| Fran Prestay the defending Lake Geneva Raceway Late Model champion found his way to victory circle in the 30 Lap feature event. Prestay held off a last lap charge by point leader Al Schill. |  |
May 31, Lake Geneva, WI.
Warm weather finally came to Southeastern Wisconsin (for at least one day) as the largest crowd of the season witnessed the seventh weekly race program on Saturday night. The winners were Fran Prestay of Silver Lake, who won the late model championship in 1996, nipping the point leader for his second win of the season in super late model action for 30 laps. Denny Norton Jr., of McHenry, IL, won his third nonstop street stock feature of the year. Rolf Tillman of Woodstock, IL, continued to dominate sport truck competition winning his fourth out five 10 lap features this season. The season debut for mini modified racing gave Eric Rosemann of Antioch, IL, a near clean sweep.
| Fran Prestay the defending Lake Geneva Raceway Late Model champion found his way to victory circle in the 30 Lap feature event. Prestay held off a last lap charge by point leader Al Schill. | |
The super late model feature got off to a grueling pace with Jim Kjellander and Dennis Vito side by side in a near dead heat for the lead. Mark Hartline, Kent Burkoth, Larry Los, and Bobby Giers were right behind them. Kjellander grabbed the upper hand with Hartline alongside Vito. Just like that Hartline flew into the lead on lap 4 before the first slow down came as Brad Durbin and Mike Simon tangled. This tightened up an already tight field as Hartline moved back out front.
Prestay started his quest to the front coming alongside Los on lap 7, who was running fourth. Contact was made but both continued. Hartline had a four car advantage by lap 11. Kjellander lost third to Los one lap later with Jamie Wallace working on fourth place Giers as Kjellander slowed. By lap 14 Hartline's big lead was gone and Prestay was knocking on the door. Three laps later Prestay mastered his mount in front. Then things started to deteriorate with just 8 laps to go as Ronnie Darnell and Billy Skinner Jr. tangled bringing out the first caution in quite a few laps. With the new cone rule, similar to CWRA, the drivers were plotting the fate. Wallace picked the inside with Hartline outside and Prestay all alone up front. Los tried everything but these second and third place runners were too busy working on each other to let anything bother them. On lap 26, Kjellanger and Vito tangled. This created another sike out your fellow driver situation on the restart.
Each lap things got worse but fans were treated to those famous one lap sprints followed by another slow down. The first was a bad scare as Darnell came off the back straightaway wall collecting Terry Patnode in his door. No one was injured but both were through for the night. This gave point leader, Al Schill, just what was needed to get into the hunt. Schill took the inside and Wallace the outside for the second row restart. Prestay could feel the pressure as Schill moved in for a challenge after getting under Wallace. Earlier leader Hartline was right there but Los, who had waited for any mistake, knew time was running out. Contact was made through the lap as these two raced for fourth place. No one gave another inch with both spinning. Los had some damage and retired to the pit area with the help of the tow truck and Hartline started in back.
Prestay now knew Schill and Wallace were not going to let him glide to any easy win. This time Wallace started inside with Schill outside. This two lap dash didn't produce any changes but at least it was caution free. Prestay won his second feature of the season moving into second in points. Schill finished second and now holds a 205 point advantage. Wallace was third and only 120 points behind Prestay. Kent Burkoth was fourth, Billy Baumeister fifth and Giers was sixth.
Mike Kooi wrestled the lead from Todd Peterson but one lap later Peterson was back in front. Then Kooi drove back front with Peterson, Burt Gutchell, Al Kuphal, and Adam Regnier in hot pursuit. Regnier made his own lane on the grass in turn two, then spinning, without a yellow coming out. Regnier waited on the infield losing two laps in the process.
| Dennis Carlton took fast time honors in the Super Stock division. Carlton is the defending Super Stock champion. |  |
Kooi had Scott Kuxhouse breathing down his bumper by lap 5 and then one lap later there was a new leader. Defending champion, Dennis Carlton, didn't let the new leader out of his sight, nipping Peterson, then Kooi within two laps. On lap 8 Carlton slipped in front setting up for a barn burner. Norton was right on Kuxhouse within that same lap. Rookie Jerry Cowan worked on Kooi until the 15th lap before moving by.
The final laps were awesome as Carlton held Norton at bay even though a lapped car nearly took these two out of the race on lap 16. Coming for the white it was Carlton in command. But as they entered turn three Carlton bobbled only so slightly. This gave Norton some momentum for a challenge. At the wire Norton won by a foot to the delight of the crowd. Carlton was second, with Kuxhouse third, followed by Cowan right along, then Mark Swan and Kooi.
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Denny Norton Jr. has been the man to beat in the Super Stock division this season. Norton won the non-stop Street Stock feature, by taking the lead from Dennis Carlton on the final lap in the final turn to win by inches. |
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The XLC 102.3 Sport Truck Division main event was claimed by Rolf Tillman. Tilman now holds a good lead in the division's point standings. |
Frank Caravetta then Joel Filtz were early leaders of the sport truck main. Just as Tillman moved out front on lap 7 Filtz and Dan Ross tangled. Filtz's mount received extensive damage but no one was injured. Tillman finished in a comfortable winning position. Butch Edwards Jr was second with Chad Ross, Jim Phillips and Caravetta right behind them.
The 16 car mini modified feature brought pole sitter Hermie Schultz out front before the caution came after Roy Morrison's route off turn one. Jim Morrison then climbed out front with Gann Sawusch and then Ken Johnson in a good battle. The next caution came with Todd Dombrowski's spin. After that, 17 year old 1996 Illinois driver of the year, Rosemann, moved in front and never to be headed. Duck Wack was second with a recovering Roy Morrison third, Johnson fourth, Schultz hung onto fifth as Jim Morrison claimed sixth.
Friday night June 6th Pro Moto Cross racing will be on the East end of the grounds. The paved action oval will be busy three days. On Friday night the sport trucks join the Select Performance Legend cars with time trials at 6 pm first race at 7:30 sharp. On Saturday June 7th the super lates and street stocks will be joined by the Performance Unlimited Mid American/sportsman cars and the first Allison Legecy Wiscoinsin series race shows. On Sunday afternoon, the first appearance of the season for the Champion Oval Track series, go karts, mini cups and UMARA sportsman midgets. Time trials are at 1 pm races at 2 pm.
Late
Model Division
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HEAT ONE: 1.) Mike Simon Jr., 2.) Lloyd Wilkinson, 3.)
Scott Koerner
HEAT TWO: 1.) Ulrich, 2.) Salentine, 3.) Chad Barker
HEAT THREE: 1.) Skinner, 2.) Giers, 3.) Durbin
Herb's
Street Stock Division
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HEAT ONE: 1.) Potter, 2.) Craig Carlson, 3.) Ron Benedict
HEAT TWO: 1.) Nevoso, 2.) Hilgendorf, 3.) Rick Jacobs
HEAT THREE: 1.) Kooi, 2.) Peterson, 3.) Shawn Donnelly
HEAT FOUR: 1.) Cowan, 2.) Deeringer, 3.) Carlton
102.3
XLC Sport Truck Division
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Mini-Modifieds
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TROPHY DASH: 1.) Johnson, 2.) Wack, 3.) R. Morrison
FAST QUALIFIER: Eric Rosemann, Antioch, IL.... 19.891 Secs.