Billy LeMieux Captures Mod Feature; Wietor Tops Wild Stock Car Feature
By Chris Budzban
July 26, 2008; Sturgeon Bay, WI – Sturgeon Bay’s Billy LeMieux became the 1st driver to win 2 features this season in the IMCA modified division at the Forest County Potawatomi Thunderhill Raceway. Green Bay’s Mike Wietor survived a wild race in the IMCA stock cars to pick up his 1st career feature win in the division.
Photo Highlights
Sturgeon Bay’s Billy LeMieux became the first driver to win two feature events this season in the IMCA Modified division at the Forest County Potawatomi Thunderhill Raceway. #3L Billy LeMieux shot past early race leader #21cz Tim Czarneski off of a restart to take the lead with four laps remaining. Shawn Kilgore would fall short and end up taking second place for the fourth time this season. Jay Matthias ended up third, Todd Dart fourth and Czarneski fifth.
Green Bay’s #76 Mike Wietor took charge of the IMCA Stock Car feature in a real “barn burner”. After getting the race lead, he lost the lead to Rick Mahlberg and Charlie Kroll. Kroll and Mahlberg got together, taking both racers out of the event, handing the lead back to Wietor. On the final lap, #9 Shawn Havel, Brussels, made a last ditch effort to grab the lead and win from Wietor, but broke on the final lap giving the lead and first career feature win to the 12-year plus veteran Mike Wietor.
IMCA Hobby Stock #9 Marcus Moede took the feature race lead late in the event from Scott Boulanger and held off #69 Frank Paul by mere inches at the checkers. For Moede, it is his third feature win of the season at Thunderhill. Paul would end up second, followed by Dave DeGrave, Boulanger and Jarred VanLaanen.
Rookie IMCA Northern Sport Mod racer Brad Lautenbach picked up his second feature win of the season on Saturday night. New Franken’s #21 Brad Lautenbach made the outside line pass on fellow rookie #8 Jesse Kroll of Algoma, and held off Seymour’s Rod Solem to take home the victory. Solem took home second, Ryan LeMieux third, Kroll fourth and Aaron Holiday fifth.
Seymour’s #51 Jeremy Wiitala passed Maplewood’s #95 Aaron Thornton on the high line, and cruised through lapped traffic to pick up his fourth feature win of the season in the Street Stock division. Points leader John Sternard ended up third, Dan Merkle fourth and Thom Terrien fifth.
Green Bay’s #66T Tyler DeBauche made a clean sweep in the 4-Cylinder division, taking a heat race win and then holding off Jason Cornelius to bring home his feature win. 4-Cylinder #66T Tyler DeBauche got by #19 Charlie Gross to go on for his first 2008 feature win.
Luxemburg’s #8z Aaron Zellner was racing for a heat race win Saturday night when he spun, and was collected by #49 Roger LaViolette, rolling his IMCA Hobby Stock hard in turn four. Zellner escaped injury, but was done for the night.
Race fans were treated in some mid-summer fun with the second annual “Christmas in July” program at ThunderHill Raceway. Tracy Thrun flagged in the late afternoon summer heat while a former local racer, Wenzel Sternard, gave rides to the kids in the pits after the races. The night’s events were sponsored by Woody’s Signs, Dan Lewis Photography, and Bergstrom.
LeMieux shot past early race leader Tim Czarneski off of a restart and would begin to build his lead with 4 laps remaining. Shawn Kilgore would charge hard on the inside up to second, and gave LeMieux a run for his money on the last lap. Kilgore would fall short and end up taking second place for the 4th time this season. Jay Matthias would end up third, Todd Dart fourth and Czarneski fifth.
Wietor took charge of the IMCA stock car feature after an early tangle between Scott Reinhardt and John Anschutz. Rick Mahlberg and Charlie Kroll ran side by side, and then each made the pass on Wietor down the backstretch. Mahlberg and Kroll would battle for the top spot with 2 laps to go, when contact between them sent Kroll airborne and Mahlberg into the infield. That would hand the lead back over to Wietor for a green-white-checker finish. Shawn Havel charged on the outside of Wietor at the white flag, but something broke on his car bringing out a caution and ending the race. Wietor was the victor, followed by Todd Polster, Matt Junio, Tony Bouche and Ben Kroll.
