Jeremy Jacobs Stars In IMCA Mod Feature Win
Saturday, July 24, 2004
By Dan Lewis

(Thunderhill Raceway - Sturgeon Bay, WI)  Picture perfect weather and perfect track conditions added up to another successful race night at Thunderhill Raceway on Saturday night.  In the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds, the fast, multi-lane track conditions led to some great side-by-side action as Algoma’s Jeremy Jacobs squeezed by with his second feature win of the season.  Jeff “Pepe” Vlies, Brussels, won his first T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car feature of the year.  May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock Joe Hegnet, Sturgeon Bay, took home his first main event win in only his sixth night out this year.  AmericInn Street Stock Aaron Thornton, Maplewood, won his fourth feature of the year and Sport Four Ken Malcore came away with his fifth feature victory.  STAR 97.7 FM was the night’s sponsor, helping to provide race fans with pre-race entertainment.

In the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds, outside pole start Tony Herbst, Sturgeon Bay, three-wheeled his mod to the race lead ahead of Scott Boyea of Abrams.  Rookie driver James Tebon, Algoma, grabbed the inside groove, blowing past Herbst on lap five of the 18-lap event.  Points leader Jeremy Jacobs shadowed Tebon along with Sturgeon Bay’s Kevin Sternard.  The three new race leaders circled the track without problems through much of mid-race.  Caution flew for a three car accident taking Randy LeMieux and Jay Matthias out of contention.  Todd Dart was also involved but was able to restart from the rear of the field.

A strong showing by Sternard up front allowed him to challenge Jacobs in the closing laps as both drivers appeared to see who was going to go after Tebon for the win.  With only two laps to go, Tebon skimmed a tire on the inside of the track, breaking his left front suspension.  Tebon held on to the bottom of the track for just one more circuit as Jacobs was there to take advantage of the miscue.  On the last lap, Tebon’s car went high out of the racing groove, taking the next place car of Kevin Sternard with him.

At the checkers, it was Jacobs taking the much needed win.  Baileys Harbor’s Mike Cole climbed to second with Sean Jerovetz laying claim to third.  Doug Maurer finished fourth and Scott “Scooter” Boyea took fifth.  Heat winners were Scott Derenne, along with Darrell Massart and Billy LeMieux.  Algoma’s Todd Dart won the semi-feature.

T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car driver Jeff”Pepe” Vlies looked like he was shot out of a cannon in Saturday night’s feature event, taking his car to the bottom in a hair raising 3-wide pass for the lead on the opening lap.  Dave Bouche and Charlie Kroll battled for second from the start as the three set the pace early in the event.  Last week’s points leader Troy Muench of Green Bay came up through the ranks to go after the fourth place car of Craig Paque, but fell victim to a track barrier tire.  Muench spun to the inside and was out for the night.  Bouche and Kroll could not catch the faster Vlies and had to settle for second and third behind Vlies.  It was Vlies’ first feature win of 2004 at Thunderhill.  Paque held on for a fourth place finish just ahead of Bernie Reinhardt.  Heat winners for the night included Larry Ingebretsen, B.J.Soquet and Troy Muench.  Tony Bouche won the semi-feature.

In the May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock feature event, 2003 track champion Joe Hegnet, Sturgeon Bay, came off his pole position and blew away the competition, leading every lap of the 15-lap event. Algoma’s Evan Madden made his way up to second place early on and within two laps, fell victim to points leader Ed Anschutz, also from Algoma.  Anschutz passed Madden on lap six, but it was too late to catch the fleeing Hegnet.  Hegnet took the win, his first of the season.  Anschutz was second followed by Madden.  Keith Kickbusch and Marcus Moede rounded out the top five.  Hegnet and Dave Lane won their respective heat events.

