DirectNetworks Racing News
Read About the 2007 Season2008
Up and Down Weekend for Lyle Style Racing
The end of the year specials officially started last weekend with the Miller Lite State Championships at Jefferson Speedway. And just like the weather, Lyle Style Racing had an up and down weekend. It started Friday evening when Kyle was able to turn the second fastest lap in qualifying against 47 very strong Big 8 Series cars. However, shortly after qualifying the sky opened up and the rain began to fall and the races were canceled for the evening.
Everyone returned to the track on Saturday and after another lengthy rain delay, the races finally began at 8:30, two and a half hours behind schedule. Kyle started the first of two 50-lap features on the outside of row five. He was quickly able to move into the top five and at the end of 50 laps finished a very solid 3rd place. This put the team in great position for the overall championship. Kyle once again started on the outside of row five for the second feature, and was battling for 6th place early in the race. He was in position to win the overall title, when he was involved in an accident and suffered front end body damage. He pulled the car in for repairs and was out of the title hunt. With the combined feature finished, the DirectNetworks car ended up a disappointing 11th in the overall standings.
Coming Up:
This Friday and Saturday the DirectNetworks car will be racing at Madison International Speedway with a 40-lap feature each night. Qualifying is at 5:00 and racing starts at 7:00 on Friday and Saturday. The DirectNetworks Chevy will also be on display at the track Saturday morning for the JDRF Walkathon. From the MIS Press and John Wells, ¿On-track activities will actually being on Saturday long before the first cars begin their practice sessions. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) will be holding their annual Walkathon on Wisconsin¿s Fastest Half-Mile. Over 2,000 walkers are expected at MIS for a morning and afternoon of exercise, live music, games, food, and fun. "This is a major event for JDRF and we are happy to be having them come to MIS. We are hoping to have the drivers put their cars on display for the walkers to see in the morning," said MIS marketing manager Holly Coley. Registration begins at 10:00 and the walk starts at 11:30.
Remaining Schedule:
Sept 19 - Madison International Speedway
Sept 20 - Madison International Speedway
Sept 27 - Rockford Speedway
Oct 4 - LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway
September 9, 2008
The Lyle Style Racing Team once again had a solid weekend of racing. The team traveled to Madison International Speedway to attempt to conquer their bad luck at this track earlier in the year. The night got off to a great start by turning the 10th fastest lap in qualifying of 32 the cars present. In the first forty-lap feature, Kyle started inside of row two, led 14 laps, and finished second to young hot-shoe Ross Kenseth. In the second forty-lap feature, Kyle started 12th and fought to a solid 7th place finish. The 2nd and 7th place finishes were good enough for a 2nd place overall finish.
The Direct Networks car has now finished in the top 10 for 11 straight feature events since the car returned to the track after the early season blown motor! Thanks to all for their support in turning this year around!
Direct Networks Chevy Finishes 2nd in Madison Feature
MIS Press Release
Nathan Oppliger and Andrew Kulka had the honor of pacing the field to the green flag with Oppliger out to the early lead. By lap 2 Kyle Jarlsberg would overtake Kulka for second with Scott McGettigan and Jason Hicks getting by Kulka two laps later.
With Oppliger running out front, Ross Kenseth would move to the sixth position on lap 8. Out front it was clear that Jarlsberg was closing the gap and on lap fourteen was right on his rear bumper. Two laps later on lap 16 Jarlsberg would become the new leader as he passed Oppliger coming out of turn two. On this same lap Kenseth also joined the top five and was quickly working his way to the front.
By lap 23, Kenseth was up to second and ready to challenge Jarlsberg as the two had put some real estate between themselves and the field. Lapped traffic was now a real issue as the two worked their way adeptly through the tail end cars.
On lap 30 Kenseth made his move on the outside and while coming out of turn two cleared Jarlsberg to take the lead. From there Kenseth worked inside and outside of lapped traffic.
