Mod Rookie Tebon Victorious With First Feature Win At The Hill
Saturday, August 21, 2004
By Dan Lewis

(Thunderhill Raceway - Sturgeon Bay, WI)  Thunderhill hardcore fans were treated to another great night of feature racing on Saturday night. Without any race event rainouts since the end of May, drivers are now starting to feel that the end of the season is near.  Many competitors race two to three times weekly and it has taken it’s toll on man and machinery.  Although car counts have dropped at times, the action was hot once again right to the end of the night at 9:30 pm with five exciting racing divisions.

Algoma’s James Tebon, looking at a potential rookie of the year title, finally shook off his earlier bad luck and earned himself a feature win at Thunderhill on Saturday night in the Budweiser IMCA Modified class.  Another rookie standout in the T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car class, Troy Muench of Green Bay won his first feature race since May 1st.  May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock Tony Schlei made his trip up from Zion, Illinois worthwhile with his second feature win.  AmericInn Street Stock Aaron Thornton, Maplewood, threaded his way to the front for his sixth main event win and Sport Four’s Ken Malcore of Milwaukee took home his seventh feature event win of 2004.  Miller Lite was the special night’s sponsor and provided special trophy girls for the night and 
helped fans get a closeup of their favorite drivers in on track introductions of the Budweiser IMCA Modified drivers at feature time.

In the Budweiser IMCA Modifieds, Brussels’ Darrell Massart led the charge from the green flag start with rookie driver James Tebon, Algoma, right in his shadow.  Sturgeon Bay’s Kevin Sternard looked strong and gave Tebon a hard run in the early going, putting on a fantastic race for the fans.  Veteran George Henkel, Sturgeon Bay, kept up with the front runners with a tough showing as 
well.  Massart had a great run in his earlier heat race win and was now a force to reckon with.

Just past midway of the 20-lap contest, Tebon was able to shake Sternard enough to go after the race leader Massart. Massart appeared to slip up, allowing Tebon to pass.  Sternard and Henkel were quick to follow in hot pursuit of the new race leader Tebon.  Tebon was quick to set a blistering pace to the end.  But it was former track champion Jared Siefert, Green Bay, that made a last ditch charge to the front passing three cars in the last three laps to finish just behind Tebon.

Tebon’s victory was his first feature win in the IMCA Modified division.  Earlier this season, Tebon had been very close to several feature wins but broke in the final laps.  Siefert had to settle for second place with Sternard in third at the checkers.  Local favorites Todd Dart and Henkel finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Earlier heat winners included Sternard, Massart and Jared Siefert.

The T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Cars had a rough going with the fast smooth clay surface.  After the first few laps were done, Fish Creek’s Gary Reinhardt grabbed the race lead with rookie Shawn Havel, Brussels, and Casco’s Matt Junio in tow.  Havel, an earlier heat race, gave his best to challenge Reinhardt for the lead but came up just short with each attempt to get by the stronger 
Reinhardt.

Another rookie in the field, Green Bay’s Troy Muench had better luck in handing Reinhardt the runnerup spot as Muench took the lead about midway in the event.  Within two laps, Reinhardt fell back another spot with Havel climbing back into the second place position behind Muench.  Havel set his sights on Muench all the way to the end of the feature.  Muench held on for the win, his 
second main victory of the season.  Havel finished a strong second, his best finish of the season.  Reinhardt was third.  Points leader and former champion Craig Paque, Algoma, finished fourth with fifth going to Kewaunee’s Shawn Kilgore.

Heat winners in the Stock class included Havel, along with Kewaunee’s Jamie Suchocki and Matt Junio of Casco.

Casco’s Derek Moede and Kevin Luedtke, Sturgeon Bay, paced the first lap of the May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock feature event.  Last year’s champion, Sturgeon Bay’s Joe Hegnet came up to challenge Moede for several laps, but fell victim to Zion, Illinois’ Tony Schlei about one third of the way into the 15-lap event.