AmericInn Street Stock feature winner Aaron Thornton, Maplewood, survived several cautions and subsequent restarts and eventually took his street stock to his fourth feature win on Saturday night.  It was a hard fought battle from the sixth row for Thornton.  Early race leader John Sternard, Sturgeon Bay, looked good at the start but was passed by rookie Kevin Damrow of Manitowoc after a lap three restart.  Damrow and Sternard looked to be the pair to beat with point leaders Thornton and Von Eytcheson, Forestville right on their back bumpers.  A late race restart with Damrow on the point was just too much for the rookie as he was challenged by Thornton and Von Eytcheson at the same time.  On the last lap, Damrow spun from his third place spot and scattered the field taking the checkers.  Thornton took home the win, followed by Jeremy Wiitala, Scott Reinhardt, Eytcheson and Mike Pierrard.  Earlier heat winners were Thom Terrien, Todd Polster and Wiitala.

In the Sport 4 division, feature winner Ken Malcore, Milwaukee, kept his points chase alive with a win over Chad Williams, Brussels, and Butch Beyers of Green Bay.  Malcore is the defending track champion in the Sport 4 division.  Williams took home the heat win.

Budweiser IMCA Modified, T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car, May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock, AmericInn Street Stock divisions along with the Sport-4 class compete weekly on Saturday nights, with competition getting underway at 6 p.m.  

Saturday night, August 14th will be a night off for the local drivers during the Door County Fair.  During Door County Fair Week, one of two special nights of racing has been slated for Wednesday night, August 11th when the Forest County Potawatomi-sponsored 2nd Annual Dirt Late Model ShootOut opens the Door County Fair.  Late Models, IMCA Mods and IMCA Stocks will be featured.  

A second night of racing will be on tap on Thursday, August 12, when all five exciting divisions compete under the lights for the Door County Fair crowd.  Points will be awarded for the Thursday night event.

Next week’s Saturday night event is sponsored by Coldwell Banker/Door County Horizon!

Thunderhill Raceway is located at John Miles Park, the site of the Door County Fairgrounds, just off Highways 42/57, and west on County Trunk T.   For more information call 920-743-7052 or 920-746-0387, the track phone number.   The track’s website is www.racethunderhill.com. 

 RACE SUMMARY
 
 20 lap Budweiser IMCA Modified Feature - Jeremy Jacobs, Algoma; Mike Cole, 
Baileys Harbor; Sean Jerovetz, Suamico; Doug Maurer, DePere; Scott Boyea, 
Abrams; Todd Dart, Algoma; Jared Siefert, Green Bay; Tim VanDeHei - R, Green Bay; 
Chris Derenne, Luxemburg; Billy LeMieux, Sturgeon Bay.
 10 lap semi-feature - Dart; Jerovetz, Siefert.
 10 lap heats 1)Scott Derenne, Luxemburg; Dean Maurer, DePere; 2)Darrell 
Massart, Brussels; Jacobs; 3)Billy LeMieux; James Tebon, Algoma.

 18 lap T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car feature - Jeff Vlies, Brussels; Dave 
Bouche, Algoma; Charlie Kroll, Algoma; Craig Paque, Algoma; Bernie Reinhardt, 
Sturgeon Bay; Larry Ingebretsen, Luxemburg; Matt Junio, Casco; B.J. Soquet, 
Green Bay; Ryan LeMieux - R, Sturgeon Bay; Shawn Havel - R, Brussels.
 10 lap semi-feature - Tony Bouche, Algoma; Corey Haen, Sturgeon Bay; Brett 
Wenzel, Two Rivers.
 10 lap heats - 1) Ingebretsen; Vlies; 2)Soquet; Junio; 3)Muench; Derenne.

 15 lap May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock feature - Joe Hegnet, Sturgeon 
Bay; Ed Anschutz, Algoma; Evan Madden, Algoma; Keith Kickbusch - R, Kewaunee; 
Marcus Moede, Casco; Dave Lane, Green Bay; Mark Mincheski, Denmark; Tom Brumlic 
- R, Denmark; Maynard Hegnet - R, Sturgeon Bay; Kevin Laughlin, Sturgeon Bay.
 10 lap heats 1) Hegnet; Roger LaViolette - R, Sturgeon Bay; 2) Lane; Jeff 
Lautenbach, Sturgeon Bay.

