5/31/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Beaver Dam's Salute to Our Service People Night Sees Great Racing All Around
Beaver Dam, WI (5/30/2023) - A beautiful night led to great racing for Beaver Dam Raceway’s Salute to Our Service People night. Jon Schultz, Austin Winkel, Nick Schultz, Timothy Warner, and Brandon Schmitt all returned for another stop in victory lane this season.
89 cars signed in for the night with 15 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 18 Legends.Direct Legends, 21 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 12 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 23 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
Heat races rolled off first on the night with the EK Machine Street Stock heats being won by Phillip Wuesthoff and James Fletcher. Hayden Schmuhl and Jordan Miklas returned to victory lane in the Legends.Direct Legends heats. Hunter Larson, Jimmy Berkevich, and Jared Apel won the three heat races for the Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods. Timothy Warner and Kenny Richards both came from the back rows of their N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heat races. Finally, Ben Godlewski, Brandon Schmitt, and Nick Firari won the final three heat races of the night for the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
As always, the first feature of the night saw Chris Prust on the pole and Dustin Ward alongside for the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks. The green would fly on the first feature and instantly, the third place starting car, the 1X of Jason White would storm to the lead. The yellow would fly pretty fast as T.J. Reichenberger found himself stranded in turn one. T.J. got it refired and tagged the back of the field on the restart as White led them back to green. White would start to run from the field before the 3R of Jacob Rens slipped up into the wall in turn four and drew the second yellow of the race. The field would form back up and try it again as White led them back to racing. White would get a good launch and put a gap between him and the rest of the field. The third yellow came out as defending Street Stock champion James Fletcher spun in turn 3. The field again would restack and rerack as they went back to green flag racing. The car to watch was the car up from his last place starting spot, the 55K of Jesse Krahn, who was up to third. Krahn and Ward would fight before Ward slipped on the cushion and found the wall, tearing his trunk panel off and causing a yellow for debris. White would lead the field back to green but Jesse Krahn was not waiting around as he pressured White. The 11X of Jon Schultz found himself on a roll and rolled right past Krahn for the second place spot half way through the race and then set his sights on White. A spun Jacob Rens aided in the pursuit of White as he spun in turn four and caused another yellow. The green would fly again and White found himself under pressure once again from the 11X and 55K. Schultz found his way past on lap 15 and didn’t look back as he defended the charges from Krahn and a late charging James Fletcher to win his second feature of the season with Fletcher and Krahn second and third.
The Legends.Direct Legends were the second feature on the cars and it was Hayden Schmuhl and Kim Clover who found themselves on the front row. The initial start was waved off and the field had to try again. On the second try it was the 59S of Schmuhl who launched well and kept the lead until the 6E of Eric Blumer roared past him to the lead at the end of lap one. Blumer got a gap from the field before a yellow flag came out for an incident involving Faith Zellmer and Cade Reisdorf. The field would get back in order behind Blumer as the race restarted. Blumer grew the gap as the field behind him battled it out, with the 88 of Austin Winkel, 2.0 of Ryan Sullivan, 117 of Adam Zellmer, K1 of Kim Clover, and 8W of Michael Weber all battled out for the second place spot. Austin Winkel pressured Blumer for a number of laps before Adam Zellmer found something on the high line and worked his way around the 88 and challenged the 6E for the lead. A six car battle for the lead between Eric Blumer, Austin Winkel, Adam Zellmer, Michael Weber, Jordan Miklas, and Ryan Sullivan commenced with five laps left to race. Austin Winkel ran the bottom past Blumer as Blumer fell down the order a few spots. Michael Weber would challenge Winkel for the lead as the white flag came out and out of turn two, contact between the two of them causing Weber to go careening into the infield. Winkel came through to win his second feature of the season as Eric Blumer came out second and Jordan Miklas third.
The third feature of the night saw Vince Jung and Jared Apel on the front row of the Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods feature. Apel got the better start out of the two front runners and broke out with the lead as a hornets nest of other cars battled for the second place spot. The 9L of Hunter Larson, 29R of Ryan Kuehn, and 7S of Nick Schultz went wheel to wheel as they battled for second. The 1K of Elijah Koenig was charging hard as he entered into the battle for third. Larson, Kuehn, and Koenig battled for third as Schultz started to catch Apel. The lone yellow of the race would fly on lap twelve as the 29 of Colton See was spun around on the back straightaway. This yellow opened the door for Schultz to make a move on the race leader he was tracking down before the yellow. Apel led the field back to green but Nick Schultz wasn’t hanging around as he started to throw everything he had at Apel, as well as Ryan Keuhn. The top three went three wide through turns three and four on lap fourteen as they battled for the lead. Schultz rocketed by Apel on lap nineteen for the lead and wouldn’t look back as he claimed his second feature of the season with Apel in second and a hard charging Jeff Steenbergen third.
N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars were up next with Jesse Kanas and Eric Mahlik on the front row. Mahlik was quickest to the draw until he got turned in turn four on the first lap. A complete restart would ensue and once again Mahlik would get a good start as he was rewarded his position back. The field would make it about a corner until the 29P of Brandon Paitrick spun in front of the field, miraculously not collecting anyone. The field would regroup and get going again as Mahlik and Timothy Warner Started to fight for the lead. The 03W and 9 battled for a few laps before Warner made his way past Mahlik for the lead through turn four. A three car battle between Mahlik, the previous week's winner Kenny Richards, and Jeremy Christians all fought for second. Warner drove off into the distance to win his second feature of the season while the battle for second ended with Richards second and Christians third.
The finale of the night was the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds with Ben Godlewski and Nick Firari the ringmasters of the feature. The green would fly after a called off start and Godlewski took off. Godlewski’s untested lead didn’t last for long as the jack of all trades, Matt Rechek in the 5R caught the back of 47G and a battle for the lead ensued. Slowly carving his way through the pack was the 20 of Brandon Schmitt, who was eager for another win next to his name. Marcus Hoeppner caught up to Godlewski and Rechek and a three car fight for the lead started. Hoeppner would slide his way past Rechek for second and Schmitt made quick work of Rechek putting the 5R back to fourth. While Godlewski and Hoeppner battled for the lead, Brandon Schmitt was stalking them, and once Hoeppner had made the move past Godlewski for the lead, the 20 pounced, passing for second and then the lead in a matter of laps. A yellow came out with eleven laps remaining and Schmitt would line up first on the restart. The race would go back green for three laps before another yellow, a three car pileup in turn four, squished the pack back together. The green would come back out and Schmitt would say sayonara to the field as he ran away with the feature and the win while a big mover in Jeff Schmuhl finished second and Marcus Hoeppner rounded out the podium.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action next Tuesday, June 6th. It will be the Mid Season Championship, where a mid season champion in each class will be crowned. The High School Racing Association will also be in attendance and will be the first of five dates the series has at the track. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger