Ronnie Darnell earns first Super Late Win!!

By Dale R. Erdmann

September 6, 1997; Lake Geneva, WI. - It took two months, but great weather finally came to Lake Geneva Raceway Saturday night. However the fans and drivers were saddened to hear that long time race fan, Art Renn passed away. The evenings race program was sponsored by Kossow Motorsports, Pro Tec Fire Extinguisher Sales and Service and Electrolarm Company.

Ronnie Darnell powered home to victory in his R&R Trucking Ford Thunderbird in the Super Late Model feature. The win was Danrell's first career Super Late Model victory.

Before the 18 car Super Late Model feature could get underway, Dennis Vito picked up someone's muffler that came off on the parade lap. Vito returned before the double green flags were displayed by starter Dave Rex Jr. to start the race. Ronnie Darnell who started outside row one, darted out front of Joe Fischer, Jim Kjellander and Danny Darnell. It was side by side racing through out the pack except for the leader who started to increase his lead by lap five.

The battle behind the leader was intense as Danny Darnell, Kjellander, Fischer and Chad Barker all tussled for a top spot. By lap 10, Fran Prestay who had started outside the fourth row was up to join the battle.

The first slowdown, came on lap 12, when Randy Rodgers, Billy Baumeister and Billy Skinner Jr. tangled, wiping out the leaders big advantage. With the cone set on the track, drivers had to determine their starting lane and planned their strategy wisely for the restart.

When the green flew again, Ronnie Darnell had Fischer and Kjellander all over him, but again within two laps Darnell began to pull away from the field. Prestay continued to advance moving past Kjellander for third before the next caution which occurred on lap 17. The yellow was for Mark Simonsen spun all by himself.

For the next restart Ronnie Darnell had Prestay and Mark Hartline right behind him. Rodgers had already worked his way back up to fifth after his earlier tangle and began to work on Fischer. Two laps later he got around Fischer for fourth and set out for Hartline, Darnell meanwhile was well out front.

With three laps to go the last thing the leader wanted was a caution, but Larry Los looped it, bringing out the final yellow. When the green returned Darnell kept his composure for the final three laps and made the victory look easy, scoring his first Super Late Model victory of his career. He credited his crew chief Mark Rueter for the win. Prestay hung onto second, with Hartline, Rodgers, Fischer and Barker rounding out the top six.

Point leader Al Schill, raced in West Allis, at the Milwaukee Mile in the afternoon, and arrived at the track too late for qualifying. The veteran driver survived the melee of the semi-feature to win that event and advance to the feature race. Schill, however retired early from the main, with mechanical problems finishing eighteenth.

Rick Jacobs grabbed the lead of the Street Stock main event, as Chuck Coulman and Shawn Donnelly diced for second. On lap three, Tim Mueller, got crossed up in a three deep situation, that got Bob Moeller's drivers door ripped off. No one was injured but Moeller was sent to the pits because of his cars condition. On the restart, newcomer Mike Hennesey Jr. jumped out front, with Donnelly close behind. Meanwhile Jacobs, Tom Fay and Scott Kuxhouse all battled for third place.

Kuxhouse took over the third position and by lap eight and he then inched past Donnelly for second, with Hennesey Jr. just a few feet out front one lap later.

Kuxhouse then overhauled Hennesey for the top spot, while the rest of the field all tried to advance. Zac Deering moved into the runner-up spot at Hennesey's expense on lap 17 after a lengthy battle. While current point leader Denny Norton Jr. worked his way though the pack.

Over the final laps Kuxhouse maintained the top spot, while Norton Jr. nipped Deeringer at the wire for second. Deeringer was third, with Hennesey fourth, Landry Potter claimed fifth and rookie Tommy Nevoso took over the sixth spot. Kuxhouse dedicated his victory to Art Renn a good friend of the driver.