But there would no stopping Kenseth who picked up his second feature win of the season. Jarlsberg would finish second followed by Oppliger, Hicks, and Wilberg.
August 23, 2008
Jarlsberg Takes Another Feature Win
By Andrew Schaller
Kyle Jarlsberg of Cambridge won his second feature of the season, laying claim to the Watertown Bowl 50 lap Late Model feature event. Ryan Zielske and Chuck Duncan lead the field of 18 competitors to the drop of the green with Zielske taking the early lead through turns one and two of the first lap. Roger Behlke followed under Duncan to claim second and quickly challenged Zielske for the top spot.
Behlke moved under Zielske and claimed the point on lap two and started to pull away when the only caution of the event waved on lap six. After the restart, Behlke again moved out to a comfortable advantage while Jarlsberg entered the top five and began moving forward. Jarlsberg picked his way through the top five all while Behlke grew a large lead. Jarlsberg finally cleared for second on lap 20 and started to run down the leader. Jason Erickson quietly followed Jarlsberg through the field and into third on lap 25. The next few laps were spent watching Behlke's lead shrink as Jarlsberg and Erickson closed the gap. On lap 31, Jarlsberg pulled to the rear bumper of the leader and dove to the inside, taking away the top spot for himself. Erickson once again followed him, moving to second and setting his sights on the new leader. Erickson got under Jarlsberg on lap 33, and the duo ran side by side for several laps until Jarlsberg reclaimed sole possession of the lead with nine laps to go. Erickson tried one more time in the final laps to get past Jarlsberg, but exiting turn two on lap 48, Erickson broke loose, allowing Jarlsberg to pull away to the win. Erickson crossed the stripe in second followed by Steve Dobbratz, John Ovadal and Behlke. Jason Erickson also won the Pernat's Winners Circle Challenge event for the Late Models after a thrilling battle with Steve Dobbratz.
Tory Bagley of McFarland finally won his long awaited first feature race by capturing the 30 lap Sportsman feature event. Kody Hubred and Brady Lilly paced the field at the start with Hubred gaining control after a side by side battle to open the race. Lilly remained close to Hubred while Dave Oswald was lurking behind looking for an opening. Lilly got inside Hubred once again on lap 15 until Hubred moved pack out front on lap 18. Oswald dove inside Lilly to make it a three wide fight for second until they made contact entering turn three, sending Oswald into the outside wall and ending his night. After the restart, Bagley shot inside Terry Wangsness for the second spot and drove up alongside Hubred for the lead. A lap later, Bagley was out front and pulling away from the pack. Bagley cruised to the checkers for the win with Hubred, Wangsness, Brandon Riedner and Shaun Scheel rounding out the top five. Dave Oswald of Cottage Grove claimed the Winners Circle Challenge race for the Sportsman.
Janesville's Mark English completed the clean sweep on the evening by winning fast time, his heat race and the 20 lap International feature event. Rob Lange claimed the initial lead with Scott Hoeft sliding into second. They remained first and second while English was making his way through the field. English picked his way into the top five on lap nine and continued to move forward. By lap 16, English was second and looking at another feature win. A lap later English charged inside Lange and took away the top spot as he motored off to the win. Lange was second followed by Hoeft, Steven Scheel and Kenny Au. Kyle Smith of Lake Mills was tops in the Winners Circle Challenge event.
Waunakee's Kyle Riedner claimed his first career Hobby Stock feature by winning the 25 lap event. Riedner dominated the race, leading every lap from his front row starting spot. Point leader Jimmy Robinson made things interesting when he finally got to the front with only three laps remaining. Robinson tried everything he could to get by Riedner, but to avail as Riedner saw the checkers first with Robinson in tow for second. Rounding out the top five were Chester Williams, Alan Dorn and Dustin Ward. Robinson did manage to finish first in the Hobby Stock Winners Circle Challenge race.
Jess Riedner of Waunakee held off many challenges from Waylin Willman to claim the 20 lap Bandit feature event. Starting inside Willman on row one, Riedner took the early lead down the backstretch of lap one. Willman fought back alongside Riedner and the two competitors waged a race long battle for the top spot. With only two laps to go, Riedner regained sole possession of the lead as Willman dropped back to battle with Jeff LeFave for second. On the final lap, LeFave and Willman drifted in turn two, allowing Tommy Pfeifer to shoot by for second. But Riedner had enough to hold on for the win followed by Pfeifer, LeFave, Steven Scheel and Kyle Padfield. Kyle Watters of Stoughton claimed the Winners Circle Challenge event.
Next Saturday is a full program in all divisions highlighted by the Fort Quick Cash 50 lap Late Model feature as well as Iron Man races in all divisions. Time trials begin at 5:00 with racing at 7pm sharp. Jefferson Speedway is located halfway between Jefferson and Cambridge on Hwy 18. For more information, please visit www.jeffersonspeedway.com.
August 7, 2008
After the bad luck and rain at the beginning of the year, it has finally been time to go racing! Ever since the DirectNetworks Chevy Impala returned to the track from blowing the motor the first weekend of the racing season, the new Pathfinder Chassis has been very fast. Kyle Jarlsberg made two appearances at Dells Raceway Park in mid-July, finishing 5th and 2nd in the feature events. He also made two appearances at Jefferson Speedway, finishing a very solid 4th the first week, and picking up his first feature win of the season the second night there. In the last four (and in many ways their first four) complete races, the Lyle Style Racing Team has qualified in the top ten each night, and has compiled four top five finishes against very stout competition. They have continued to work hard on the car which has been getting better and better every week. They have high hopes and expectations to finish out the season very strong. A big thank you goes out to all of their fans and sponsors for sticking with them during their difficult early year struggles. Kyle has great confidence that the DirectNetworks Chevy will have an outstanding end of the 2008 racing year.
August 2, 2008
Kyle Jarlsberg Holds On For Win
By Andrew Schaller
Kyle Jarlsberg of Cambridge managed to fend off the late race challenges of Ty James to claim the Scott Oil Co. 50 lap Late Model feature at Jefferson Speedway. The opening lap of racing was marred by two separate cautions, the second of which for the front row of Jasper Gronert and Russ Grossen making contact and having to move to the rear of the field for the start. The new front row consisted of Dylan Schuyler and Ty James as racing got underway.
The duo battled side by side until James gained the advantage on lap two at the stripe. Chris Quam followed around the outside of Schuyler into second as the high line moved forward. By lap ten, James had begun to space himself out from the rest of the pack while Jarlsberg was moving into third and inside Quam for second. Jarlsberg cleared for the position on lap 14 and set his sights on the leader. Five laps later, Jarlsberg pulled up to the rear bumper of James and to his inside by lap 21. Jarlsberg tried the low side to get by for the lead, but couldn't make it work. Then, on lap 27, Jarlsberg became loose on the front stretch and slid into turn one. Jarlsberg made contact with James, and escaped with the lead exiting turn two. Jarlsberg looked to pull away as James regrouped and mounted a charge of his own. On lap 42, James caught back up to the leader and began to put heavy pressure on Jarlsberg for the top spot. As the white flag flew, James made one last try to get inside for a pass, but he lost control down the backstretch and spun to the infield while Jarlsberg sped off to the checkers for the win. Rounding out the top five were John Ovadal, Steve Dobbratz, Casey Johnson and Jason Erickson.
May 4, 2008, Madison International Speedway
Welcome to the 2008 racing season.
"2008 Season Begins with a Bang"
After a long winter and much anticipation, Team KJR (Kyle Jarlsberg Racing) was anxious to debut the brand new 2008 Pathfinder Chassis. With the first scheduled race date at the Dells Raceway Park canceled because of rain and flooding, the season debut was pushed back one week to May 4th at the Madison International Speedway.
