Cedar Lake Speedway
Mars captures Masters opener at Cedar Lake
From series reports
Jimmy Mars tunes up June 13 at Cedar Lake. (Shawn Swanstrom)
NEW RICHMOND, Wis. (June 13) — Maneuvering through lapped traffic while maintaining his lead, fourth-starting Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., raced to a 50-lap victory in the first round of the Masters at Cedar Lake Speedway. Mars earned $5,000 for his first World Dirt Racing League victory in nearly a year and 12th of his career. "I don't want to get to overconfident, but we feel good about tomorrow night," Mars said. "The car was great." | Slideshow
At the outset, Mars battled Eric Pember of Pittsville, Wis., and Chad Simpson of Mount Vernon, Iowa, as the trio pulled away from polesitter Brady Smith and the rest of the field. Pember was out front when he jumped the cushion on the 22nd lap, allowing Mars the chance to grab a lead he'd never give up.
Meanwhile, Brian Harris of Davenport, Iowa, was making his way forward from his 18th starting spot. He was up to fourth near the race's midway point and used a lap-36 caution to cool his tires and grab a second-place finish. Smith, of Solon Spring, Wis., took third from Matt Miller of Waterville, Ohio, on the final lap and Pember rounded out the top five.
The June 14 feature event was rained out following preliminaries and the series and track tentatively agreed to run the event on the next WDRL visit July 31.
Notes: Mars has a Pro Power engine and sponsorship by Deppe Enterprises, T.L. Sinz Plumbing and Keyes Chevytown. ... The weekend's purses were originally $10,000-to-win but dropped to $5,000. ... The June 12 WDRL event at Superior (Wis.) Speedway was rained out. After wrapping up Cedar Lake with another $5,000-to-win feature on Saturday, the series heads to Freeport (Ill.) Raceway Park for a June 21 event.
WDRL @ Cedar Lake: (1) Jimmy Mars, (2) Brian Harris, (3) Brady Smith, (4) Matt Miller, (5) Eric Pember, (6) Rick Hanestad, (7) Ashley Anderson, (8) John Kaanta, (9) Justin Fegers, (10) Nick Anvelink, (11) Marshall Fegers, (12) Chad Simpson, (13) Chris Simpson, (14) Denny Eckrich, (15) Frank Heckenast Jr., (16) Andrew McKay, (17) Tim Isenberg, (18) Curt Martin, (19) Mike Nutzmann, (20) Dave Eckrich, (21) Adam Hensel, (22) Pete Parker, (23) Mark Burgtorf, (24) Kerry Hansen. Heat race winners (among 44 cars): Smith, Isenberg, Chad Simpson, Pember, McKay. Consolation winners: Nutzmann, Harris. Dash winner: Smith. Provisional starters: Chris Simpson, Martin.