With just one week before their championship race the Performance Unlimited Mid American/ Sportsman feature had it's first caution on lap three, when visiting driver Ed Ochylski, Dan Robers, David Lohse and Willie Peterson crashed hard together in turn four.

Dan Erickson was the leader when the next yellow appeared on lap five, that's when Rick Corso tagged point leader Donny Kachelmeier, halting the action one more time.

When action resumed Brian Baker shot out front, with Erikson trying to hang onto second. Neric Chitwood was now alongside Paul Loppnow for third. Chitwood narrowed up the leaders margin by lap eight, and then diced with Baker for the top spot for the next two laps before taking the lead for good.

The next caution appeared for a spin by Loppnow and another caution appeared only two laps later for a tangle between Erikson and Schmidt. After that it was all out racing action, as Chitwood maintained a small lead over Shane Bishop who had taken second on lap 14, with fast qualifier Bobby Gutknecht close behind in third.

At the checkered flag Chitwood was out front to score his first win of the season, Bishop with his second place finish moved within 15 points of Kachelmeier for the point lead. Gutknecht claimed third, Scott Koerner was fourth, Kachelmeier recovered for fifth while Baker landed the sixth place position. The championship race for the division is next Saturday Night, on September 13th, 1997. At that time a new Sportsman division champion will be determined.

The feature event for the rascal outlaws was won by Jeff Goodwin, who also turned quick time. The win was his fourth feature victory of the season. Goodwin also raced in the Legacy cars and finished seventh in the main event. Following the leader acrossed the line in the Rascals feature was Butch Torkelson who was just inches behind the leader. Rodney Van Rite claimed third ahead of Kip Novotny and Chris Carlson.

The Wisconsin Allison Legacy Series cars feature looked like a runaway for Bobby Giers, but fast timer Jack Kossow scored the win, which was his first career feature win, in the closest event since the season began. With only a single lap remaining Kossow pulled even with Giers coming down for the checkered, after tossing the lead back and fourth, Kossow inched ahead by about six inched over Giers. Jeff Segal, Jay Whyte, Gary Flote and Mark Fare rounded out the top six finishers.

Next week marked the beginning of the championship races. The Street Stocks and Mid-American cars will run along with the Super Late Models and the Mini-Modified have been added to the program. Children 9 years of age and younger should have their parents bring along their Big Wheels, for a special kids Big Wheel race on the oval.

Time trials are at 6:00 P.M. with the first race to start at 7:30 P.M. sharp. Racing continues at Lake Geneva Raceway until October 4th, 1997.

RESULTS

Late Model Division
30 Lap Feature Event   Trophy Dash
1. #58 Ronnie Darnell Crystal Lake, IL   1. #14 Randy Rodgers Lake Geneva, WI
2. #99 Fran Prestay Silver Lake, WI   2. # 5 Terry Patnode Oak Creek, WI
3. #30 Mark Hartline Lake In The Hills, IL   3. #99 Fran Prestay Silver Lake, WI
4. #14 Randy Rodgers Lake Geneva, WI   Time Trials
5. #2F Joe Fischer Grayslake, IL   1. # 5 Terry Patnode 16.419 Seconds
6. #68 Chad Barker So. Milwaukee, WI   2. #14 Randy Rodgers 16.464 Seconds
7. # 5 Terry Patnode Oak Creek, WI   3. #99 Fran Prestay 16.533 Seconds
8. #19 Ken Burkoth Pell Lake, WI   12 Lap Semi-Feature
9. #48 Mike Simon Lake Villa, IL   1. #14 Al Schill Franklin, WI
10. # 9 Larry Los Darien, WI   2. #21 Dennis Vito Crystal Lake, IL
        3. #90 Ron Malec Zion, IL

HEAT ONE: 1.) Malec; 2.) Jeff Holtz; 3.) Brian Ulrich
HEAT TWO: 1.) Los; 2.) Billy Baumeister; 3.) Mark Simonsen
HEAT THREE: 1.) Jim Kjellander; 2.) Darnell; 3.) Billy Skinner Jr.

