June 12, 2004; Sturgeon Bay, WI. - Recent wet weather across NE Wisconsin helped Sturgeon Bay’s Thunderhill Raceway put on a great show on another great track Saturday night at John Miles Park.  Second year Budweiser IMCA Mod driver Benji LaCrosse won his second feature event of the season with Matt Junio taking a nail-biting win in the T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car main event.

Illinois veteran Tony Schlei held off a late-race challenge to take home the May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock feature event.  Rookie Todd Polster won the AmericInn Street Stock main and Chad Williams won his second feature in the Sport Four class.   Lakes Gas sponsored the night’s events.

In the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds, Luxemburg’s Benji LaCrosse passed former track champ Randie Back of Green Bay on the eighth circuit to win his second feature of the short season.  LaCrosse had to wrestle his way to the front past some heavy hitters including Doug Maurer and Jay Matthias, and was able to eventually get past Back on the outside lane of the fast clay surface.  Dave Zeitler joined the leaders late in the battle and finished third to LaCrosse and Maurer.  Back held on to finish fourth with Matthias rounding out the top five. 

A feature race protest froze the points and payoff that night with IMCA being notified from the track, making these postings unofficial at press time.   Brussels’ Darrell Massart won a hard fought consi race with Maurer, LaCrosse and
Tony Herbst winning their respective heat races.  With the win, LaCrosse moved up from fifth in points to the points lead.  Only eight points separate the top four drivers.

T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car Matt Junio, Casco, won an 18-lap nail biter on Saturday night with a last lap pass over Dave Davister.  Junio led only one lap...the last one and most important lap to take the checkers, his first feature win of the season.  At the start of the race, Davister came off the front row and quickly set up a good lead over the rest of the pack.  Junio came up from his third row starting spot and chased down Davister for the next 15 laps.

 Former track champions Shawn Kilgore and Craig Paque finished third and fourth behind Davister.  Fifth went to Rick Mahlberg.  Earlier heat winners were Jamie Suchocki, Paque, and Junio with the consi win going to Pat Davister.  At
the end of the night, Bernie Reinhardt holds a narrow margin in the points battle with only seven points separating the top four cars in the class.

In the May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock feature event, Zion, Illinois pilot Tony Schlei rocketed off the front row and held off points leader Ed Anschutz to take the win, his first in only two visits to Thunderhill.  Anschutz flattened a tire while challenging Schlei late in the race and recovered to finish sixth.  Maynard Hegnet finished ahead of Wayne Moore to take second and third with Dave DeGrave and Keith Kickbusch rounding out the top five.   Earlier heat winners were Schlei and Hegnet.  Only six points separate the top three drivers in points.

In the AmericInn Street Stock feature event, rookie Todd Polster of Baileys Harbor won his first feature event.  It was the first night that he was able  to qualify for the main event.  Polster led the event from green to checkered. Second went to Scott Reinhardt and third to John Sternard.  Scott Iverson and Von Eytcheson rounded out the top five.  Earlier heat winners were Polster, rookie Kevin Damrow, and Reinhardt with the consi win again going to the points leader, Eytcheson.

In the Sport 4 division, Brussels’ Chad Williams swept the night with a heat and subsequent feature win.  Points leader James VanDenBogart, of Green Bay continues to hold a slim lead in the points race over Jon Beilfuss Jr.

Budweiser IMCA Modified, T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car, May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock, AmericInn Street Stock divisions along with the Sport-4 class compete weekly on Saturday nights, with competition getting underway at 6 p.m.

    Next week’s event is the Dairy Queen of Sturgeon Bay night at Thunderhill Raceway!

A special night of racing has been slated for Wednesday night, August 11 when the Forest County Potawatomi-ponsored 2nd Annual Dirt Late Model ShootOut opens the Door County Fair.    Thunderhill Raceway is located at John Miles Park, the site of the Door County Fairgrounds, just off Highways 42/57, and west on County Trunk T.   For more information call 920-743-7052 or 920-746-0387, the track phone number.    The track’s website is www.racethunderhill.com.


 RACE SUMMARY
 
 20 lap Budweiser IMCA Modified Feature - Benji LaCrosse, Luxemburg; Doug Maurer, DePere; Dave Zeitler, Luxemburg; Randie Back, Green Bay; Jay Matthias, Luxemburg; Kevin Sternard, Sturgeon Bay; Jared Siefert, Green Bay; Darrell Massart, Brussels; Todd Dart, Algoma; Sean Jerovetz, Suamico.

 12 lap semi-feature - Massart; George Henkel, Sturgeon Bay; Dart; Siefert; Mike Cole; Baileys Harbor.
 
 10 lap heats 1) Maurer; Matthias; 2) LaCrosse; Sternard; 3) Tony Herbst, Sturgeon Bay; Back.

 20 lap T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car feature - Matt Junio, Casco; Dave Davister, Luxemburg; Shawn Kilgore, Kewaunee; Craig Paque, Algoma; Rick Mahlberg, Denmark; Bernie Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; Jeff Vlies, Brussels; Gary
Reinhardt, Fish Creek; Troy Muench; Green Bay; Travis VanStraten; Hortonville.

 10 lap semi-feature - Pat Davister, Luxemburg; B.J. Soquet, Green Bay; Tracy Koontz, Brussels; Mike Wietor, Green Bay; Tony Bouche; Algoma.

 10 lap heats 1) Jamie Suchocki, Kewaunee; Kilgore; 2) Paque; Muench; 3) Junio; Charlie Kroll; Algoma. 

 15 lap May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock feature - Tony Schlei, Zion, IL; Maynard Hegnet, Sturgeon Bay; Wayne Moore, Sturgeon Bay; Dave DeGrave, Luxemburg; Keith Kickbusch, Kewaunee; Ed Anschutz, Algoma; Derek Moede, Casco; Jeff Lautenbach, Sturgeon Bay; Dave Lane, Green Bay; Marcus Moede, Casco.

 10 lap heats 1) Schlei; Anschutz; 2) Hegnet; Dave Serrahn; Algoma.
 
 15 lap AmericInn Street Stock feature - Todd Polster, Baileys Harbor; Scott Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; John Sternard,
Sturgeon Bay; Scott Iverson, Sturgeon Bay; Von Eytcheson, Forestville; Dennis Weidner, Sturgeon Bay; Aaron Thornton, Maplewood; Jeremy Wiitala, Green Bay; Thom Terrien, Green Bay; Kevin Damrow, Manitowoc.

 10 lap semi-feature - Eytcheson; Michael King, Little Chute; James Anderson, Sturgeon Bay; Jamie Berg, Lena; Joe Hegnet, Sturgeon Bay.

 10 lap heats 1) Polsten; James Iverson, Sturgeon Bay. 2) Damrow; Sternard. 3) Scott Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; Scott Iverson.

 10 lap Sport Four feature - Chad Williams, Brussels; James VanDenBogart, Green Bay; Ken Malcore, Algoma; Mike Hanson; Sturgeon Bay; Charlie Gross.

 8 lap heat 1) Williams; VanDenBogart.