LeMieux Scores First Mod Win of
2002, Heinz Hauls in Stock Car Checkered at Door County Speedway! July 6, 2002; Sturgeon Bay, WI. - A perfect night for a big night of racing action at the Door County Speedway on Saturday night. The largest crowd of the season watched as two drivers picked up their first feature wins of the season and a pair won their third and fourth.
The Streets took to the track first with Von Eytcheson grabbing the lead from the pole with Troy Muench tucking in right behind. The pair started to open a lead as the rest of the field bunched up behind in a battle for third. Muench was looking to the inside and finally found a gap on lap 7 to take over the top spot and sped away to hide from the field. Aaron Thornton, Kevin Brungraber, Gregg Siebold and point leader, Kevin Sternard, had caught Eytcheson and were bunched in a fight to break out of the pack. Muench took advantage and built a ½ lap margin before a lone caution slowed the race on lap 11 for a stalled car. The field was now reset, with Muench still in command, but with the rest of the field now in contention. On the restart, Thornton pulled into the runner up spot and right behind the leader. Muench was hugging the inside line, which is where Thornton wanted to be. The pair swapped some paint going for the lead, with Siebold, Eytcheson, Sternard and Brungraber waiting for a bigger mistake. On the final lap, Muench got sideways out of turn 2, and slipped a bit in three. Thornton had Siebold alongside and the two went outside and crossed the line three wide with Thornton getting the edge to win his third feature of the season. Muench took the second place finish with Siebold credited with a very close third. Sternard took fourth with Brungraber and Eytcheson rounding out the top six. Bill LeMieux took advantage of a front row get together entering the first turn of the Modified main to slip into the lead and start to pull away from the field. LeMieux found a quick line mid track and continued to build a lead as the rest of the pack sorted out behind. Just before the mid point, a stalled car brought the race to a halt for the only time and put Jeremy Jacobs, Buck Schmelzer, George Henkel and Jared Siefert right behind the leader. LeMieux had his hands full for three laps as the pressure was on with all four trying to get into the lead. LeMieux again found his line and was able to re-establish his strong run at the front. Henkel started to reel in the leader after a couple laps, and over the final five, had a couple chances at the lead, but LeMieux matched the former champ and recorded his first feature win of the season. Henkel took the runner up spot with Siefert, Jacobs, Randie Back and Sean Jerovetz rounding out the top six. The Stock Cars clicked off another hard fought non-stop feature event. John Heinz took the lead from the outside pole at the start and built a couple length lead while Craig Paque moved into the runner up spot on lap 6 and pulled right behind the leader. Paque found an opening 2 laps later and stuck to the inside to take the lead. Heinz stayed right with Paque as the pair pulled away form the field a bit. Shawn Kilgore, Pat Davister, Kerry Douglas, Kerry Douglas and Jeff Vlies were bunched behind for third place. Heinz kept the pressure on lap after lap and was finally able to get an opening on lap 17 to re-take the lead. Heinz held off Paque for the final 3 laps to records his first feature win of the season and first here since September 9, 2000. Paque took the second place finish with Kilgore taking third, Davister was fourth, Bernie Reinhardt fifth and Douglas sixth. The Bombers ran a hard fought feature event, for the first time in several weeks. Corey Haen took the lead at the start with John Knudson, Wayne Moore, Robert Patza, Greg Aregoni and Scott Reinhardt behind. A stalled car slowed the race on lap 5 with Haen still in command followed by Aregoni, Moore, Reinhardt and Knudson. The lead pack remained tight to the finish with Moore making a late race run at the leader, only to have a radiator hose break on the final lap. Haen collected his fourth feature win of the season with Aregoni taking second. Moore kept going and finished in third place. Reinhardt, Knudson and Patza rounded out the top six, Tracy Thrun and Billy Hayes won two special Bartenders races with a special Mod dash being called a tie between Jared Siefert and Randy LeMieux. SUMMARY IMCA MODIFIED IMCA STOCK CAR STREET STOCK BOMBER |