 15 lap AmericInn Street Stock feature - Aaron Thornton - R, Maplewood; 
Jeremy Wiitala, Green Bay; Scott Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; Von Eytcheson, 
Forestville; Mike Pierrard - R, Green Bay; Scott Iverson, Sturgeon Bay; Thom Terrien, 
Green Bay; James Iverson, Sturgeon Bay; Todd Wagner, Brussels; Kevin Damrow - R, 
Manitowoc.
 10 lap heats 1)Terrien; Eytcheson; 2)Polster; Scott Iverson; 3)Wiitala; John 
Sternard, Sturgeon Bay.

 10 lap Sport Four feature - Ken Malcore, Algoma; Chad Williams, Brussels; 
Butch Beyers - R, Green Bay; Tim Jorgenson - R, Oneida; James VanDenBogart - R, 
Green Bay; Gene Sternard - R, New Franken.
 8 lap heat - Williams, Butch Beyers.


2004 THUNDERHILL RACEWAY POINTS - 7/24/04
Budweiser 
IMCA MODIFIEDS      Point
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   90  Jeremy  Jacobs  378
2   37  Sean    Jerovetz    358
3   66  Jared   Siefert 337
4   54  Benji   LaCrosse    329
5   18  Randy   LeMieux Jr. 327
6    8m Jay Matthias    319
7   3d  Todd    Dart    317
8   19  George  Henkel  313
9   73  Dan Ratajczak   311
10   4T Tim VanDeHei - R    301
11  22c Mike    Cole    297
12  21  James   Tebon - R   297
13  2   Darrell Massart 287
14  76  Kevin   Sternard    276
15  10  Chris   Derenne 274
16  3L  Billy   LeMieux 262
17  22L Doug    Maurer  256
18  43  Tony    Herbst  250
19  8J  Rick    Johnson 217
20  98  Scott   Derenne 204
21  38  Randie  Back    197
22  O7  Scott   Boyea   164
23  13  Jeff    Dubois  162
24  OOL Rick    LeMieux 146
25  34  Jerry   Wenzel  143
26  65  Dean    Maurer  119
27  84  Dave    Zeitler 106
28  OOrm    R.M.    VanPay  102
29  32  Lucas   Engels  97
30  36  Clyde   Skenadore   72
31  36d Brian   Dancz   66
32  7   Rob Waechter    45
33  11  Mark    Berglund    44
34  79  David   Charles 29
35  23  Brian   Baenen  18
36  34  Chad    Wilcox  16
37  99  Eric    VanIten 16
38  67  Ronnie  Plog Jr.    13
39  11  Eugene  Gregorich   11
40  82  Don Padgett 11

T Simon Jewelers 
IMCA STOCK CARS Point
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1    2p Craig   Paque   365
2   21  Dave    Bouche  362
3   11  Bernie  Reinhardt   360
4   52  Troy    Muench - R  355
5   8   Charlie Kroll   348
6   10J Matt    Junio   347
7   17  Jeff    Vlies   347
8   54  B.J.    Soquet  341
9   90  Shawn   Kilgore 324
10   10K    Tracy   Koontz  313
11  76  Mike    Wietor  311
12  29  Corey   Haen    272
13  77  Chris   Hendricks   257
14  73  Don Aregoni 252
15  25  Tony    Bouche  243
16  18L Ryan    LeMieux - R 240
17  12  Larry   Ingebretsen 238
18  97  Jamie   Suchocki    224
19  O5  Dave    Davister    215
20  4T  Shawn   Havel - R   202
21  15g Kraig   Gretz - R   197
22  20R Gary    Reinhardt   182
23  6   Rick    Mahlberg    171
24  7d  Mark    Derenne 123
25  34  Brett   Wenzel  104
26  71  Mark    Reinhard - R    101
27  44  Pat Davister    82
28  19  Dave    Hoerning    69
29  2T  Travis  VanStraten  68
30  55  Shawn   Wagner  54
31  53  Travis  Annoye  43
32  53  Brandon Mindak  25
33  41  Troy    DeGrave 24
34  5f  Mike    Franzke 21
35  53  Craig   Barrett 21

May’s Sports Center
IMCA HOBBYSTOCKS    Point
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   71  Ed  Anschutz    403
2   47  Keith   Kickbusch - R   390
3   9   Marcus  Moede   370
4   2   Evan    Madden  369
5   55  Wayne   Moore   369
6   40  Tom Brumlic - R 358
7   40d Dave    DeGrave - R 354
8   10  Brandon Peterson    342
9   49  Roger   LaViolette - R  319
10  6   Dave    Lane    278
11  53  Dwayne  Mertens 256
12  56  Jeff    Lautenbach  253
13  12  Carl    Laughlin    238
14  18  Davin   Malvitz - R 213
15  8   Derek   Moede   205
16  15  Maynard Hegnet - R  196
17  88  Dave    Serrahn - R 185
18  5   Joe Hegnet  179
19  13  Keith   Peterson    165
20  75  Tony    Schlei  124
21  O4  Mark    Mincheski   95
22  20  Casey   Groessl 74
23  5   Kevin   Laughlin    62
24  4   Mike    Mueller 32
25  31  Jarred  VanLaanen   21

AmericInn STREET STOCKS Point
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   51  Jeremy  Wiitala 395
2   95  Aaron   Thornton - R    394
3   11v Von Eytcheson   382
4   11r Scott   Reinhardt   356
5   25  Mike    Pierrard - R    337
6   12  Kevin   Damrow - R  336
7   21  Mike    King Jr. - R    335
8   73  James   Anderson    323
9   90b Faron   Beilke  319
10  44  Dennis  Weidner 317
11  76  John    Sternard - R    313
12  50  James   Iverson 311
13  29  Scott   Iverson 306
14  3p  Todd    Polster - R 302
15  27  Darren  Otto    285
16  23  Todd    Wagner  261
17  75  Thom    Terrien 258
18  15  Brian   Ambrosius - R   250
19  64  Don Polcen  246
20  3b  Mark    Brickner    121
21  17s Harley  Simon   119
22  99  Kevin   Jandrin 103
23  8   Tim Lautenbach - R  96
24  14  Jamie   Berg - R    86
25  5   Joe Hegnet  82
26  38  Andrew  Schnable    82
27  65  Bill    Kelsey  80
28  13  Keith   Peterson    42
29  4   Mike    Robenhorst  39
30  33  Rick    Sternard    34
31  52v Shawn   VanOoyen    33
32  66  James   Brunette    32
33  98  Dave    Baenen  30
34  34  Jeremy  Schultz 27
35  24  Jerry   Denil   26
36  79  Joe Johnson 26
37  79  Aaron   Melchert    25
38  50  Steve   Grenier 24
39  13  Jordan  Whipple 23
40  95s Jim Solem   22
41  20  Shawn   Mraz    22
42  90f Fred    Davister    21
43  8   Dean    Bader   11
44  19  Chris   Konitzer    11

SPORT 4s            Point
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   29J James   VanDenBogart - R    394
2   2   Ken Malcore 391
3   32  Chad    Williams    373
4   72  Jon Beilfuss Jr. - R    368
5   9   Charlie Gross - R   305
6   18j Tim Jorgenson - R   248
7   O1B Butch   Beyers - R  171
8   8   Gene    Sternard - R    168
9   11  Adam    Rex 167
10  1   Don Mahlberg - R    105
11  6   Ryan    Johnson 104
12  115 D.J.    Jorgenson - R   102
13  10  Tom Zastrow 72
14  6   Dave    Schlise 70
15  8   Tyler   Smith   70
16  55  Matt    Beyers - R  64
17  16d Ben Daoust  38
18  10  Mike    Hanson  37
19  15  Todd    Smith   37
20  17  Greg    Banker  35
21  15  Bob Skippon 32
22  10  Alex    Stauber 30
23  10  Les Lemmens 30