The night began with a lot to celebrate, the track’s 67th birthday (it began operations in 1954), a return to racing after not running a race since September 7th of 2019 (COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 season), and a heartfelt tribute to Mike and Jeanine Kelsey (the parents of promoter Martin Kelsey both passed away in the extended offseason). It ended with a bang as four features delivered the excitement Door County had been missing for over 20 months.
The Quietwoods RV Stock Cars put on a feature race for the ages. Brett Wenzel had the luck of the draw with a pole position starting spot and looked primed to defend his 2019 championship crown with that front row starting spot. Outside pole sitter, Billy LeMeiux, had other plans as he piloted his 3L machine around Wenzel into the lead on the opening laps. The two battled for the top spot and as the laps wound down it looked as if LeMeiux would not yield the top position. Coming out of four to take the checkers Wenzel found grip on the low side of the exit of the final corner and led the final half straight away of the event, picking up the first Stock Car win of the season at the track. LeMieux settled for a hard fought second, Zach Spangenberg used a late race caution to nab third, while Shawn Havel rounded out the top four.
The Recycle Door County Spot Mod division saw plenty of action mixed with a handful of cautions. New comer to the division, Roger Laviolette, shot to the early lead from his outside front row starting spot. Laviolette faced near immediate pressure from Randy LeMieux Jr. as LeMeiux worked his number 18L machine into second from his fifth place starting position. LeMeiux took advantage of a restart to move into the lead while the 99 and 14 cars of Jeff “Pepe” Vlies and Cody Rass worked their way to the front and waged a spirited battle for the second spot. When the dust settled Vlies emerged in second and set his sites on running down the race leader. The yellow flew, bunching the field up and putting Vlies right on the bumper or LeMeiux. Vlies utilized the high side to rocket into the lead leaving LeMeiux to fight with Rass for second. The young, but experienced Rass gave the verteran all he could handle but LeMeiux held on for second while Rass settled for third. Defending division champion, Chris Budzban, started his title defense with a fourth place finish.
The JB Truck Service Unified Dirt Street Stock feature saw multi time champion Dave “The Hammer” DeGrave benefit from a little luck as he drew the number one starting spot for the feature. Just because he was starting out front was no guarantee that this event was in the bag as The Hammer faced heavy pressure from the wily veteran Troy Muench, himself freshly out of semi retirement. DeGrave held off the challenge from Muench and went on to secure his first feature win of the 2021 season. Shanon Guelette snuck by Muench with a strong run, Muench held on for third, and Chad Naze came home fourth.
The C & W Auto Bomber division closed out the night with their own brand of action. The temperature in the air was dropping but these guys heated up the night with the racing on the track. Tony Everard began his title defense by winning a hard fought battle with David Cox. Everard captured the top spot, Cox finished second, Scott Schlafke snagged third, and Skyler Bork finished up the top ten.
The Hill Raceway will be back in action on Sunday, May 30th with the Nathan Bouche Memorial Race with the first appearance of the Mods this season! Racing starts at 5:00 for this very special event.
Quietwoods RV Stock Car 20 Lap Feature:
1. Brett Wenzel; 2. Bill LeMeiux; 3. Zach Spangenberg; 4. Shawn Havel; 5. Brett Koehler; 6. Dan Sell Jr; 7. John Anschutz; 8. Tom Brumlic; 9. Charlie Kroll; 10. Dave Bouche
Heat1:
1. Caden LeMeiux; 2. Bill LeMeiux; 3. Brett Koehler; 4. Brett Wenzel; 5. Dwayne Mertens
Heat 2:
Tom Brumlic; 2. Scott Reinhardt; 3. Shawn Havel; 4. Dan Sell Jr.; 5. Charlie Kroll
Heat 3:
Jeff Lautenbach; 2. Jeremy Anschutz; 3. Zach Spangenberg; 4. Rick Mahlberg; 5. John Anschutz
LCQ:
Dave Bouche; 2. Tony Bouche; 3. Shawn Klapps Jr.; 4. Kevin Deneys; 5. Dan Sell
Recycle Door County Spot Mod 20 Lap Feature:
Jeff Vlies; 2. Randy LeMeiux Jr.; 3. Cody Rass; 4. Chris Budzban; 5. Bernie Reinhardt; 6. Rick LeMeiux; 7. Chuck Carmin; 8. Doug Mauer; 9. George Henkel; 10. Sean Falk
Heat 1:
Reinhardt; 2. Budzban; 3. Roger Laviolette; 4. Carmin; 5. Mauer
Heat 2:
1. Rass, 2. Randy LeMeiux Jr.; 3. Vlies; 4. Craig Dorner; 5. Falk
JB Truck Service Unified Dirt Street Stock 20 Lap Feature:
1. Dave DeGrave; 2. Shanon Guelette; 3. Troy Muench; 4. Chad Naze; 5. TJ Everard; 6. Jason Geyer; 7. Dan Van Pay; 8. Garrett Geyer; 9. Geno Sternard; 10. Brian Krejcarek
Heat 1:
DeGrave; 2. Krejcarek; 3. Josh Novak; 4. Eli Phillips; 5. James Anderson
Heat 2:
Naze; 2. Everard; 3. Jason Geyer; 4. John Denil Jr.; 5. Cody Patten
Heat 3:
Muench; 2. Guelette; 3. Van Pay; 4. Jason Brandes; 5. Tyler Fox
LCQ 1:
Kody Laviolette, 2. Bailey Laviolette; 3. Garrett Geyer
LCQ 2:
Geno Sternard; 2. Matt Malvitz; 3. Amber Delsart
C&W Auto Bombers 15 Lap Feature:
1. Tony Everard; 2. David Cox; 3. Scott Schlafke; 4. Skyler Bork; 5. Thomas Schulte; 6. Devin Yaeger; 7. Brandon VanOoyen; 8. Dallas Topel; 9. Kyle Walters; 10. Chris Timm
Heat 1:
Schlafke; 2. Cox; 3. Everard; 4. VanOoyen; 5. Yaeger
