Skinner Wins First Lake Geneva Raceway Super Late Model Feature!

By Dale R. Erdmann

May 10, Lake Geneva, WI.

It was an ideal night for racing, as the fourth night of weekly Saturday Night racing at Lake Geneva Raceway took place. The show as sponsored by Rick and Lou's BF Goodrich Super Tire Store in Crystal Lake, IL. There were four new winners in feature action as Billy Skinner Jr. from Pell Lake, won the 30-lap feature event in, that took a lot of time to complete the final five laps, in the Super Late Model division. Scott Kuxhouse of Antioch, IL. made his conversion from dirt to asphalt this season, winning his first 20-lap feature in the Herb's Street Stock division, which went non-stop. Paul Loppnow of Burlington, WI won the 20-lap Performance Unlimited Mid-American/Sportsman division while Curt Gnatzig down from Menomonee Falls, WI completed a fete that not many can accomplish, taking a clean sweep in the Select Performance Legend car portion of the program. Jamie Wallace of Pell Lake, WI for the third week in a row broke his own one lap qualifying mark in the Super Lates with a time of 16.326 seconds.

Billy Skinner Jr. claimed his first Super Late Model vistory of the season in one fo the most thrilling finishes of the season in the class.

Mike Simon moved out front of the 18 car Super Late Model field, with Brian Ulrich second, Jim Kjellander third, and Billy Baumeister fourth. Jamie Wallace who had just broke the track record dropped out on lap four. Racing still looked like a parade lap when action was slowed as David Ray Salentine got together with Joe Fischer, in turn two.

Simon was still up for the call, darting out front once again. It was three deep racing behind the leader with no one giving an inch. By lap 10, Baumeister was knocking on the door of the leader, but Simon, a former Waukegan Speedway champion, held the advantage. Fran Prestay the 1996 division champion who had been plagued with mechanical problems since opening night, was now third and Skinner was already up to fourth, with Ulrich following in his best performance ever.

Because of the intense pace, drivers knew that it was time to move up or finish near the rear of the field. This gave fans some excellent racing, as Skinner came between Baumeister and Prestay. Point leader Al Schill wasn't going to be left behind, coming up on Ulrich and Bobby Giers who appears to be glued together. Skinner meanwhile inched alongside the leader on lap twelve and the battle continued for the lead between Simon and Skinner.

Simon and Skinner put on a show for the large crowd on hand, as Skinner became the new leader on lap 13. The race was far from over, as Prestay and Schill then moved into second and third. By lap 18, the leader had worked up a three car length advantage, as things got a little rough between Prestay and Schill, nearly causing a spin, as Simon, Baumiester and Giers battled side-by-side behind them.

Just as starter Dave Rex Jr. gave the five laps to go signal, you would have thought a full moon came out. These next five laps too a long time to run. It all started with Kent Burkoth who was running sixth getting squeezed into the wall. Burtkoth escaped injury but for the second week in a row, his race car was extensively damaged. Skinner's lead at the caution was nearly a quarter straightaway.

Schill darted to the inside of Prestay at the first restart, with Prestay's sheet metal flying onto the track. The caution was shown again, with Schill and Prestay sent to the rear for continuation of the yellow. Skinner was in the best place in the house out front, as things just couldn't get straightened out behind him for four more caution periods. Fans were thrilled with the new line-up procedure similar to CWRA.

When the final five lap dash finally got underway, some 20 minutes had passed, Skinner and his fellow competitors should have run out of fuel, but Skinner a former Street Stock drivers, showed the crowd that patience would prevail winning the event, over Giers, Ronnie Darnell who was in and out of the front positions over the final 10 laps, fourth went to Prestay who recovered for fourth, Baumeister was fifth and rookie Chad Barker claimed sixth.

Scott Kuxhouse claimed victory in the Street Stock division in a feature event which went without a single caution.

