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All the reports are written by Lindsay this year, unless specified.
Preseason
March
March 1
The car was brought into the garage, with it's new body, and work was begun.
April
April 19
The completed car was taken out for inspection and practice. Two sessions were gotten in before it started raining. The car was ok, but not great.
The Season
April 26
Sunny, yet cold
The tires were the big story of the night. During qualifying it really showed. Ron timed in twentieth in time with a 15.185. Ron was in the slow heat and got second. He was third in the semi feature and made it to the feature. During the feature he started last. On lap 12 he missed a wreck in turn one. On the restart he made his way up to 15th, but fell back to 16th on lap 35. On lap 41 he was lapped. On lap 42, the second and last caution came out when Wilke spun in turn two and the whole field missed him. At the end, Ron ended up 16th. See you all next Saturday night.May
May 3
Sunny and 65 degrees
This week was much better than the last. Ron qualified 2nd and was in the 14 seconds in time. In the dash for cash he got 5th out of six cars. In the heat race he worked his way up through traffic getting 4th. For the feature Ron started in the inside of the 7th row. On the second lap of the feature Kyle Jarlsberg spun coming off of turn two and Ron made it through with no damage. By lap ten he and Steve Dobbartz started a heated battle for 10th. Ron finally got passed for the position. On lap 29 Ron passed Kenny Olsen for 8th. The last caution came out on the last lap, which sent us into a green, white, checkered situation. On the restart Ron lined up 6th and stayed there for the finish. The night ended even better when Ron’s oldest daughter, Rikki, won her first Bandit feature.May 10
70 degrees and very windy
The night started out well Ron was fifth in time with a lap of 15.015 sec.. The dash for cash was great Ron lead form the outside pole position and never looked back. Ron was in the odd heat and got passed Curt Thompson for third in the last lap because Curt missed the White Flag. After the late model heat the rain came and no one could stop it so the rest of the show will be on May 17,2003 with the originally planed races for the night.May 10 Conclusion (May 17)
Ron started in the ninth position and fell back to tenth on lap 2. On lap 13 he started working his way up through the field he moved into 9th and on lap 20 he was in 8th. On lap 25 he was moving again up another spot to 7th. On lap 38 he went by on more car to grab the 6th spot. But on lap 47 Ron and Aaron Wilke were fighting for the fifth spot and coming off of turn two hit and both were taken off on the hook. Ron finished a disappointing 16th.
May 17
Windy Cloudy and 70 degrees
*Note: The whole right front of the car was trashed. So was the rack and pinion. We put one of those in, both A frames, tierod, and new stabilizer bar mounts in 45 minutes. Amazingly, whgen the car was back in the shop Sunday morning, the caster camber, tow, and A frame angles were dead on. The car was only checked for tow after the wreck.
Ron was again 5th in time this week. The crew was still putting the car together so we didn’t make the dash for cash. Ron was in the odd heat and finished last because he was trying the car out to see if they had everything fixed for the main event. When the green flag dropped Ron was in the inside of the 4th row. On lap 14 he made his way up to the 6th spot and the next lap took 5th away from Mike Taylor. That is were we stayed for the rest of the race so all in all we had a bad but good night.May 23
Ron didn't make the dash for cash tonight because he was 9th in time. He was in the odd heat race and got third. Ron started the main event in the 6th spot and by lap four had moved all the way up to the third position. He rode behind the leaders until John Ovadal Jr. put Jasper Gronert out on lap 46. This put Ron on the lead and Scott Nottestad on his bumper. With two to go Scott tagged the back of Ron but Ron held on. At the end It was Nottestad followed by Ron. It was a great race between the two of them if you weren't there to see you don't know what you missed when Nottestad got out of his car the whole entire crowd started booing him. That was the first time that I have ever seen that happen to a driver.
May 31
All in all, Ron had a bad night. He qualified 8th and didn’t make the Dash for Cash for a second week in a row. In the heat race he also got 8th. In the Main event Ron started 7th or inside the 4th row. Ron was taken strait to the back. On lap 5 Ron had backed up to 12th and on lap 15 was back to 13th. On lap 19 Scott Nottestad tangled with Curt Thompson and Ron was involved. He never got back out and finished 16th.
