Voeltz earns three consecutive checkered flags in Hornet

By Kelsie Hoitomt

Several area locals strapped themselves into a car for a weekend of dirt track racing at Red Cedar Speedway, Cedar Lake Speedway and Eagle Valley Speedway.

The weekend started off in Menomonie with the regular season finale on Friday night (Aug 16) where Brent Voeltz took home the checkered flag in the Hornet feature and Rick Hanestad finished second in his Late Model.

Voeltz took an early lead in the 10-lap, five car feature and cruised his way around the track for the victory.

Hanestad ran a hard race, but couldn’t quite gain enough momentum to edge out Mike Prochnow for the lead. It was bump and go for awhile between the two veteran drivers as it was just the two of them in the front stretch for a few laps with the four other cars tagging along.

Also hitting the track that night was Ron Hanestad in his Street Stock. It was a tough race with a seventh place finish out of eight in the 15-lap feature.

It was a bit of a tough race as well for Eric Schultz who officially retired his Hornet car last week and hopped in a Super Stock that he finished in time for Friday night. It was quite the difference in race cars, which showed as the newbie placed 15th out of 20 cars in the 18-lap feature.

Other area racers that competed were Leslie Jackson who was third and Dean Butler who fourth in the Hornet race. Jeremy Dahl placed second and Jake Hanson was sixth in the Pure Stock race. And lastly, Ross Prochnow placed third in the Modifieds.

The racing action started up again Saturday night in New Richmond with Midwest Modifieds, Pro Stocks and Hornets on the program.

Voeltz captured his second win of the weekend in his Hornet car during the feature race. Fellow racer, Buddy Hanestad was vying for the position after starting on the pole and running in the lead through lap five when Voeltz passed him.

Hanestad then smacked into Barret Hammond on lap nine of the 12-lap feature, which slide him into third place for the end of the race.

The weekend wrapped up with a third consecutive first place victory for Voeltz in Jim Falls during the Lonnie Leu Memorial race. He started in third place, but took the lead by turn two and held onto that position for the entire feature.