Steve Carlson Wins Al Schill Jr. Memorial 150 at LGR!! By Dean Strom

June 29, 2002; Lake Geneva, WI. -West Salem, Wisconsin driver Steve Carlson won the RE/MAX Challenge Series, NASCAR Touring Al Schill, Jr Memorial 150, Saturday night at the Lake Geneva (Wis) Raceway.  The victory was Carlson's third series win in a row. 

Photo Highlights

Steve Carlson (left) accepts the trophy for winning the Al Schill Jr. Memorial from Lake Geneva Raceway track promoter Kevin Dawson. Steve Carlson (#66) made a late race pass on Al Schill Sr. (#14) for the lead and he held on to win his third straight RE/MAX Challenge Series victory this season. Jeremy Lepak (#45) made his first RE/MAX Challenge Series start a memorable one by leading the contest on several occasions.   He he does battle with Al Schill Sr. (#14). Bert Reinen (#6) made an unexpected exit from the raceway when he flipped over the backstretch wall during the Millennium Late Model feature race. Mike Bell (#01) rounded out the evening's winners capturing the Super Stock feature flag.

    Carlson led the final 50 circuits and beat Franklin, Wisconsin's Al Schill, Sr to the stripe by 1.273 seconds.  Brian Hoppe of Madison, Wisconsin, Ron Breese, Jr of DeKalb, Illinois and Wausau, Wisconsin's Jeremy Lepak rounded out the top five.    "For the longest time I thought Al was holding something back," said Carlson.  "But then I saw him getting a little loose and I was able to put the move on him."

    Schill was the leader before Carlson made the winning pass.  Prior to the final pass for the lead, 11 other lead changes took place.    "It got loose then it got a little tight.  Typical racer's excuse," said Schill with a grin.  "I just need to thank Gerry Gundermann.  We put this deal together about 10 days ago.  This is just awesome."

    Schill led the first three laps from his front row starting spot before giving way to the hard charging Lepak.  The RE/MAX Challenge Series start for Lepak was the first of his career.

    Lepak and Schill swapped the lead virtually every three to four laps.  At times the pair crossed the stripe in a dead heat.

    While Lepak and Schill were busy thrilling the near capacity Lake Geneva Raceway crowd, Carlson, Hoppe and Breese were on a mission to get to the front.  Early on Breese appeared to have the fastest machine, quickly reeling in the lead pack.

    Carlson had briefly disposed of Lepak by lap 30 and was looking for a way to get around leader Schill.  Carlson tried the high side for several laps, but with Schill holding strong, Carlson elected to duck in behind the veteran and wait for another chance.  With the high lane then open Lepak made a daring move around both Carlson and Schill and found himself once again in the lead.    Schill once again got under Lepak for the lead on lap 78, this time bringing Carlson with him.

    Carlson and Schill then continued their war for the top spot.  Carlson snuck by Schill on lap 95 but Schill took it right back, pinning Carlson behind the lapped car of Dave Finney.

    Once Carlson took the lead, attention focused to the torrid battle for the third spot between Lepak and Hoppe.  The pair raced side-by-side, Hoppe on the bottom, Lepak on the top for over 20 laps.  Hoppe finally muscled his way past on lap 120.    "He gave us the inside line, we just didn't have any bite off the corner," said Hoppe.  "He wore his stuff out and we finally got by."

    Erik Darnell was the highest finishing rookie, placing ninth in the final run down.  Justin Diercks captured his first Bud Pole fast qualifier award of the season.  Diercks was a contender early on in the event but was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop and lost several laps.

    The race is run annually in honor of Al Schill, Jr, a promising young series competitor who lost his life in March of 1999, just one day after competing in that years opening event.

Blakley Wins in Millennium Late Models!
By Dale Erdmann

    It was another excellent night for racing as the Re/Max Challenge race series came to Lake Geneva Raceway Saturday night. The McHenry Limousine super stocks and the S&P motorsports millennium late models raced as back up divisions.Waukesha driver Mike Bell won his second super stock feature of the season.This one was a 30 lap contest with just one caution flag. The millennium late model feature was won by Russ Blakeley of Palmyra a third year driver and 2000
champion.Steve Carlson of West Salem won the one caution flag 150 lap Al Schill Jr.memorial feature race for the touring NASCAR Re/Max challenge series..

On the first lap of the super stock race Jeremy Tess tangled with John Maki Jr. causing a complete restart.Pete Olson and Mike Bell dueled for the top spot with John Curcio, Tom Boyd and Scott Scholl right on their tail. Things remained the same until lap six when Bell, scooted in front. A lap eight caution came after Rob Summers and Boyd became involved in racing incident.

It would be non stop racing after that final caution numerous challenges arised. Bell held back contentions for that top spot first from Scholl then Olson again as the field became tighter by lap twenty. One lap later Dan Huber started to work on Olson then taking over second with just eight laps to go. Lapped traffic got in the way and Bell claimed victory as Huber finished second Scott Eggebrecht was third witth John Janssen and Olson completing the top five.

A lap one incident marred the millennium late model feature causing last weeks feature winner Bart Reinen to fly up on the wall going over it and back over it taking down pit fence as the car spun around wildly coming to rest at the pit exit. This started after Ken Joosten and Reinen got squeezed at the wall.Reinen was shook up but no injured. His new mount was nearly destroyed.

Finally getting under way Tom Culver dropped in front of the field with Joshus Shaw next.A spin by first nighter Joe Rusciano caused a slow down on lap two. Then quick qualifier Shawn Connelly and Shaw tangled.The caution came out and both went to the back. That was all Russ Blakeley needed as he shot in front at the drop of the green.

Tommy Nevoso chased the eventual winner all the way to the checkered. Paul Dygon was third with Culver recovering for fourth and Russ Goodwin fifth.

This Saturday night marks the return of Doug Rose and his Green Mamba jet dragster and his incredible car melt downs.The super late models and the super stocks will be joined by the sportsman and the BIC cars.Time trials begin at 5:45 and first race at 7 pm.

Al Schill, Jr Memorial 150 - Lake Geneva Raceway, Lake Geneva, Wis., .33-mile oval

finish with starting position, driver, hometown, car make, laps completed, average speed, status, money won

1.  (6) Steve Carlson, West Salem, Wis., Chevrolet, 150,  63.236 mph, Running, $5,450
2. (1) Al Schill, Franklin, Wis., Chevrolet, 150, $3,125
3.  (5) Brian Hoppe, Madison, Wis., Chevrolet, 150, $2,225
4.  (7) Ron Breese, Jr, DeKalb, Ill., Chevrolet, 150, $1,700
5. (2) Jeremy Lepak, Wausau, Wis., Chevrolet, 150, $1,425
6.  (8) Tim Schendel, Sparta, Wis., Chevrolet, 150, $1,350
7.  (11) Eddie Hoffman, Wheaton, Ill., Chevrolet, 150, $1,350
8.  (4) Ryan Hanson, Beloit, Wis., Ford, 150, $1,150
9.  (9) Erik Darnell, Beach Park, Ill. #, Chevrolet, 150, $1,100
10. (10) Jon Lemke, Greenfield, Min., Chevrolet, 150, $1,225
11. (13) Chad Barker, Hubertus, Wis., Chevrolet, 149, $750
12. (3) Pete Moore, McFarland, Wis., Chevrolet, 149, $975
13. (16) Paul Menard, Eau Claire, Wis., Chevrolet, 149, $1,000
14. (18) Dave Finney, Sycamore, Ill., Chevrolet, 149, $900
15. (15) Tim Rothe, Appleton, Wis., Chevrolet, 148, $875
16. (23) Brian Roach, Becker, Min. #, Chevrolet, 148, $825
17. (14) Jeff Way, Burlington, Wis. #, Chevrolet, 148, $750
18. (24) Larry Hunter, Parker, Col. #, Chevrolet, 147, $800
19. (17) Josh Vadnais, White Bear Lake, Min., Chevrolet, 147, $900
20. (22) Scot Field, Port Edwards, Wis., Chevrolet, 146, $800
21. (12) Justin Diercks, Davenport, Iowa, Chevrolet, 145, $1,100
22. (19) Tim Bell, Johnsburg, Ill. #, Chevrolet, 78, Ignition, $600
23. (21) Mark Voight, Marine, Ill., Chevrolet, 44, Overheating, $600
24. (20) Les Ferris, Northfield, Min., Chevrolet, 6, Rear End, $800

# rookie of the year competitor
MARGIN OF VICTORY:  1.273 seconds
TIME OF RACE:  46 minutes 58 seconds
AVERAGE SPEED:  63.811 mph
LAP LEADERS:  Al Schill, Sr 1-3, Jeremy Lepak 4-21, Schill 22-59, Lepak 60-65, Schill, 66-67, Lepak 68-76, Schill 77, Lepak 78-79, Schill 80-94, Carlson 95, Schill 96-100, Steve Carlson 101-150
CAUTIONS:  1 for 14 laps
BUD POLE WINNER:  Justin Diercks, Adrian Carriers/TC Fabrication Chevrolet, 16.500 seconds (72.00 mph)
GATORADE FRONT RUNNER AWARD:  Al Schill, 3-D Construction/Champion Chicken Chevrolet
ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Erik Darnell, A.M.I. Trailer Leasing Chevrolet
25-LAP LAST CHANCE RACE:  1) Paul Menard;  2) Josh Vadnais;  3) Dave Finney;  4) Tim Bell
FAILED TO QUALIFY:  (4) George Prentice, Jr; Dan Bedard; Ronnie White; Todd Hansen