Dart, Junio and Rain Win Out at
Thunderhill Raceway Saturday! July 19, 2003; Sturgeon Bay, WI. - Todd Dart outran everything Saturday night at the Thunderhill Raceway. Not only did Dart top the field of 19 other drivers in the Coca Cola 20 but he took the checkered flag just as the rain started to fall over the track forcing the cancellation of the remainder of the night’s feature events.
That left Dart, Matt Junio in the IMCA Stock Car division and Troy Muench in the street stocks as the only feature race winners. The IMCA Hobby Stock and 4-Cylinder mains were both rained out. Run before one of the largest crowds of the season, a total of 97 drivers checked in for battle led by 28 IMCA modifieds. Fans witnessed 17 events prior to the rain setting in. Carrying the track point lead into the feature race, Dart started from the sixth row but, partially due to a caution plagued race, it would not take long for him to move to the front of the pack as by lap seven his car emerged from the field to crack the top five. Early leader Rick Johnson gave up the point to Eugene Gregorich on lap four. Gregorich appeared to be on his way to a win as he drove away from the pack only to have the rest of the cars gather behind him on lap eight when Bill LeMieux spun his car. Mike Cole became the third leader of the race on lap 11 as he pushed his car to the inside and got around Gregorich. Gregorich fought back to regain control only to have Dart run by him and Cole and take over on the 14th lap. Dart was gone from that point on, winning his third feature of the year. Dan Ratajczak made it interesting in the late stages of the race and came on to finish second ahead of Cole, Gregorich, and Jay Matthias. It was almost Gary Reinhardt’s night in the IMCA Stock Car division. Starting from the point, Reinhardt survived a rash of caution flag restarts and kept the field behind for 15 of the 18 laps run. But, Junio, who raced his way up from the fourth row, spoiled the Reinhardt victory party. After moving to second on lap 10, Junio would finally make the pass for the lead on the 16th circuit. He then pulled away slightly at the finish. Reinhardt held on for second ahead of Tim Van De Hei, Charlie Kroll, and Shawn Kilgore. A wild street stock 15-lap feature saw Muench take the win after two other drivers - James Iverson and Rick Sternard - shared the lead during the first nine laps. It would be Sternard who gave up the point on lap 10 to Muench. Sternard would end up in the wall on lap 11 after something broke in his car. He was forced to the pit area at that point. Muench was never challenged, despite the run of James Tebon through the field to finish second. Scott Reinhardt, Kevin Jandrin, and Jeremy Wiitala completed the top five. Racing action continues next Saturday night, July 26, at
Thunderhill Raceway as Door County Horizons presents a special salute to the IMCA Stock
Car division. All other classes will be in action with the first green flag set to
fall at 6:00 pm. IMCA MODIFIEDS |
