7/26/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Richards Gets Number 6; Schmitt Back on Top
Beaver Dam, WI (7/26/2023) - The action at Beaver Dam Raceway heated up in order to match the day's scorching temperature. Six action packed features saw four repeat winners and two brand new winners crowned.
101 cars signed in with 17 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 14 Legends.direct Legends, 20 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 14 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, 31 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, and 5 High School Racing Association cars, in their first appearance at the track, made the pits jammed packed.
Heat races rolled off with EK Machine Unified Street Stock heats going to Jason White and Todd Ascherien. Legend.Direct Legend heat races were next with Ryan Sullivan and Austin Winkel picking up wins. The lone High School Racing Association heat saw Jackson Martindale pick up the win. Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods saw their three heat races go to Ryan Kuehn, Colton See, and Jim Zdroik. The two N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars heats went to Jeremy Christians and Kenny Richards. The final heat races, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds heat races ended with Mike Klenz, Adam Crapser, Ben Godlewski, and Kelsy Hayes in victory lane. The B-Main for the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds went to Noah Schepp.
The EK Machine Unified Street Stocks were first up in the long line of features and saw Jacob Rens and Stuart White on the front row. The feature began with Rens the leader but a yellow for a spun Jesse Krahn forced a complete restart. White got the better start the second time by and led the field through the lap. Another yellow would fly shortly after due to mechanical issues for Russ Davison. On the restart, Todd Ascherien made his way to the lead, passing White for the spot through turns three and four. The other 25 car, Jonathan Persha would go up in smoke, dropping liquids on the track, resulting in a yellow. Ascherien launched well off the start but another yellow drew his lead to zero. Ascherien got the better restart, but the focus was on the 55K of Krahn, who had worked his way up into the top two and was setting his sights on the Ascherien. Krahn worked past Ascherien at the halfway mark for the lead and never looked back, picking up his third feature win of the season. Todd Ascherien and Larry Richards followed him onto the podium as well.
Next up was the Legends.Direct Legends A-Main, which saw Mark Wellman and Lilly Fassbender on the front row. Wellman got the better start in his 76 machine but was quickly passed by the K1 of Kim Clover. The battle was behind Clover as Wellman, Austin Winkel, Eric Blumer, Hayden Schmuhl, and Ryan Sullivan waged war on each other. Winkel, Blumer, and Schmuhl eventually made their way to the back bumper of Clover, and put the works on her, passing her for the top three spots. Winkel had to deal with three of the best drivers this season in Blumer, Schmuhl, and a late charging Sullivan for the final six laps. Winkel was able to hold on, picking up his third feature win of the season, as Blumer and Schmuhl followed him to the podium spots.
The third feature of the night was the first ever feature of the High School Racing Association at Beaver Dam Raceway. Mitchell Berg and Kennedy Krueger started on the front row. Krueger got the better start before contact sent them to the back of the field. Zach Ziegler led but had pressure from Caleb Arneson, who made the move on lap five for the lead. Berg worked past Ziegler for second as Arneson drove off into the distance, picking up his first feature win at the track. Ziegler and Berg rounded out the podium in second and third.
Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods came to the track for the next feature with Ryan Mech and Mark Hoeppner on the front row. The green flag flew, and Mech led, with Hoeppner and Elijah Koenig behind. Jim Zdroik moved into the third place spot as Hoeppner started to pressure Mech for the lead. Mech stayed strong in the lead as Koenig looked to move into second by challenging Hoeppner. Colton See threw his hat into the fight for the lead as he made his way into fourth. Calamity struck on lap sixteen as Hoeppner got out of shape while fighting See, spinning into Tim Sheppard and causing the only yellow of the feature. A very important restart followed as Mech was able to keep the lead as See and Koenig fought, but very quickly See was able to make his way to the rear end of Mech, passing him with two laps to go. See was able to get enough of a gap for him to bring it home with the win, as Koenig came second and Mech came third.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car feature saw Karly Stadler and Josh Kanas start from the front row. Chaos began quickly as Stadler got her car upset in turn four and spun in front of the field, collecting three other cars. While the yellow was out, somehow Rod Snellenberger did his best to be invited to the EAA AirVenture show, as he went for a flight in turn one, ending up back on his wheels with some damage to his lid. According to track officials, Rod pulled off into the work area, was told he needed to be checked out by the medical crew, in which he had them check his pulse, and pulled back out onto the track. The field restacked for a complete restart and the green came back out. Stadler, Roger Frank, and Jermey Christians all went back and forth for the race lead for a number of laps before a fast Kenny Richards broke past them and into the race lead. Richards picked up his sixth feature win of the season with Christians and Snellenberger the top three. In victory lane Richards pointed out that he has the points lead in the stock car class, his dad, Larry Richards, has the points lead in the street stock division, and his daughter, Keslie Richards, has the points lead in her junior sprints division, which runs with the Monday Night Kart Racing program. That means there are three generations of Richards leading the points at Beaver Dam Raceway.
The final feature of the night saw Jeff Schepp and Mike Klenz on the front row of the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds feature. Fifth starting Adam Crapser started off strong, picking up the lead before the yellow came out for a three car stack up in turn three. Crapser got the better restart and retook the lead as Brandon Schmitt was up from his ninth starting position to challenge for the lead. Schmitt swept by on lap five and set his sights forward, into the distance. Meanwhile, Dan Roedl made his way around Crapser for second. The yellow flew for a spun around car in turn two which packed the field back up. Schmitt got the better jump and ran away as Mike Mullen, who started fifteenth, had to battle with Cole Czarneski for third. Mullen got the better of Czarneski and held that third place spot down all the way to the checkered flag, picking up the Performance Motorsport hard charger award on the night, for passing the most cars in his feature, up twelve spots. Brandon Schmitt picked up his fifth win of the season after a late race restart. His points rival, Dan Roedl finished in second with the aforementioned Mullen third.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action Tuesday, August 1st with a regular, 5 class show as well as the High School Racing Association being scheduled for attendance. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger