County Fair Makes For A Busy Week At The Track

The track at the fairgrounds was a busy place this past week as two tractor pulls and two demolition derbies took place this past week. Tuesday July 11 was the ITPA Tractor Pull. The track survived heavy rainfall for the demolition derby on July 12. July 14 was the Local Washington County Tractor pull, while the track played host to another demolition derby on July 15.

The first event on the track this past week was the ITPA Tractor Pull. The event featured five different classes. In the #5800 Modified Tractors, Lane Bollinger from Taylorville took home the top spot with a pull of 302’1”. Zach Williams of Baskett Kentucky took home second, while Glenn McMunn finished in third.

In the #8500 Limited Pro Stock Tractor class, Curtis Bedwell picked up the win with a pull of 324’7” followed by Jay Fender in second place with a pull of 321’7”. Nashville’s Kenny Kozuszek was third in the #8500 Limited Pro Stock Tractor class with a pull of 319’3”.

In the #9500 Pro Farm Tractors, Jerry Barrass drove Lucky Quarter to a pull of 327’1”  for a first place finish. Devin Cain brought home second place, and Doug Leischner took home third place in the class.

In the #9500 LImited Pro Stock Tractor Class Chris Couch of Jackson Tennessee edged Jason Barker of Shelbyville by seven inches to take home the win. Mike Johannes of Ashley finished third in the class.

In the #10000 Pro Stock Tractor Class, Hoyleton’s Dennis Schnitker finished ahead of Ken Couch to take home the win with a pull of 359’. Cory Roberts finished in third place.

Wednesday saw heavy rain just before the derby was scheduled to start, but the crew worked hard to get the track ready and the derby was able to take place as scheduled. The event featured Mini-Car Autocross, Full-size Autocross, a Mini-Van Derby, a Stock Mini-Car Derby, and a Regular Mini-Car Derby.

In Mini-Car Autocross, Terry Pelczynski Jr. took home the victory, followed by Larry Alexander in second and Drew Lange in third place.

Ethan Tebbe took home the first place trophy in Full-Size Autocross, followed by Ty Richards in second, and Ryan Bigley finished in third place.

A muddy track and pit area did not allow the lone mini-van driven by Alex Heine to get on the track.

In the Stock Mini-Car Class, Shawn Eubanks, driving number 73, took home the first place trophy. Eubanks was also awarded the Best of Show Trophy for the event. Branden Fortag of Ashley finished second, while Juan Velasquez finished in the third position.

The last class of the night Wednesday, was the Modified Mini-Car Class, where first place was won by Colton McGuire of Greenville. Jerry Kunz finished second in the event, while Zach Wreath of Nashville finished in third.

Friday night the track played host to an ITPA Tractor Pull as well as the Local Truck and Tractor Pull, which was open to only Washington County Residents.

The ITPA Tractor Pull featured four classes. The 5500# Classic, the 5500# Antique, the 9250# Hot Farm Tractor, and the 12500# Hot Farm Tractor were all a part of the ITPA portion of the night.

In the 5500# Classic Class, Jennifer Barker of Shelbyville took home the win with a pull of 264’4”. Brcok Casteel finished in second, followed by Berle Casteel in third place.

In the 5500# Antique Class, Ron Kolweier of Addieville finished in first with a pull of 267’1”. Scott Boehler finished second with a pull of 264’6”, while Chandler Beago finished in third place.

In the 9250# Hot Farm Class, seventeen tractors vied for the top prize. Coming out on top was Brett Anderson of Johnston City with a pull of 369’5”. Michael Riechmann of Hoyleton finished second, while Eric Schaefer took home third place.

In the last ITPA class,  Jerry Herrman of Shumway took home first place in the 12000# 12 mph Farm Stock class. Bruce Lidy took home second, while Daron Stuckemeyer finished in third.

The Local Washington County Tractor Pull featured tractors from all over the county and featured 10 different classes of competition.

