Frank Paul Wins First Career Feature at The Hill
By Greg Aregoni
Saturday Night July 21st- Frank Paul won a wild IMCA Hobby Stock Feature to claim his first career feature win.
24 IMCA Stockcars, 20 IMCA Modifieds, 17 4 Cylinders, 14 Street Stocks, 13 IMCA Hobby Stocks, 8 IMCA Northern Sportmods, and 4 Bombers were on hand for The Bull Pen Bar and Grill Night.
Jason Laviolette took the early command in the IMCA Hobby Stock Feature right in front of brother Roger. Frank Paul and Brandon Peterson split cars going three wide on their way to challenge for the lead. A three wide battle for the lead between Paul, Laviolette, and Peterson for two laps turned sour heading into turn 1 with 5 laps to go. Laviolette pushed through turns one and two getting into Peterson. Peterson made hard contact with the wall causing a caution. Frank Paul inherited the lead and held off Keith Kickbusch and Dave DeGrave to win his first career IMCA Hobby Stock Feature win. Kickbusch who was second improved his point lead over DeGrave who was third. Roger Laviolette was fourth followed by Marcus Moede.
Dennis Wiedner opened up the Street Stock feature with an impressive couple of laps before Tim Czarneski grabbed the lead using the high side. Czarneski would pull away from the rest of the pack leaving second between John Sternard, Wiedner and Jeremy Wiitala. A caution for a bumper on lap 9 setup a 6 lap dash for cash. Czarneski was never challenged after the restart and picked up his first Street Stock feature win at Thunderhill. First time runner, Shannon Guilette finished second followed by Sternard, Scott Reinhardt, and Tim Jandrin.
Rick Mahlberg is always a force on a tacky track. Mahlberg cruised way out front in the early part of the IMCA Stockcar feature. Matt Junio and Von Eytcheson would quickly make their ways to second and third. A caution on lap 8 would regroup the field setting up a 10 lap finale. Von Eytcheson used his outside restarting spot to pass Junio and lock in on Mahlberg. The next few laps Eytcheson tried the top to make the pass. Finally, Eytcheson went to the extreme topside and passed Mahlberg for the lead for good. Eytcheson cruised to his second straight win followed by Mahlberg, Troy Muench, Junio, and Scott Pagels.
A green to checker run in the IMCA Modifieds is usually a rarity, but Saturday night the modifieds were able to do just that. Chris Derenne led the opening few laps until Jay Matthias went powering bye on top. Matthias would dominate the middle part of the race until Benji LaCrosse got to the back bumper. Matthias and LaCrosse started working their way through lapped traffic. As LaCrosse was going to make the pass down low, Mark Berglund got real loose. LaCrosse had to check up hard allowing Matthias to pull away up top and pick up his first win of the season. LaCrosse was second followed by Tom Stark, Randy Lemieux Jr, and Shawn Kilgore. Jeff Dubois held off Charlie Kroll at the end of the IMCA Northern Sportmod feature to pick up his first career IMCA Northern Sportmod win. He also won the $300 bounty on Kroll.
Kasey gross won his third feature of the season by about a ¼ lap in the 4 Cylinders.
Dan Merkle edged Jesse Kroll by a bumper as he won the Bomber feature.
Next Saturday Night July 28th, Sonny's Pizzeria and Mays Sport Center will be sponsoring the night. The top three trailers decorated in Christmas themes will receive $300, $150, and $50. The track's website is www.racethunderhill.com For more info call Woody at 743-7052.
Kelsey Racing IMCA Modified Feature- 1. Jay Matthias, DePere 2. Benji LaCrosse, Luxemburg 3. Tom Stark, Egg Harbor 4. Randy Lemieux Jr, Sturgeon Bay 5. Shawn Kilgore, New Franken
Heats- #1 1. Lemieux 2. Chris Derenne, Luxemburg #2 1. LaCrosse 2. Stark
Eric Peterson Edward Jones Investments IMCA Stockcar
Feature- 1. Von Eytcheson, Forestville 2. Rick Mahlberg, Denmark 3. Troy Muench, Union 4. Matt Junio, Casco 5. Scott Pagels, The Badlands
Consy- 1. Ryan Lemieux, Sturgeon Bay
Heats- #1 1. Mike King Jr, Little Chute 2. Pagels
#2 1. Tony Bouche, Algoma 2. Jeff Vlies, Kewaunee
#3 1. Mahlberg 2. Matthias
Olson Fabrication IMCA Hobby Stock Feature- 1. Frank Paul, Kewaunee 2. Keith Kickbusch, Kewaunee 3. Dave DeGrave, Luxemburg 4. Roger Laviolette, Sturgeon Bay 5. Marcus Moede, Casco
Heats- #1 1. Moede 2. Jarred Van Laanen, Green Bay #2 1. Laviolette 2. DeGrave
IMCA Northern Sportmod Feature- 1. Jeff Dubois, Luxemburg 2. Charlie Kroll, Forestville 3. Dave Budzban, Luxemburg
Heat- 1. Kroll 2. Budzban
Algoma Motors Street Stock Feature- 1. Tim Czarneski, Denmark 2. Shannon Guilette, Algoma 3. Johnathan Sternard, Buckville 4. Scott Reinhardt, Bailey's Harbor 5. Tim Jandrin, Algoma
Heats- #1 1. Jeremy Wiitala, Green Bay 2. Jandrin #2 1. Czarneski 2. Sternard
Triangle Distributing 4 Cylinder Feature- 1. Kasey Gross, Gleason 2. Patrick King, Little Chute 3. Kip Burlo, Sturgeon Bay 4. Tony Everard, Green Bay 5. Ken Malcore, Milwaukee
Heats- #1 1. Jason Cornelius, Oneida 2. Gross #2 1. King 2. Jesse Madoche, Algoma
Lackie Rentals and Remodeling Bomber Feature- 1. Dan Merkle, Egg Harbor 2. Jesse Kroll, Algoma 3. Amber Wiedner, Maplewood
Heat- 1. Kody Laviolette, Sturgeon Bay 2. Merkle.