6/21/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
From A Wreak to A Check: Schmitt Comes Back to Win $1500; Wuesthoff, Schmuhl, VanHierden, and Snellenberger Find Victory Lane for First Time
Beaver Dam, WI (6/20/2023) - After finishing the Mid-Season Championship on his roof, Brandon Schmit had a long time to think and repair his 20 in anticipation for a $1500-to-win IMCA Modified feature. Schmitt showed up with a new car and dominated the feature, picking up his fourth feature win of the season and a big check. The rest of the night saw four brand new winners enter victory lane.
106 cars made up the 5 divisions with 15 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 22 Legends.Direct Legends, 22 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 12 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 35 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
Two heat races for the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks saw Larry Richards and James Fletcher pick up wins. Austin Winkel, Jordan Miklas, and Adam Zellmer won the Legends.Direct Legend heats. Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMod heats were won by Colton See, Timothy Warner, and Geoff Zdroik. N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heats went to Mitch Meier and Kenny Richards. And finally, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified heats saw Cody Apfelbeck, Dan Roedl, Steve Mueller, and Brandon Schmitt find victory lane. A lone B-main for the IMCA Modifieds saw Marcus Hoeppner pick up the win.
EK Machines Unified Street Stocks hit the track first as Chris Prust and Stuart White started from the front row. Third place starting Phillip Wuesthoff swept by the two front starters and moved into the lead. A stack up led to the first yellow of the night in turn four for the 21P of Prust. The field went back to racing for a few laps but the 25P of Nathan Persha found himself around for another yellow. The green flag went back out for a lap before the 3R of Jacob Rens went around in turn three for another yellow. Wuesthoff led the field back to green as a battle for the second place spot heated up. Larry Richards, Jesse Krahn, and Jon Schultz all went at it for second place. Coming to the white flag a car spun in turn two forcing a yellow checkered to come out. Phillip Wuesthoff was fine with that as he picked up his first feature win of the season as Richards and Krahn rounded out the podium.
Lilly Fassbender and Hunter Cardinal found themselves on the front row of the Legends.Direct Legends feature. Cardinal got the jump on the field but an incident in turn three collected four cars. Mike Mueller, Adam Zellmer, Cal Swenson, and Brady Ascherien all got involved and got some sort of damage. Fassbender and Cardinal led the field back to green but it was the 59S of Hayden Schmuhl who took the lead by the end of the first lap. Michael Weber and Austin Winkel made their way up into second and third. The race was for the lead as Weber caught up to Schmuhl, bringing along teammate Jordan Miklas. Miklas would make his way into the lead and Weber to second but Schmuhl wouldn’t back down. Weber made his way past Miklas for the lead but on lap seventeen, Lilly Fassbender’s 7 car came to a stop ending her night. A three lap shootout ensued as Weber led the field back to green. Drama unfolded on lap eighteen as the 8W of Weber got too high in turn three allowing Miklas and Schmuhl to slip by. The fans went nuts as Schmuhl and Miklas battled for the final two laps but it was the 59S of Hayden Schmuhl who picked up his first feature win of the season. Jordan Miklas brought it home in second and Adam Zellmer finished third after being involved in the lap one incident.
After the Modified B-Main, the Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods took to the track for their feature. Mark Hoeppner and Ryan Mech started from the front row as the field went green. It wouldn’t last long as two cars tangled in turn two causing a quick yellow, which was followed up by another yellow on the restart. The green would come out once again and it was the 66C of Colten VanHierden who took the lead off the restart. Yellow would fly on lap seven as two cars got caught up in turn two. The battle was for third as Timothy Warner and Tim Sheppard fought for third before Elijah Koenig took it from both of them. VanHierden drove off into the sunset to capture his first win of the season in only his second race as Colton See took second and Koenig took third.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car feature was up next with Jesse Kanas and Mitch Meier first and second. Meier got the jump as did Rod Snellenberger who, on lap eight, took advantage of a mistake and took the lead. Kenny Richards found himself in the battle for second before an issue with his 9R took him out of contention. Aaron Stolp, Brandon Paitrick, and Jeremy Christians all battled for the third spot. Snellenberger took top honors and picked up his first win of the season as Meier and Brandon Paitrick occupied the rest of the podium.
$1500 loomed as the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds took to the track for the final feature of the night. Brandon Schmitt and Matt Rechek kept the front row warm. The green came out and Schmitt took to the top as he was able to build a small gap to the pack before Rechek caught up. In a relatively quick feature, a few yellows kept the field close. The first was for a spun Don Scheffler in turn two on lap ten. The second was for Bruce Troesch, whose car came to a stop in turn two on lap thirteen. The restart allowed Cole Czarneski to climb up to the third place spot as he worked around Jeff Schmuhl. After a long twenty laps, the 20 of Brandon Schmitt was unchallenged as he crossed the line to pick up yet another feature win of the season and a big payday. Rechek came home second and Czarneski brought it back in third. Brandon was happy in victory lane, saying, “It feels good to be on all four wheels and in victory lane again”.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action next Tuesday, June 27th with a regular, 5 class show, as well as the High School Racing Association. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger