5/17/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Weber Pockets $500 In National Legends Qualifier, New Winners Throughout The Night
Beaver Dam, WI (5/17/2023) - Micheal Weber won a chaotic national legends qualifier event to earn a big payday. Drivers in the other classes also secured their first wins of the season as the racing season is well and truly underway.
A season high 111 cars filled the pits with 17 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks. 23 Legends.direct Legends who would compete for $500, 24 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 20 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 27 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
15 heat races made up the start of the night with Mark Baker, Jon Schultz, and Jason White taking home the Street Stock heats. The Legend heats were won by Griffin McGrath, Jordan Miklas, and Michael Weber. Checkered flags would be awarded to Jeff Steenbergen, Jimmy Berkevich, and Skyler Woods for the SportMod heats. Aaron Stolp, Cole Czarneski, and Kenny Richards won the stock car heats. And the Modified heats would be won by Dan Roedl, Jeff Schepp, and Jeff Schmuhl. The Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds would have their first B-Main of the season which would see Mike Schmuhl battle his way to the front and win.
The first A-Main of the night would see the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks take to the track with the 7 of Chris Peterson and the 3R of Jacob Rens on the front row. Rens would jump to the lead for a few laps before the only yellow of the race would come out for a spun car. The race would restart with 3R in the lead and the 11X of Jon Schultz right behind. Rens would launch well but be chased down by the 55K of Jesse Krahn. Krahn, who started from the eighth spot, used the high lines momentum to rocket past Rens on lap eight to the lead. Krahn wouldn’t look back as he took his first win of the season, while Jon Schultz and James Fletcher in the 75F finished behind him.
The second feature of the night was the legends.direct $500 to win, legends feature. Brady Ascherien and Cal Swenson found themselves on the front row of the feature. The green flag would wave but would be short lived as three consecutive incidents would cause some chaos. The first yellow would happen out of turn two as the 45 of Hunter Cardinal went around. It would also see the 59S of Hayden Schmuhl have issues down in turn three resulting in an early end to his night, saying, “It’s $500 to win and everyones driving like idiots.” The second incident would see another yellow as the 57 of Caden Reisdorf spun in turn two as well. The final incident would see a red flag, as out of turn two a multi-car wreck claimed a few more cars. The 19X of Cal Swenson, 51F of Tim Franz, 76 of Mark Wellman, and 95M of Mike Mueller all found themselves involved in the incident. When the field got going again, race control made the call, the next yellow or red and the race would be over, it’s either twenty laps green or the next flag would end it. This made for a sense of urgency as all the drivers knew it was go time. The green flag was flown once again and it was Ascherien who got the good start. Adam Zellmer in the 117A would pester him for a few laps as well as the 8W of Michael Weber. Ascherien would fall back and it would be the 117A and 8W’s battle. The 64 of Griffin McGrath and 44J of Jordan Miklas would come and challenge the top two cars and make it a four-wide battle for the lead. The race would end on lap twelve as McGrath got out of shape forcing him down the track to get out of the way and the 7A of Ascherien would have nowhere to go, hitting the 64 and ending the race. Michael Weber in the 8W would pick up the win, $500, and national points as Griffin McGrath and Jordan Miklas scored second and third.
The Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods feature was the third of the night and it saw the 27 of Jim Tate Jr and 3M of Mike Mueller on the front row. The 3M was dialed in and led at the end of lap one but the 27 of JTJ was not letting him run away that easily. Mueller found an opportunity to run as the 29R of Ryan Kuehn started to race for second. A yellow would fly for a spun car, restacking the field as they got ready to go green again. Mueller led the field back to the green and got back underway shortly but another yellow would fly. Mueller once again led the field back to green as Woods and Kuehn fought behind him. Woods and Kuehn would fight and not be aware of a charging 1X of Elijah Koenig surging behind them. Lap traffic would play a factor as Woods slipped by Mueller for the lead on lap fourteen. Koenig would challenge the 3M for second until a spin caused a yellow with three laps to go. Woods would keep the lead on the restart but the 1X would throw the kitchen sink at him vying for the lead. Koenig would try one last time in turns three and four on the final lap to pass Woods, throwing it low, allowing him to get alongside and past Woods, stealing the win in the final corner. Woods would come home a disappointing second and Jeff Steenbergen third.
Feature number four saw Cole Czarneski in the 21CZ on the pole with Tim Paitrick alongside him for the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars. The 21CZ would lead the field to green and get a good start while the 12P of Paitrick chased him down. The K9 of Tyler Wilson got into the mix before a yellow came out for a car spun in turn three. Czarneski would lead the field back to green but the K9 would be right on his bumper forcing him into a mistake and sweeping by for the lead as Czarneski fell down the order. The 9R of Kenny Richards would find his way up to second and fight for the lead with Wilson for a handful of laps before making the move to the lead. The 9R would not see any other challengers as Kenny Richards took his first win of the season followed by Tyler Wilson and Aaron Stolp.
The final race of the night, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds feature would take to the track with an all Jeff front row with Jeff Schepp and Jeff Schmuhl the front row. Schmuhl would get a good start but a spun car would bring out the first yellow of the race. Schmuhl would launch well but the outside line was working as the 21CZ, of Cole Czarneski, fresh from the Stock Car feature, tried sweeping by the 11S of Schmuhl for first. Schmuhl and Czarneski would swap the top spot back and forth for numerous laps. Lap traffic would come and go as well as other challengers but it was still the 11S and the 21CZ at the front. Dan Roedl would make a move on Czarneski for second allowing Schmuhl to run away with the win as Roedl finished second and Czarneski third. In victory lane, the driver of the 11S was ecstatic about his win, “After all me and this team have been through recently since getting this mod, this feels great!”
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action next Tuesday, May 23rd with a regular, 5 class show. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway
Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
