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It Was A Darnell and Miller Weekend at LGR!
By Dale R. Erdmann, Natasha Fabian and Kim Straube |
The Yellow Book mid American series 45 lap feature went to LGR
runner up and new crowned champion of the Midwest sportsman championship series Jeremy
Miller of Rockton, Illinois. Last night Miller won the sportsman championship race. Gary
LaMonte a former legends racer won the LGR title. The limited late model feature for 50
laps went to 2003 millennium late model champion, Jacob Humphrey of Lake Geneva. The 30
lap Burlington Glass street stock feature went to John Janssen of Genoa City. The first
Midwest Modified feature event in three years went to Brian Holtz of Muskego taking the 20
lap event. In the Anchor towing pure stock 4 cylinders Dan Hunt drove his brother’s
race car and won the 20 lap feature. Rob Hunt was crowned the 2003 Basic International
champion, as points counted for the BIC cars even with their visiting friends. The
Wisconsin mini sport trucks had a heat race that went to quick timer Scott Baker of
Kaukuana. The 20 lap feature went to Dale Hansen of Chilton, stopping a Baker clean Sweep
of the weekend.
The super late model feature was just four laps old when something fell off something fell
off one of the mount in turn three and out came the first caution. Underway quickly as the
tight field entered turn with Jerry Mueller out front from the get go, Jerry Cowan and
Jeff Way made contact. Then they got locked together Way hit the wall first and Cowan came
head on into the wall full force. With that impact Cowan’s mount bounced into
traffic. Everyone tried to avoid contact, but Cowan’s mount was hit hard and flew off
the track onto the infield. When everything was done, no one was injured, but a total of
twelve cars were involved with only Eddie May and Matt Kocourek coming back from the worst
racing incident since the new track was built back in 1990.
After nearly an hour delay Mueller led the next three laps before receiving the black flag
for using too much of the track. At that point Erik Darnell moved in front and never
looked back easily winning the event. Coming in the second furthest through the field was
Donavan Morgan who finished second. Jason Hicks was third with Matt Kocourek coming from
the back to take fourth.Conrad Morgan was fifth after a hard fought battle with Chad
Barker who claimed sixth. Fran Prestay was seventh and Eddie May did a great job of coming
back to take eighth.
The limited late model feature would go non stop after a incident on the first start
involved Aaron Falbe and Carrie Dygon. No one was injured but the front end damage to
Dygon’s mount was too much to repair before the next green. Joel Knaack paced the
field for first eight laps while Falbe and Jeff Steenbergen put on a great race for
second.
Both worked on Knaack with Steenbergen moving in front on lap nine. Jacob Humphrey was on
the move taking over second on lap eleven. It was a side by side race for the front by lap
sixteen as Steenbergen would walk Humphrey on the straight aways but Humphrey would draw
even in the corners. On lap eighteen Humphrey inched ahead and went on to win the event by
nearly a half lap over Keith Tolf who fought a hard race with Steenbergen who finished
third in his first appearance here. Falbe was right behind for fourth, with Mark Hartline
fifth, Jeff Goodwin sixth, Kenny Joosten doing double duty today in seventh and Shawn
Conley along side for eighth.
Dave Edwards moved in front of the street stock feature with Tom Fay, visiting Andy
Casavant, Shane Zapp and Adam Regnier. The first caution came on lap five when Sonny
Schoffeen and Zapp tangled. Edwards held onto the lead three more laps before Regnier
crept past and opened up a two car advantage. Quickly John Janssen moved into second with
Edwards now feeling the pressure of Tom Roney. Lap eight Zapp and Shane Scarpace tangled
with one more slowdown.
Regnier grabbed the lead as Janssen shadowed the leader,moving along side but not moving
in front until lap eighteen when the lead changed. Just behind these two Roney could now
feel the heat from fast timer qualifier Jack Rubach. Things remained the same until lap
twenty five when Joe DeCubelliss broke an axle while running mid pack.
This was the opportunity Rubach needed to score the victory. As the green reappeared
Rubach’s day was over as a tire went down and retired to the pits. Janssen led the
next two laps then much to his surprize Regnier moved back in front. In the best finish of
the day Janssen squeak across the line at the checkered the winner. Regnier was second,
with a hard charging Mike Gunderson third, Rob Summers was fourth, with Roney fifth, Bob
Moeller sixth followed by Edwards and Brad Norgard.
Bobby Dudzik slipped in front of the modified feature with Eddie Bentfield, Paul Wagner
and Steven Schultz who came the second furthest to race,all in a tight formation.By lap
five Brian Holtz was on the move taking over third, then second one lap later. Dudzik was
holding an impressive margin but on lap eight, he lost power.
Holtz was now the leader,taking the win by a small margin over fast timer Dale Prunty who
looked like he’d over take Holtz but fell short in the non stop race with the second
best finish of the day. Chuck Rein who came the furthest and wedged a real battle with
Prunty was third. Wagner grabbed fourth,with Bentfield next, Steven Schultz was sixth,
Dudzik seventh and Justin Fischer eighth.
The non stop pure stock feature brought Dave Berndt in front of the field for the first
four laps before Vladi Vladmirov scooted by. Dan Hunt charged into second one lap later
and shadowed the leader until lap sixteen when he moved in front for the win. Hunt was
just ahead of Vladmirov at the wire, with Ryan Walsh third, Scott Norton next, followed by
Dan Clements, Rod Brossart and Marty Butler in the third best feature finish of the day.
The Wisconsin mini sport trucks may have been short on race trucks after Saturday nights
feature but the non stop action wasn’t lacking. Jerry Quella led the first lap before
Dan Hansen took over. The race was far from over as it was a mad chase the leader until
the checkered as Hansen stopped Scott Baker’s clean sweep of the weekend. Nate
Ortlieb was hot on his tail for third with the last of this cluster held by Quella. Fifth
went to Scott Bushman, with Jason VanHandel, Rick Jaloszynski and Kyle Quella rounding out
the top eight.
The raceway officials would like to thank the 225 drivers the die hard race fans that came
out to this cold but exciting weekend. The fans and drivers that helped clean up the track
and did security after that super late model accident. Next years show should be even
larger. As the super street stocks and the rest of the limited lates will be back if other
specials aren’t rained out earlier in the month.
This coming weekend the final weekly race program will take place with the 22nd. annual
“run what ya brung” race show along with the rained out Bud Light 7th. annual
small car world championships. The American short trackers and the International cars
along with the sport trucks will race in the “run what ya brung” portion of the
show. The Burris circle karts will race along with the championship races for the
Herb’s min modifieds, the Perfection auto body legends cars and the INEX bandolero
cars. This is a change from the release on the rained out Friday September 27th. show.
Time trials will begin at 5:45 pm. with the first race at 7pm. A large field of cars are
expected.
Summary of events Lake Geneva Raceway Sunday September 28th. 2003
Super late models
Feature Race 75 laps 1) Erik Darnell Beach Park,IL. 2)Donavan Morgan Oconomowoc
3)Jason Hicks Lake Geneva 4)Matt Kocourek Racine 5)Conrad Morgan Waukesha 6)Chad Barker
Hubertus 7)Fran Prestay Burlington 8)Eddie May Crystal Lake,IL. 9)Billy Skinner Jr. Pell
Lake 10)John Nutley Midlothian,IL.
Semi Feature #1 1)Matt Kocourek 2)Jamie Artlet Waukegan,IL. 3)Dennis Prunty Lomira
Semi Feature #2 1)Shane Bishop Pell Lake 2)Donavan Morgan 3)Fran Prestay
Limited late models
Feature Race 50 laps 1)Jacob Humphrey Lake Geneva 2)Keith Tolf Kenosha 3)Jeff
Steenbergen Waupaun 4)Aaron Falbe Beaver Dam 5)Mark Hartline Gliberts,IL. 6)Jeff Goodwin
Silver Lake 7)Kenny Joosten Wonder Lake,IL.8)Shawn Conley Huntley,IL.
Street Stocks
Feature Race 30 laps 1)John Janssen Genoa City 2)Adam Regnier Twin Lakes 3)Mike
Gunderson Wind Lake 4)Rob Summers Lake Geneva 5)Tom Roney Ridgefield,IL. 6)Bob Moeller
Johnsburg,IL.7)Dave Edwards Salem 8)Brad Norgard Pell Lake
Semi Feature Race 1)Gunderson 2)Paul Roscoe Mundelein,IL. 3)Josh Matz Burlington
Midwest Modifieds
Feature Race 20 laps 1)Brian Holtz Muskego 2)Dale Prunty Allenton 3)Chuck Rein Las
Vegas 4)Paul Wagner Iron Ridge 5)Eddie Bentfield Waukesha 6)Steven Schultz Menomonee
7)Bobby Dudzik Griffity,IN. 8)Justin Fischer Adell
4 Cylinder Pure stocks
Feature Race 20 laps 1)Dan Hunt Crystal Lake,IL. 2)Vladi Vladmirov Racine 3)Ryan
Walsh Woodstock,IL.4)Scott Norton Wonder Lake,IL. 5)Chris Koleno McHenry,IL. 6)Dan
Clements Waukegan,IL. 7)Rod Brossart Bristol 8)Marty Butler Lake Villa,IL.
Wisconsin Mini sport trucks
Feature Race 20 laps 1) Dan Hansen Chilton 2)Scott Baker Kaukauna 3)Nate Ortlieb
Chilton 4)Jerry Quella Appleton 5)Scott Bushman Freedom 6)Jason VanHandel Freedom 7)Rick
Jaloszynski Fond du Lac 8)Kyle Quella Appleton
Heat race #1 1)Scott Baker 2)Dan Hansen 3)Jerry Quella 4)Nate Ortlieb |
