by Chris Budzban
August 1, 2009; Sturgeon Bay, WI – New Franken’s Shawn Kilgore sliced and diced his way through the field of IMCA modifieds to capture his 2nd feature win of the season at Prestige Yacht Coatings Thunderhill Raceway. Kilgore also won the feature on Friday night at Luxemburg Speedway.
Two Rivers’ Brett Wenzel set the pace early on in the modified feature, with Billy LeMieux and Chris Derenne right behind. Kilgore started picking off cars one by one on the outside, steadily making his way into the top 3. About halfway through, Kilgore had pulled even with Wenzel and eventually took over the lead. James Tebon followed suit and started gaining on Kilgore with 3 laps remaining. Kilgore would pull away in the final laps to take home the checkers, Tebon second, Jeremy Jacobs third, Wenzel fourth and Todd Dart fifth.
Two Rivers’ Jerry Wenzel took home the win in the IMCA stock car division for the 2nd week in a row, beating out a hard charging Shawn Havel. Wenzel had built himself a big lead, but a string of cautions bunched the field back up. With 3 laps to go, Havel jumped to the outside, but he was unable to make a move on Wenzel. Wenzel picked up the win, followed by Havel, Dave Bouche, Matt Junio and Mike Pierrard.
A photo finish occurred in the IMCA hobby stock division. Forestville’s Roger LaViolette led the majority of the feature, but was under some heavy pressure from Jarred VanLaanen and points leader Frank Paul. On the final lap, VanLaanen pulled to the outside of LaViolette, and beat him out by inches at the finish line for the win. Paul would finish third, Luke Lemmens fourth and CJ Weckler fifth.
In the IMCA northern sport mod division, New Franken’s Brad Lautenbach made a three-wide pass for the lead and held off Eugene Gregorich en route to his 2nd feature win of the season at Thunderhill. Gregorich made things interesting on the final lap, but Lautenbach edged him by about half a car length at the line. Cory Cochart came in third, Jesse Kroll fourth and Eric Arneson fifth.
Seymour’s Jeremy Wiitala padded his points lead in the NEW super stock division by picking up his 5th feature win at Thunderhill. Wiitala took the lead early from Dennis Weidner and went on to a convincing win. Weidner settled for second, Todd Everard third, John Sternard fourth and James Anderson fifth.
Sturgeon Bay’s Jeremy DuBois took home the feature win in the 4 cylinder division.
This Wednesday night, August 5 will be the annual Fair Night special at Thunderhill. Racing will begin at 6:30pm with IMCA modifieds, stock cars, hobby stocks, sport mods and 4 cylinders in action. There will be no racing next Saturday, August 8th due to the Door County Fair’s festivities. For more information, visit www.racethunderhill.com or call (920) 743-7052.
RACE SUMMARY
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE – Shawn Kilgore, New Franken; James Tebon, Algoma; Jeremy Jacobs, Luxemburg; Brett Wenzel, Two Rivers; Todd Dart, Algoma
Semi-feature – Mike Wedelstadt, Fremont; Randy Markwardt, Sheboygan
Heat 1 – Tebon; Dart
Heat 2 – Billy LeMieux, Sturgeon Bay; Jay Matthias, DePere
Heat 3 – Jacobs; Wenzel
IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE – Jerry Wenzel, Two Rivers; Shawn Havel, Brussels; Dave Bouche, Algoma; Matt Junio, Casco; Mike Pierrard, Green Bay
Heat 1 – Pat Davister, Luxemburg; Wenzel
Heat 2 – Havel; Mike Wietor, Green Bay
Heat 3 – Troy Muench, Brussels; Pierrard
IMCA HOBBY STOCK FEATURE – Jarred VanLaanen, Green Bay; Roger LaViolette, Forestville; Frank Paul, Kewaunee; Luke Lemmens, Kewaunee; CJ Weckler, Sturgeon Bay
Heat 1 – Scott Boulanger, Luxemburg; Lemmens
Heat 2 – Brandon Peterson, Sturgeon Bay; Weckler
IMCA NORTHERN SPORT MOD FEATURE – Brad Lautenbach, New Franken; Eugene Gregorich, Kewaunee; Cory Cochart, Kewaunee; Jesse Kroll, Algoma; Eric Arneson, Oconto Falls
Heat 1 – Jeff DuBois, Luxemburg; Arneson
Heat 2 – Kroll; Gregorich
Heat 3 – Nick Potts, Green Bay; Cochart
NEW SUPER STOCK FEATURE – Jeremy Wiitala, Seymour; Dennis Weidner, Maplewood; Todd Everard, Green Bay; John Sternard, Green Bay; James Anderson, Forestville
Heat 1 – Weidner; Everard
Heat 2 – Wiitala; Gene Sternard, Luxemburg
4 CYLINDER FEATURE – Jeremy DuBois, Sturgeon Bay; Tony Everard, Green Bay; Kasey Gross, Gleason; Kipp Burlo, Sturgeon Bay; Matt Sargent, Sturgeon Bay
Heat 1 – Burlo; Matt Borths, Algoma
Heat 2 – DuBois; Gross
Posted under Headlines, Race Reports on August 1st, 2009
