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Lake Geneva Raceway presents
Round and Around by Fay Hendricks
Upcoming Events at Lake Geneva Raceway:

See you for the 2006 Season opener in April
Round and Around:  By Fay Hendricks
The following is a column written by Fay Hendricks for The Checkered Flag Racing News. This race publication began in 1968 and ceased operations as of July 13, 2005. The wife of 7-time sportsman and mini stock champion Jim Hendricks, Fay has been writing since 1981. As a way to allow readers to continue following the travels of Fay Hendricks around several venues, Lake Geneva Raceway owner-promoter Kevin Dawson has decided to offer the columns here. We hope you enjoy the reading.
June 3, 2006  -  Even though full moon won’t arrive for another week, some started ahead of time Saturday night. Not only did the evening end with a frustrating flurry of cautions at Lake Geneva Raceway, the program was punctuated with lengthy cleanup efforts due to exploded engines, hoses, radiators and car crunches. Yet everything was completed just after 10:30, so there should be no complaints from the fans. The insanity of announcer Dave Kamholz had everyone chuckling through the night, and he rewarded the feature winners with ice cream treats while interviewing them.

The Weapons field was the rotating division to appear this week, one of Lake Geneva’s 15 different classes of cars that run on Friday and Saturdays on the oval track. Even more races are run on the motocross course as well as Sunday karting events at the busy speed plant. The Weapons ran their entire feature with a side-by-side duel between Andy Krueger and Mark Ludtke. At the checkered flag it was Ludtke ahead for the win, and he might have been almost as happy if he finished second. “It’s fun when you can driver side by side”, declared Ludtke with praise for his rival, adding, “We got a good motor in here.” The 20-lap contest was run from start to finish, but had a light car count.

The same was true for the sportsman field, which also ran a nonstop feature. At Lake Geneva there are some who enter more than one driver per car, for they know they can’t appear every week. There are also substitutes nearly every week in some division, so it’s a challenge keeping track of all the changes. This Saturday it was interesting to learn that late model chauffeurs Eddie May and Sonny Schoffen chose to run in the sportsman class as well. Schoffen usually borrows mounts from most any field during the season, just having fun. May led off the 20-lap feature before Erik Pierce took over to the end. “I’m beat”, stated Pierce from victory lane. “I thought he had me”, Pierce continued, “And then I saw him getting loose and went for it.” Having to work for it made it all the more satisfying.

In the super stock division there were constant two-abreast battles for position, sometimes escaping disaster when stacking the cars three wide. The first heat race was the closest when Randy Schneider stole ahead of young Tyler Peterson for the win on the last lap. Tom Roney’s mount was done for the night, so he borrowed that of fellow competitor Tom Fay to pad his point tally. With a deep invert after the roll of the die, quick-timer Scott Norton had his work cut out for him to finish third at the end. Helped by three cautions and lane choice, it was veteran Jack Rubach who made up even more ground for the win, taking charge at the halfway point. In past years Rubach used to end up in victory circle nearly every week, and told the audience, “I was telling Dave (Rex, the starter) I’ve been waiting to see him for a long time.” Challenged to the final stripe by John Maki Jr., Rubach praised his fellow competitor for running him clean, “That was a lot of fun.”

The late model field had a few more new entries Saturday, and ran a semi to place the final four into the 50-lap feature. Eddie May was the first to qualify, visiting Jeff Storm logged in the identical time later, and quick time honors went to May by virtue of setting it first. Don Collins probably has the most laps around the third-mile oval, having raced at Lake Geneva back when it was still the flat track. For the checkered flag season at Lake Geneva, Collins decided to return to his roots. Collins began in a Dodge Charger decades ago, and will help close the track in one. The bad news is Collins failed to make the main event; the good news is Collins failed to make the main event. Josh Wallace made the start, then retired to the pits right away with problems.

It seemed that Jeff Way was going to have his way from his front-row start, staying ahead until May got spun and others got involved. This ended May’s hopes of doubling quick time with the big money win. With 20 circuits remaining, things became a real challenge. It’s true that one caution breeds another caution flag, proven Saturday when Jeff Holmgren Jr. and Way made contact, moving the top two from the front of the race to the back. Then there was no way at all when Way retired to the pits. Terry Patnode then became the leader until the following circuit when he spun with Storm. Landry Potter then took charge, survived a couple more tangles, and hung on to the end. “That was pretty much an enduro”, said Potter, claiming, “I didn’t think I had that good a car, but I guess it was good enough .”

It doesn’t matter how fast you are unless you finish. Nearly half the late model field did not complete the big event, missing out on the money and points. Kenny Joosten survived to finish third after transferring from the semi and starting in the last rows. Also coming from the semi to top ten finishes were Mike Lange and Mike Gunderson. Patience really does pay off in the end, as well as a quick braking foot.

We’ll be missing the next few weeks at our Saturday “home”, so wish them well for the full moon weekend. As quickly as it turned from May to June, we can’t return here until the first week in July. In just a few weeks Winter was supplanted by Spring, now Summer is arriving in Wisconsin. Just like our racing, the weather is never boring.

 
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