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LEMMENS LANDS IN STURGEON BAY VICTORY LANE

LEMMENS SCORES NATHAN BOUCHE MEMORIAL WIN AT THE HILL (submitted by Joe Orsini)

(Sturgeon Bay, WI) – Kewaunee native Luke Lemmens picked up the stock car division win at the Nathan Bouche Memorial race at The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay Sunday.

The pre race ceremonies were highlighted by a fitting tribute to Nathan Bouche as well as the 2023 sportsmanship award being given to a very deserving Tom Wagner.

The Stock Car feature started off with Zach Spangenberg jumping to the lead on the opening lap while pole sitter, Troy Muench, tucked into second.  Muench held the runner up spot until mechanical woes slowed his 52 machine on lap 7.  While Muench was able to exit the track the caution flag flew and slowed the field.  The restart had Spangenberg lead Mike Pierrard, David Reinhardt, Dan Sell Jr., and Luke Lemmens back to speed.  As the field took the green calamity happened in turn one as cars collided and collected each other clogging the track from top to bottom with battered racers stalled well into turn two.  At least 12 of the 22 starters suffered greater or lesser damage in the chaos including the race leader Spangenberg.  The next attempt at a restart went smoothly as Pierrard led Sell, Reinhardt, Lemmens, and Nathan Otto back to racing speeds.  Sell.wasted no time in working past Pierrard into the top spot on lap 8 and looked to set sail towards the checkers.  That trip was interrupted when Lemmens powered his 007 car to the front on lap 11 and pulled Dave “The Bulldozer” Bouche with him into 2nd.  With an extra $250 on the line with a victory for Bouche courtesy of Massart Auto Body, the veteran gave Lemmens all he could handle during the closing laps.  Coming out of turn four to the checkers Bouche gave Lemmens a little love tap but Lemmens kept his cool and held on to the win.  With the win Lemmens collected an extra $100 thanks to Grizzly Lawn Care and an extra $50 thanks to our anonymous 50\50 winner who gave back $50 to the winner in each division.  Bouche had to settle for a hard fought 2nd place, Sell held on to finish 3rd, Otto was 4th, and Reinhardt completed the top 5.

The Sport Mod A Main event also saw trouble on the opening lap as a wild scrum in turn one resulted in Cody Rass and Scott Howe retiring from competition due to damage suffered.  The second try at a start had Jarred VanLaanen grab the opening lap but Jeff “Pepe” Vlies wrestled away the top spot on lap 2.  Timothy Warner wasted no time moving up from his 12th starting spot into 4th by lap 3, lap 7 saw his 03W machine move to 3rd and one lap later to 2nd.  While Warner set his attention to running down Vlies the action heated up as VanLaanen and pole sitter, Riley Bricco, staged a door to door, side by side battle for 3rd until lap 14 saw Craig Dorner thread the needle and split that pair to grab sole possession of 3rd.  Meanwhile up front Warner gave chase to Vlies but laps ran out before Warner could challenge for the win as he had to settle for 2nd.  Dorner came home 3rd, Bricco 4th, and Randy LeMieux Jr. rounded out the top 5.

The Unified Dirt Street Stock feature opened with pole sitter, Dan “The Mullet” Van Pay, piloting to the early lead.  Caution quickly flew on lap two as contact stalled out the 71 car of opening night winner, Eddie “The Eagle” Anschutz, on the entry to turn one.  Anschutz was able to refire and rejoin the pack at the tail of the field.  The restart had Van Pay battling with Dave “The Hammer” DeGrave for the top spot while Chad Naze moved to 3rd and John Denil Jr. clung to fourth.  DeGrave continued to pressure Van Pay until Van Pay found a groove and opened up a gap.  Van Pay went on to capture the checkers, DeGrave held on to 2nd, Anschutz rebounded from the early incident to soar back to 3rd, Naze was 4th, and Jason Geyer finished the top 5.

The Bomber division closed out the night with their exciting brand of racing action.  Opening night winner, Scott Schlafke, led the opening lap but Carl King took away the point on lap two.  The pair battled each other hard until a red flag flew on lap 5 when the 5 car of Calvin Stueck collected an infield tire that launched his car into a violent roll over in turn four.  Thankfully the driver emerged unhurt from the incident but his car was heavily damaged.  On the restart King and Schlafke went back to the fight for the lead with King claiming the top spot when the checkers flew.  Schlafke was 2nd, Taylor Junk used a last lap run to grab 3rd, Branden Schirpke 4th in his second night racing The Hill, and Neil Watcka ended up in 5th.

The Hill Raceway, located at John Miles Park in Sturgeon Bay, will be back in action Saturday, June 17th featuring the Busch Shootout for the Street Stocks.  Racing starts at 6:00 PM with adult grandstand admission being just $10 with children 12 and under free with adult admission.

Stock Car 20 Lap Feature:

1. 007-Luke Lemmens[12]; 2. 21-Dave Bouche[14]; 3. 18-Daniel Sell Jr[8]; 4. 28-Nathan Otto[5]; 5. 2R-David Reinhardt[3]; 6. 27K-Kyle Kudick[21]; 7. 27-Darren Otto[9]; 8. 94-Cody Patten[19]; 9. 40-Aaron Karcz[20]; 10. 25C-Mike Pierrard[4]

Heat 1:

1. 007-Luke Lemmens[5]; 2. 18-Daniel Sell Jr[4]; 3. 2R-David Reinhardt[2]; 4. 25N-Trent Nolan[7]

Heat 2:

1. 52-Troy Muench[1]; 2. 27-Darren Otto[4]; 3. 25C-Mike Pierrard[2]; 4. 21-Dave Bouche[6]

Heat 3:

1. 33S-Zach Spangenberg[1]; 2. 3L-Caden Lemieux[4]; 3. 3-Bill Lemieux[3]; 4. 36-Larry Karcz Jr[5]

Heat 4:

1. 0-Brett Wenzel[4]; 2. 28-Nathan Otto[2]; 3. 77-Barry Van Straten[3]; 4. 40X-Daniel Wilcox[5]

LCQ 1:

1. 02-Kerry Douglas[1]; 2. 94-Cody Patten[2]

LCQ 2:

1. 51-Rick Dix[2]; 2. 40-Aaron Karcz[3]

Northern Sport Mod 20 Lap Feature:

1. 99-Jeff Vlies[4]; 2. 03W-Timothy Warner[12]; 3. 15-Craig Dorner[9]; 4. 17-Riley Bricco[1]; 5. 18L-Randy LeMieux Jr[7]; 6. 27-Tyler Sobiesczyk[11]; 7. 31-Jarred VanLaanen[2]; 8. 55P-Michael Plate Sr[5]; 9. 11-Bernie Reinhardt[13]; 10. 1-Alec Wery[15]

Heat 1:

1. 17-Riley Bricco[1]; 2. 15-Craig Dorner[6]; 3. 27-Tyler Sobiesczyk[9]; 4. 55P-Michael Plate Sr[4]; 5. 11-Bernie Reinhardt[5]

Heat 2:

1. 18L-Randy LeMieux Jr[5]; 2. 12T-Randy Theys[3]; 3. 31-Jarred VanLaanen[1]; 4. 44T-Logan Theys[4]; 5. 6D-Jesse Denome[7]

Heat 3:

1. 99-Jeff Vlies[3]; 2. 17V-Coy Vlies[5]; 3. 14-Cody Rass[7]; 4. 03W-Timothy Warner[9]; 5. 1-Alec Wery[6]

LCQ 1:

1. 27F-Sean Falk[1]; 2. 17H-Scott Howe[3]; 3. 9-Dennis Miesler[2]; 4. 00-Rick Lemieux[10]; 5. 3-Mike Richer[4]

Unified Dirt Street Stock 20 Lap Feature:

1. 3V-Dan Van Pay[1]; 2. 40D-Dave DeGrave[3]; 3. 71-Edward Anschutz[11]; 4. 46-Chad Naze[7]; 5. 3-Jason Geyer[9]; 6. 7-Tyler Fox[6]; 7. 111-Shanon Guelette[16]; 8. 24S-Austin Steinke[12]; 9. 3G-Garrett Geyer[10]; 10. 22-Bailey Laviolette[5]

Heat 1:

1. 9-John Denil Jr[2]; 2. 71-Edward Anschutz[7]; 3. 40D-Dave DeGrave[4]; 4. 7-Tyler Fox[5]; 5. 44-Amber Delsart[3]

Heat 2:

1. 46-Chad Naze[5]; 2. 24S-Austin Steinke[7]; 3. 52-Steve Georgenson[4]; 4. 3-Jason Geyer[6]; 5. 68-Aaron Ploor[2]

Heat 3:

1. 3V-Dan Van Pay[1]; 2. 3G-Garrett Geyer[6]; 3. 22-Bailey Laviolette[4]; 4. XXX-Ford Malvitz[5]; 5. 8D-Nathan Delsart[2]

Bombers 15 Lap Feature:

1. 82K-Carl King[1]; 2. 7-Scott Schlafke[3]; 3. 18-Taylor Junk[4]; 4. 23-Branden Schirpke[7]; 5. 90-Neil Watcka[2]; 6. 96-Brian Watzka[5]; 7. (DNF) 5-Calvin Stueck[6]

Heat 1:

1. 7-Scott Schlafke[3]; 2. 82K-Carl King[1]; 3. 90-Neil Watcka[2]; 4. 18-Taylor Junk[4]; 5. 23-Branden Schirpke[7]; 6. 96-Brian Watzka[6]; 7. (DNF) 5-Calvin Stueck[5]