May 2, 2002; Luxemburg, WI. - Sturgeon Bay's Randy "Rock and Roll Over" LeMieux had his IMCA modified tuned to a tee. LeMieux fought off a late race surge by Randy Back and former track champion Brian Mullen to collect the 25 lap IMCA modified feature at Luxemburg Speedway Friday night. LeMieux also won his heat earlier, scoring a sweep for the evening. 117 race cars jammed the pit area. The field included a track record 47 IMCA modifieds, 37 IMCA stock cars, 25 street stocks and eight bombers.
Jeremy Jacobs outgunned fellow front row starter Buck Schmelzer to take the lead at the drop of green. Green Bay's Jared Seifert stormed past Schmelzer to take second on lap two. Chris Derenne slowed on the track on lap four, drawing a yellow. While under caution Seifert had mechanical troubles and headed into the pits. LeMieux inherited second on the restart. Jacobs kept the lead on the restart. LeMieux and Randy Back trailed Jacobs nose-to-tail for the next four laps until a Todd Dart spin on lap eight drew another caution. Dart went off on the hook and was through for the night. Following another aborted restart racing resumed. Back slid into second and began pressuring Jacobs for the lead. Back squared up with Jacobs on lap ten and was ready to pass when George Henkel looped his mount on lap ten, drawing the fourth amber of the contest. On the restart LeMieux muscled his way into second. LeMieux slipped past Jacobs to grab the lead on lap 14. By this time Brian Mullen and Eddie Muenster had threaded their way through the field from the sixth and seventh rows, respectively, into fourth and fifth. An Art Siefert yellow on lap 17 tightened the field. When racing resumed LeMieux kept the lead, running on the top groove of the third-mile, clay oval. LeMieux held off a late race challenge from Back and hard charging Mullen to capture the win. Horicon's Jeremy Christians grabbed the lead from Junior Karcz with two laps to go and held on to win the 22 lap IMCA stock car feature. Rookie Jeff "Peppy" Vlies shot into the lead from his pole position to grab the outset of the contest. Vlies held the top spot in the early laps while Karcz and Craig Paque dueled for second. Karcz drove around Vlies on the outside to take the lead on lap five, with Christians trailing Karcz to take second. The yellow flew on lap eight when rookie Greg Stelse spun in turn four. Only two more laps were completed before another caution flew on lap 10 for a Jeff LaCrosse spin in turn one. When racing resumed Karcz held the top spot with Christians and Paque scrapping for the runnerup spot. The Horicon veteran stuck the nose of his Chevelle underneath Karcz on two occasions, with no luck. But with two laps to go Christians found the bite he needed coming out of turn two. Christians kept the lead and fought off Karcz to collect his first feature flag of the season. Karcz settled for second at the pay window. John Heinz, Jason Czarapata and Travis Van Straten rounded out the top five finishers. Like LeMieux, Christians also scored a sweep with an earlier heat win. Jerry "Hot Dog" Kroll led wire-to-wire en route to his first 20 lap street stock feature win of the season. Kroll jumped out to a big lead early, only to have that margin wiped out on two occasions, with caution flags on laps eight and ten for one car spins. Green Bay's Mike Coel started eleventh on the grid and charged his way through the pack to take third by lap 12. The Green Bay driver battled in the closing laps with David Baenen for second. Just after the white flag was displayed, Ed Anschutz and Laurel Ettien tangled in turn one. Track rules state that once the white flag is displayed the race is completed. Kroll was awarded the win. Second through fifth went to Coel, Baenen, Keith Kickbush and J.R. Van Rixel. Kroll followed suit with the other divisions, nailing a clean sweep with a heat win. The bomber division made their debut at Luxemburg Speedway. Sturgeon Bay's Corey Haen topped the other seven competitors in the division to win both the heat and the feature, scoring a clean sweep for the evening. Also WISSOTA late model drivers Danny Gracyalny and Dean Maurer wowed the crowd with a hot lap session at intermission. The drivers were testing their racers for a 50 lap late model feature dubbed the "Battle of The 'Burg" on Friday night, June 7. The event will mark the first appearance of the late models at Luxemburg in more than 10 years. Racing action featuring the IMCA modifieds, IMCA stock cars, street stocks and sport trucks will resume next Friday night at 7 p.m. Next week will also mark the debut of the track's new four cylinder class the sport fours. LUXEMBURG SPEEDWAY RACE RESULTS 5-03-02 IMCA modified IMCA Stock Cark Street Stocks Bombers |