June
June 7
Sunny and 72 degrees
Ron qualified 6th. In the Dash for Cash he started on the out side of the front row. Ron lead going into turn one and never looked back. In the heat race Ron got 7th. Then we went to the first feature. As the green flag flew Ron was in 8th. By lap 10 Ron had worked his way up to 6th and that is were he finished. In the second feature Ron started in the same spot as the first. By lap 25 Ron had moved up to the 7th position and on lap 32 moved into 6th. On lap 33 Dylan Schuyler pulled off the track so Ron finished in 5th. See you all next week.June 21
Sunny and 80 degrees
Ron had a really good night. He started it off good with fourth in time. In the dash for cash he got 4th by just a hair. From where we sit we thought he should have had third. Ron was in the second heat and got 5th. He started the feature outside of row 4 or 8th. By lap 5 he had already moved up three positions to 5th. On lap 10 he moved up to 4th. On lap 18 he was up to third. On lap 27 he fought long and hard for the 2nd spot against John Overdaul Jr. and took the spot away. on lap 34 with one to go Squirt Stevens made a pass for 2nd so Ron ended up in 3rd. All in all a great night. Oh! By the way I had to miss the races on June 14th so someone else will have to do the report.June 28
Sunny and 75 degrees
We had two rain showers that night. The first came at about 6:30 and the track dried and we began racing. Ron got second in time only .003 second off of Nick Went who got fast time. In the dash for cash Ron got 4th and in the even heat he was 5th. Then the rain started again. This time the races were called so the rest of the show was postponed to the following week. In the feature Ron started 11th. By lap 5 he had moved up to 9th. Lap 10 he was up to 8th. On lap 25 Ron had made it to the 6th spot and the next lap passed Steve Dobrats for 5th. On lap 28 Scott Nottestad got into Ken Olson and spun him out, so that put Ron in 3rd. With three to go he made the pass for 2nd and that is were he finished.July
July 5
Sunny 86 degrees Ron was 4th in time. In the dash for cash he missed getting 3rd by just a hair. In the heat race he finished 5th. Ron started 12th. By lap 5 he had moved all the way up to 8th. He stayed in 8th until he passed Kyle Jarlsberg for 7th near the end of the race. The night went well.
July 12
Sunny 76 degrees
Ron was 6th in time, which put him in the dash for cash. In the dash Ron started on the pole and finished 3rd. Ron started the heat in the 6th position. After having to battle for 4 laps with Mike Taylor Ron made it up to 2nd and that is were he stayed. In the feature Ron Started 11th. By lap 5 he was up the 8th spot . On lap ten Ron moved up to 7th. on lap 14 the first caution came out for Kyle Jarlsberg who spun on the back stretch and Ron just missed him which put him in the 5th position. On lap twenty Ron made the move for third and took the position away. The next lap he got around the 2nd place car. On lap 22 Ron made it passed Mike Taylor for the lead. Ron took off and never looked back. It was a great night and we are now in the Vos Sentry Foods winners Circle program. What a great night.July 19
Sunny 78 degrees
Ron was 3rd in time tonight. In the Dash for Cash he was 2nd. Ron was 4th in the odd heat. In the feature Ron started outside row 7 or 14th. By lap 5 Ron had already moved up to the 10th position. By lap 20 he was up to 9th. On lap 27 he took over the 8th position. On lap 31 he moved to the 7th position and made his last move on lap 37 to finish 6th.
July 26
Overcast and 80 degrees
Ron was 2nd in time. In the Dash for Cash he took it easy and finished 5th. In the even heat Ron worked his way up to 5th by going to the low side of the track to get by drivers. In the feature Ron started 12th. On lap 4 Ron had moved up 2 positions to 10th. By lap 10 he had moved his way up to 9th and lap 15 to 8th. On lap 20 he was up to 6th and lap 25 to 5th. On lap 30 he moved up to 4th and three laps later to 3rd. On lap 44 Ron fought with Jay Kalbus for the 2nd position. That is were he stayed for the remainder of the race. Another good night for the points chase because the points leader went out of the race earlier to finish 15th. So way to go Ron.August
August 2
Rainout.
August 9
78 degrees, breeze out of the NE, humidity 54%, Track in full sun for Time Trials
Finally Fast time with a 14.905
In the dash for cash Ron started dead last and worked his way up to the third position for the finish. In the heat race Ron took it easy and got 8th. In the feature he started 14th. By lap10 he was up to 23 were he stayed for the next 15 laps about. He got blocked in had nowhere to go. He finally worked his way through and passed Mike Taylor for 9th on lap 32. By lap 46 he was up to 8th and finished in the 7th position. Another good night of racing.August 16
87o winds 10 mph and high humidity
Tonight Ron got 3rd in time and 2nd in the dash for cash. In the odd heat Ron was just trying to stay out of an accident and breaking in new tires for the feature. In the Vos Sentry Foods Winners Circle race, which was 30 laps, Ron drew the 10th position to start. By lap 6 he was up to 9th. On lap 15 Ron was in 8th and on lap 25 he was in 7th were he stayed until the race finished. In the feature he started 11th. On lap 10 he was up to 10th. On lap 24 he made the move for 8th and on lap 32 he was in 7th. He got stuck behind Beau Sanden again this week and ended up in the 5th position at the end.August 23
Ron was eighth in time tonight so he did not make the Dash for cash. Ron got 2nd in the even heat. Ron had to go off the track before the race started because the gas cap came loose on the car. He made it out before the green flag flew. Ron started dead last. On lap three there was a 6 car pile up on the back stretch, which moved Ron up to 8th which was his original starting spot. By lap 10 he had moved up to 7th and lap 13 up to 6th. On lap 22 Ron passed Scott Null for 5th. Three laps later Ron passed Roger Belhki for 4th.On lap 32 Ron was up to 3rd. On lap 46 Ron passed Scott Nottestad for second. It was a long hard battle for second. That is the way the night ended and it went really well.
