7/23/2024
Beaver Dam Raceway
Redemption for Richards
Beaver Dam, WI (July 23rd, 2024) - After coming so close the night previous, Kenny Richards showed he had what it took to beat some of the best and pick up a $2,500 win at Beaver Dam Raceway, a part of the track's Stock Car Twin 25’s. A total of $5,650 was up for grabs for all five of the winners on the night.
134 cars filled the pits, with 18 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 29 Midwest Legend Dirt Series Presented by Legends.Direct Legends, 21 Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds, 33 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, and 33 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars locked and loaded.
Heat races and B-Mains pulled to the track with Brian Besaw, James Fletcher, and Dustin Schwandt taking home the wins in the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks. Jackson Lewis, Tristian Swanson, Dallas Ross, Michael Weber, and Cal Swenson all picked up the Midwest Legend Dirt Series Presented by Legends.Direct heats. The Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified heats went to Tim Sheppard, Matthew Radtke, Nick Schultz, and Coy Vlies. Marcus Hoeppner, Dan Roedl, Brandon Schmitt, and Greg Gretz finished off the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds heat races. Jeremy Christians, Alex Crapser, Brandon Czarapata, Brandon Schmitt finished up top of the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars heats. Adam Zellmer, Cody Apfelbeck, and Rod Snellenberger picked up wins in their B-Mains.
Brian Besaw and Jerry Winkler started from the pole and second in the first feature of the night, the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks. Winkler led the field while the pack fought behind him. Kyle Genett, Dale Kreuziger, and Brian Besaw fought behind for the second place spot, with Genett coming out best. Winkler and Genett began to fight for the lead, with lap 5 being the one for Genett. Winkler came under pressure from Kreuziger and Paul Diefenthaler for the second place spot very quickly. James Fletcher broke through in the fight for one of the podium spots as the #75F began to move through the field. Fletcher worked on Winkler for second and got passed on lap ten. Caution flew after some contact between Winkler and Diefenthaler. The order reverted back to the previous lap and Genett led the field back to green. Besaw began to fight with Fletcher and used the topshelf to work around him. Besaw and Fletcher began to track down the leader, with the gap closing fast. Besaw set his sights on the lead and on lap seventeen, Besaw went high above Genett and took the lead. Brian Besaw never looked back, picking up the win on the night with Genett and Fletcher finishing behind him. Kyle Caswell and Kreuziger rounded out the top five with Justin Jacobsen taking home the hard charger spot.
The Midwest Legend Dirt Series Presented by Legends.Direct pulled onto the track next, with Charlie Spoonmore starting first and Dallas Ross starting second. Drama kicked off before the green dropped as Tim Franz’s drain plug became loose, dropping fluids all over the track. The safety crew cleaned up the fluid which left a smokescreen type of dust in the air. The green was dropped and Spoonmore got the jump in front of Ryan Mech who started behind him. The highline was moving, with Jackson Lewis and Michael Weber boogieing up there into the lead and second place by lap two. Spoonmore fell back to third with Mech and Ross right behind him. Brady Ascherien got involved in the battle, with the green #7A rolling on the topside. Jordan Miklas began his run towards the front, with the driver in second place in the championship looking to close in on the front pack and gain as many points as possible. Lewis broke into lap traffic and had a gap of over three seconds to the next car before the yellow flew for a spin in turn two. A five lap shootout ensued and Lewis led the field to the green. Weber followed behind as Miklas behind them fought his way past his Watertown, Wisconsin ally, Spoonmore, for third place. Weber stayed close, within a half-a-second, but just couldn’t get the pace to catch the leader. Jackson Lewis drove off into the night to pick up his third feature win of the season and a $400 payday along with it. Weber brought home second with Miklas third. Spoonmore finished fourth, with Ross bringing home a strong fifth place finish.
The Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified front row looked like Cole Thomas and Tim Thrun first and second. Sixth starting Matthew Radtke got a golden start, jumping into the lead by the end of the first lap. Derek Fehling, after a good run the previous night, broke into the top three, working past Thomas and setting his sights on Thrun on lap three. Coy Vlies broke into the top five after starting tenth and began to chase the rest of the field. Fehling caught up to Redtke and was on his bumper by lap seven, with Vlies slowly but significantly catching them. Battling all throughout the pack occurred but the attention was on Vlies, who worked past Fehling on lap ten. Radtke began to fade back and the top three went three-wide for the lead, with Fehling coming out with the lead on lap 11. Radtke came back at him for the lead, snatching it back but quickly came under pressure from Vlies. Caution flew with four laps to go and set up a shootout for the field. Radtke led the field back to green with Vlies and Fehling hot on his heels. Vlies flew by on lap 17 and took over the lead. Coy Vlies took home the win, Radtke came home second with Fehling in third. Elijah Koenig and Tim Sheppard rounded out the top five with Jaeden Voigt picking up the hard charger spot.
The Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds rounded out the night with Kyle Kudick starting from the pole and Jeff Schmuhl second. Schmuhl led the field through the first lap with Kudick behind. Brandon Schmitt in third came under pressure from Mike Wedelsadt for a moment before Schmitt broke free and even got past Kudick for second. Wedelstadt worked past Kudick for third and by the halfway point, Schmitt was on the back of Schmuhl before the yellow flew. Schmuhl led the field back to green and was quickly under pressure from Schmitt. Schmitt stole the lead and when Schmuhl attempted to retake the spot he failed and quickly came under fire from Benji Lacrosse. LaCrosse got past Schmuhl who then promptly had to defend from Cole Czarneski. Schmitt and LaCrosse battled for the lead momentarily but it wouldn't matter as Brandon Schmitt came home with the win, LaCrosse came second as well as the hard charger, and Schmuhl third. Czarneski came home fourth and Skyler Woods came fifth.
Timothy Warner got the draw to start on the pole of the $2,500-to-win A-main for the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, Jesse Kanas started alongside in second. Nick Buckarmaled the field through the opening lap with Warner and Aaron Stolp second and third. Kenny Richards broke through into second quickly before the red flag came out for a rolling Charlie Sancinati. Charlie would be okay but his car would not be. Buckarma led the field back to green and was quickly passed by Richard, but Buckarmawent right past him again to retake the lead. Richards followed Buckarma around the track while Devin Snellenberger slotted into third. Richards tried his luck again at the lead, and this time on lap 8, he sealed the deal. Buckarma slotted back into second while Richards began to run away. Snellenberger got to the back of Buckarma and attempted to make a move past the #12X but was unable. Stolp, Alex Crapser, Jeremy Christains, and Brandon Schmitt all went at it for the fourth place spot before the yellow flew. Richards led the field back to green with Snellenberger and Buckarma behind in that order. Christians worked past Buckarma for the third place spot but Buckarma took it back. Christians and Schmitt went past Buckarma again and this time it stuck with the pair taking over third and fourth. Christians worked around Snellenberger for second and began to chase down Richards out front but didn’t have enough time. Kenny Richards drove off into the night, picking up the $2,500 win with Christians second and Schmitt third. Snellenberger came home fourth with Brandon Czarapata fifth. Jesse Krahn took home the hard charger spot, up +13 from where he started.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action on Saturday, July 27th, when the flat track motorcycles take to the track for the first time in years. You can read about the event here.
All information on that event plus future races can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger