Skinner Jr. takes third win of year on
All Modes Trucking Night!

By Dale R. Erdmann

August 9, 1997; Lake Geneva, WI. - What a show it was as the 18th weekly racing program of the year came to a close at Lake Geneva Raceway. All Modes Trucking Inc. of Park City, IL., sponsored the evening racing program.

Billy Skinner Jr. of nearby Pell Lake, arrived too late for hot laps, but held back the challenges of his rivals, to win his third Super Late Model feature victory of the year. Denny Norton Jr. of McHenry, IL, continued to dominate the Herb's Street Stock division, grabbing his eighth 20 lap feature of the season. He now holds a 1,015 point advantage over his nearest rival, an amount that is nearly insurmountable. Bobby Gutknecht won the controversial Performance Unlimited Sportsman main event, while point leader Jeff Phillips of Fox River Grove, IL, won his first 15 lap Rascal Outlaws feature race.

Still winning!! Denny Norton Jr. the current Herb's Street Stock point leader got a little further ahead of his rivals in the points chase as he raked up his eighth feature win of the year.

Danny Darnell and Terry Patnode dueled for the lead in the Super Late Model feature, each in front every other lap, before the first yellow slowed the action at the end of lap three, as veteran Gil Neuhaus spun in turn one. The on the restart Dennis Vito stalled bringing a continuation of the slowdown.

An extremely tight field raced side by side, with only Darnell charging out front of the 18 car field. Skinner muscled his way into second, with Patnode, Mark Hartline, Brad Durbin and David Ray Salentine in hot pursuit. Point leader Al Schill also started his quest to work his way foreword, but was running into stiff resistance.

With Darnell and Skinner now running side by side for the lead, third place runner Patnode was waiting for any mistake in effort to move up. Darnell managed to pull back away from Skinner out front on lap nine before another slowdown when Durbin and Neuhaus brushed coming into turn three, causing a tangle and another slowdown.

It took numerous tries for a restart, but each time Darnell was back out front. With the drivers behind able to choose their line for the restart some interesting strategies played out. Finally underway, Darnell was firmly in command of the top spot, while second place Skinner resisted the challenges of both Salentine and Schill.

Mike Hartline had a strong run in the Super Late Model division, patiently picking his way through traffic and avoiding accidents, he climbed has high as third by the checkered flag. Hartline is one of those drivers narrowing in on his first feature win of the year.

On lap 13, Darnell had Skinner by his side and one lap later Skinner took over as the new leader, Schill and Salentine were also able to get by the former leader Darnell to advance their positions.

It was all out racing the next ten laps, as Schill tried to get around the new leader. Skinner was up to the challenge, holding on to the top spot. Then Jim Kjellander brought out the caution on lap 24 with a spin. Things got shaky after that, with Salentine spinning on lap 26, tagging Chad Barker in the process, causing Barker to veer right, into the path of Darnell who had no where to go but into Barker's drivers door. No one was injured but Darnell and Barker received extensive damage to their mounts.

This set up a four lap dash to the checkered, Skinner was on the point for the restart, with Schill attempting to use the outside line to take command. Skinner wound up easily winning the race to the flag, over Schill, Mike Hartline, Patnode, last weeks winner Kent Burkoth and Ronnie Darnell rounding out the top six finishers.

Tom Fay pulled away from the 18 car Street Stock feature field, with Justin Bishop next and Todd Peterson third. The pace was intense, as Peterson slipped in front by lap three, as Jerry Cowan entered the fray.

Rookie Tim Muller slipped too wide on lap four, coming down the frontstretch taking Rick Jacobs, with him into the wall. No one was injured, but lots of damage was sustained in the crash that brought out the first caution.

One lap later Adam Regnier was in the wrong spot at the wrong time as Bishop got turned around, causing another yellow. Peterson held the lead each time, but Cowan in second wanted that lead spot. On lap eight, Peterson slowed dramatically and Cowan got his wish.

Two laps later however Landry Potter who has systematically moved foreword, gained the lead from Cowan. Cowan held onto second just three more laps before Zac Deeringer, Troy Weber and of course Norton flew by. Bishop spun out one more time on lap 15, bringing out the final caution. Weber was black flagged for smoke at this time, dashing his hopes of a first win.

The five laps dash for the checkered was excellent as Norton got under Deeringer on lap 16, setting his sights on the leader. Scott Kuxhouse in the Dennis Carlton ride was following Norton's every move, dropping Deeringer one more position on lap 18. As the white flag was displayed, Potter was still the leader running side by side with Norton, Norton however became the new leader as the pair entered turn one and was able to pace the field back to the checkered flag.

Potter held on for second, with Kuxhouse third, Deeringer fourth, rookie Lyle Messinger fifth and a recovering Regnier sixth. A post race inspection was refused by Messinger, dropping him to last, this moved Regnier to fifth and Cowan to sixth.

Bobby Gutknecht bested his rivals in the Mid-American Sportsman feature race. It was the first feature win of the season for Gutknecht at Lake Geneva Raceway, after posting several fast qualifying efforts.

Defending Sportsman champion Rick Corso, who worked until 5:30 A.M. to be here after crashing badly as South Bend (IN) Motor Speedway Friday Night, charged out front of the Mid American / Sportsman feature with 21 cars starting the main event. Dan Robers, Rick Schmidt and Dan Erickson were next. Randy Holmes spun, causing the first yellow before a lap could be completed.

A restart ensued, with Corso easily moving back in front. While Robers had Schmidt and David Loshse all over him for the second position.

Corso started to pull away from the field, but on lap ten, Mike Monroe, Brian Baker and Erickson got together in turn one, bringing the race to a halt. Corso didn't waste any time to move away from the rest of the field on the restart. Schmidt got by Robers for second with, Loshe and Paul Loppnow right behind.

By lap 16, Bobby Gutknecht who posted second quick time, was on the move charging throughout the pack, all while Corso paced the field out front. The last thing the race leader wanted to see was a caution, which was exactly what happened on lap 19, when Willy Peterson spun.

On the restart it was Corso out front with Gutknecht breathing down his tailpipe. Schmidt maintained third, with Loshe right behind in fourth.

On lap 23, a questionable incident occured, Robers who had sun one lap earlier in turns three and four, did not cause a caution since he was far enough out of the way. Corso had Gutknecht all over the leader, when Corso bobbled only slightly, allowing Gutknecht to move to the font, juyst as Randy Holmes went high and into the backstretch wall,then sling into the infield. The caution came out, but scorers counted that lap, because all but a few cars didn't make it to the finish line.

On the final restart Gutknecht was the leader with Corso second. The final two laps were no contest, as Gutknecht easily won the event. Corso barely held back Schmidt for second, while Schmidt claimed third just in front of Loppnow, Joel Clossey and Baker.

After the race, Corso vigorously protested the decision to count a prior yellow as a completed lap.

Point leader Donny Kachelmeier, Shane Bishop, Corso and Loppnow all have a shot at winning the Lake Geneva Raceway Sportsman title, that will be decided on September 13th, which is their Championship night.

In the Outlaw Rascals feature, Joe Trkovsky retire to the pits after a spin that brought the race to a halt. After that Phillips led every lap, finishing way out front of Jeff Goodwin, rookie Butch Torkelson, Kip Novotnv,. another rookie Chris Carlson and Rodney Van Rite, in the contest that went non stop after the initial caution on the opening lap.

Next Saturday evening, August 16th, Five Star Stock Car bodies of Twin Lakes, presents 5 divisions of racing action at Lake Geneva Raceway. Added to the program will be the Mini-modifieds and the 102.3 XLC Sport Trucks. Also on hand will be the Performance Unlimited Sportsman, Herb's Street Stocks and Super Late Models. Time trials are at 6:00 P.M. with the first race at 7:30 P.M. sharp.

On Sunday District 16 presents moto cross racing on the tracks stadium dirt course with over 400 riders expected to compete, while on the oval GEM Pro Karts, the Mini-Cup cars and Sportsman Midgets will contest events starting at 1:00 P.M.

Lake Geneva Raceway is located on Bloomfield Rod just three miles south of downtown Lake Geneva, WI, the third mile progressively banked asphalt oval hosts over 90 racing event each and every race season.

RESULTS

HEAT ONE: 1.) Larry Surletta; 2.) J. Simon; 3.) M. Simon
HEAT TWO: 1.) Patnode; 2.) Danny Darnell; 3.) Hartline
HEAT THREE: 1.) Brad Durbin; 2) David Ray Salentine; 3.) Hiffman

HEAT ONE: 1.) Jim Hughes; 2.) Jacobs; 3.) Dehart
HEAT TWO: 1.) Todd Peterson; 2.) Troy Weber; 2.) Fay
HEAT THREE: 1.) Norton Jr.; 2.) Kuxhouse; 3.) Cowan

Rascal Outlaws

15 Lap Feature: 1.) Jeff Phillips, Fox River Grove, IL; 2.) Jeff Goodwin, Zion, IL; 3.) Butch Torkkelson, Bristol, WI; 4.) Kip Novotnv, Johnsburg, IL; 5.) Chris Carlson, Cary, IL; 6.) Rodney Van Rite, Zion, IL
Heat: 1.) Phillips; 2.) Goodwin; 3.) Novotnv
Fast Qualifier: Bob Torkelson, Trevor, WI,.....17.514 Seconds