The car hit the track for some practice laps and it felt very strong early on in the practice session. Unfortunately, later in the session the engine went ‘bang’ going down the long front straightaway. A long trail of oil and a cloud of smoke followed. The day was done because of a part failure in the rotating assembly of the engine.
The engine is already out of the car and will be taken to the engine builder for repairs. This will cause Team KJR to miss at least one upcoming scheduled race date. Right now, the goal is to get the engine put back together and back in the racecar before the end of May. Because some race dates will be missed early in the season due to the engine failure, an effort will made to rework the schedule in order ‘make up’ these dates. Stay tuned for details.
2007
June 23 Jefferson Speedway
The Direct Networks car was good in qualifying, posting the 3rd fastest lap of the day in qualifying with a 14.472. Unfortunately, that was the last of the good news for the rest of the day. Starting on the outside of the second row in the dash, the right front tire got a cut going into the first turn, forcing us to pull out of the race. Then in the heat race, the car developed a vibration. The crew worked hard to find the problem and we thought we had it solved going into the feature event. Early in the feature the cars vibration was small as we started towards the front. The vibration continually got worse and we were only able to just hold on and ride along for 50 laps. We ended up in 12th place and finally the car had enough and locked up while trying to exit the track. The tow truck came to the rescue and pulled the car back into the pit area. This hurt our position in the point standings, falling to 4th place, and now we have a little more ground
June 16 Jefferson Speedway
Once again it was back to Jefferson. We were able to time into the show with a 9th place qualifying run. Starting 14th in the feature we began the long trek to the front. There was some very close racing and some bumping and bang along way with a very tight field. When the first caution flew on lap 22 of 50, we still found ourselves back in the 13th position. After the caution the field line up single file, finally giving us some room to race. The number 87 jumped right to the bottom of the track and slowly picked off some positions. We were able to get up and finish a good, tough 4th place when the race was over. This really tightened up the point battle as we sat in third place, only 25 points behind the leader.
June 12 Dells Raceway Park
The busy week continued as we traveled to the Wisconsin Dells for a Big 8 series race. This was our first time at the track in about 3 years. We struggled a little in practice and qualifying, just missing the feature by 2 positions. We finished third in the qualifying race, which put us on the front row of the last chance qualifier. The Direct Networks car battled to a second place finish to finally get us in the feature event. After starting 20th in the feature, the car started to drive really good on long runs. We battled our way through traffic and when the checkered flag flew, ended up with a respectable 8th place finish.
June 9 Jefferson Speedway
Next it was off to Jefferson for the second and final round of the Summer Rumble. The car was not real good in practice however we were able to post the 11th best time in time trials out of 35 cars. With some help from the role of the die, we started on the outside front row of the feature. The number 87 Chevy was hooked up in the feature, grabbing the early lead and never looking back. At one time we had almost a half a track lead. A couple of cautions brought the field together at the end of the race a couple of times, but we were up to the challenge, pulling away from the field both times on the way to our 3rd feature wins of the season.
June 9 Jefferson Speedway
Next it was off to Jefferson for the second and final round of the Summer Rumble. The car was not real good in practice however we were able to post the 11th best time in time trials out of 35 cars. With some help from the role of the die, we started on the outside front row of the feature. The number 87 Chevy was hooked up in the feature, grabbing the early lead and never looking back. At one time we had almost a half a track lead. A couple of cautions brought the field together at the end of the race a couple of times, but we were up to the challenge, pulling away from the field both times on the way to our 3rd feature wins of the season.
June 8 Columbus 151
It was Round 1 of the 2007 Summer Rumble and the Direct Networks car was dialed in during qualifying. We turned a 13.478 second lap, which was good for third quick in time out of the 36 cars that attempted to qualify, just a couple thousands away from fast time. This started us outside of row 5 in the 35 lap feature. The outside groove is not the preferred groove at this track as we battled on top for the first 20 laps of the race until an opening was finally available on the bottom lane in the 14th position. It was very tough to pass and we rode out the final laps in a freight train, finishing the race in 14th.
