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GEYER, DORNER, WENZEL & SCHLAFKE AMONG STURGEON BAY OPENING NIGHT WINNERS

Submitted by Joe Orsini

(STURGEON BAY, WI)  May 18 – 64 cars and stars signed in to do battle at the Hill Raceway for the Flanigan Distributing season opener Saturday night at John Miles Park.  With the vintage mods in the house to help kick off the 2024 season 3 of the 4 reigning champions fired up their seasons with the best possible result.

Caden Lemieux jumped to the early lead of the 20 lap Stock Car feature from his pole position starting spot.  But defending champion, Brett Wenzel, was ready to make a case that he is, once again, the man to beat in 2024 as he quickly piloted his 0 machine by the 18 car of Dan Sell Jr. into 3rd and then past Bill Lemieux into 2nd.  Wenzel set his sights on the top spot and while he battled with the younger Lemieux, Sell Jr. slid past the elder Lemieux into 3rd.  Wenzel and Sell Jr. were both able to move up and shuffled Caden Lemieux back to 3rd.  When the checkers flew Wenzel held on to the top spot, Sell Jr. settled for 2nd, Caden Lemieux 3rd, and Bill Lemieux completed the top four.

“Pepe” Jeff Vlies nailed the start of the Sport Mod A-main event and rocketed from the pole to lead the open lap.  Vlies faced immediate pressure from Alec Wery as Wery worked the inside line into the top spot only to see the pass wiped out when a caution erased that lap.  2023 champ, Craig Dorner, took advantage of the restart to nab 2nd away from Wery.  Caution quickly flew again when Brad Miller got crossed up and spun out of the top five.  The restart saw Vlies lead Dorner and Wery back to racing speeds.  This time the restart fell in favor of Wery as Dorner fell back to 3rd and had the best seat in the house to watch Vlies and Wery trade the lead back and forth until caution flew again on lap 9.  The ensuing restart showed that Dorner had been sizing up the competition earlier as he pushed into the lead on lap 10.  Dorner withstood two more restarts to capture the win and started his run for back to back titles with the maximum number of points.  Vlies settled for 2nd but seemingly suffered an engine failure on the cooldown lap, Wery was 3rd, George Henkel was a strong 4th, and Miller rebounded from the early spin to finish 5th.

The Unified Dirt Street Stock feature kicked off the night’s main events as Jason Geyer showed strength wrestling away the lead from fellow front row starter Tyler Fox to lead the opening lap.  Geyer and Fox continued to battle for the top spot while Jeff Krauel ran 3rd and Garrett Geyer quickly drove from 11th to 4th.  When Caution flew at the halfway point Jason Geyer continued to lead, Fox was still hot on his heels in 2nd, Garrett Geyer moved to 3rd, and Krauel was 4th.  The young Geyer, Garrett, used the restart to move past Fox into 2nd and proceeded to hound his father for the top spot.  Meanwhile TJ Everard shook off heat race woes that forced him to start in 17th by climbing into 5th.  At the checkers Jason Geyer held off his hard charging son, Garrett Geyer settled for 2nd, Fox was 3rd, Dan “The Mullet” Van Pay took 4th in the closing laps, and Everard completed the strong run from the back to finish 5th.

2023 4 Cylinder champ, Scott Schlafke, started his title defense shooting to the lead on the opening lap to the class’ feature event.  Schlafke was able to hold the top spot from green to checker and will head into week 2 as the point leader.  Nick Everard came home 2nd, Barney DeVares 3rd, and Cheyenne Topel, making her Hill Raceway debut, completed the top 4.

The Vintage Mods brought the sights and sounds of classic racing to life  on the third mile oval as Lee Mueller took command of their feature event and never looked back as his number 44 Chevy powered ‘34 Ford held court throughout the event.  Jim Straseski was 2nd in his number 40 ‘36 coupe, Brian “Butcher” Title was 3rd in his Chevy powered Model A, Jeff Allard came home 4th in his MOPAR power “Orange Crate” 1926 Model T, and Darrin Allard rounded out the field in his 1963 Nova II.

The Hill Raceway is back in action next Sunday, May 26th, for the Nathan Bouche Memorial Race presented by Quantum Technologies.  The Grand Nationals will be making their first of three appearances at The Hill Raceway in 2024 along with our four weekly divisions.

Stock Car 20 Lap Feature:

1. 0-Brett Wenzel[5]; 2. 18-Daniel Sell Jr[4]; 3. 3L-Caden Lemieux[1]; 4. 3-Bill Lemieux[2]; 5. 40B-Tom Brumlic[7]; 6. 52-Troy Muench[6]; 7. 8X-Thomas Stark[8]; 8. 30-Zach Spangenberg[10]; 9. 25C-Mike Pierrard[15]; 10. 11-Scott Reinhardt[14]

Heat 1:

1. 0-Brett Wenzel[5]; 2. 30-Zach Spangenberg[3]; 3. 52-Troy Muench[2]; 4. 25-Tony Bouche[4]; 5. 3-Bill Lemieux[6]

Heat 2:

1. 3L-Caden Lemieux[3]; 2. 8X-Thomas Stark[1]; 3. 18-Daniel Sell Jr[4]; 4. 40B-Tom Brumlic[5]; 5. 64-Brady Polcen[7]

Northern Sport Mod 20 Lap Feature:

1. 15-Craig Dorner[5]; 2. 99-Jeff Vlies[1]; 3. 1-Alec Wery[2]; 4. 19-George Henkel[3]; 5. 74M-Brad Miller[6]; 6. 49-Roger Laviolette[17]; 7. 18L-Brayden Lemieux[9]; 8. 00-Rick Lemieux[4]; 9. 17H-Scott Howe[15]; 10. 9V-Trevin Veeser[16]

Heat 1:

1. 15-Craig Dorner[3]; 2. 19-George Henkel[2]; 3. 99-Jeff Vlies[5]; 4. 1-Alec Wery[6]; 5. 11-Bernie Reinhardt[4]

Heat 2:

1. 59-John Koessl[1]; 2. 55P-Michael Plate Sr[6]; 3. 00-Rick Lemieux[8]; 4. 74M-Brad Miller[5]; 5. 18L-Brayden Lemieux[3]

Unified Dirt Street Stock 20 Lap Feature:

1. 3-Jason Geyer[1]; 2. 3G-Garrett Geyer[11]; 3. 7-Tyler Fox[2]; 4. 3V-Dan Van Pay[7]; 5. 88-TJ Everard[17]; 6. 46-Chad Naze[9]; 7. 8E-Tony Everard[3]; 8. 22-Bailey Laviolette[10]; 9. XX-Jeff Krauel[4]; 10. 8D-Nathan Delsart[14]

Heat 1:

1. 3G-Garrett Geyer[2]; 2. 46-Chad Naze[1]; 3. 7-Tyler Fox[5]; 4. 9-John Denil Jr[6]

Heat 2:

1. 3V-Dan Van Pay[2]; 2. 73-James Anderson[1]; 3. 71-Edward Anschutz[4]; 4. XX-Jeff Krauel[5]

Heat 3:

1. 8E-Tony Everard[1]; 2. 3-Jason Geyer[5]; 3. 22-Bailey Laviolette[3]; 4. 10-Matt Hanson[6]

4 Cylinders 10 Lap Feature:

1. 7-Scott Schlafke[4]; 2. 88-Nick Everard[3]; 3. 87-Barney DeVares[2]; 4. 3CT-Cheyenne Topel[1]

Heat 1:

1. 88-Nick Everard[1]; 2. 87-Barney DeVares[2]; 3. 7-Scott Schlafke[3]; 4. 3CT-Cheyenne Topel[4]