August 30
Weather was cool tonight.
Tonight Ron got 4th in time. In the dash for cash he was 4th and in the he got 5th. Ron started the feature in the 11th spot by lap 5 he was already up to 8th. On lap 7 he was up to 7th. Again we got stuck behind someone who likes to hog the track. On several different occasions Squirt Stevens ran Ron down to the grass in the three and four corner. He finally got by on lap 30, which gave him 6th. At the end Ron ended up in the 3rd position because Chris Purdy was disqualified. Another great night of racing.
September
September 6
Ron got 13th in time but it didn't matter because they were going to line up by point average. In the heat Ron got last. He just wanted to stay out of trouble. In the feature he started 14th. By lap 5 he was up to 11th and then slid back to 13th. On lap 15 he finally got past Jasper Gronert for 12th. On lap 19 he pasted Ken Olson for 11th and two laps later pasted Mike Taylor for 10th. On lap 28 Kyle Jarlsberg went off the track and Ron was up to 9th. On lap 33 he pasted Dylan Schuyler for the 8th position. On lap 45 Ron pasted Don Mattrisch for the 7th position. On lap 50 Andy went hit Jasper and was out of the race this moved Ron up to the 6th position were he stayed the next 25 laps or until the race was over. All in all it was a good night. Ron finished 2nd in the points behind Scott Nottestad. I also would like to congratulate Rikki on her fourth in point at Columbus in the bandits.
Pepsi Wisconsin State Championships
September 12-13
The Pepsi Wisconsin State Championships were called off because of rain this weekend. They are being rescheduled for September 27 and 28. The times are as follow:
Saturday gates open at noon, time trials at four and racing at seven.
On Sunday the gates open at eleven and racing is at one o'clock sharp. See you there.September 27
Cloudy and cold
Ron was 23rd in time. He had to come through the last chance race if he was going to make the feature. In the last chance race Ron started 7th. On the first lap of the race there was a multi-car pile up. Ron stopped and never touched anyone. On the total restart since they never got one lap in Ron started 5th. By lap 3 he was up to 4th. On lap 10 he passed for 3rd. On lap 20 he passed Mattricsh for 2nd. Ron stayed in the final transfer spot for the last 5 laps and made the big show. The next race of the night Ron was in was the Race of Champions. Ron started in the 5th position. By lap 5 Don Gasrudd took him back to 11th. On lap 10 he made it back up to 9th. At the finish line Ron was 8th. In the preview feature he started 17th, but on the first lap the leader spun out and had to go to the back. This moved Ron up two spots to 15th. By lap 5 he was up to 14th. On lap 11 fell back to 15th. But made it back up to the 14th spot at the finish. Ron was saving his car for Sunday and the big money.
September 28
Rain on and off all day long
In the first feature Ron started in the 17th position. The track let the drivers warm up their tires for four laps before the race started. By lap 5 Ron had been taken back to 21st because Jean Olsen Jr. couldn’t get out of his own way. By lap 10 he had made his way back up to 19th. On lap 12 he passed Jason Tomah for 18th. Then three laps later passed Ken Olson for 17th. On lap 23 he passed Curt Thomson for 16th. Then Ron took over the 15th position from Greg Bauers. He worked his way up to Dylan Schyler for the 14th spot on lap 35. On lap 38 Jim Jarelsberg was spun out by Nick Went so the both went to the back. This moved Ron up two more positions to the 12th spot. He passed Chris Purdy for 10th on lap 43 but Purdy passed him back and Ron ended up 11th. In the second feature Ron started in the 4th. By lap 2 he had moved up to the 3rd position. On lap 33 Scott Nottestad passed Ron. Then on lap 61 Andy Went went by and pushed Ron back to 5th. That is were he finished. Way to go Bishofberger team. It was another great year. I would also like to congratulate Bobbi, Ron’s youngest daughter on her fist win in the last chance race. Well it’s been great, see you all next year.