April 27, 2001; Luxemburg, WI. - Tri Star Promotions began their 14th season Friday night with the 1 week delayed lid lifter at the Luxemburg Tri Star Speedway. The track was smooth and fast for an exciting night of racing.
The Modifieds were first to the track with Dave Zeitler jumping from the pole into the early lead followed by Dale Boerschinger, Randie Back, Jerry Muenster, and Jared Siefert. A Pair of cautions in the first five laps kept the field close. On the restart, Muenster moved into the runner up spot with 2 time defending champion, Brian Mullen moving up from the middle of the field to third. For the next 7 laps, Mullen hooked up on the outside and took over the second spot on lap 12 and one lap later, was into the lead. Once in front, Mullen pulled the field and drove on to record a convincing first Tri Star feature of the season. The Street Stocks were put to the test next with James Tebon jumping into the lead at the start followed by Leon Schott, Phil Hiles, Mike Coel and Jamie Van Ooyen. Tebon was able to build a lead over the first half of the race while Coel started to work his way to the front. Coel moved into the runner up[ spot on lap 5 and started to close on the leader. A five car crunch out of turn two on lap 13 brought out the lone caution of the race and bunched the field. Tebon now had the field right behind for the final 7 laps. Coel was trying the inside line with Tebon also running the line. Tebon slipped wide on a couple laps through turns three and four. A lap 8 slip opened the door enough for Coel to slip by and take the lead. He held off Tebon for the final 2 laps to claim his first feature win of the season. Tebon took the runner up spot followed by Jesse Colwell, brother Jamie, Charlie Kroll and Phil Hiles. Troy DeGrave leapt from the front row into the lead of the IMCA Stock Car main and paced the opening 3 laps before Rick Mahlberg motored into the top spot. By lap 5, the lead pack was starting to sort out with Shawn Kilgore running in third place followed by Jay Matthias, Travis Van Straten, Jon Wolf and defending track champion, Eric VanIten. At the halfway mark, Mahlberg and DeGrave were still setting the pace with Matthias now in third, Kilgore fourth, Wolf and Tim Van De Hei. Van De Hei had started 16th and was hooking up on the outside. By lap 15, Van De Hei was running in fourth. Two laps later, he was into third and then DeGrave was dropped a spot to third. With outside working so well, Van De Hei stayed there and moved alongside Mahlberg for the lead with just 2 laps left in the non-stop race. Starting back in the field and the race running non-stop, Van De Hei did not know he won the race until the checkered flag was presented pulling into the infield. Mahlberg held off Matthias for a career best second place finish. DeGrave took the fourth spot with Kilgore taking fifth and Wolf rounding out the top six. Dan Davister took charge of the Sport Truck main pulling to quite a lead over the first 5 laps. Von Eytcheson moved into the runner up spot on lap 4 and began to reel in the leader. It took until lap 9 when the pair exited turn four, for Eytcheson to get to the inside and take over the top spot. Eytcheson pulled away to win his first career division feature. Davister took the runner up finish with 2 time defending champion, Kevin Strebel coming through to finish third. Dean Witlzius, Shawn Dorn and Dan Scharenbrock rounded out the top six. A field of over 100 cars took part in the opener and will be competing throughout the 2001 season here at Tri Star. The season continues every Friday night through August 24th. Racing on the 1/3 mile clay oval starts at 7 PM every week. SUMMARY IMCA MODIFIED IMCA STOCK CARS STREET STOCK SPORT TRUCKS |
