Ron Bresse Jr., Wins Al Schill Jr. Memorial 150 at LGR!! By Dean Strom & Dale R. Erdmann

June 28, 2003; Lake Geneva, WI. -  Championship point leader Ron Breese, Jr extended his lead atop the standings after capturing the win in the prestigious NASCAR Elite Division, International Truck and Engine Corporation Midwest Series, Al Schill, Jr Memorial 150 presented by True Value, Saturday night at Lake Geneva (Wis) Raceway. The win was his second of the season and extended his point margin to 59 points.

Photo Highlights

Track promoter, Kevin Dawson congratulates Ron Breese on winning the Al Schill, Jr Memorial 150. Ron Breese, Jr (#01) held off repeated attempts by Eddie Hoffman (#8) to capture his second win, the Al Schill, Jr. Memorial 150, in the 2003 NASCAR International Truck & Engine Midwest Series. The NASCAR ITEMS cars, feature field gets ready to roll out for an evening of action at Lake Geneva Raceway. Gwen & Al Schill carried "Old Glory" in memory of their late son Al, Jr. to start the night of racing. Norm Paulsen (#1) topped the super stock main event Saturday at Lake Geneva Raceway. Shane Sapp (#56) won the super stock semi-feature Saturday at Lake Geneva Raceway.

Eddie Hoffman chased Breese over the final 75 laps but came up 1.125-seconds short at the checkered flag. Jon Lemke, Nathan Haseleu and Brian Hoppe rounded out the top five.

“This is such an honor to win this race,” said Breese. “I feel like I went to college with Al, Jr; we went to the college of racing. We used to race against each other every weekend and then I’d spend Saturday night at his house and we’d go to Slinger on Sunday. What happened to Al was just a tragedy.”

The Al Schill, Jr Memorial 150 is run in honor of the promising second generation driver who died in 1999, just hours after competing in the Midwest Series opener.

The race got off to an auspicious start when second row, inside starter Eric Fransen’s mount never accelerated after the green flag flew. That caused a mad scramble behind him. Later that lap, Brian Hoppe and Jeff Way got turned around in turn four which necessitated a complete restart. Series rules call for all cars to complete one lap.

The complete restart allowed Fransen to limp his mount to the pit area where his crew made hasty repairs. Fransen, the leading Victory Circle Chassis Rookie of the Year competitor, was able to answer the bell for the restart, but because he pitted, he had to start from the rear of the field.

Once back underway, Tim Schendel took the early lead from his outside row one starting spot. Lake Geneva Raceway late model point leader Jamie Wallace gave chase with Jeremy Lepak, Breese and Lemke in hot pursuit.

Wallace pressured Schendel early and used his experience of the .33-mile oval to work past the youngster and take the lead on lap 14.

Breese used the opening Wallace created and also got past Schendel. Once in the runner-up spot, Breese wasted little time going to work on Wallace, charging past him and taking the lead on lap 18.

Wallace cut a left rear tire down just a few laps later, forcing him to make a visit to pit lane and ending his chance for a solid finish.

Hoffman started from the eighth spot and steadily worked his way to the front of the 24-car field. By the race’s mid-point Hoffman was in second position and pressuring the leader.

Breese held strong during the green flag runs and opened a one to two-second advantage. But restarts after two brief cautions for minor solo spins involving Wallace and Dave Finney gave Hoffman shots at Breese.

“The car was good on restarts for 10 laps or so,” said Hoffman. “We needed a restart with about four or five laps to go; that would have been fun. But we didn’t get that. We had a good enough car for second but not quite good enough for the win, so we’ve got to take what we got.”

Breese knew Hoffman was going to be tough on the restarts and that, after the field is bunched up, anything can happen.

“I have to give Eddie credit,” said Breese. “On the couple restarts we had, he raced me hard, but clean.”

Lemke withstood a furious late race charge from Haseleu, the Bud Pole fast qualifier, to gain his fourth top-five finish of the season.

“We’re going to forget about the first two races,” said Lemke, who posted poor runs to start the 2003 campaign. “From there on out we’ve been in the top five. Car owner, Tim Schumacher, and this whole team deserve to be running how we’re running now.”

Fransen recovered from having to start shotgun on the field and drove to a ninth place run, one spot behind fellow rookie Lepak. Tim Sauter got to the speedway just minutes before qualifying ended and timed Jeff Victor’s Ford in 14th. In the main event, Sauter advanced eight spots and earned the POWERade Power Move of the Race award and the $750 that goes along with the honors.

The International Truck and Engine Corporation Midwest Series travels next to I-94 Raceway, in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, July 5 for the running of the July Spectacular 150.