May 18 – Madison International Speedway
Next, it was off to Madison for a Big 8 series special. The car was not very good in practice so we quickly worked to make it better as we only had 2 sessions. We got the car decent in time trials and turned the 13th fastest lap out of 39 cars, putting us into the feature event. We did not have a heat race so our only race of the night was the 38 lap feature event. The Direct Networks Chevy started the race in 13th and we maneuvered our way up to the 9th spot by about lap 10. Around the halfway point of the race the car began to loose its handle a little as I slipped back to the 12th position and this is where we finished the race. I gained some very good seat time and we learned a lot, as this was only my second time ever on the Madison half mile. All in all we were happy with the results and we plan on taking a better package next time we go to Madison.
May 12 – Jefferson Speedway
For the second week in a row the Direct Networks car was the car to beat in the feature. The night began with a sixth place qualifying effort, which place us on the pole of the fast dash. In the dash, we got a great start and cruised to an easy win. In the feature event, we started 14th as that is where the previous weeks feature winner always starts. The first few laps we were patiently moving forward through traffic. Once the traffic cleared a little the number 87 went to the bottom side of the track and just stuck there, passing a car every lap or 2. By lap 30 we were up to second place and reeling in the two leaders. When we caught up to the leaders they were running side by side with no way to get around them, so we patiently waiting for an opening. Finally we got on the outside of the second place car on lap 37. Then going into turn 1, the second place car got loose and hit us in the left rear quarter panel, spinning us both out. With 13 laps to go we restarted the race in 15th position and we were able to race our way back to a 9th place finish. We had the best car in the feature and had the win in our sights. But, as they say, that’s racing. We fell from 1st to 3rd in the point standings.
May 5 – Jefferson Speedway
With a great opening night behind us, we were looking for big things the second week as well. The car was very fast in practice, and it showed in qualifying. We timed in with a 14.265, good for 3rd fastest. After a second place finish in the dash, we once again used the heat race as a testing session for the feature. Once again the crew made an excellent call to make some changes to the car. We once again started in 12th place and started moving to the front immediately. After the first caution we were already up to fourth place. On the restart, the second caution quickly came out as the leaders got together with both drivers going to the rear. We were now restarting in second and made quick work of getting into the lead, taking the top spot on lap 20. The car was fast as we built a straightaway lead on the second place car. A couple cautions at the end of the race tightened the field back up, but they were no match for the Direct Networks car as we cruised to the victory. We went through tech inspection with no problems and we currently have a 4-point lead in the standings.
The upcoming schedule includes Jefferson Speedway on May 12 followed by an appearance at Madison International Speedway on May 18 for a Big 8 Series race. Late Models have the week off at Jefferson on May 19, as a Super Late Model race is scheduled.
April 28 – Jefferson Speedway
It was a long week as we finally got the long awaited motor on Wednesday, April 25. We dropped it into the car and fired it up for the first time late Friday night. After finishing up many small details on the car, it was off to Jefferson Speedway for the season opener. All I can say was all the hard work paid off. Even with limited practice, we qualified with a time of 14.325; good enough for fast qualifier honors. For the first time in my career I got to carry the American Flag around the track during The National Anthem. After finishing fourth in the Dash, we used the heat race to get the car set up for the feature. The crew made some good changes, and the car was very good in the feature. We started in 12th place and after some very hard and aggressive racing the Direct Networks car came home in 4th place. The car was very fast and with a few more laps we may have ended up 3rd or even 2nd. All in all it was a good night.
The first two weeks of racing have already passed. So far the Direct Networks Chevy is running great. It is looking like the off-season improvements to the car and engine are working out for the best. It has been an awesome start to the season, and I look for better things to keep coming!