5/24/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Richards and Berkevich Return To Victory Lane, Weber Continues Domination, Even More First Time Winners
Beaver Dam, WI (5/24/2023) - Michael Weber continued his dominant performance in his legend and picked up his third feature win of the season. Kenny Richards and Jimmy Berkevich became the fifth and sixth drivers to add a second win to their column, and two new winners made the night even more interesting.
93 cars signed in at the pit shack on the night as 14 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 19 Legends.direct Legends, 23 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 12 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 25 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds prepared to do battle.
Heats rolled out with the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks. Jacob Rens and James Fletcher would capture wins in the heat races. Three Legends.direct legends heat races would come to the track next with Brady Ascherien, Jordan Miklas, and Michael Weber all picking up wins. Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods saw their three heat races won by Jimmy Berkevich, Ryan Kuehn, and Andy Klosterman. The two N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars heats would go to Kenny Richards and Timothy Warner. The final heat races, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds heat races ended with Dave Schoenberger, Marcus Hoeppner, and Brandon Schmitt in victory lane.
The EK Machine Unified Street Stocks feature was the first on the card with the 3R of Jacob Rens on the pole, and alongside him, the 21S of John Sidesky. On the green, Rens would get a good start and make a break from the field as the 11X of Jon Schultz made his way up to second. A three car breakaway with Rens, Schultz, and Jason White would commence and the fight for the lead was on. Schultz would muscle his way past Rens through turn two on lap five and into the lead. White would slip by Rens for the second place spot a lap later. White started to chase down Schultz in the closing laps but a small slipup from the 1X sealed the deal for Jon Schultz as he picked up his first feature win of the season, followed by the 1X of Jason White and the 3R of Jacob Rens.
Feature two of the night saw the Legends.direct Dirt Legends take to the track with the 7A of Brady Ascherien and the 51F of Tim Franz on the front row. The race started a little slow as the 57SP of Caden Reisdorf couldn’t get his car fired off and was forced to not start the race due to the mechanical issue. The field packed back up and took off at the drop of the green with the 19X of Cal Swenson the leader at the end of the first lap. Swenson wouldn’t be able to rest as he quickly came under pressure from the 8W of Michael Weber and 88 of Austin Winkel. The top three cars would go three wide a handful of times as they had a battle for the lead. Weber would eventually power through to the lead on lap five. Tragedy would strike for the 19X of Swenson on lap five as he spun in turn three. The field would get back together and get ready for the restart, and it would be Weber out front first. The 44J of Jordan Miklas had made a break to the front as well as the 6E of Eric Blumer and 2.0 of Ryan Sullivan. Weber, Winkel, Miklas, Blumer, and Sullivan all would battle for the lead for a good amount of laps before a spin further in the pack would cause a yellow, stacking up the field. On the restart, the big mover was Eric Blumer for around a corner before he stepped on it and skidded down the track into the 2.0 of Sullivan and 117 of Adam Zellmer. Weber would lead the field to the green and not look back as we drove off to his third feature win of the season on the 8W. Jordan Miklas in the 44J and Austin Winkel in the 88 would round out the podium.
The Beaver Dam Tire And Service IMCA SportMods were up next with Andy Klosterman and Jimmy Berkevich first and second. Berkevich would jump up high on the start and snatch the lead away from the 28 of Klosterman. A yellow would fly on lap four as the 19H of Riley Hull ended up backward in turn four. The field would restack and Berkevich would bring them back to green but it would be short lived as another yellow would fly for a spun car. The 03 of Jaeden Voigt would make his way up to second on the restart with Klosterman behind him and Berkevich shot away at the start. Another two quick yellows would fly as incidents involving first, the 32X of Skylar Woods and 7S of Nick Schultz, and then second, Dakota Johnson would slow the pack down. On the restart, Berkevich would be the lead with Voigt and Klosterman behind, as well as the announcer’s nightmare, the 29M of Ryan Mech, 29R of Ryan Kuehn, 29S of Tim Sheppard, and 29 of Colton See lined up fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. The top three cars all had an even start as the laps wound down. Klosterman and Voigt would have an all out war for the second spot as Berkevich ran away from them. A spun car in turn four on the final lap of the race would see a yellow checkered finish to the race with the 19B of Jimmy Berkevich the winner with Andy Klosterman and Tim Sheppard on the podium.
The second to last feature of the night saw Karly Stadler and Roger Frank on the front row of the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars feature. On the start, the 48 of Roger Frank got a good start and pulled out into the lead. Both the 21X of Rod Snellenberger and 9R of Kenny Richards broke towards the front of the field and were instantly on the rear end of the 48. Richards would make a move for the lead in turn two on lap three and get it done, clearing Frank and taking the lead. Frank would try and take the top spot back in turn four but got a bit too optimistic and tapped the wall which allowed the 21X past him for second place. Heartbreak would hit the 48 of Frank as his driveshaft snapped off down the front straightaway ending his night prematurely. The race would restart and Richards wouldn’t look back as he stormed to the win, but the battle was for second, as the 03W of Timothy Warner, 99X of Jeremy Christians, 19S of Aaron Stolp, 29P of Brandon Paitrick, and 6Z of Jim Zdroik all battled out for the final two podium spots. The 9R of Kenny Richards would get his second feature win in as many weeks with the 03W of Timothy Warner second and 99X of Jeremy Christians third. The results would change after tech as the second place finisher, Timothy Warner, failed tech meaning the 99X moved into second and the 19S of Aaron Stolp up to third.
The final feature of the night, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, rolled onto the track ready to go with the 17W of Mitch Webber and 7H of Marcus Hoeppner the front row. The top two would get an even start but a three car incident brought out the first yellow of the night. The 47G of Ben Godlewski, 451 of Tim Robbins, and 05 of Daniel Miller tangled in turns one and two for the first yellow of the night. On the restart, the 7H of Hoeppner swept to the lead and led the next two laps before the second yellow of the feature. The 14S of Mike Schmuhl spun in turn four and wasn’t able to get to the infield in time. The field would get back in position and get back to racing with Hoeppner the leader once again. The field wouldn't make it far as the third yellow flew before a lap could be completed. The 33X of Dan Roedl and the 21F of Nick Firari got caught up in the third yellow. The field would get a few laps in as Hoeppner had to defend from the 18 of Matt Klenz and 16A of Dave Schoenberger, who both wanted that top spot. The fourth yellow would fly on lap eleven as a driver got out of shape in turn four and punted the beloved restart cone into the middle of the track. The field went back to green but another yellow, the fifth if you're counting, would come out as the 47G of Ben Godlewski and 333 of Rob Charapata tangled coming to the green. The field would go back green one last time and as the field went through turn two, the 11S of Jeff Schmuhl and 18 of Matt Klenz got together and the sixth and final yellow flew, forcing the race to end on the time limit. Marcus Hoeppner would pick up the win with Dave Schoenberger and Dan Roedl behind him second and third.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action next Tuesday, May 30th with a regular, 5 class show. It is the Salute to Our Service People. All past and present military, fire, EMS, and Police will get free admission with their ID or Badge at the gate. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger