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May, Regnier And Joosten Win LGR Features
By Dale R. Erdmann
Lake Geneva, WI. April 9th. 2005 It was a perfect weather night at Lake Geneva
Raceway Saturday night as weekly oval track excitement moved into the second
week of action. Eddie May of Crystal Lake, Illinois won the 40 lap
feature race for the super late models. May the 1986 champion won the most
features last season and even with numerous Yellow Book USA cautions periods
stayed in front for the win. Kenny Joosten of Wonder Lake, IL. won the
30 lap sportsman feature. Last week Joosten was plagued with handling
problems, but with the help of his crew, Jeremy Miller, a fellow competitor
who wasn’t even there and Denny Lemonds from 5 and Drive, things went very
well. Adam Regnier out of Twin Lakes, became the only Wisconsin driver
to win a feature in the 25 lap main event for the super stocks. Regnier
survived a melee early in the race and overcame that obstacle to take the
win.
Former champion Matt Kocoureck slipped in front with Don Collins at his
side. James Swan moved into second on lap two, with Eddie May fourth
behind, Collins. Vincent Merry was now fifth and fast qualifier Jeff
Homgren Jr. right with the pack. from lap four until nine, May
picked up a position or two until getting past Kocoureck. The start
of three cautions began on lap thirteen when Michael Kruschke in his
first night out spun, slowing the action.
The second, two laps later when Landry Potter lost power sending
everyone behind him scrambling for space. On lap twenty Kruschke and Jeff
Lorenz made contact and again the pace was slowed. Holmgren was now second,
but each time May would pull away from the pack. Those final eleven laps were
a race for second through last, despite three more cautions, May won the event
just in front of Jamie Wallace last weeks feature winner. Kocoureck nipped
Holmgren for third, with Russ Blakeley and Swan rounding out the top
six.
The super stock feature first green was just displayed when Adam Reginer and
Craig Mertes made contact causing a complete restart. Mertes bad lucky
continued into the second week, when his right front tire went down and he
never returned from the pit area for the next start. Al Kuphal charged in
front one lap before last weeks feature winner Ken Eisbrenner moved ahead of
the field. Kuphal remained in second until lap five when Regnier gained second
place. The top eleven remained tight as Regnier worked on the leader. On lap
nine the lead changed as Josh Wallace took over third.
Mike Gunderson moved in on Kuphal’s tail as the top six got extremely
close. The final caution came on lap thirteen when sixth place Dave
Edwards spun halting the intense pace. On the restart Regnier moved back out
front with Eisbrenner, Gunderson, Scott Norton, Kuphal and for the first time
ever with fast time second generation driver Tom Roney were to close to call.
With just six laps to go Gunderson grabbed second with a clear field in front
of him and the leader, thing got very exciting as the challenger came within
inches of Regnier the winner. Gunderson settled for second with Wallace
just ahead of Eisbrenner. Roney nipped Norton for fifth as the top eight were
under a blanket.
The sportsman feature nearly went non stop as Kenny Joosten went wire to wire
for the close race finish. Last weeks feature winner Ken Smart fell short in a
nice run finishing second. Jeremy Bloomberg, John Senerchia, Brad Keith in his
first appearance ever and Gary LaMonte gave the fans a great show in another
close to call ending.
The first special of the season comes this Saturday night April 16th.
with the annual Spring Fling for the Big 8 series race cars. Drivers from
Tomahawk, Wausau, Columbus 151 Speedway , Jefferson and the LGR millennium
cars are excepted. All drivers will receive 300 regular LGR points for
participating. The first show in 2004 was a great success with
Waupan’s Jeff Steinbergen winning the first feature ever. This year the only
thing added to the Big 8 rules will require cars to have a MSD rev limiter
box. The feature will pay $500 to win . The regular divisions will also race.
There will be no increase in admission prices. Time trials begin at 5:45
pm. the first race at 7 sharp.
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