Two first-time winners in CWRA Stars to Legends Tour action found themselves in victory lane at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells  in the Marlin Walbeck Classic Saturday, July 21, as Jesse Bernhagen of Stevens Point and Dan Lindsley of Iron Mountain, Mich., each captured 30-lap Feature events.

The 30-lap main event lengths were in honor of longtime Wisconsin racer Walbeck, who used that number throughout his racing career.

With an excellent field of 18 Super Late Model machines taking the green flag in Feature number one, it was Derrick Van Dreel of Wisconsin Rapids grabbing the lead from his pole position starting spot.

Van Dreel led a handful of laps before a caution flag waved for a spin by Tour-point leader Mark Mackesy of Wausau. Action resumed with Van Dreel still leading, with Frank Nitzke of Berlin and Darek Gress of Neillsville in hot pursuit.

Bernhagen, meanwhile, was already up to fourth position from his 10th starting spot and putting pressure on the leading trio of drivers.

With half the race complete, it was still Van Dreel in front, but Bernhagen who is also a Rookie driver on the Tour this year, was making the outside groove of the 1/3 mile banked paved oval work, taking the lead with seven laps remaining.

Bernhagen stretched his lead the remaining distance, taking the checkered flag by five-car lengths over Gress, Jeff Weinfurter of Wisconsin Rapids and Joey Pontbriand, who made the four-hour drive from Norway, Mich., with Nitzke and Van Dreel rounding out the Top Six.

According to Bernhagen, with the car he was competing with on the night, a win wasn’t expected. “We have never run that well with this car, but tonight everything worked and we got our first win”

With a 10-car inversion for the second 30-lapper, it was Darren Jackson of Wisconsin Rapids starting from the pole position and immediately jumping into the lead.

Dan Lindsley was right behind and wasted no time getting alongside Jackson by lap 3, taking the top spot one circuit later. The Lindsley car was on rails and he stretched his lead to 10-car lengths in no time.

The rest of the 17-car starting field was mired in traffic, with Darek Gress moving into the Top 5 of the fastest group of cars on lap 10. Pontbriand was again having a competitive run as he, Gress, and Mark Mackesy from 11th starting spot, began battling for the third position.

Barring mechanical issues, Lindsley was not to be caught, as he had a straightaway lead with nine laps remaining. A caution waving incident for a Mackesy spin with four laps to go bunched up the field however, but Lindsley was up to the task, leading the rest of the way to the Checkered flag for his first CWRA Stars to Legends Tour win.

Dan Lindsley #79 won the Main Feature number two at the CWRA Stars to Legends Tour stop at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells Saturday, July 21. (Contributed photo)

Jackson hung on to second at the finish and was followed by Jeff Weinfurter, Pontbriand, Mackesy and Gress. According to Lindsley, it was a last minute decision to race at the Dells track tonight.

“Where we normally race at Norway Speedway (Mich.) was cancelled, so we decided to make the four-hour drive here to race. It paid off and we won the Feature!”

The 19-car field of CWRA cars on hand for the show was a new high for the group, and the next action they will see is Friday night, Aug. 10, at Golden Sands Speedway in Plover.

  SUMMARY

30 lap Feature one 1. Jesse Bernhagen, Stevens Point, WI., 2. Darek Gress, Neillsville, WI., 3. Jeff Weinfurter, Wis. Rapids, WI., 4.Joey Pontbriand, Iron River, MI., 5. Frank Nitzke, Berlin, WI., 6. Derrick Van Dreel, Wis. Rapids, WI., 7. Chad Devine, Appleton, WI.,, 8. Dan Lindsley, Iron Mountain, MI.,, 9. Jesse Pokszyk Friendship, WI., 10. Darren Jackson, Wis. Rapids, WI., 11. Mark Mackesy, Wausau, WI., 12. Brian Henry, Omro, WI., 13. Monte Gress, Neillsville, WI., 14. Rachel Kallas, Winneconne, WI., 15. Mike Sievers, Wis. Rapids, WI., WI., 16. Dave Neitzke, Eureka, WI., 17. Greg Matthews, Wis. Rapids, WI., 18. Tod Stenson, Wis. Dells, WI.

30 lap Feature two 1. Lindsley, 2 Jackson, 3. Weinfurter, 4. Pontbriand, 5. Mackesy, 6. D. Gress, 7. Bernhagen, 8. Nitzke, 9. Pokszyk, 10. Van Dreel,, 11. Henry, 12. M. Gress, 13. Kallas, 14. Devine, 15. Matthews, 16. Neitzke,, 17. Sievers.

Time 1. Mackesy

CWRA Stars to Legends point standings as of 7/21/18

1.  Mark Mackesy 471
2. Jeff Weinfurter 462
3. Darek Gress 455
4. Darren Jackson 384
5. Jesse Bernhagen 382                                         
6. Frank Nitzke 345                                         
7. Rachel Kallas 340
8. Derrick Van Dreel 340
9. Brian Henry 340
10. Monte Gress 310
11. Mike Sievers 268
12. Dave Neitzke 218
13. Greg Matthews 210
14. Dakota Blakeslee 170
15. Jesse Pokszyk 128
16. Tod Stenson 109
17. Jack Greenwood 100
18. Joey Pontbriand 92
19. Dan Lindsley 88
20. Jim Sauter Jr. 82
21. Brock Heinrich 62
22. Chad Devine 62
23. Mark Schultz 55
24. Kirby Kurth 53
25. Eric Wilhite 48
26. Derek Doerr 1