sliced their ways back up toward the front. A caution with two laps left gave Grabarski one final shot at Winters, but Winters proved too strong. Fish held off Luck for third, and Clifton Sauey rounded out the top five.

Golden Gilding

Kevin Gilding missed the memo that the burnout contest was being held at intermission. An ecstatic Gilding lit up the tires on his machine after dominating the Crawford Oil and Propane 25-lap feature in the Schultz Small Engines Pure Stocks.

Wasting little time, Gilding secured an early lead and began to distance himself from the pack. All eyes were on Dave Trute, who due to several scratched machines started in the third row. Trute's bid for another win went up in smoke - literally - on the second lap when the engine expired on his machine.

The first caution of the event came on lap seven when the lapped machine of Jake McHugh spun. The restart hardly fazed Gilding, who again broke away to a large lead over the rest of the pack.

As the laps clicked off and Gilding continued to build his lead, a battle erupted for the runner-up spot. Don Fassett, Mark Hohl and Bill Zeman weaved through lapped traffic while trying to pick of positions. Hohl secured second with six laps remaining with Zeman following suit one lap later.

The duo raced to the stripe battling for second with Zeman securing the spot over Hohl. Fasset finished fourth and Nick Lange was fifth.

Preston Grabs Second Win
Portion by: Amanda Peschek

For Crawford Oil and Propane's Pound the Pump night at Dells Raceway Park, the Fire Rescue Supply Bandit division was definitely pounding and pumping through their 18 lap feature race. However, Arnold Preston proved he was able to battle through the many cautions and wrecks of the night.

At the wave of the green flag, Preston started back in the eighth position and avoided the three-way traffic at the front of the pack. After a yellow flag was thrown out on lap five, a restart led Preston to the lead after then leader Colton Morgan slowly fell to the rear.

Lap after lap, Preston pulled well ahead of his fellow Bandit drivers. Behind him, Andrew Portzen, Kurt Kolden, David Treu and Steven Rozek continuously battled to round out the top five positions.

With each caution, Preston was tested to keep the lead with two restarts in the remaining laps. Keeping his position for the majority of the race, he led the pack of Bandits across the checkered flag. Following him were Portzen, Rozek, Treu and Haley Kapp.

Preston's victory finish creates an even closer battle with Rozek for the top position within the division and will make for an interesting remainder of the season.

Up Next at Dells Raceway Park...

July 16 is Kids Club Night at Dells Raceway Park. Events before the first green flag include an on-track autograph session with all of the DRP drivers and rides in cars for kids. The future stars of DRP can test the track with big wheel races at intermission. Qualifying is at 4:45 p.m. with racing slated to begin at 6:30.

Dells Raceway Park is located at N1070 Smith Road, five minutes north of downtown Wisconsin Dells, Wis., off highway 12-16. For more information including the latest news, the 2011 schedule and more visit www.dellsracewaypark.com.