Performance Unlimited Mid-American / Sportsman Division
25 Lap Feature   Time Trials
1. #77 Neric Chitwood Morris, IL   1. #10 Bobby Gutknecht 17.397 Seconds
2. #17 Shane Bishop Pell Lake, WI   2. #88 Rick Corso 17.489 Seconds
3. #10 Bobby Gutknecht Oak Creek, WI   3. #17 Shane Bishop 17.510 Seconds
4. #55 Scott Koerner Joliet, IL   First 10 Lap Heat
5. #95 Donny Kachelmeier Waukesha, WI   1. #57 Ed Ochylski Cordes Lake, AZ
6. #32 Brian Baker Pell Lake, WI   2. #77 Neric Chitwood Morris, IL
7. #88 Rick Corso McHenry, IL   3. #41 Dan Erikson Burlington, WI
8. #69 Tim Schmitt Muskego, WI   Second 10 Lap Heat
9. #67 Rick Tackman Jr. New Berlin, WI   1. #28 Paul Loppnow Burlington, WI
10. # 6 Mike DeKeuster Racine, WI   2. #32 Brian Baker Pell Lake, WI
        3. #89 R.J. Malec Kenosha, WI

6 LAP DASH: 1.) Kachelmeier; 2.) Bishop; 3.) Gutknecht

Herb's Street Stock Division
20 Lap Feature   12 Lap Semi-Feature
1. #57 Scott Kuxhouse Antioch, IL   1. #16 Todd Peterson Woodstock, IL
2. #96 Denny Norton Jr. McHenry, IL   2. #20 Don Radke Ingleside, IL
3. #02 Zac Deeringer McHenry, IL   3. #26 Katie Taylor Chicago, IL
4. #00 Mike Hennesey Jr. Baraboo, WI   Trophy Dash
5. #77 Landry Potter Genoa City, WI   1. #02 Zac Deeringer McHenry, IL
6. #84 Tommy Nevoso Trevor, WI   2. #96 Denny Norton Jr. McHenry, IL
7. #22 Shawn Donnelly Mukwonago, WI   3. #74 Bob Moeller Crystal Lake, IL
8. #67 Jerry Cowan Burlington, WI   Time Trials
9. # 4 Rick Jacobs East Troy, WI   1. #96 Denny Norton Jr. 19.443 Seconds
10. #56 Chuck Coulman Lake Villa, IL   2. #84 Tommy Nevoso 19.647 Seconds
        3. #67 Jerry Cowan 19.724 Seconds

HEAT ONE: 1.) Radke; 2.) Peterson; 3.) Adam Berge
HEAT TWO: 1.) Greg Janutka; 2.) Coulman; 3.) Hennesey Jr.
HEAT THREE: 1.) Kuxhouse; 2.) Potter; 3.) Burt Getchell

Allison Legacy Cars

15 Lap Feature: 1.) Jack Kossow, Union Grove, WI; 2.) Bobby Giers, Ingleside, IL; 3.) Jeff Segal, St. Francis, WI; 4.) Jay Whyte, Union Grove, WI; 5.) Gary Flote, St. Johns, MI.; 6.) Mark Fare, Laingsburg, IL
HEAT: 1.) Giers; 2.) Kossow; 3.) Segal

FAST QUALIFIER: Jack Kossow, Union Grove, WI,......19.546 Seconds

Rascal Outlaws

15 Lap Feature: 1.) Jeff Goodwin, Zion, IL; 2.) Bob Torkkelson, Trevor, WI; 3.) Rodney VanRite, Zion, IL; 4.) John Benkert, McHenry, IL; 5.) Kip Novotny, Johnsburg, IL; 6.) Chris Carlson, Cary, IL

FAST QUALIFIER: Jeff Goodwin, Zion, IL,.......17.355 Seconds