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Great Opening Night at Lake Geneva Raceway!
By Dale Erdmann |
The feature races were very close and exciting as Bob Koidahl of
Cary, Illinois won his first career in the Budweiser super late model 35 lap feature race.
Koidahl walked out of the place with $1050 for the win with the help of a new race fan who
gave an extra $300for the win. His company Product Finders of Kenosha and Milwaukee was
the unannounced sponsor of the race. The McHenry Limousine 25 lap feature went to
Burlington driver and defending champion Jack Rubach who actually finished second in the
event. The Performance Unlimited sportsman feature for 28 laps went to the defending
McLeodUSA MidAmerican Champion James Swan of Lake Geneva and the Sideline Motorsports
sport trucks feature went to James Olson of Woodstock,IL. the 2000 champion.
The super late model feature looked like a parade lap for most of the first half of the
contest as Jerry Cowan led the first three laps before visiting John Nutley crept in
front. This was another short lived front spot as Koidahl surged forward quickly. Racing
side by side Koidahl slipped in front on lap seven. The top twelve were so close that if
something would have happened it would have been scarey.
For the next twelve laps things were extremely close but coming off turn three something
happened to Jamie Wallace’s mount as it stalled in turn four bringing out the caution
on lap nineteen. Fran Prestay was now second but as the green reappeared Koidahl remained
in command. Within three laps Prestay used his skills on the second year driver as they
raced side by side before the lead changed on lap twenty two. Koidahl would have no part
of second place after dicing the next two laps the lead when back to the former front
runner. Two more laps went into the books before it got even tighter.
Joe Fischer was now challenging Prestay for second with Nutley getting his second wind
right along of these three. Al Schill was right behind this group just waiting for a
mistake but this former champion had Matt Kocourek and Cowan too close for comfort.
Koidahl went on to win the event by a two car advantage as Prestay got past Fischer for
second with Nutley nipping Schill for fourth and Kocourek completing the to six in the
close contest.
In the super stock feature Erik Engel led the opening lap before Nick Nelson came in front
but on lap five Mike Kooi stalled in turn three bringing the caution. Nelson remained the
leader as the next green came out with second year driver Mike Gunderson working on Engel.
Gunderson was now the one to watch moving up to challenge Nelson all within two laps. The
lead changed briefly on lap seven but Nelson came back in front one lap later.
Norm Paulsen and Jeremy Tess nearly tangled while running midpack giving the remain ing
field a real scare. Rob Summers had been working on the leader for two laps before inching
ahead on lap twelve.Coming off turn four Scott Eggebrecht pulled off a slick move with no
one getting hurt. Eggebrecht spun and did a full 360 only losing four positions as the
race continued. Sonny Schoffen moved past Nelson two laps later but never moved within
striking distance of the new leader.
Defending champion Jack Rubach steadily moved up the field after starting in the eighth
row of the twenty three car field. Fast timer Dan Huber diced with Nelson for fifth as
Gunderson held onto fourth.Summers won the race with Rubach second but never mounted a
serious challenge as the laps ran out. Schoffen held back Huber who nipped Nelson who got
passed by Mike Bell at the wire for another great main event. A post race inspection
dropped Summers from the finish due to being under weight as this moved everyone up and
put Rubach into the winners column and Paul Konieczny into sixth.
The sportsman feature got off to a rocky start but Scott Asher managed to move in front
even thou pole sitter Monty Coffman drifted up on the leader at the start. Defending
champion Mike Lange slipped into third only to lose that position after a lap six melee
involving Coffman and Terry Crowell.The caution appeared and Crowell headed to the pits
with a right front tire flat after that incident.
Underway again but just for one lap Denny Norton Jr. stalled at the pit entrance bringing
the event to a halt just a Ken Joosten had taken the lead from Asher.The race got better
with the next five laps under Joosten’s belt before James Swan moved out front. Zac
Deeringer who moved in the wrong direction at the beginning of this feature was now up to
third and starting to work on Joosten.
Behind this cluster was a tight field as Brian Baker and Gary LaMonte diced for fourth.
Swan held on for the win with Deeringer Joosten LaMonte Baker and a recovering Lange under
a blanket for another great opening night feature that started off the wrong way.
James Olson’s main competition Bill Olson dropped out on lap six of the event but
defending champion Vincent Merry who also competes in the super late models gave his all
but fell short placing second to the winner Olson.
Next Saturday night the Lakes Area Rental Jr. fan club members will get the opportunity to
get a ride in a race car. Race fans are reminded that the new starting time is 5:45 pm for
time trials and first race at 7 pm sharp.
LAKE GENEVA RACEWAY
SUMMARY OF EVENTS - APRIL 6TH, 2002
BUDWEISER SUPER LATE MODELS
35 LAP FEATURE RACE 1) BOB KOIDAHL CARY,IL. 2) FRAN PRESTAY SILVER LAKE
3) JOE FISCHER McHENRY,IL. 4) JOHN NUTLEY CRESTWOOD,IL. 5) AL SCHILL, FRANKLIN 6) MATT
KOCOUREK RACINE 7) JERRY COWAN BURLINGTON
8) LANDRY POTTER GENOA CITY
SEMI FEATURE RACE 15 LAPS 1) MARK HARTLINE GILBERTS,IL. 2) DENNY HIFFMAN
LAKE GENEVA 3) MIKE SIMON JR. INGLESIDE,IL. 4) CAR#11
AL SCHILL JR.MEMORIAL DASH 6 LAPS 1) POTTER 2) RICK CORSO McHENRY,IL.
3)JEFF LORENZ WAUKESHA
FAST TIME: POTTER 16.415 Seconds
McHNERY LIMOUSINE SUPER STOCKS
25 LAPFEATURE RACE 1) JACK RUBACH BURLINGTON 2) SONNY SCHOFFEN
WOODSTOCK,IL. 3) DAN HUBER ANTIOCH,IL. 4) MIKE BELL OCONOMOWOC 5) MIKE GUNDERSON WIND LAKE
6) NICK NELSON LOMBARD,IL. 7) PAUL
KONIECZNY OCONOMOWOC 8) NORM PAULSEN BEACH PARK,IL.
DASH RACE 6 LAPS 1) SCOTT SCHOLL OCONOMOWOC 2) JEREMEY OLSON EAST TROY 3)
RUBACH 4) HUBER
FAST TIME: HUBER 19.077 Seconds
PERFORMANCE UNLIMITED SPORTSMAN
28 LAP FEATURE RACE 1) JAMES SWAN LAKE GENEVA 2) ZAC DEERINGER
McHENRY,IL. 3)EN JOOSTEN CRYSTAL LAKE,IL. 4) GARY LAMONTE WEST ALLIS 5) BRIAN BAKER
SPRINGFIELD 6) MIKE LANGE MILWAUKEE 7) NICK “HOLLYWOOD” SCHUMACHER GERMANTOWN 8)
SCOTT ASHER JEFFERSON
DASH RACE 6 LAPS 1) BAKER 2) JOOSTEN 3) DEERINGER 4) SWAN
FAST TIME: SCHUMACHER 17.556 Seconds |
