Siefert scores career first in IMCA Modified action!
By Dave Panske

June 24, 2000; Sturgeon Bay, WI. -  Persistence pays off, and the Thunder Hill Speedway is used to cold, cloudy nights so far this season. Tonight, light, on and off showers had to be dealt with, but the full NAPA Night racing program was completed with two repeat and two first time career feature winners Saturday night.

A career first! Former Street Stock standout Jared Siefert (#66) is a rookie in the IMCA Modified this season.  He scored his first career feature win in the class this evening.

Randy LeMieux paced the opening lap of the Modified main with Bill LeMieux taking charge on the second lap. Debris on the track brought out the caution on lap 4, and on the restart, Buck Schmelzer took over the lead and started to pull away from the field. Jared Siefert moved into third with Randy LeMieux, Mike Plate, Brad Anderegg and Tom Stark behind. A spin on lap 9 brought out the caution and Schmelzer continued to set the pace on the restart. Siefert moved into the runner up spot and pulled up on the leader. Schmelzer was running the high groove and Siefert was trying to get the inside line to work for him. A final caution on lap 13 changed the lineup Siefert inherited the lead when Schmelzer had to pit for a right rear flat. On the restart, Siefert pulled away from the pack battling for second. Bill LeMieux, Anderegg, Plate and Doug Maurer swapped positions with LeMieux getting the runner up finish, Anderegg third, Plate fourth, Maurer fifth and Todd Dart came through the field to round out the top six.

Mike Plate (#55) turned in a solid performance this evening at Thunderhill in IMCA Modified action.  Plate scored his first victory of the 2000 season on the third-mile clay oval taking a heat race victory.  Later he finished a very respectable fourth in the feature event.

A caution on the first lap of the Stock Car main for a stalled car was the only slow down in the feature event and on the restart, Wally Lhost took over the lead from Scott Karcz. Benji LaCrosse moved into the runner up spot on lap 3 and the pair started to pull away from the pack. Lhost was running high and LaCrosse was working the inside line. Last weeks winner, Eric VanIten, moved into third place on lap 10, at the same time LaCrosse wrestled the lead away from Lhost. Once in front, LaCrosse pulled away while the battle heated up for second. Lhost swapped the spot back and forth with VanIten for the rest of the race, with LaCrosse taking the checker, his fourth of the season. VanIten inched ahead to take the runner up spot with Lhost taking his best finish of his rookie season in third. Matt Junio settled for fourth with Scott Karcz and Russ Tuttle rounding out the top six.

Tom Daubner took the lead at the start of the Street Stock main and pulled away leaving the field behind. Kevin Brungraber was running second until the lone caution appeared on lap 4. Jay Naze took over second on the restart but Daubner was again pulling away. The two leaders, spread out with Brungraber in a battle for third. Phil Faustini, point leader, Gary Reinhardt and Jeff Vlies ran together to the finish, with Daubner taking his second straight feature win with Naze taking second. Faustini wound up third with Reinhardt fourth. Vlies and Jerry Kroll rounded out the top six.

The Bombers were the headline division for the sponsor, and ran a 20 lap event, non stop to close the program.

An exciting finish led to a first career Bomber feature win for Tracy Koontz!

Roger LaViolette led the opening lap before Tracy Koontz took over bringing Don Aregoni, Jr and Tony Herbst along. The trio pulled away from the pack leaving a second bunch of cars to run for 4th place.

The leaders built a lead and after the half way mark, started to run into lapped traffic, which caused several interesting moments over the closing laps. Herbst used the slower traffic and took over the lead on lap 16. Aregoni slipped into the runner up spot on lap 18. Aregoni moved alongside of the leader on the final lap, but a bunch of lapped cars caused a quick reaction to avoid a crash in turn two. In the mix up, Koontz was able to sneak between the pair and came around to collect his first career feature win. Aregoni settled for the runner up finish with Herbst taking third. Scott Reinhardt won the battle for the fourth place finish over Jeremy Wiitala and Greg Soukup rounding out the top six.

Next week will be the ladies chance to take on the 1/3 mile clay oval with Powder Puff night on tap to close out the racing action for the big July 4th weekend.

RESULTS

IMCA MODIFIED:
20 LAP FEATURE: 1.) Jared Siefert, Green Bay; 2.) Bill LeMieux, Sturgeon Bay; 3.) Brad Anderegg, Algoma; 4.) Mike Plate, Newton; 5.) Doug Maurer, Green Bay; 6.) Todd Dart, Algoma
FIRST HEAT: 1.) Randie Back, Green Bay; 2.) Buck Schmelzer, Sturgeon Bay
SECOND HEAT: 1.) Plater; 2.) Tom Stark, Sturgeon Bay
THIRD HEAT: 1.) Randy LeMieux, Sturgoen Bay; 2.) Siefert

IMCA STOCK CARS:
20 LAP FEATURE: 1) Benji LaCrosse, Luxemburg; 2.) Eric Van Iten, Green Bay; 3.) Wally Lhost, Sturgeon Bay; 4.) Matt Junio, Casco; 5.) Scott Karcz, Pulaski; 6.) Russ Tuttle, Brussels
12 LAP CONSOLATION: 1) Jon Wolf, Green Bay; 2.) Tim Van De Hei, DePere; 3.) Larry Karcz Jr., Pulaski; 4.) Rob Gagne, Luxemburg
FIRST HEAT: 1) Greg Gentz, Kewaunee; 2.) Scott Karcz
SECOND HEAT: 1) Lhost; 2.) Jay Matthais, Green Bay
THIRD HEAT: 1) LaCrosse; 2.) Dave Andrews, Green Bay

STREET STOCKS
15 LAP FEATURE: 1.) Tom Daubner, Sturgeon Bay; 2.) Jay Naze, Forestville; 3.) Phil Faustini, Sturgoen Bay; 4.) Gary Reinhardt, Fish Creek; 5.) Jeff Vlies, Brussels; 6.) Jerry Kroll, Luxemburg
10 LAP CONSOLATION: 1.) Gregg Siebold, Denmark; 2.) Rick Johnson, Gills Rock; 3.) Kevin Charles, Green Bay; 4.) Chris Hendricks, Green Bay
FIRST HEAT: 1) Vlies; 2.) Aaron Thorton, Sturgeon Bay
SECOND HEAT: 1) Daubner; 2.) Corey Haen, Sturgeon Bay
THIRD HEAT: 1) Naze; 2.) Mike Coel, Green Bay

BOMBERS
20 LAP FEATURE:  1.) Tracy Koontz, Sturgeon Bay; 2.) Don Aregoni Jr., Sturgeon Bay; 3.) Troy Herbst, Sturgeon Bay; 4.) Scott Reinhardt, Sturgeon Bay; 5.) Jeremy Wiitala, Green Bay; 6.) Greg Soukup, Egg Harbor
10 LAP CONSOLATION: 1.) John Knudson, Sturgeon Bay; 2.) Ford Malvitz, Sturgeon Bay; 3.) Shawn Graf, Sturgeon Bay; 4.) Scott Daul, Luxemburg
FIRST HEAT: 1) Herbst; 2.) Dennis Weidner, Sturgeon Bay
SECOND HEAT: 1) Aregoni; 2.) Roger LaViolette, Sturgeon Bay
THIRD HEAT: 1.) Koontz; 2.) Ryan LeMieux, Sturgoen Bay