In the 7000 lb.  class, Chuck Schultz took home first place after a pull off. Schultz, Wes Fritsche, Bill Riechmann, and Willie Bergmann all had a full pull in their first pull in the class, but Schultz finished with a pull of 235.16 in the pull-off to take the win. Bill Riechmann finished second, followed by Fritsche in third, and Willie Bergmann in fourth.

In the 18000 lb. class Chandler Witte took home first, followed by Reed Reichmann in second, Esdon Bartling in third, and Shane Renth in fourth place.

In the 14000 lb. class ten tractors vied for the top trophy with Jeff May of Nashville taking first place. Steve Harre took home second place, followed by Austin Hagene in third. Hannah Liske finished in fourth place.

In one of the biggest classes of the night, the 5500 lb. 4 mph class, Logan Riechmann, of Okawville had the only full pull of the class to finish in first place. Bill Riechmann took home second, followed by Zach Brandt in third place. The fourth place finisher in the class was Dwayne Mulholland.

Dan Emge took home first place in the 12000 lb class with a pull of 308.14, well above second place. Bill Funke came home in second place, followed by Jordan Harre in third, and Steven roesener in fourth.

In the 4500 lb. class Jeff Schwab of Okawville drove a John Deere 37A to first place with a pull just over 257 feet. Paul Patton drove an Oliver 88 to second place, while two Oakdale residents took home third and fourth place. Larry Helbig finished in third, and Zach Brandt finished in fourth.

In the 9500 lb. class, Chuck Schultz took home first place with a distance of 381.98. Jeff May took home second, followed by Hannah Liske in third and Bill Funke in fourth place.

There was only one class of trucks that pulled on Friday night, as 8500 lb. 4X4 Diesel Trucks took to the track. A small class, only six trucks competed. Zach Kabat took first place with a pull of 290.69. Aaron Fox of Oakdale drove a ‘04 Dodge to second place, while Craig Finke took a ‘17 Dodge Ram to a third place finish. Fourth place was won by Chris Kurtz in a 2001 Dodge Cummins.

The 22000 lb. class was the last class of the night, and  won by Craig Finke of Nashville. Finke was one of four pullers in the class to make a full pull. Finke was joined by Stanley renth, Adam Kozuszek, and Chandler Witte in a pull-off to see who would win. Finke took home first, followed by Renth in second, Kozuszek in third, and Witte in fourth.

The fair wrapped up with a demolition derby on Saturday night featuring Mini-Car Autocross, Full-Size Autocross, Semi-Stock Full Size Derby, Stock Full Size Derby, and Regular Mini-Car Derby.

In the Mini-Car Autocross, Alex Heine finished in first, followed by Devin Holle in second, and Terry Pelczynski Jr. in third, for his second mini-car autocross trophy of the week.

In Full-Size Autocross, Ryan Bigley finished in first place, followed by Josh Martin in second, and Jordan Brand finished in third place.

Jeff Santel won the Mini-Car Derby, followed by Colton McGuire in second. Scott Meinhardt finished in third place, while Jerry Kunz finished in fourth. The 38T car driven by Trevor Alexander finished in fifth. Santel, McGuire, Meinhardt, and Kunz all received an extra $100 on top of their winnings, for running Wednesday night’s derby and placing in Saturday night’s event.

In the Full Size Stock Class, Steven Neumann finished first, and took home the OEM Driveshft Trophy at the event. Second place and Best of Show went to Terry Torbeck of Odin Illinois. Jordan Borgmann of Ashley finished third in the Stock Full-Size class, followed by Scott Michaels in fourth. Dylan Fullerton rounded out the top five.

The final class of the night was the Semi-Stock Full-Size Class. Vic Whaley of Coulterville, driving the number 14 car took home first place, followed by Drew Dalman of Radom. Todd Robinson finished third in the event, followed by Travis Smith in fourth. Last year’s winner Trevor Pedtke finished fifth. Jacob Beighley of Iuka won the trophy as the Most Extreme Driver.