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Matthias Rides High To First Career Luxemburg Win
Luxemburg, WI: July 8, 2005 - A fast outside groove coupled with
the courage to run it proved to be the winning combination for Jay Matthias,
as the DePere veteran raced to his first career feature win Friday night at
the Luxemburg Speedway in Luxemburg.
On a night were down-to-the-wire finishes were the normal order of business,
Matthias was joined in victory lane by Rod Snellenberger in the IMCA stock
cars, Tom Brumlic in the IMCA Hobby Stocks, and Greg Banker in the Sports
4s. Area Street Stocks were also on the card, with Aaron Thornton
claiming his second feature win in the special series.
Despite four feature wins at other area tracks, missing from the Matthias
trophy case was any hardware from a modified feature at his home track;
Luxemburg. That all changed Friday.
Earlier features proved that there were at least two fast grooves of racing
that had developed on the third-mile clay oval. Early leader Chad Wilcox
settled into one of the lower lines. Lining up behind him were Sean
Jerovetz, Matthias, Dean Maurer and Benji LaCrosse on the top with Jerry
Muenster and Jared Siefert below. Jerovetz was first in line, and used
the top to power around Wilcox on the 11th lap.
This set the stage for a high speed chess match of sorts, with drivers
changing lanes and shuffling positions behind Jerovetz. Jerovetz began
to edge away into heavy lapped traffic as Matthias was trapped on the lower
line with Wilcox to the outside, when caution flew with six laps to go.
Running third at the time, the ensuing restart would hand the outside edge to
Matthias if he so chose to take it. And he did take it.
Pulling quickly to the outside of Jerovetz, the two ran neck and neck for two
laps with Matthias scored as the leader for the first time on lap 18.
Jerovetz was able to hang close, but the higher line's added momentum gave
Matthias all he needed to hang on for the win.
Jerovetz was able to withstand added pressure from LaCrosse and a
hard-charging Jared Siefert to claim second. Siefert used the late
caution to also race out to the edge, advancing several spots in the closing
stages to finish fourth. Saddled with a seventh row starting spot, Brian
Mullen picked his way through the pack to finish fifth with Wilcox completing
a solid run to end up sixth.
Aiding Snellenberger over the course of the final circuits of the IMCA stock
car headliner was the fact that there wasn't just one guy to trying to pass
him, there were three, and they ended up contending with each other.
The inside line was the route Snellenberger used to pass Cory Suchocki on the
ninth lap with Greg Gretz following him through the opening. Jaime
Colwell followed a short time later, with the three breaking free from the
pack. Gretz and Colwell were busy dicing for second, all the while
keeping Snellenberger in their sites. Just behind the lead trio, Shawn
Kilgore managed to break free from Jason Czarapata, and he chased down the
leaders with two laps to go.
With Gretz and Colwell side by side just off his back bumper, and Kilgore
trapped behind the battle for second, Snellenberger was able to hang on for
his second win of the season. Colwell eventually made the pass for
second, with Gretz third and Kilgore fourth. Czarapata was fifth with
Charlie Kroll leading the second pack across the line to record a sixth place
run.
In keeping with the theme of the night, Brumlic's feature win in the IMCA
Hobby Stocks went down to the wire as well. Establishing second place on
the sixth lap, he caught leader Derek Moede three laps later. Moving to
the outside, Brumlic made the pass for the point on the 11th lap. He had
company in a hurry, as Eddie Anschutz followed suit on the outside.
Anschutz kept the heat on, but was unable to pull even, settling for
second. It was Brumlic's second straight feature win, moving him five
points closer to division point leader Tony Schlei
Schlei missed his heat, and had to start dead last on the field. He
joined Dave DeGrave and Keith Kickbush on a late assault on Moede. Moede
was able to counter, holding onto the position with DeGrave, Kickbusch and
Schlei following in close order.
A solid field of Street Stocks representing Seymour, Oshkosh and Sturgeon Bay,
as well as teams based in the Luxemburg area, were on hand for the season's
third visit of the division.
The finale proved to be a duel between Thornton, the 2004 Thunderhill champ,
and Jerry Kope, the two-time defending Oshkosh champ. Kope had the early
advantage, starting from the front row. Thornton started deeper in the
pack, but was up to third by the time a caution flag flew on lap 7. He
used the restart to take over the runner-up spot from David Hoerning, and just
one lap later was passing Kope for the lead.
But as champions often do, Kope fought back, and was scored as the leader the
next lap. That set the stage for six straight laps of lead swapping and
door rubbing. A slight advantage gained on the 11th lap was just enough
to keep Kope from edging ahead, as Thornton was able to cling to the preferred
line en route to the win.
Action was just as entertaining in the contest for third as Hoerning was
chased by a strong pack of cars including Scott Reinhardt, Phil Hiles, Harley
Simon, Von Eytcheson, Fred Davister and Jerry Winkler.
It was Reinhardt who would garner third place honors, following by Hiles,
Simon and Hoerning in the top six.
The Sport 4s featured their own two-car shootout as Banker and Tyler Smith
went one on one in the event's later stages, with Banker winning from the
outside. Smith had taken the lead from David Habeck on the 2nd circuit,
but couldn't withstand Banker's late charge.
Bruce Sand, Jeremy Czarapata, Tim Jorgenson and Brad Matuszak carded top six
finishes as the checkers flew.
This Friday night, racing continues at Luxemburg with Pepsi sponsoring the
annual Kid's Big Wheel races. The regular race card will also include
the Lady 4s, with racing getting under way at 7:00PM. For more
information, visit the track's website at www.luxemburgspeedway.com.
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