RECORD SETTING VICTORY SEALS 2003 WCS TITLE FOR DARNELL AT GENEVA! LAKE GENEVA, WI. (August 16, 2003) -- When the checkered flag flew, Erik Darnell had completed a record setting weekend in Wisconsin Challenge Series competition. The 20 year old sensation from Beach Park, IL proved to be a dominant force in the first ever series event at the third-mile Lake Geneva Raceway reaching the finish well ahead of current Lake Geneva Raceway point leader Jamie Wallace who lost power in the final two turns and coasted to the finish line in second. His victory, the third of the season, lifted Darnell to the top of the all-time win list as he became the only driver in series history to have won three events. Additionally, his victory coupled with various troubles for his nearest point rivals assured Darnell the 2003 Wisconsin Challenge Series title even before the final race of the season on September 5th at Golden Sands Speedway.
On a near perfect afternoon, a field of 22 cars took the green flag for the ninth event of the season in WCS competition. By virtue of winning dash races, which set the feature field earlier in the day, front row starters Jerry Freeman and Rick Corso, bought the field up to speed. Freeman, a Lake Geneva Raceway regular took the initial lead, but Corso, currently runner-up in the Lake Geneva Raceway standings surged ahead before the completion of the first lap. The first caution flag flew after the completion of lap one when Jeff Way, a regular on the NASCAR ITEMS circuit, and winner of the track's feature race the evening prior to this WCS show, got sideways in turn 2 after contact with another car. The tightly bunched field scattered behind him and several other cars got collected in the tangle. Though most of the field suffered only cosmetic damage several noteworthy events came about as a result of the accident. Firs, Chris Weinkauf, one of Darnell's chief rivals in the title chase, would be forced to the pits to effect repairs. After making the repairs he was only able to continue a few more laps before retiring to the pits with an end result of 22nd position. This ended Weinkauf's title hopes for the 2003 season. Secondly, 2003 Lake Geneva Raceway champion and fast qualifier Matt Kocourek would be forced to start at the tail of the field after a brief trip to the pits to assess damage. Kocourek would spend the rest of the day thrilling the crowd with a charge through the field. When the green flag returned, the race would see the next 80 laps run under green flag conditions, establishing a series record for consecutive laps under green flag conditions. Overall only two slowdowns would break the rapid pace of the event. Corso set the pace with Freeman following. NASCAR ITEMS Series front runner Eddie Hoffman of Wheaton, Illinois has climbed into the third position with Darnell already into the fourth spot. Freeman slipped up the track slightly on lap four and found himself surrendering a couple positions as both Hoffman and Darnell were able to work past into the second and third spots. Freeman would settle into fourth just ahead of current track point leader Jamie Wallace. Wallace would snare the fourth spot from Freeman moments later. Second place became a battle of Illinois racers as Darnell slipped to the inside of Hoffman to contest the position. The pair ran wheel to wheel for the next couple laps before Darnell would wrestle away the position on lap seven. Out front Corso had little time to build a lead and soon would have Darnell nipping at his heels. The pair would reach the line in a dead heat on lap nine, with Corso working the outside line. Darnell would dive deep into turn three on the ninth lap and move ahead of Corso. Once in front Darnell would never relinquish the lead position. Hoffman followed the maneuver on the very next lap advancing to second as he set out after Darnell. Corso still stuck on the outside would wind up in a side by side battle with Wallace for the third position. Wallace and Corso, ranked first and second in the weekly point chase at Lake Geneva Raceway thrilled the audience with a good side by side battle that lasted several laps before Wallace finally captured the spot. Out front Darnell was stretching his lead on Hoffman who now found himself trying to fend off Wallace who continued his march forward. Wallace made a quick dart to the inside of Hoffman for the runner-up spot on lap 19 and it appeared Wallace had one of the fastest cars on the track. Another driver making headway further back in the field was Kocourek who had rejoined the field in 20th after the lap one caution. By the 25 lap mark he had marched back up to tenth and was keeping pace with Darnell, though he was a half-lap behind the leader. Darnell slowly opened his lead on Wallace in the battle for the race victory, but the chase for the season title would soon have another significant turn. Jeff Kendall, third in the series season point battle had worked up to fifth by lap 30, but soon began to slide backward in the field as his pace began to slow. By the halfway point in the race Darnell was maintaining a dozen car length lead on Wallace as the leaders began working lapped traffic. By this point only a dozen cars remained on the lead lap. Hoffman was running a solid pace in third. Corso was fourth being pressured heavily by Fran Prestay who reached the top five on lap 43. Kocourek's charge had him in the sixth spot by lap 50. Kendall's machine would fail on lap 63 while running in the seventh spot, brining to an end his title hopes for the 2003 season. Kendall will now head to the final event of the season in a title point battle with Chris Weinkauf for the runner-up spot