7/30/2024
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Thiel and Myers Jr Victorious in Wisconsin Double Header
Thiel and Myers Jr Victorious in Wisconsin Double Header
On Friday, the 8th annual Harry Neitzel tribute took place at the “Horsepower Half Mile” of the Dodge County Fairgrounds. Scotty Thiel would go quicktime with a 16.748 seconds. Heat race winners belonged to Scotty Thiel, Logan Julien, and Jake Blackhurst. Dashes were won by Jake Neuman and Scotty Thiel.
The green would drop and the “Cheese Wagon” would take flight and rip to the lead. The battle would be behind the 73 as the 2w and would exchange Neuman for third. The race was green for Thiel as the 73 would continue to seamlessly weave around traffic with 10 laps complete. Blackhurst and Goldesberry would compete for a top spot as the halfway home signal was thrown from the flagstand. It was still Netizel trying to catch up to Thiel. Thiel had managed an 8 second lead on the rest of the field until the caution would wave for the Aukland, New Zealand native of Max Guilford with 5 laps remaining.
With 5 laps remaining, it was Thiel, Neitzel, Neuman, Goldesberry, and Schlafer. The green would drop as this would be the only opportunity for some to catch race-long leader Scotty Thiel. Thiel would lead the field around the Dodge County Fairgrounds and seal the deal on a perfect sweep of the night. Neitzel would finish second, and Jake Neuman would round out the podium.
In an article on scottythiel.com Thiel stated, ““I really didn’t realize how good we were on Friday until the night came to a close. Looking back, we’ve put together a really sound package for Dodge County and it definitely showed this weekend.”
The series continued into their weekend at the Plymouth Dirt Track in Plymouth Wisconsin where 28 Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints checked in. Max Guilford was fastest in Hot Laps and Jake Blackhurst was fastest in qualifying as the only driver able to break in the 11 second bracket (11.882). Heat races were won by Jake Neuman, Blake Nimee, and Scott Neitzel. Dashes were won by Danny Schlafer and Jake Neuman.
At the drop of the green, Danny Schlafer would jump to the early lead. The 25 would take to the cushion and not look back. Blackhurst and Neitzel would battle behind the 25 for second just as Schlafer would hit lap traffic. Soon after, the 10W of Reinke would draw out our red flag. He would walk away from the scene. When we go back green with 28 to go, it would be the 25, 3N, 96, 2W, and the 79. When we went back to green, Schlafer would continue to lead the way, Nimee would pass Neitzel for 4th in turns three and four as the 19 of Myers Jr would make his way into 5th. 24 laps remained for Schlafer at the flagstand as he continued to weave through traffic. All action would come to a complete stop as the 25 of Schlafer would flip into the turn 1 wall and into the catch fence. He was able to walk away from the scary scene.
At the green, it would be Neuman, Blackhurst, and Myers Jr with 19 laps to go. Neuman would tick away four laps and receive the halfway home sign. With 11 laps remaining, Neuman would slow to a stop in turn 3. Blackhurst would resume the lead followed by Myers Jr, Guilford, Julien, and Nimee. Nimee would grab 4th from Julien just before our final caution with 5 laps to go.
It would be a 5 lap shoot out for the win for round three of the Hopf Farms bullring showdown. Nimee would be the first to try to grab the lead on the restart and try to go third to first but was unsuccessful. Myers Jr with three laps to go would grab the lead in turn four. He would count down the laps and take home the win. Nimee would take second, Max Guilford third.
The series takes these next two weekends off to allow teams to compete at the Knoxville Nationals. Good luck to all the teams competing.
The series are back in action August 17th at the Wilmot Raceway for the Kenosha County Fair, as well as Sunday August 18th at Angell Park Speedway for Cornfest. Watch the action live on FloRacing.
Article Credit: Madeline "Chatty Madi" Schultz
Submitted By: Madeline Schultz
