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LACROSSE, DEVIN SNELLENBERGER POCKET HUGE PAYDAYS IN ERIC VAN ITEN MEMORIAL

By: Joe Orsini

210 total cars in four divisions, from five different states, checked into the pits to battle door to door for a total combined purse that exceeded $63,000 by night’s end at the historic Eric Van Iten Memorial Race at The ‘Burg Speedway.

Benji LaCrosse entered the night looking for his third consecutive win at The ‘Burg Speedway in the IMCA Modified division but would face the stiffest competition of the year as 50 total cars signed into the pits to duke it out for the $7000 top prize.  Brandon Schmitt had the luck of the draw as he rolled out of the line up chute on the pole position and jumped to the early lead.  Caution flew on lap three to quickly regroup the field.

Benji LaCrosse capitalized on the restart to shoot into the third spot giving chase to both the leader, Schmitt, and second place runner, Josh Long.  By lap six long-time Luxemburg hot shoe Shawn Kilgore worked into the fourth position and gave chase to the top three.  Meanwhile, back at the front, LaCrosse applied heavy pressure to Long and by lap ten that battle allowed Kilgore to close the gap and throw his hat into the ring for the second place battle.

LaCrosse responded to that challenge by working the low side past Long on lap 18 and set his 54 machine to stalking Schmitt, still in the race lead.  By lap 21 Kilgore managed to work past Long and lock up the third spot.  At the same time LaCrosse caught Schmitt and went to work trying to wrestle away the lead with two laps remaining.  The pair battled door to door over the final circuits with LaCrosse finding the grip on the high side to gain enough momentum on the front stretch to pull off the last second pass and capture his third straight victory by 0.028 seconds.  Kilgore locked up third with a strong run and Long hung on to finish fourth.

A record setting 78 Quietwoods RV IMCA Stock Cars rolled in the village looking to lay claim to their share of the $63,000 purse.  Derek Moede took advantage of his outside front row starting spot to rocket his 99KK machine into the lead on the opening lap.  Devin Snellenberger, Mike Mashl, and Shawn Havel immediately went into a three wide brawl for the second place position.  Havel scraped through that scrum and put his 9K machine to the high side trying to work past Moede.

By lap 11 Havel was able to complete the pass but Moede continued to dog the leader.  Moede worked back to the top spot on lap 14 and looked to set sail from the rest of the pack.  Meanwhile Snellenberger was able to move by Havel into second and set his sights on the leader.

While the action at the front was heated Mike Mullen and Benji LaCrosse steadily worked through the field from their respective sixth and tenth starting spots.  By the time Snellenberger took the lead on lap 18 that duo was looking to pounce and worked by Moede as well.  Mullen caught the back of the leader but not enough laps remained to fight for the lead as Snellenberger took home the top spot.  Mullen settled for a hard fought second, LaCrosse third, and Havel regrouped to take home fourth.

The IMCA Northern Sport Mod division saw 40 drivers sign in looking their shot at the record setting total prize money.  Travis Schmidt set up shop at the top of the field by leading the opening lap with Derek Fehling hot on his heels.  Jake Carpenter, Cody Rass, and Bernie Reinhardt staged a spirited three car battle for third behind the top two.  Reinhardt faded from that trio as Carpenter and Rass quickly applied pressure to Fehling to wage a three car war for the second spot.

By lap 7 Rass locked up the second spot and set to tracking down Schmidt.  Carpenter got past Fehling into third on lap ten while Rass worked the high side, running down Schmidt in the top spot.  By lap 13 Rass managed to fight past Schmidt and two laps later Carpenter followed suit into second.  Rass held on over the final five circuits to pick up the biggest win of his career.  Carpenter secured the second spot, Travis Schmidt held on to third and Jayden Schmidt completed his charge from 9th to finish fourth.

42 Unified Dirt Street Stocks were on hand looking to capture one of the largest purses in the history of the class. Troy Muench and Paul Diefenthaler wasted no time in shooting to the top spots from their second row starting positions.  The two waged a door to door battle until caution flew on lap 13.  Muench led Diefenthaler, Travis Zirbel, Adam Crapser, and “The Hammer” Dave DeGrave to the restart.  Muench and Diefenthaler picked up the side by side battle at the drop of the green with Muench choosing to run the high line and Diefenthaler finding the low line to his liking.  As they crossed the line for the final time Diefenthaler was able to nip Muench for the top spot.  Zirbel finished third and Jesse Krahn fought to a fourth place finish after starting 15th.

The ‘Burg Speedway will be back in action next Sunday night, July 25th, for our Hall of Fame night.  Join us as we induct our 2021 class that includes Kevin Strebel, Kurt Gretz, and Dave Zeitler.  Racing starts at 5:00 with grandstand and pit gates opening at 3:00.

IMCA Modified 25 Lap Feature:

1. 54-Benji LaCrosse[5]; 2. 20-Brandon Schmitt[1]; 3. 90K-Shawn Kilgore[8]; 4. 88L-Josh Long[3]; 5. 0P-Hunter Parsons[7]; 6. 0L-Lucas Lamberies[17]; 7. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[13]; 8. 21X-Kurt Moeller[2]; 9. 08-Johnny Whitman[10]; 10. 6E-Vince Engebregtsen[15]

Heat 1:

1. 08-Johnny Whitman[1]; 2. 0P-Hunter Parsons[3]

Heat 2:

1. 95B-Jeff Bodendorfer[1]; 2. 88L-Josh Long[8]

Heat 3:

1. 20-Brandon Schmitt[2]; 2. 72-Brian Mullen[1]

HEat 4:

1. 54-Benji LaCrosse[1]; 2. 90K-Shawn Kilgore[4]

Heat 5:

1. 99G-Jesse Glenz[1]; 2. 21X-Kurt Moeller[5]

LCQ 1:

1. 05-Mike Mashl[2]; 2. 20T-Brad Theys[1]; 3. 0L-Lucas Lamberies[3]; 4. 68J-Mark Joski[4]

LCQ 2:

1. 25-Russ Reinwald[3]; 2. 6E-Vince Engebregtsen[5]; 3. 103-Brekken Kleinschmidt[7]; 4. 99-Mike Mullen[6]

LCQ 3:

1. 11X-Tom Berry Jr[2]; 2. 2JR-Wyatt Block[1]; 3. 3K-Todd Dart[4]; 4. 90J-Jeremy Jacobs[3]

IMCA Stock Cars 25 Lap Feature:

1. 21X-Devin Snellenberger[3]; 2. 99-Mike Mullen[6]; 3. 54-Benji LaCrosse[10]; 4. 9K-Shawn Havel[4]; 5. 99KK-Derek Moede[2]; 6. 11M-Mike Mashl[1]; 7. 25N-Trent Nolan[12]; 8. 99XX-Dallon Murty[19]; 9. 30C-Abe Huls[5]; 10. 01-Troy Jerovetz[8]

Heat 1:

1. 99-Mike Mullen[1]

Heat 2:

1. 99KK-Derek Moede[1]

Heat 3:

1. 01-Troy Jerovetz[1]

Heat 4:

1. 007M-Dean Maurer[7]

Heat 5:

1. 88-Mike Coel[4]

Heat 6:

1. 11M-Mike Mashl[2]

Heat 7:

1. 30C-Abe Huls[5]

Heat 8:

1. 21X-Devin Snellenberger[4]

Heat 9:

1. 54-Benji LaCrosse[3]

Heat 10:

1. 9K-Shawn Havel[1]

LCQ 1:

1. 2T-Travis VanStraten[1]; 2. 9R-Kenneth Richards[4]; 3. 99XX-Dallon Murty[3]

LCQ 2:

1. 25N-Trent Nolan[2]; 2. 74-Eric Arneson[8]; 3. 83-Jared Siefert[5]

LCQ 3:

1. 19S-Aaron Stolp[4]; 2. 33C-Brandon Czarapata[8]; 3. 33X-Jason Czarapata[6]

LCQ 4:

1. 19-Luke Lemmens[9]; 2. 77M-Jeff Mueller[1]; 3. 18H-Kevin Hebbe[12]

IMCA Northern Sport Mod 20 Lap Feature:

1. 14-Cody Rass[6]; 2. 53-Jake Carpenter[5]; 3. 3-Travis Schmidt[2]; 4. 24-Jayden Schmidt[9]; 5. 44-Brian Joski[4]; 6. 25X-Derek Fehling[3]; 7. 18L-Randy LeMieux Jr[10]; 8. 07-Cory Kemkes[14]; 9. 464-Ryan Schmidt[12]; 10. 24Z-Jacob Zellner[11]

Heat 1:

1. 25X-Derek Fehling[1]; 2. 464-Ryan Schmidt[5]; 3. 31-Jarred VanLaanen[2]; 4. X-Chris Budzban[7]

Heat 2:

1. 24-Jayden Schmidt[2]; 2. 24Z-Jacob Zellner[4]; 3. 11-Bernie Reinhardt[1]; 4. 07-Cory Kemkes[8]

Heat 3:

1. 14-Cody Rass[4]; 2. 32X-Skyler Woods[1]; 3. 53-Jake Carpenter[6]; 4. 15D-Craig Dorner[5]

Heat 4:

1. 18L-Randy LeMieux Jr[2]; 2. 3-Travis Schmidt[3]; 3. 44-Brian Joski[5]; 4. 1-Matthew Radtke[4]

LCQ 1:

1. 88-Gabe Zellner[1]; 2. 56-Doug Maurer[4]; 3. 99-Jeff Vlies[2]

LCQ 2:

1. 27-Tyler Sobiesczyk[2]; 2. 49-Roger Laviolette[1]; 3. 17C-Shane Paris[5]

Unified Dirt Street Stock 20 Lap Feature:

1. 35D-Paul Diefenthaler[3]; 2. 35M-Troy Muench[4]; 3. 18Z-Travis Zirbel[1]; 4. 55K-Jesse Krahn[15]; 5. 40D-Dave DeGrave[9]; 6. 24S-Austin Steinke[16]; 7. 11C-Adam Crapser[8]; 8. 3G-Garrett Geyer[2]; 9. 8-Geno Sternard[7]; 10. 11R-Larry Richards[11]

Heat 1:

1. 11R-Larry Richards[2]; 2. 11C-Adam Crapser[5]; 3. 40D-Dave DeGrave[11]; 4. XXX-Ford Malvitz[3]

Heat 2:

1. 8-Geno Sternard[1]; 2. 1K-Derek Kaye[7]; 3. 3G-Garrett Geyer[11]; 4. 9D-John Denil Jr[2]

Heat 3:

1. 18Z-Travis Zirbel[4]; 2. 10R-Jeff Richards[6]; 3. 35D-Paul Diefenthaler[8]; 4. 55K-Jesse Krahn[7]

Heat 4:

1. 35M-Troy Muench[1]; 2. 3V-Dan Van Pay[2]; 3. 24-Jerry Winkler[3]; 4. 24S-Austin Steinke[4]

LCQ 1:

1. 35-Brooke Diefenthaler[1]; 2. 139-Justin Jacobsen[12]; 3. 9-Marcus Moede[13]

LCQ 2:

1. 15-Ben Schulte[4]; 2. X-Bill Kelsey[2]; 3. 49M-Ryan Manthei[3]