When Dave DeGrave isn’t winning the feature in the IMCA hobby stocks, it seems that Marcus Moede is always right there to take advantage of the opportunity. Moede took the lead late in the race from Scott Boulanger and held off Frank Paul by mere inches at the checkers. For Moede, it is his 3rd feature win of the season at Thunderhill. Paul would end up second, followed by Dave DeGrave, Boulanger and Jarred VanLaanen.
Rookie IMCA northern sport mod driver Brad Lautenbach picked up his 2nd feature win of the season at Thunderhill. Lautenbach made the outside line pass on fellow rookie Jesse Kroll, and held off a hard charging Rod Solem to take home the victory. Solem took home second, Ryan LeMieux third, Kroll fourth and Aaron Holiday fifth.
Seymour’s Jeremy Wiitala passed last week’s winner Aaron Thornton on the high line, and cruised through lapped traffic to pick up his 4th feature win of the season in the street stock division. Points leader John Sternard ended up third, Dan Merkle fourth and Thom Terrien fifth.
Green Bay’s Tyler DeBauche made a clean sweep in the 4 cylinder division, taking his heat race and holding off Jason Cornelius to bring home the feature win.
Next week’s races are sponsored by Jim Olson Motors. Racing gets underway at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening. The track's website is www.racethunderhill.com. For more information, call (920) 743-7052.
RACE SUMMARY
IMCA MODIFIED FEATURE – Billy LeMieux, Sturgeon Bay; Shawn Kilgore, New Franken; Jay Matthias, DePere; Todd Dart, Algoma; Tim Czarneski, Denmark
Heat 1 – Czarneski; Kyle Kudick, Mishicot
Heat 2 – Jeremy Jacobs, Luxemburg; Randy LeMieux, Jr., Sturgeon Bay
IMCA STOCK CAR FEATURE – Mike Wietor, Green Bay; Todd Polster, Sturgeon Bay; Matt Junio, Casco; Tony Bouche, Algoma; Ben Kroll, New Franken
Semi-feature – Von Eytcheson, Forestville; Polster
Heat 1 – Bouche; Shawn Havel, Brussels
Heat 2 – John Anschutz, Brussels; Charlie Kroll, Forestville
Heat 3 – Rick Mahlberg, Green Bay; Scott Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay
Heat 4 – Ben Kroll; Greg Gretz, Kewaunee
IMCA HOBBY STOCK FEATURE – Marcus Moede, Luxemburg; Frank Paul, Luxemburg; Dave DeGrave, Luxemburg; Scott Boulanger, Luxemburg; Jarred VanLaanen, Green Bay
Heat 1 – VanLaanen; Brandon Peterson, Sturgeon Bay
Heat 2 – Moede; George Paul, Luxemburg
Heat 3 – Jason LaViolette, Little Sturgeon; Frank Paul
IMCA NORTHERN SPORT MOD FEATURE – Brad Lautenbach, New Franken; Rod Solem, Seymour; Ryan LeMieux, Sturgeon Bay; Jesse Kroll, Algoma; Aaron Holiday, Green Bay
Heat 1 – LeMieux; Keith Kickbusch, Kewaunee
Heat 2 – Bernie Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; Kroll
STREET STOCK FEATURE – Jeremy Wiitala, Seymour; Aaron Thornton, Maplewood; John Sternard, Sturgeon Bay; Dan Merkle, Baileys Harbor; Thom Terrien, New Franken
Heat 1 – Thornton; Todd Everard, Green Bay
Heat 2 – Tim Jandrin, Kewaunee; Wiitala
4 CYLINDER FEATURE – Tyler DeBauche, Green Bay; Jason Cornelius, Oneida; Kasey Gross, Gleason; Kipp Burlo, Sturgeon Bay; Tony Everard, Green Bay
Heat 1 – DeBauche; Cornelius
Heat 2 – Burlo; Gross