Lake Geneva, Wis - Unofficial race results for the NASCAR Elite Division, Int'l Truck and Engine Midwest Series
Saturday night, June 28, at Lake Geneva Raceway with start position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car make, laps completed, money won and status:

1 (5) Ron Breese, Jr Dekalb, IL Chevrolet 150 $4,050 running
2 (8) Eddie Hoffman Wheaton, IL Chevrolet 150 $2,750 running
3 (7) Jon Lemke Greenfield, MN Chevrolet 150 $1,950 running
4 (10) Nathan Haseleu Marshall, WI Ford 150 $2,025 running
5 (6) Brian Hoppe Madison, WI Chevrolet 150 $1,450 running
6 (14) Tim Sauter Necedah, WI Ford 150 $1,850 running
7 (2) Tim Schendel Sparta, WI Chevrolet 150 $1,250 running
8 (4) Jeremy Lepak* Wausau, WI Chevrolet 150 $1,200 running
9 (3) Eric Fransen* West Bend, WI Chevrolet 150 $1,200 running
10 (16) Steve Carlson West Salem, WI Chevrolet 150 $1,550 running
11 (12) Clint Bowyer* Emporia, KS Chevrolet 150 $950 running
12 (11) Erik Darnell Beach Park, IL Chevrolet 150 $725 running
13 (13) Ryan Hanson Beloit, WI Ford 150 $950 running
14 (17) Chad Barker Hubertus, WI Chevrolet 149 $675 running
15 (19) Dave Finney Sycamore, IL Chevrolet 148 $825 running
16 (24) Dan Bedard* Prior Lake, MN Chevrolet 147 $775 running
17 (18) Pete Moore McFarland, WI Chevrolet 147 $750 running
18 (21) Jeff Way Burlington, WI Chevrolet 146 $750 running
19 (22) Bryan Roach Becker, MN Chevrolet 144 $750 running
20 (20) A.J. Rhoads* Hastings, MN Chevrolet 139 $550 running
21 (23) Mark Voigt* Marine, IL Chevrolet 137 $750 running
22 (9) Justin Diercks Davenport, IA Chevrolet 80 $850 engine
23 (1) Jamie Wallace Pell Lake, WI Chevrolet 71 $550 brakes
24 (15) Tim Rothe Appleton, WI Chevrolet 20 $550 steering

*Denotes Victory Circle Chassis Rookie of the Year Contender

4 Cautions for 18 Laps:
(5-9, 28-33, 78-80, 109-112)
2 Lead Changes Among 3 Drivers:
Tim Schendel 1-13, Jamie Wallace 14-17, Ron Breese 18-150
Time of Race: 47 minutes, 0 seconds
Average Speed: 63.766 mph.
Margin of Victory: 1.125 seconds
Bud Pole Winner: Nathan Haseleu, G&M Auto & Transmission Ford, 16.314 seconds (73.556 mph)
POWERade Power Move of the Race Award: Tim Sauter, Victor Ford Ford
25-Lap Last Chance Qualifier: 1) Chad Barker; 2) Pete Moore; 3) Dave Finney; 4) A.J. Rhoads
Failed to Qualify: (4) Les Ferris, Dave Tomczak, Dave Bean, Russ Blakely

FIRST CAREER WIN FOR PAULSEN

June 28, 2003; Lake Geneva, WI. - The Saturday night race program at Lake Geneva Raceway had an overflow crowd that witnessed the International Truck and Engine Midwest NASCAR touring series events with Ron Breeze Jr. of DeKalb, Illinois winning his first feature ever here in the Al Schill Jr.memorial 150 lap feature. The LGR McHenry Limousine super stocks were also part of the show.

Norm Paulsen of Beach Park, IL. won his first career in the feature race that was cut to 25 laps due to a lap three incident that marred the main event. The program was sponsored by True Value Hardware Stores in Waterford, Paddock Lake, Burlington, Walworth and Lake Geneva. Scott Eggebrecht slipped in front of the twenty car field with John Janssen, Jack Rubach, Sonny Schoffen and Joe DeCubellis right with the leader. On lap three Dan Huber lost power with everyone trying to avoid contact.Cars went everywhere but DeCubellis came in, the Schoffen mount was hit hard and the Bob Moeller car was also involved along with Craig Mertes, Mike Bell and Adam Mass. When the dirt cleared there were a lot of damaged cars .The only lucky thing, no one was injured.

There were twelve cars left to take the next green with Adam Regnier flying past Eggebrecht for the lead. Mike Gunderson wasn’t going to let the new leader out of his sight, but Norm Paulsen looked like he was on a mission and surged into second one lap later. Gunderson wasn’t going to settle for third as they raced side by side for the next four laps, before Eggebrecht smashed into the wall but continued into the pits out of the event with no caution needed.

The Paulsen/Gunderson show wasn’t over as it began again. Janssen had Tom Roney along side of him with the few remaining cars looking like a parade lap. The leader never faultered even with two challengers at his rear. With five laps to go Paulsen couldn’t wait any longer creeping to the inside and into the lead but not to a great advantage. The last four laps were so close, as Paulsen came home to victory, Regnier held onto second with the nip and tuck race for third going to Gunderson over Janssen, Roney was fifth and Rubach was sixth.

A new program was offered by Dunne Deals in Crystal Lake,IL. with the fast time qualifier Rob Summers of Lake Geneva excepting the Dunne Deals Challenge Bonus but finishing seventh in the race.Any fast timer must start sixteenth and win the race to receive the bonus and a giant four foot trophy for their feat.

This coming Saturday night Great Lakes Line X bed liners presents Doug Rose and his Green Mamba jet dragster doing the car melt downs. The super late models Super stocks and sportsman will race. Time trials begin at 5:45 with the first race at  7pm sharp.