Moede continued his lead all the way up to the ninth lap when Schlei got the best of the Casco driver and passed for the lead and the eventual win.  Schlei won his second feature race in only seven visits to Thunderhill Raceway  for 2004.  Points leader Ed Anschutz of Algoma came all the way up from his tenth place starting position to grab the runnerup spot and finished second with 
Hegnet finishing third.  Evan Madden, Algoma, and Dave Lane, Green Bay rounded out the top five.

Heat winners included Derek Moede and Joe Hegnet.

AmericInn Street Stock Brussels’ Todd Wagner got a great start in the AmericInn Street Stock feature event, putting himself way out front from the get-go.  No fewer than three drivers put came up to grab the number two spot in the first ten circuits of the race including Dennis Weidner of Sturgeon Bay, Mike Pierrard of Green Bay and finally Aaron Thornton of Maplewood.  

Thornton snatched the lead away from Wagner with five laps to go and went away with his sixth main event win of 2004.  Forestville’s Von Eytcheson passed three hard-charging cars in the final five laps to finish second.  Last week’s points leader Jeremy Wiitala, Green Bay, finished third and relinquished the points lead back to Thornton by only one point.  Wagner finished fourth with 
Weidner taking the fifth spot.  

Earlier heat wins went to Thornton and to rookie John Sternard of Sturgeon Bay.

In the Sport 4 division, Milwaukee’s Ken Malcore won the 10-lap feature, followed by Gene Sternard of New Franken.  Green Bay’s Butch Beyers finished third in the feature.  Malcore also won the heat race, his fifth of the year.

Only one more points night remains on the schedule for Thunderhill Raceway with five divisional titles on the line.  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.  

Next Saturday night event is Championship Night sponsored by Sportsman Trophy and Engraving!

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 -James Tebon - R    , Algoma; Jared Siefert, Green Bay; Kevin Sternard, Sturgeon Bay; Todd Dart, Algoma; George Henkel, Sturgeon Bay; Dan Ratajczak, Frog Station; Sean Jerovetz, Suamico; Darrell Massart, Brussels; Benji LaCrosse, Luxemburg; Jay Matthias, Luxemburg.

10 lap heats - 1)Sternard; Chris Derenne, Luxemburg; 2)Massart; Cole, Baileys Harbor; 3)Siefert; Henkel.

18 lap T Simon Jewelers IMCA Stock Car feature - Troy Muench - R, Green Bay; Shawn Havel - R, Brussels; Gary Reinhardt, Fish Creek; Craig Paque, Algoma; Shawn Kilgore, Kewaunee; Corey Haen, Sturgeon Bay; Dave Bouche, Algoma; Bernie Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; Matt Junio, Casco; Chris Hendricks, Green Bay.

10 lap heats - 1)Havel; MarkDerenne, Kewaunee; 2)Jamie Suchocki, Kewaunee; Mike Wietor, Green Bay; 3)Junio; B.J. Soquet, Green Bay.

15 lap May’s Sports Center IMCA Hobby Stock feature - Tony Schlei, Zion, IL; Ed Anschutz, Algoma; Joe Hegnet, Sturgeon Bay; Evan Madden, Algoma; Dave Lane, Green Bay; Marcus Moede, Casco; Tom Brumlic - R, Denmark; Keith Kickbusch - R, Kewaunee; Jeff Lautenbach, Sturgeon Bay; Brandon Peterson, Sturgeon Bay.

10 lap heats 1)Derek Moede, Casco; Madden; 2)Joe Hegnet; Anschutz.

15 lap AmericInn Street Stock feature - Aaron Thornton, Maplewood; Von Eytcheson, Forestville; Jeremy Wiitala, Green Bay; Todd Wagner, Brussels; Dennis Weidner, Sturgeon Bay; Mike King Jr. - R, Little Chute; Todd Polster - R, Baileys Harbor; Scott Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; Kevin Damrow - R, Manitowoc; John Sternard - R, Sturgeon Bay.

10 lap heats 1)Thornton; Weidner; 2)Sternard; Wagner.

10 lap Sport Four feature - Ken Malcore, Milwaukee; Gene Sternard - R, New Franken; Butch Beyers - R, Green Bay; Chad Williams, Brussels; Charlie Gross - R, Gleason.

8 lap heat - Malcore; Sternard.

2004 THUNDERHILL RACEWAY POINTS - August 21, 2004
Budweiser IMCA MODIFIEDS   

Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   90  Jeremy  Jacobs  521
2   37  Sean    Jerovetz    502
3   54  Benji   LaCrosse    478
4   66  Jared   Siefert 469
5    8m Jay Matthias    450
6   18  Randy   LeMieux Jr. 447
7   3d  Todd    Dart    433
8   19  George  Henkel  425
9   21  James   Tebon - R   417
10  73  Dan Ratajczak   417
11  2   Darrell Massart 409
12  10  Chris   Derenne 394
13  76  Kevin   Sternard    389
14  22c Mike    Cole    386
15  3L  Billy   LeMieux 358
16   4T Tim VanDeHei - R    332
17  43  Tony    Herbst  323
18  8J  Rick    Johnson 306
19  98  Scott   Derenne 306
20  22L Doug    Maurer  291
21  OOL Rick    LeMieux 236
22  O7  Scott   Boyea   200
23  38  Randie  Back    197
24  13  Jeff    Dubois  185
25  65  Dean    Maurer  150
26  34  Jerry   Wenzel  143
27  32  Lucas   Engels  123
28  36d Brian   Dancz   111
29  84  Dave    Zeitler 106
30  OOrm    R.M.    VanPay  102
31  11  Mark    Berglund    99
32  36  Clyde   Skenadore   72
33  23  Brian   Baenen  56
34  7   Rob Waechter    45
35  34  Chad    Wilcox  41
36  75  Eric    Scribner    30
37  67  Mathew  McDermid    29
38  79  David   Charles 29
39  1m  Julie   McDermid    28
40  8d  Brian   Drexler 27
41  77  Mike    Wedelstadt  25
42  9   Buck    Schmelzer   16
43  99  Eric    VanIten 16
44  11f Dave    Fischer 13
45  67  Ronnie  Plog Jr.    13
46  11  Eugene  Gregorich   11
47  82  Don Padgett 11

T Simon Jewelers IMCA STOCK CARS
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1    2p Craig   Paque   512
2   52  Troy    Muench - R  506
3   21  Dave    Bouche  493
4   11  Bernie  Reinhardt   486
5   17  Jeff    Vlies   479
6   10J Matt    Junio   477
7   90  Shawn   Kilgore 476
8   8   Charlie Kroll   437
9   54  B.J.    Soquet  428
10  76  Mike    Wietor  411
11  29  Corey   Haen    394
12  73  Don Aregoni 365
13  77  Chris   Hendricks   363
14  18L Ryan    LeMieux - R 342
15  97  Jamie   Suchocki    320
16  4T  Shawn   Havel - R   315
17   10K    Tracy   Koontz  313
18  12  Larry   Ingebretsen 312
19  25  Tony    Bouche  295
20  20R Gary    Reinhardt   264
21  6   Rick    Mahlberg    264
22  O5  Dave    Davister    260
23  15g Kraig   Gretz - R   258
24  7d  Mark    Derenne 213
25  71  Mark    Reinhard - R    114
26  34  Brett   Wenzel  104
27  44  Pat Davister    82
28  19  Dave    Hoerning    69
29  2T  Travis  VanStraten  68
30  53  Travis  Annoye  63
31  73J Don Aregoni Jr. 61
32  55  Shawn   Wagner  54
33  10s Rod Snellenberger   34
34  99  Jeremy  Christians  33
35  53  Craig   Barrett 32
36  50  Kyle    Frederick   31
37  36  Larry   Karcz   28
38  67  Jon T.  Wolf    27
39  53  Brandon Mindak  25
40  41  Troy    DeGrave 24
41  5f  Mike    Franzke 21
42  17  Brian    Ankerson   15

May’s Sports Center IMCA HOBBYSTOCKS
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   71  Ed  Anschutz    542
2   47  Keith   Kickbusch - R   524
3   9   Marcus  Moede   519
4   2   Evan    Madden  505
5   40  Tom Brumlic - R 497
6   55  Wayne   Moore   486
7   40d Dave    DeGrave - R 447
8   10  Brandon Peterson    441
9   49  Roger   LaViolette - R  432
10  6   Dave    Lane    380
11  56  Jeff    Lautenbach  373
12  12  Carl    Laughlin    354
13  53  Dwayne  Mertens 343
14  18  Davin   Malvitz - R 321
15  5   Joe Hegnet  315
16  88  Dave    Serrahn - R 270
17  8   Derek   Moede   263
18  15  Maynard Hegnet - R  263
19  75  Tony    Schlei  221
20  13  Keith   Peterson    196
21  20  Casey   Groessl 165
22  1   Kevin   Luedtke 106
23  O4  Mark    Mincheski   95
24  31  Jarred  VanLaanen   69
25  5   Kevin   Laughlin    62
26  4   Mike    Mueller 32
27  11  Travis  DuChateau   24

AmericInn STREET STOCKS
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   95  Aaron   Thornton    546
2   51  Jeremy  Wiitala 545
3   11v Von Eytcheson   521
4   11r Scott   Reinhardt   496
5   12  Kevin   Damrow - R  476
6   21  Mike    King Jr. - R    464
7   73  James   Anderson    452
8   3p  Todd    Polster - R 451
9   25  Mike    Pierrard - R    447
10  76  John    Sternard - R    427
11  90b Faron   Beilke  423
12  44  Dennis  Weidner 417
13  29  Scott   Iverson 414
14  50  James   Iverson 413
15  23  Todd    Wagner  382
16  27  Darren  Otto    363
17  64  Don Polcen  314
18  75  Thom    Terrien 287
19  15  Brian   Ambrosius - R   250
20  8   Tim Lautenbach - R  157
21  3b  Mark    Brickner    145
22  17s Harley  Simon   119
23  99  Kevin   Jandrin 103
24  14  Jamie   Berg - R    86
25  5   Joe Hegnet  82
26  38  Andrew  Schnable    82
27  65  Bill    Kelsey  80
28  98  Dave    Baenen  79
29  34  Tom Daubner 68
30  24  Jerry   Denil   57
31  13  Keith   Peterson    53
32  34  Jeremy  Schultz 52
33  13  Jordan  Whipple 50
34  4   Mike    Robenhorst  39
35  33  Rick    Sternard    34
36  52v Shawn   VanOoyen    33
37  2w  Jerry   Winkler 32
38  66  James   Brunette    32
39  79  Joe Johnson 26
40  79  Aaron   Melchert    25
41  50  Steve   Grenier 24
42  86  Paul    White   24
43  95s Jim Solem   22
44  20  Shawn   Mraz    22
45  84  Gregg   Siebold 22
46  90f Fred    Davister    21
47  20  Charlie Kroll   19
48  8   Dean    Bader   11
49  19  Chris   Konitzer    11

SPORT 4s       
Rank/Car#/Name      Total
1   2   Ken Malcore 538
2   29J James   VanDenBogart - R    527
3   32  Chad    Williams    518
4   72  Jon Beilfuss Jr. - R    496
5   9   Charlie Gross - R   446
6   18j Tim Jorgenson - R   353
7   O1B Butch   Beyers - R  319
8   8   Gene    Sternard - R    274
9   6   Ryan    Johnson 168
10  11  Adam    Rex 167
11  115 D.J.    Jorgenson - R   141
12  1   Don Mahlberg - R    105
13  55  Matt    Beyers - R  97
14  10  Tom Zastrow 72
15  6   Dave    Schlise 70
16  8   Tyler   Smith   70
17  16d Ben Daoust  38
18  10  Mike    Hanson  37
19  15  Todd    Smith   37
20  27k Dale    Kroll   35
21  O1  Jasper  Drengler    35
22  17  Greg    Banker  35
23  415 Steve   Schaumberg  35
24  28  Jason   Soucek  34
25  11  Ed  Howard  33
26  15  Bob Skippon 32
27  10  Alex    Stauber 30
28  10  Les Lemmens 30
29  8m  Brett   Meyer   29

 

Search for more...
Google
  Web racingwisconsin.com   

Print This Page
<back to previous page>