Just when you thought you saw it all with all that has happened this year at Adventure Mountain Speedway, think again!

At the Border War races Elwood Niemi rolled his car completely over in the first Stinger heat race. The car ended up on his tires, so Niemi started the car up and finished the race! Then with his newly formed engine hood, Niemi went back out for the Feature and took a second.

Then in the second stinger heat, Dave Raffaelli and his son were in a bumper to bumper race to the finish line. Coming out of the final turn, Kyle hit the back end of his father, Dave’s car, putting the elder Raffaelli car out of control. Dave’s car went a few feet past the finish line then hit the outside wall head on. Dave did get the win.

“First concern of all of us at the track was to see if Dave (Raffaelli) was not injured. After Sonco responders checked Dave over, he was OK. However I’m thinking his son better find a part-time job to repair his Dad’s car.that is if it can even be repaired,” commented Track Announcer, Skip Schulz.

Another exciting race took place in a Pure Stock heat race. Ontonagon’s Dave Dishaw had a commanding lead going into the final lap. Then on the final lap, Dishaw had his right rear tire go down. Dishaw continued to race that final lap with the flat tire. Right at the finish line, Dishaw, Ryan Huff, and Al Miller were side by side at the finish line. The photo-finish was so close the officials had to confer to see who actually won the race. It was determined that Chassell’s Al Miller got the win, with Dishaw getting a second and Huff getting a third.

With Eagle River Speedway having to cancel their races, this brought a strong contingent of drivers from Wisconsin to the Greenland track. This created the last-minute “Border War” promotion. It was in both the Pure Stock and the Midwest Modified that drivers from both the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin competed.

The UP drivers held serve on their home turf, winning all the races, other than one of the Pure Stock heats. That was won by TNT Motor Speedway’s top pro truck driver, Cory Allen. Allen of Rhinelander was driving Bill Channing’s pure stock car to the only win of the night by a Wisconsin driver.

Adventure Mountain’s top Midwest Modified driver in points, George Truscott, took on TNT Motor Speedway’s top Midwest Modified driver in points, Dan Melton. Truscott held off Melton for the win in the Feature. The Greenland driver also won both of the heat races. It was in the Midwest Modified class that saw the return of Lake Linden’s Tom Waara. Waara ran his Hobby Stock car in the Midwest Modified class and took a fourth in both the feature and the heat.

Dishaw’s toughest competition in the Pure Stock feature came from fellow Ontonagon racer, Ryan Huff. Dishaw was running away from the 11-car field early on in the race, only to have a caution bring the field back into play. That didn’t prevent Dishaw from holding off Huff and Mass City’s Jeff Brown for the win. Rhinelander’s Jason Eisel led the Wisconsin contingent with a respectable 3rd place finish.

Kyle Raffaelli continues to move closer to the Stinger points championship as he won a feature where both of his competitors had tires go down in the race. KJ Joliff exited the race first, while Niemi finished the race with the flat tire.

Numerous drivers suffered car or tire problems throughout the night. Kerry Datto had a transmission go down and had to use reverse to simply get his car in the pits. During a heat race, Melton had to do everything he could to get his car in the pits as he had a front tire that barely stayed on the car. Cory, “Cowboy” Allen not only had a tire go down but in the feature the right side of his engine hood came lose. With little visibility, Allen still finished the race with a fifth place finish.

“With all that happened, I do know that I have never seen a car roll over, land on its tires, then finish the race. I don’t think I will ever see that again,” commented Schulz.

Then again, the strangest things have happened at Adventure Mountain Speedway this year. Who knows what the final two races of the season will bring. The final two races will be on Saturday night, Sept. 5th, and the following weekend. Whether that final race will be on Friday night, Sept. 11th or Saturday night, Sept 12th, is yet to be determined. That final race on either the 11 or 12 will determine the 2015 point champions in all three classes.

Adventure Mountain Speedway Results, 8/21/15

Midwest Modifieds Feature:

George Truscott, Greenland

Dan Melton, Rhinelander (WI)

Mike Kirtland, Bruce Crossing

Tom Waara, Lake Linden

Sean Hartman, White Pine

Ron Lillie, Wakefield

Midwest Modified Heat 1:

Truscott

Kirtland

Lillie

Melton

Hartman

Waara

Midwest Modified Heat 2:

Truscott

Hartman

Kirtland

Waara

Lillie

Melton

Pure Stock Feature:

Dave Dishaw, Ontonagon

Ryan Huff, Ontonagon

Jason Eisel, Rhinelander (WI)

Jeff Brown, Mass City

Al Dantes, Jr., Herman

Corey Allen, Rhinelander (WI)

Ron Drake, Phelps (WI)

Jesse Rafaelli, Toivola

Louis Malluege, Merrill (WI)

Al Miller, Jr., Chassel

Elwood Neimi, L’Anse

Pure Stock Heat 1:

Dishaw

Huff

Drake

Dantes, Jr.,

Miller, Jr.,

Malluege

Raffaelli

Pure Stock Heat 2:

Allen

Kerry Datto

Neimi

John Johnson, Sr.,

Brown

Eisel

Pure Stock Heat 3:

Miller, Jr.,

Dishaw

Huff

Dantes

Drake

Malluege

Raffaelli

Pure Stock Heat 4:

Brown

Eisel

Datto

Allen

Niemi

Stinger Feature:

Kyle Raffaelli, Toivola

Elwood Niemi, L’Anse

KJ Joliff, Mass City

Stinger Heat 1:

Kyle Raffaelli

Joliff

Dave Raffaelli

Niemi

Stinger Heat 2:

Dave Raffaelli

Kyle Raffaelli

Joliff

Niemi