No Repeat Winners Streak in Mods
Continues as Back Takes Victory at Door County Speedway! July 13, 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.
Another perfect night and an interesting one at the Door County Speedway Saturday night. Seemed like a hold over full moon night. The Modified feature had several guest drivers tonight with Shawano not running the division Scott Derenne led the first 2 circuits before the cautions started. After a couple attempts at a restart, Chris Derenne finally wrestled the lead from his son and 2 laps later, gave up the top spot to Randie Back. Derenne looped his car in turn 4 on lap 7 for the start of a couple more cautions before the race went green to the finish. Back continued out front and after the final restart, was able to hold the lead with the next four in a tight battle for second. Dan Ratajczak, Jared Siefert and Todd Dart mixed it up and pulled away a bit with Back. Scott Mullen ran in fifth with the lead pack until Art Siefert took his attention trying to move up a spot. Siefert was running the outside line and took over the runner up spot on lap 14. Ratajczak and Dart ran side by side for the rest of the race with Mullen and Siefert also door to door for much of the contest. Back became the seventh different feature winner this season in the division with Siefert right behind in second. Ratajczak nipped Dart for third with Mullen holding off Siefert for fifth. Gary Reinhardt set the opening lap speed for the Stock Car main before Scott Karcz took control. The tightly bunched field had to scramble out of turn four on lap 7 for a huge mix up on the front chute. Several cars got out of shape and in the mix up Joe LeBotte got sideways near the middle of the field. He was tagged by several more cars and Vinnie Belletini hit the car broadside on the passenger side, rolling LeBotte’s car over onto the roof, with the front of his car on top. LeBotte was OK after getting out of the car. Belletini was taken to the hospital for a check up for a sore back and neck. Point leader, Larry Karcz, Jr was also involved and was out of the race. Benji LaCrosse was able to visit pit lane a couple times during the long caution and was ready to go for the restart, from the back of the field. Scott Karcz set the pace after the restart followed by Gary Reinhardt, Don Aregoni, Dave Bouche, Pat Davister and John Heinz. Bouche moved up into the runner up spot on lap 10 with Davister and Heinz making it into the top 4. The pack stayed tight at the front and eyes were watching LaCrosse take to the outside and pick his way to the front. Moving into 6th on lap 12. On lap 13, Davister and Heinz made contact with Davister sitting on the infield and Heinz sent back for contact. Karcz was still leading with Bouche second and LaCrosse found himself in third with Reinhardt and Craig Paque behind. For the final restart, LaCrosse stayed high and swept into the lead as time ran out and the white flag appeared. LaCrosse became the first repeat feature winner in the division this season with Bouche also getting by Karcz on the final lap to take second. Karcz held on for third with Paque fourth, Reinhardt fifth and Bernie Reinhardt sixth. Shannon Guelette grabbed the lead in the Street Stock main followed by Tom Frea, Von Eytcheson, James Iverson and Dennis Weidner. Eytcheson moved behind the leader on lap 3. Scott Iverson moved up into 4th on lap 5 and Aaron Thornton moved from the middle of the pack into fifth on lap 7. Over the next 2 laps, three cautions flew to bunch the field. After the first restart, Guelette was still setting the pace with Eytcheson behind. Thornton was in third. As the trio made their way through turns three and four, contact was made, with Guelette getting out of shape in front of the pack out of turn four. He was able to do the 360, but was hit a couple more times to end his race. Eytcheson was out for the contact and Thornton inherited the lead. James Iverson was in second for the restart, with Scott Iverson behind. Eddie Anschutz lined up in fourth with Frea and Kevin Brungraber the top six. Thornton drove off to his fourth feature win of the year with Anschutz hooking up on the outside to end a long dry spell taking a solid second. Scott Iverson took third with Brungraber in fourth. Dave Baenen, in his first run this season here, took fifth and James Iverson rounded out the top six. Joe Hegnet took the lead at the start of the Bomber main and led the first 2 laps before Scott Reinhardt slipped into the top spot and began to pull away from the field. Corey Haen moved into the runner up spot on lap 5 and started to close Th. gap on the leader. With 5 laps left, Haen caught the leader and a good battle for the lead went to the wire, with Reinhardt collecting his first feature win since May 16, 1998. Haen was second with Hegnet holding third. Kevin Laughlin was fourth with John Knudson and Evan Madden rounding out the top six. The Door County Legends race featured 10 of the best old timers from the past at the speedway. Reggie Cochart bested the field to win his first race in 21 years. SUMMARY IMCA MODIFIED IMCA STOCK CAR STREET STOCK BOMBER |
