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by Tom Wagner
Longtime veteran Chris Derenne held off a late charge from Jared Siefert to win his first IMCA Modified feature in several years Saturday night at Prestige Yacht Coatings Thunderhill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay.
Derenne shared the spotlight with five other first time 2010 winners; Kyle Wanner in the IMCA Stock Cars, Rod Solem in the IMCA Northern Sport Mods, Todd Everard in the Super Stocks, Travis Hackett in the IMCA Hobby Stocks and 4 Cylinder rookie Joey Scoon.
While Derenne led all 20 laps of the Modified headliner, the feature checker nearly slipped from his grasp in the final dash as a determined Siefert almost stole the win at the line.
The first half of the race gave little indication how close the finish would be as Derenne worked his way to a sizeable advantage on the field. With Tony Wedelstadt and Randy Markwardt, Jr locked in a battle for second, Derenne put nearly a quarter-lap cushion between he and the lead pack.
Wedelstadt would eventually take control of the runner-up spot and began to pull away from Markwardt when the event’s first incident took Tim Czarneski not only out of the top five but out of the race altogether.
It took a couple tries, but once the green stayed put, Derenne again found his rhythm and began to edge away. Kyle Kudick now joined Wedelstadt in the battle for second. Kudick gained the edge on the low line, but the two locked together, sliding high out of two with eight laps to go. Siefert and Shawn Kilgore took advantage of the open lane and sped past into second and third. The duo set sail for Derenne, steadily chipping away at the lead.