Mike Kooi shot out front of the 18 car Street Stock feature, with rookie Lyle Messinger, Todd Peterson and Jerry Marsh right behind him. Just like the last feature, it was side by side action, as Kuxhouse was the driver to watch, by lap five, he was running second. Marsh had just got in behind Peterson, but electrical problems sent him to the pits for the remained of the event. Mark Swan who now lives in Indiana moved into fourth on lap 8, with Bob Koidahl, Landry Potter and Zac Deering right behind him.

As lap nine began, Kuxhouse and Kooi raced together for the lead, the crowd was going wild, with Peterson just waiting for an opportunity to move up from his third position. One lap later Kuxhouse was the new leader, as Kooi now had Swan and Peterson to contend with. Within a few laps Potter dropped Peterson a positions in an event which set a grueling pace. On lap 13, Swan was alongside Kooi, as his balljoint broke, not to cause a caution Swan made it nearly a quarter lap to make a safe exit into the infield.

The final five lap finish was awesome, with Kuxhouse surviving the pressure, winning the non-stop event just ahead of Potter, Kooi, Deeringer who won the side by side battle with fast qualifier Denny Norton Jr. and Adam Regnier right behind. Only one car was lapped with thirteen cars still running at the end of the contest.

The Mid-American Sportsman race was claimed by Paul Loppnow of Burlington, WI. Loppnow traded the lead with point leader Rick Corso several times before gaining the upper hand and then holding off a late charge by Bobby Gutknecht. It was Lopp now's first feature win of the season.

Rick Schmidt inched in front of the 17 car Mid American/ Sportsman starting field, with Ed Kubicz, Randy Holmes, Dan Erikson and Jim Erbe next. A racing incident came on lap four with Kubicz regulated to the tail of the field as he and Holmes became involved causing the caution. This slow down gave Loppnow just what he needed, moving around Schmidt and into the lead on lap six.

Schmidt lost ground over the next several laps giving up positions to Donny Kachelmeier, point leader Rick Corso, Bobby Gutknecht and Shane Bishop. Corso tried everything in the book to get around or under Loppnow, but the leader was up for the call. Some laps Corso even inched in front, but at the completion of each lap, it was Loppnow in command.

The on lap 13, Corso slipped into the the lead, but as the five lap to go signal was given, Loppnow moved back into the lead. Lap 17, saw Corso out front again. On lap 19 Corso bobbled just slightly allowing Loppnow to regain command and give Gutknecht the second spot. The final laps were thrilling, as Loppnow drove a perfect line to victory. Gutknecht was in second, with Corso only a few inches behind. Scott Koerner took fourth ahead of Bishop and Kachelmeier with the cars nose and tail at the conclusion of this great race.

Saturday night, May 17th will be the Race Against Drugs Night sponsored by Country Ford in Delevan, WI and WSLD 104.5 FM radio. The Sport Trucks and the Mid-American/Sportsman will join the Super Late Models and Street Stocks for that event. Time Trials will begin at 6:00 p.m. and the first race takes place at 7:30 p.m. sharp.

RESULTS

HEAT ONE: 1.) Mike Simon Jr., 2.) David Ray Salentine, 3.) Lloyd Wilkinson
HEAT TWO: 1.) Mark Simonsen, 2.) Danny Darnell, 3.) Dennis Vito
HEAT THREE: 1.) Ronnie Darnell, 2.) Jamie Wallace, 3.) Al Schill

HEAT ONE: 1.) Todd Courtright, 2.) Tim White, 3.) Katie Taylor
HEAT TWO: 1.) Tom McAliffe, 2.) Lyle Bottlemy, 3.) Troy Weber
HEAT THREE: 1.) Dennis Carlton, 2.) Mike Cooi, 3.) Lyle Messinger
HEAT FOUR: 1.) Landry Potter, 2.) Mark Swan, 3.) Adam Regnier

HEAT ONE: 1.) Rick Schmidt, 2.) Jerry Hansche, 3.) Ed Kubicz
HEAT TWO: 1.) Paul Loppnow, 2.) Brian Baker, 3.) Donny Kachelmeier