in the standings. Out front Darnell continued to set a blistering pace, with Wallace closing to within six car lengths on occasion. Hoffman sat alone in third, while the tightest battle amount the lead group involved Corso, Prestay and Kocourek who were all doing battle for the fourth spot. On lap 71, Corso gave up the inside line in turn one and allowed both Prestay and Kocourek to slip by for fourth and fifth respectively. The only thing to slow Darnell's pace was a spin in turn two by the series all-time point leader, Ken Reiser, in turn one on lap 81. With just eight cars on the lead lap, Darnell had a couple lapped cars between himself and Wallace on the restart. Hoffman ran third with Prestay, Kocourek, Corso, Freeman and Adam Royle was was having another solid showing the only cars on the lead lap. The green flag returned for the final 20 laps with Darnell getting a good jump. Wallace quickly disposed of the lapped traffic and found himself trailing Darnell by a half-dozen car lengths with 15 laps to go. Wallace began to reel in Darnell, cutting the lead to less than two car lengths with ten laps to go. It appeared at this point the race was setting up for a battle to the checkered between Darnell and Wallace as Wallace was able to gain slightly in the turns. However with about five laps to go Wallace's efforts began to wane has his pace slowed slightly allowing Darnell to again stretch his lead. Attention then changed focus as Kocourek who was running extremely hard in the closing laps. With four laps to go he managed to work under Prestay and gain the position with three laps to go. Kocourek wasn't done yet as he now reeled in Hoffman who was running third and looked to his inside as the white flag flew. The final lap proved to be extremely exciting. Darnell would reach the stripe first unchallenged as his chief rival Wallace slowed dramatically coming off turn three. Wallace would roll acrossed the line in second. The battle for third wasn't settled until the final turn when Hoffman fended off the challenges of Kocourek to claim third coming up just short of reaching Wallace's coasting car for second. Kocourek's efforts were rewarded with fourth, while Prestay rounded out the top five. Corso, Freeman and Royle made up the top eight and the lead lap finishers. Way would finish ninth as the first car a lap down, and Joe Fischer ran a solid race to round out the top ten. Heading into the season final Darnell now hold a 1014 to 881 point margin on Kendall. Chris Weinkauf sits third in the series standings with 876 points. While Darnell's victory sealed up the series title, the biggest setback for both Kendall and Weinkauf have been two consecutive DNF's. Darnell will be crowned the 2003 champion at Golden Sands Speedway during the running of the WCS Championship 100 on Friday evening September 5th. Attention will now focus on the tight point battles throughout the top ten. Most significantly will be the battle for the second spot between Kendall and Weinkauf. The battle for fourth in the standings will likely be decided between Frank Kreyer and Ken Reiser in the finale. There are still several positions within the top ten which could change hands. Drivers as far back as 15th in the standings could still reach the top ten in the season's final standings. The season finale at Golden Sands will see the pit gate open at 3:00 p.m., practice will begin at 4:00 p.m. Qualifying for positions in the 22 car main event will take place at 6:30 p.m., with the first race of the evening set to take place at 7:45 p.m. Highlighting the show will be a 100 lap feature contest. 30 lap qualifying races will determine the balance of the 22 car starting field. In addition to the WCS Super Late Models the popular Wisconsin Sport Trucks will take to the high-banked third mile paved oval, set to do battle three and four wide in their miniature snowmobile powered trucks. Pure Stocks have recently been added to the program, and the evening will conclude with 2-Man Cruiser racing. Golden Sands Speedway "Central Wisconsin's Power Playground" is located between Wisconsin Rapids and Plover, Wisconsin on Highway 54. For additional information please call (715) 423-4660 or consult the track website at www.goldensandsspeedway.com Additional Wisconsin Challenge Series information can be found by calling (920) 731-6804 or by logging onto the series website at www.wisconsinchallenge.com For complete Computer Results Click Here The Geneva Challenge
100 - Results 100 Lap Feature: 1.) Erik Darnell, Beach Park, IL; 2.) Jamie Wallace, Pell Lake; 3.) Eddie Hoffman, Wheaton, IL; 4.) Matt Kocourek, Racine; 5.) Fran Prestay, Silver Lake; 6.) Rick Corso, McHenry, IL; 7.) Jerry Freeman, Burlington; 8.) Adam Royle, Farmington, MN; 9.) Jeff Way, Burlington; 10.) Joe Fischer, McHenry, IL; 11.) Terry Van Roy, Appleton; 12.) John Zimmerman, Markesan; 13.) Dean Schultz, Juneau; 14.) Dean LaPointe, Marshfield; 15.) Frank Kreyer, Cottage Grove; 16.) Ken Reiser, Waukon, IA; 17.) Jeff Kendall, Montello; 18.) Landry Potter, Genoa City; 19.) Eddie May, Crystal Lake, IL; 20.) Jeff Falbe, Beaver Dam; 21.) Jason Weinkauf, Merrill; 22.) Chris Weinkauf, Merrill First 15 Lap Qualifying Dash: 1.) Freeman; 2.) Zimmerman; 3.) Way; 4.) Fischer; 5.) Kendall; 6.) Prestay; 7.) Potter; 8.) Kocourek Second 15 Lap Qualifying Dash: 1.) Corso; 2.) Hoffman; 3.) Wallace; 4.) Darnell; 5.) C. Weinkauf; 6.) Royle; 7.) Reiser; 8.) Kreyer 20 Lap Qualifier: 1.) J. Weinkauf; 2.) Mat; 3.) Schultz; 4.) Falbe; 5.) LaPointe; 6.) Bruce Havel, Deerfield; 7.) Van Roy; 8.) M.G. Gajewski, Wausau; 9.) Billy Baumeister, Janesville |
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