(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 Point
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 Point
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 Point
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 Point
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 Point
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