Freeman First Career Win in LGR SLM, Summers Super Stock Winner! By Dale R. Erdmann and Natasha Fabian

June 14, 2003; Lake Geneva, WI. - Tonight was”WSLD night at the races” along with Avoco Oil Company of Rockford, Illinois night at Lake Geneva raceway Saturday night with a full moon above us.Jerry Freeman of Burlington won his first career Budweiser super late model 35 lap feature. Freeman a former sportsman competitor drove the Harry Bond owned race car to victory. Defending McHenry Limousine super stock champion Rob Summers of Lake Geneva won the non stop 25 lap feature. Josh Bauer of Random Lake won his second Midwest sportsman series 40 lap feature here.

Photo Highlights

Jerry Freeman (#61) in victory lane after scoring his initial Super Late Model feature win at Lake Geneva Raceway Saturday. Josh Bauer (#71) captured top honors in the Midwest Sportsman Series headliner after a hard fought feature event. Rob Summers (#38) zooms under the checkered flag to win the 25-lap super stock feature Saturday at LGR.

After two false starts Joe Fischer flew out front with Rick Corso and Jerry Freeman in a dead heat for second. Quickly Wayne Freimund moved past Corso just before Ron Stoehr slammed into the wall bringing out the caution flag on lap eight. Stoehr was not injured but his front end received considerable damage. On the restart Fischer pounced in front with Freeman and Freimund in a see saw battle for second.It was very tight behind this cluster with no one giving an inch. On lap eleven Denny Hiffman spun in turn two stopping the intense pace.

On the restart Freeman picked the correct lane and out dragged Fischer to the corner and there was a new leader. Freimund wasn’t going to let Freeman get away with anything after getting past Fischer he closed in on the guy at the top. Corso wasn’t going to be left alone after getting around Fischer he and Freimund diced second before the caution was shown for a spun Dan Mecum.

The next green saw Freeman, Freimund and Corso duel for the same spot. Freeman came out ahead then Jeff Way had an electrical fire and stopped just after the start/finish line causing another slowdown. The safety crew got Way out of his mount after he was nearly overcome by the intense smoke.

As the race cars reached speed Freeman darted out front with the same battle behind him with now point leader Jamie Wallace working on Corso. Fast timer and defending champion Matt Kocourek was now right behind them. With two laps to go Brandon Hill spun causing another halt to the action. With the new 2003 ruling when there is a green, white checkered situation the cars would line up single file.

The green came out and Freeman came home to the win two laps later, as Wallace nipped Freimund at the wire with Corso fourth, Kocourek along side for fifth and Fran Prestay sixth on his outside in a close race.

Josh Bauer out of Random Lake, Wisconsin took home his second feature win in the Midwest Sportsman Championship Series Saturday night at Lake Geneva Raceway. The battle was fierce and the
full moon stood guard as Bauer charged hard all evening through the wreck fest. Bauer also took over the points lead from Brandon Norris (Ottawa, IL), along with beating out quick qualifier Dennis Norton Jr. to win the dash. Lee Gibbs (Lake Geneva, WI) and Bob Hacker (Loves Park, IL) were individual heat race winners and Dan Church out of Burlington advanced with Jeff Peterson to the feature from the semi.

The other divisions had been seeing nothing but trouble all evening, with cautions coming out frequently. All had hoped for a clean race for the sportsman cars, as that is something they are known for. MSCS races are filled with action packed door-to-door racing every time the cars take the field. So would not be the case for the 40-lap main event.

Cars were already out of shape at the initial drop of the green flag, and Church sailed around into the infield. "Hollywood" Nick Schumacher (Germantown, WI) jumped to the early lead. Gary Norton (Hebron, IL) scooted to the pit area early in the race, but was able to rejoin the field. Slinger Super Speedway competitor Pat McIntee (West Bend, WI) brought out the second caution when his machine coasted off of the racing surface into the dirt off of the fourth turn. When racing came back underway, the battle was between James Swan (Lake Geneva, WI) and Dave Thomas (Franklin, WI) for second place. Church once again found trouble with his car and pulled into the infield for safety. By the halfway mark, Schumacher had nearly a quarter of a track between him and second place, unheard of in MSCS. However, the field would bunch up behind him as Brian Baker experienced braking troubles and brought his car, as well as Gary Lamonte (West Allis, WI) around in turn four, causing Erik Pierce (Lake In The Hills, IL) to spin also.

The full moon was shining bright on lap 26, as four separate incidences brought out the caution flag on the lone lap. Ken Joosten (Wonder Lake, IL) tapped Hacker and his loosened up, hooking Jeremy Miller (Loves Park, IL) before he could straighten out again. When the field was ready to go back under green flag racing, Steve Hoff (Janesville, WI) and Pierce became tangled in turn two, bringing out the fifth caution. Bauer was up to the fourth position by this time. On the next showing of the green Hoff and Dave Thomas (Franklin, WI) got into each other, sending the front-running Hoff to the back of the pack. Twenty cars had started the main event, and there were still seventeen left on the track. Schumacher, who still had the entire field behind him lost the margin of his lead considerably every time a caution came out. He was spun out when the cars bunched up behind him at the restart. Now it was Bauer at the point, Jeremy Bloomberg (Hampshire, IL) and John Senerchia (Oak Forest, IL) making up the second row. Senerchia gave Bauer a run for his money until he slid up into Bauer in the second turn. Senerchia would be the dirt-covered car in the infield while Bauer maintained the top spot on lap 35. In the closing laps of the race, quick-qualifier Norton made a run on Bauer, but just couldn't get around him before the checkered flag finally flew.

The Midwest Sportsman Championship Series moves to Slinger Super Speedway, the world's fastest quarter-mile asphalt track, this coming Sunday night to make up the events from June eighth that had been rained out.

Tom Roney paced the field in the super stock main event with Dave Edwards, Adam Mass, Dave Erickson and Mike Gunderson challenging for position. On lap four Edwards moved in front with no other changes in the top ten. Mass got past Roney on lap nine and Gunderson climbed by Erickson. On lap eleven Gunderson moved around Roney for third but this didn’t set well as it became a see/saw battle until lap fifteen when Rob Summers moved into third.

It was getting very tight throughout the field as the top twelve looked like a parade lap formation. Quickly fast qualifier and point leader Sonny Schoffen moved in behind Summers. The lead changed on lap nineteen as Summers inched ahead Edwards after a lengthy fight.

Summers held on for the win but Schoffen didn’t let him forget he wasn’t alone out there, finishing a close second, Edwards was next with Mass, Gunderson and Jack Rubach three deep for the next positions for another great feature.

Saturday night June 21st. marks the date for the second of seven specials as Lynch Motors presents the first Yellow Pages Mid American events. The super late models and the super stocks will race also. Time trials begin at 5:45 pm. racing will follow at 7 pm sharp.

During the day Lynch’s GM super store on Highway 36 north in Burlington will hold their annual car show. All type of race cars will be on display. The Dale Earnhardt Jr. race car will be be on display too. The public is welcomed for this free of charge show.