By KMSR's Jason Dale and Dean Reller
Sauk
Centre, MN, July 1, 1994 -- The overcast sky did not dampen the
spirits of the biggest crowd of the year that turned out for the KCLD
Fireworks night at the I-94 Speedway. In the WISSOTA Modified feature
it was Kyle Raguse claiming his first ever pavement win. At the drop of
the green it was Steve Johanneck leading lap one, before Rick Burns
took command on lap two and then Shawn Kirwin took over on lap three.
Kirwin then extended his lead by the half-way point to a full
straight-away over the others. Disaster struck Kirwin with four laps to
go as his rear-end gears let loose, thus setting up a fight to the
finish. Newcomer Raguse took the top spot and had to hold off hard
charger Dave Stork by inches at the line.
Eugene Dick continued his winning ways as he took the feature event in
the WISSOTA Late Model division. Bill Woodworth took advantage of his
pole position to take the early lead. Woodworth held the top spot for
the first 20 laps of the race. With five laps remaining, Woodworth spun
in turn one, as Steve Fegers was turning up the heat for the lead.
Fegers also slid his car, but when the race was restarted, he inherited
the lead. Points leader Dick used the late race caution to make a run
to the front and with just two laps to go, Dick hooked up on the high
side and claimed the lead for the two remaining circuits. Fegers
finished a close second with Rich Snyder third.
In the WISSOTA Super Stock feature it was Twin Cities racer Paul
Paine taking home the trophy. Paine took the lead on lap one and never
looked back as he cruised the entire race in the lead. Bryan Roach
finished second and Bob Snyder finished third.
In the KCLD WISSOTA Street Stock feature it was Pat Henry once
again finishing ahead of the rest. Henry started outside the third row
but quickly found himself in the lead on lap one. The Sauk Centre
native was able to withstand the constant pressure applied by Jim Bring
and Tyrone Swanson in the dash to the finish. The win was Henry's third
in as many weeks at his home track.
Jamie
Winterquist made the long trek from Grandin, North Dakota pay-off as he
led the entire Four Cylinder/Mini-Mod feature from start to finish. As
Winterquist ran away out front, the action turned to the second place
battle between Frank Gabrelcik and Bill "frog" Nornberg. The two cars
touched in turn two, sending Gabrelcik into the wasll and Nornberg to
the back of the pack. "Frog" hopped through the field to reclaim
second, but that was as far as he could get to Winterquist by the time
the checkered flag waved.
p.s.
This was the first race story I ever wrote. Dean Reller usually did all the race stories but he had the night off and I was asked to do it. Great memories and great racing at I-94.
Jason Searcy
