5/10/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Schmitt Doubles-Up and New Winners at Beaver Dam Raceway
Beaver Dam, WI (May 9th, 2023) - To what seems to now be a biweekly track due to mother nature, Beaver Dam Raceway was ready to go Tuesday night for yet another great night of racing as the track welcomed in a new era of being broadcasted live on DirtVision. Brandon Schmitt would take home his second win of the season and others would take their first. A new season high of 100 cars would take home in the pits for 5 divisions of crazy as the fans lined the grandstands.
The night started out with the national anthem and a showing of seven vintage modifieds. The seven cars were all from different years and had numerous race wins between themselves.
20 EK Machines Street Stocks would see defending champion James Fletcher and Russ Davison take heat wins. Season feature winners Michael Weber and Jordan Miklas would take home wins with the 21 Legends.Direct Legends, as well as Austin Winkel. The 19 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods would have Geoff Zdroik and Ryan Kuehn taking the wins in their heat races. Kenny Richards and Tyler Wilson were the 2 of the 18 car field who would win their heat races in the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car class. And the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified heat races would be won by Jeff Schmuhl, Cole Czarneski, and Matt Rechek.
The EK Machines Street Stocks would take to the track first for their feature, and it was the 68 of Russ Davison and the 75F of James Fletcher on the front row. The first green flag of the features would be thrown and Fletcher on the outside line would get a great start and make a pass for the lead out of turn two. Fletcher’s lead would quickly be lost as a massive wreck across the line would reset the order. The 49 of Craig Lepple, 55K of Jesse Krahn, 21S of John Sidesky, 3R of Jacob Rens, and 1X of Jason White would all be involved in the first Tuesday night red flag with car parts flying every which way. A complete restart would once again see the 75F take the lead on the high line as the 68 fell back to battle with the 6 of Josh McDonald. A caution would come out with six laps remaining and force the field to regroup. Fletcher took off well but the battle was behind him as the 35D of Paul Diefenthaler and 11R of Larry Richards both fought their way through to the top three. Fletcher wouldn’t be challenged and the defending champion would find himself in victory lane for the first time this season, with Diefenthaler and Richards right behind him. Fletcher, in victory lane, would go on to say, “It’s been a hard start to the season but we are just getting going now.”
The 17F of Faith Zellmer would find herself on the pole of the Legends.Direct Legends feature, with the 95M of Mike Mueller alongside her. A Zellmer would get a good start, but it wasn’t the polesitter; Adam Zellmer in the 117A would fly by Faith and take the lead while Faith and Mueller fell down the order. The 71B of Scott Busch was flying up the order and overtook the 117A at the end of lap two. A yellow would fly on lap five as Lilly Fassbender found herself spun around in turn three. While under caution, the 8W of Michael Weber, the April 15th feature winner, would pull off the track. At the restart, it was the 71B in the lead, with two new contenders in the 88 of Austin Winkel and 2.0 of Ryan Sullivan right behind him. The three of them battled tooth and nail for the race lead but it would be the 88 of Austin Winkel who came out on top as the new race leader. Two quick cautions would happen with five laps to go which made for an interesting finish as the 44J of Jordan Miklas, at the time the only driver to have won two features this season, made his way up to the top three. Miklas would challenge Winkel for the win but his attempts were futile as Winkel took his first win of the season, with Miklas and Sullivan second and third.
With the third feature of the night, the 27 of Jim Tate Jr would hold down the front row with the 67 of Vince Jung behind him in the Beaver Dam Tire and Services IMCA Sportmods class. The 27 got a great start and drove off into the distance before looping it around in turn three as the leader on lap two. The 18Z of Geoff Zdroik would inherit the lead as the field went green. Another incident would involve a number of cars but all got away with minimal damage. At the green a four car breakaway would happen with the 18Z, 7S of Nick Schultz, 62 of Jeff Steenbergen, and 1K of Elijah Koenig all ran away from the pack. The four cars would battle into the sunset until trouble struck as the 1K struck the 18Z, causing Zdroik to spin. The 1K would tap himself out, sending him to the back and allowing the 18Z to retake his spot in the lead. It was all sunshine and rainbows on the restart for Zdroik as he started to drive away from the field but little did he know, the 7S was stalking his bumper, and into turns one and two on the second to last lap, Nick Schultz surged through and took the lead from the 18Z. Schultz wouldn’t look bad as he went on to take his first feature win of the season followed by the 18Z of Zdroik and the 62 of Steenbergen.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars were next onto the racing surface with a very Paitrick front row with Tim, in the 12P, on the pole and Brandon, in the 29P, second. Tim would get a good start while Brandon went down the order. It wouldn’t be long until a three wide battle for the lead took place with the 12P, K9 of Tyler Wilson, and 9R of Kenny Richards. The K9 would make the most of the battle and take the lead and surge forward before the 6Z of Jim Zdroik slowed to a stop down the back straightaway. The K9, followed by the 2T of Travis VanStraten and 9R of Richards, would restart the field as they went back green. Two quick yellows forced the pack to stay close but through all the yellows, Wilson was the strongest car. A battle for the third place spot was the battle of the race as the 99X of Jeremy Christians attempted a late race charge around the 03W of Tim Warner. Wilson was the fastest dog in the pack, breaking away from the rest of the field to pick up his first feature win of 2023. Richards would finish second as Christians took the third place finish.
Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified feature rolled off as the last race of the night with the 11S of Jeff Schmuhl and 21CZ of Cole Czarneski the front row. The 21CZ would be the better of the two starters, rocketing to the lead out of turn two as the rest of the pack went almost five wide for position. A two car incident would bring out the first of two yellow on lap three and then another going back to green after a stack up throughout the pack. The 21CZ would be the leader through all of it until, with twelve laps to go, the April 25th winner, Brandon Schmitt would look like he shot out of a cannon as he stormed to the lead in the 20 car. Fights all over the track wouldn’t stop Brandon as he drove off into the distance, winning his second feature in a row. Dan Roedl and Cody Schroeder rounded out the podium with good finishes. Schmitt, in victory lane, said, “I’m just happy I’m winning when I can, because it isn’t easy.”
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action next Tuesday, May 16th with a regular, 5 class show. It will also be a national legend qualifying event. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger