9/7/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Richards Picks Up Emotional Eighth Feature Win
Beaver Dam, WI (9/6/2023) - A week after almost losing his dad to a heart attack, Kenny Richards came back and put on a clinic, picking up his eighth feature win of the season.
Shepy’s Auto Body Night at the Races saw a special non-points night, Topless Tuesday. All modified divisions were forced to run without tops and all winners were awarded extra money.
68 cars made up the field on the night. 11 EK Machines Unified Street Stocks, 17 Legends.Direct Legends, 20 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 6 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 14 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
The heat races for the divisions went to Dustin Ward and Jon Schultz in the EK Machines Unified Street Stocks. Hayden Schmuhl and Hunter Cardinal picked up Legends.Direct Legends heat race wins. Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMod heats went to Brady Harshbarger and Elijah Koenig. Brett Wenzel picked up the lone N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heat. The final two heat races went to Jeff and Mike Schmuhl in the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
The EK Machines Unified Street Stocks pulled onto the track and assembled three-wide, with stock car driver Kenny Richards pacing the field in a show of support for fellow driver Kenny Richards.
With a standing ovation from the crowd, the green flag flew on the feature as Kyle Caswell and Tim Reichenberger tried to lead the pack into turn one. Chaos struck early as right from the start, cars tangled and brought out the yellow immediately. Once damages were assessed and cars sent on their way, the green flag flew on the field again. This time the field negotiated the first lap cleanly with Caswell the leader. A battle behind the leader with the rest of the field put on a heck of a race as cars two and three-wide lined the track. Jesse Krahn surged through into second and began to chase down the leader Caswell. With a lap to go, Krahn caught the back of the leader, and going into turn one on the final lap, Krahn made his move, swept by Caswell, and picked up another feature win on the season. Caswell and James Fletcher rounded out the top three.
Adam Meyer and Kim Clover held the front row of the Legends.Direct Legends feature. Clover led the field at the end of the first lap as battles all around the field led to some cars going as much as four-wide in some corners. Hunter Cardinal and Cal Swenson started to chase down the race leader as they battled before Hayden Schmuhl inserted himself into the battle. The yellow would come out as a car spun through turn four, slowing the field down and a restart ensued. Clover took off as the battle for second continued, Ryan Sullivan involved himself in the battle as Swenson made his move for the lead on lap nine, soaring past Clover. Clover started to fall back as Cardinal, Sullivan, and Schmuhl all fought past her. Yellow came out as Sullivan spun from the top three in turn two. Drama struck as Swenson’s bumper was seen to have come loose and started flopping around, which forced him to the work area. Unfortunately, Swenson was not able to continue which promoted Cardinal to the lead. Green would fly as Cardinal started to break away, but with two laps to go, his car would start sputtering and slow, allowing Schmuhl to take the lead and drive off to the win. Sullivan came back to finish second with Mike Mueller third.
Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods rolled onto the track next with Jim Zdroik and Brady Harshbarger the front row. Green flew as the topless field rocketed into turn one. Yellow would fly as the field came out of turn four on the final lap as three cars did some pirouettes. Green would fly once again as the top two battled. Harshbarger started to drive away as the #1K of Elijah Koenig began to track him down, taking second on lap seven. Zdroik came back at him but wasn’t able to hold it as the regular season points leader started to close the gap. It only took Koenig a lap to break past Harshbarger, as the pass happened on lap eleven. Yellow flew on lap thirteen due to a spun car in turn two. Chaos took over the restart as Ryan Mech climbed the rear end of Geoff Zdroik, ending both of their nights early. A lengthy assessment and detaching process took place, skillfully carried out by the Beaver Dam Safety Crew and tow staff. Once the field got back going, Koenig shot like a bolt of lightning out front while Zdroik, Harshbarger, Nick Schultz, and Matthew Radtke all went at it for second. Koenig picked up the win with Radtke second and Schultz coming all the way from tenth to finish third.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars pulled out onto the track with a pair of #10s, Rod Snellenberger and Karly Stadler, on the front row. Snellenberger led the field early but Kenny Rochards broke through for the lead on lap two. Brett Wenzel went to work passing for third on lap five. Richards continued to build the gap, getting it up to 5 seconds by the end of the race. Richards collected win number eight, which he dedicated to his father. Snellenberger and Wenzel rounded out the top three.
The final feature of the night was the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds. Noah Schepp and Mike Schmuhl led from the pole as the green came out for the final time of the night. Schepp would jump to the early lead as yellow flew early for third starting Jeff Schmuhl’s engine going kablooey, ending his night, and later announced, his season. Green flew again as fourth starting Don Scheffler, and second starting Schmuhl began to battle for second. Scheffler captured the spot and began to track down the leader Schepp. The #15S of Scheffler would burst past on lap seven. The two would go at each other back and forth for a number of laps before the yellow would fly due to a spin in turn four. Scheffler led the field back to green as the battle for second heated up, with Schepp and Derek Thompson both trying their luck to take the lead. Yellow flew one more time which caused some more excitement to end the night. Scheffler led the field back to green, but Schepp wouldn’t wait around, sweeping by up high to take the lead with three laps to go. He wouldn’t look back and he picked up his first win of the season at the track this season. Scheffler came home second with Thompson third.
The regular season comes to an end next week, September 12th, with 5 different champions to be crowned. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger