April 12, 2002; Luxemburg, WI. - Hometown champion Benji LaCrosse will face perhaps one the toughest fields of IMCA stock car drivers ever assembled for a weekly show at Luxemburg Speedway this season. The pride of Luxemburg will kick off his IMCA stock car title defense Friday night, April 26 at 7 p.m. at the third-mile, clay oval located at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds during the WAPL 105.7 FM Rockin' Apple "Lid-Lifter". In just two years of full time racing LaCrosse has pocketed an incredible 19 feature wins, including track titles at Door County Speedway, Luxemburg, as well as a Wisconsin state IMCA stock car title. Not a bad start for the 24-year-old who used to ride his bicycle eight miles one way to watch the races at Luxemburg when he was a young lad. "Last year I won the Luxemburg title because I was able to qualify for every feature," explained LaCrosse. "This year with the competition getting even tougher it will make the title defense that much harder." Translation: there will be no shame in not making the feature on any given night at "The Burg'". Another factor to consider is 22 of the top 25 points finishers from last year will be running full time Friday nights. One of the toughest foes LaCrosse will face of the anticipated 40 car weekly field will be Horicon's Jeremy Christians. Christians, another state IMCA stock car and Seymour Tri-Oval champion, has announced he will compete for the IMCA national title. "What will help Jeremy is that he's going to run Manitowoc on Wednesday nights, too," LaCrosse pointed out. "My plans for now are Luxemburg Fridays, Sturgeon Bay Saturdays and Seymour Sundays. I work construction until five or six at night so right now I can't commit every week to Manitowoc. I guess we'll make it there when we can." A couple of LaCrosse's old foes will be returning to scrap weekly Friday nights: "Hot Rod" Snellenberger of Pulaski and John "JJ" Heinz of Green Bay. Both are perennial frontrunners expected to compete for a title, including Green Bay hotshoes Eric Van Iten, Jon Wolf, Jay Matthias and Tim Van De Hei. Throw Pulaski's Junior Karcz into the mix, along with hometown ace Pat Davister, Algoma pilots Dave Bouche and Craig Paque and you've got roughly one dozen or so drivers who are real title contenders. In addition defending Shawano Speedway champion Brian Bruechert of Kewaunee has indicated he will throw his hat in the ring for the Luxemburg title. A pair of up-and-comers to watch are Kewaunee sophomores Greg Gretz and Shawn Kilgore. Kilgore won a handful of late season feature races at area ovals in 2001 while Gretz is expected to turn his Ford-powered team up a notch this season. Among the rookie crop expected to turn in strong runs will be former street stock standouts Jamie Colwell of Greenleaf and Jeff "Peppy" Vlies of Brussels. Colwell and brother Jesse have built a new car while Vlies will compete in a machine purchased from Jason Geyer. Joining the IMCA stock cars every Friday night will be the IMCA modifieds and street stocks. The track's newest division the sport fours will rotate weekly along with the sport trucks and bombers. For more information please consult the track website at www.luxemburgspeedway.com or call 920 863 8446. Luxemburg Speedway is located 15 minutes east of Green Bay off highway 54 at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds. |
