4/24/2024
Beaver Dam Raceway
New Season but Same Great Action at Beaver Dam Raceway
Beaver Dam, WI (April 24th, 2024) - Beaver Dam Raceway opened up its 29th season of racing with a bang this previous Tuesday night. Fans packed the stands and drivers packed the pit ready for yet another great season of racing. The track saw a lot of the same from last night, but a new program sees kids 12 and under have the ability to win a bike each night of weekly racing. This week, it was Zane Paitrick winning a bike from Brandon Schmitt, and Kenzie Theder winning a bike from Matt Reckek.
100 cars for 5 divisions of race headlined the season opener, with 18 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 26 Legends.Direct Legends, 19 Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds, 17 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 20 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
Heat races rolled off first, with 13 drivers starting the season off well picking up heat wins. Heat races for the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks went to Kenny Richards and Dale Kreuziger. Legends.Direct Legends heat races saw Payton Jones, Jordan Miklas, and Jackson Lewis take the win. Elijah Koenig, Mike Mueller, and Jim Zdroik took home the Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified heat races. The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars heat races saw Jeremy Christians and Brandon Schmitt take home heat wins. The final heat races, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, went to Noah Schepp, Jeff Schmuhl, and Dan Roedl. The Legends.Direct Legends had a B-Main, with Faith Zellmer picking up the win.
The first Tuesday night feature rolled out onto the track, with the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks having the honor of opening the season up strong. Phillip Wuesthoff and Jon Schultz started from the front row. It was an even start at the front but Schultz would get the advantage, leading at the end of lap 1. Wuesthoff ran into issues at the end of lap 2, spinning to the infield in front of the field. The battle for second heated up, as Jon Sidesky and Kenny Richards battled side-by-side for the spot, with Richards coming out on top of that battle. Dale Kreuziger caught the back of the aforementioned battle and made it a three-car fight for second. Caution flew on lap 8, as Matthew Bedker slowed to a halt out of turn four. The green flag came back out and battling commenced. Richards worked past Schultz on lap 14, using the highline’s momentum to shoot past. Kreuziger would eventually make his way past Sidesky on lap 15, which allowed James Fletcher to move past Sidesky as well. Kenny Richards would have pressure from Schultz for the rest of the race, but it wasn’t enough, as Richards took home the win in the season opener. Schultz and Kreuziger rounded out the podium with Fletcher and Sidesky the rest of the top 5. Fletcher took the hard-charger award, up 13 spots from his starting 17th position.
The Legends.Direct Legends pulled out onto the track for their feature next, with Lilly Fassbender and Payton Jones starting on the front row. Jones got the jump and pulled in front of the field before taking a bit too much turn into turns 3 and 4 and looping it in front of the field, collecting Adam Zellmer. While both drivers were okay, both cars were very much not okay and forced the tow staff to do some work. Racing got back underway with Hunter Cardinal and Eric Blumer on the front row. Cardinal took the early lead before a three-wide battle began with Cardinal, Jordan Miklas, and Jackson Lewis all going for the lead. Lewis and Miklas would make quick work of Cardinal and go at it with each other, with Lewis taking the top spot. Colton Utley and Blumer would go at it for a lap before Utley set his sights on Cardinal, making the move past him on lap 6 but quickly falling back to fifth after a mistake. The battle for the lead would continue with Miklas throwing everything he had at the #7L of Lewis. Lap traffic spiced up the fight for the lead, with Miklas using a lapped car as a pick to get past Lewis, but Lewis stayed strong and retook the lead. Caution would fly on lap 14, as Art Hahn would run into issues. The battle for the lead would resume with 7 laps to go, but two yellows would slow the battle down. Jackson Lewis stayed strong on the restarts, picking up his first feature win at Beaver Dam Raceway. Miklas and Utley finished second and third, with Blumer and Ryan Sullivan the rest of the top 5. Brady Ascherien, Charlie Spoonmore, and Faith Zellmer shared the hard-charger spot, all up 9 spots from where they started.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars pulled out next, with Matt Rechek and Russ Davison on the front row. Recheck, who won in a midget just 4 days prior at Beaver Dam Raceway, started off strong, leading at the end of lap 1. Davison and Brandon Schmitt stayed hot on Rechek’s heels, with last season’s IMCA Modified Champion Schmitt racing past Rechek on lap 4. The caution came out on lap 9 for a spin from the #9 of Dustin Ward. Fighting got back underway once the green flag flew with drivers all over the track going at it before another yellow flew. Singlefile restarts ensued as Rechek began to close on the leader Schmitt, with the Madman Rechek putting his car where others wouldn’t and pressuring Schmitt until his engine said sayonara, ending his night early. The green flag flew once again with Schmitt the leader while a war was waged behind, with Davison holding off Alex Crapser in third and Jeremy Christians in fourth. Chaos unfolded on lap 18, as a three-car accident led to Karly Stadler ending her night upside down. The green would fly once again as Schmitt began to drive away from the field again, with the battle for second going again. Christians would work past Davison before Davison would spin to the infield, ending his night. Brandon Schmitt picked up his first win of the season in his brand-new ride, with Christians second, Crapser third, Charlie Sancinati fourth, and Cole Czarneski fifth, also picking up the hard-charger spot, up 5 spots.
It was time for the Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds to take to the track next, with Austin Zdroik and Mike Mueller holding down the front row. Mueller got the advantage and took the race lead, with A. Zdroik in second and Ryan Kuehn in third. Yellow would fly for a stranded Geoff Zdroik. Mueller led the field back to green, but it was Kuehn who powered through to take the lead. Elijah Koenig moved into the third spot, and quickly second as he swept past Mueller and began to chase down the leader. Meanwhile, a fight for fifth ensued, with Jacob Rens and Mitchell Fairbank going at it with each other before Colton See snuck by both of them and into fifth. Koenig pressured Kuehn until lap 12, where he saw a gap and went for it, taking over the race lead. A yellow came out on lap 15, which brought the field back together and made for an exciting last 5 laps. The fight for the win would resume, but it was See who caught the eyes, as he broke through into third. Elijah Koenig drove off into the dark night, picking up where he left off last season, picking up his first win of the season. Kuehn came home second, with the hard-charger, See, up 9 spots, finishing third. Mueller and A. Zdroik rounded out the top 5.
The final feature pulled out onto the track ready to go, with Dan Roedl and Jeff Schmuhl starting on the front row of the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified feature. Schmuhl took the early lead with Roedl falling back to second. Cody Apfelbeck and Dave Schoenberger swapped the third-place spot before a yellow flew. Schmuhl led the field back to green but Roedl quickly retook the lead. Brandon Schmitt, hot off the Stock Car win, began to catch the back of the front pack and began to pick off cars left and right. Schmitt made his way into second by lap 14. Jayden Schmidt, not to be overshadowed by the other Schmitt, was working his way through the pack from his thirteenth starting spot, making quick work of Apfelbeck and Schmuhl on lap 18 for third. Dan Roedl never looked back, picking up the win on the night. Schmitt finished the night off with a second, and Schmidt finished third, picking up the hard-charger, up 10 spots. Apfelbeck and Schmuhl rounded out the top 5 in the final race of the night.
Racing is set to resume in just 1 week, on April 30th, for another night of weekly racing. All information on future races and the upcoming season can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
