Speedway points leaders hope to stay on top

The racing season at North Central Motor Speedway is half over and four mid-season point leaders have been established.

As of July 15, Travis Wermter of Brainerd is on top of the NCMS Pure Stock class, Brainerd's John Treichler leads the Street Stocks, Dan Yaunick of Brainerd leads the Wissota Super Stocks and Craig Larson of Pequot Lakes leads the Midwest Modifieds.

Wermter leads pures by just 15 points over Mark Olson of Brainerd with 475 points.

"I just want to go out there and have fun," said Wermter. "I try not to get anyone mad at me on the track by racing a clean race. It would be nice to win the point championship, but if not I have had fun and that was my goal this year. It's too early to say that I have it wrapped up because a lot can happen before the end of the year."

They key to Wermter's success this year is his family.

"I have had a lot of help this year from my family," said Wermter, noting his father as well as family members Don, Lyle, Louie, Scott and Randy. "We (the Wermters) have four cars on the track and we help each other as much as we can. My wife has stuck by me and supported me and I especially thank her for being there."

Treichler has a somewhat comfortable 35-point lead over Donny Thomsen of Baxter with 485 points.

"Providing that I have no serious problems, I feel semi-comfortable with my lead right now," said Treichler. "I set a goal at the beginning of the year to make the top five at the end of the season. Now, my goal is to finish No. 1. The key to my success this season is my consistency. It also helped that some of the other top competitors broke down and allowed me to gain on them in points. So far, I have two feature wins and at least four second place finishes. The worst I have placed is sixth in a feature. The car is the best it has ever been this season."

One of the reasons he finishes that well is pit man Denny Thompson.

"He ensures that the car is close to 100 percent and does a great job with the car."

Yaunick has just a one-point lead over Rick Sweet of Brainerd with 483 points in the very fast and competitive Super Stock class.

"I just want to be competitive out there," said Yaunick. "I would like to win the points at Brainerd and be in the top 10 nationally. I work on the car about two to four nights a week. With my job, it's tough to find the time to work on the car. I have had good help this year though and the car is working great.

With a competitive field of cars, the point standings are very close through the top five positions.

"Our point champion will be determined the last night of racing," added Yaunick.

Rookie Larson is sitting on top of the Midwest Modifieds by 22 points over Troy Jordan of Brainerd with 450 points.

His goal is like most, to stay in the top five at Brainerd and top 10 nationally.

"If I can do that, I should have rookie of the year honors going for me," said Larson. "Right now I need to maintain No. 1. We have a tough field of cars and the ones who finish on top in the heats start near the back of the feature which makes it even tougher to win."

With July dwindling to an end, the month of August will heat up as the race for NCMS point champions is on the mind of drivers and fans alike.