6/19/2024
Beaver Dam Raceway
Beaver Dam Back with a Bang
Beaver Dam, WI (June 19th, 2024) - After nearly one month off of weekly racing at Beaver Dam Raceway due to numerous rainouts, the stars and cars of Tuesday nights returned with a bang with a fantastic show. A night that had been postponed once before, salute to service night saw heroes from all around descend on Beaver Dam Raceway for a thrilling night of racing on the house.
88 cars packed the pits with 18 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 12 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, 21 Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds, 17 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, and 23 Legends.Direct Legends ready to do battle.
Heat races started the night off with Dale Kreuziger and Russ Davison picking up wins in the EK Machine Unified Street Stock heats; N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heat races saw Dustin Ward and Jeremy Christians win; Tim Thrun, Mike Mueller, and Dakota Johnson picked up the Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds heat races; Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified heats were won by Dan Roedl, Skyler Woods, and Brandon Schmitt; the Legends.Direct Legend heats went to Hayden Schmuhl, Jordan Miklas, and Jackson Lewis.
Russ Davison and Jonathan Persha led the field to green in the EK Machine Unified Street Stock feature. Davison got the jump on the field and led at the end of lap one. TJ Reichenberger moved into the third-place spot fast while Davison and Persha grew the gap to the rest of the field. It was a battle of the #25 with Davison in the #25P the leader being pressured by Persha in the #25JR. Phillip Wuesthoff in his #99 made the move past Persha on lap five to move into the second position and quickly went to work on the race leader. Josh McDonald got involved in the battle for the lead after getting past Persha in third, quickly pulling up to the back bumpers of the front two. The caution flew on lap eight which brought the pack back together. Davison brought the field back to green but it was chaos on the restart with cars everywhere. Wuesthoff made the most of the restart and surged past Davison on lap nine, taking the lead. A good show of sportsmanship occurred when McDonald got into James Fletcher mid-race, sending the #75F spinning. McDonald tapped out, taking blame for the incident and falling to the back which allowed Fletcher to take his spot back on the restart. Wuesthoff led the field back to racing and it quickly became a battle for second, with Hoeppner, Fletcher, and Persha all going at it. Fletcher drove past Hoeppner on lap thirteen, taking the second-place spot with ease. Hoeppner didn’t allow Fletcher to run away, keeping the #75F honest the remainder of the race. Still, Fletcher bested him on lap nineteen to keep the spot. Phillip Wuesthoff however bested all the field, picking up the feature win in commanding fashion, three seconds in front of anyone else. Fletcher and Hoeppner rounded out the podium with the hard-charger being Fletcher, up +13 spots from his starting position.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car feature pulled onto the track with Karly Stadler and Tim Paitrick on the front row. Paitrick got the jump and led at the end of lap one. Heat winner Jeremy Christians charged by both drivers to pick up the lead at the end of lap two. Matt Rechek and Cole Czarneski diced it up for the final podium spots early along with Paitrick and Stadler but left the two in the dust. Rechek moved past Czarneski on lap five, setting his sights on the lead. Brandon Schmitt rode the rail to move into the fourth-place spot and looked as if he was going to chase down the front-pack but never got close, having to defend from Alex Crapser instead. Jeremy Christians drove off into the night and picked up the win with Rechek and Czarneski second and third, the hard-charger in the feature was Crapser and Brandon Paitrick, both up +6 spots.
Tim Thrun and Dakota Johnson found themselves on the front row of the Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified feature. Johnson led the field at the end of lap one as the caution came out and a complete restart ensued. On the second attempt, Mike Mueller broke through momentarily to lead a lap before Cole Slezewski snatched it from him. Geoff Zdroik moved into the third-place spot and then second by lap five. Zdroik began chasing down Slezewski but attention turned to a moving Elijah Koenig. The 2023 track champion and winner just a few days ago on the weekend burst into the top three and began to reel in the top two like a fisherman on a rainy morning on Fox Lake. His charge was cut short as the caution flew on lap nine. Slezewski led the field back to green but quickly fell to Koenig who broke through on lap eleven on the highline. Nick Schultz moved into the third position after starting tenth and made quick work of Slezewski for the second-place spot. Schultz then turned attention to Koenig before the caution flew. Koenig led the field through a single-file restart and quickly had a slide job thrown on him for the lead by Schultz. Koenig turned down under him and slid him in turns one and two to retake the lead while Schultz recharged and went for a highline move on lap sixteen, not being able to get it done. Schultz pressured Koenig for the remaining laps but it wasn’t enough and Elijah Koenig drove off to pick up the win with Schultz and Slezewski picking up podiums. Mitchell Fairbank took the hard-charger spot from his twenty-first starting spot, wrapping up the night +15 in sixth.
The Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds pulled out onto the raceway next with Dan Jung and Mike Schmuhl on the front row. The green flag flew and Schmuhl got the jump but quickly fell to Skyler Woods who took the lead down the back straight on lap one. Caution flew on lap three for a spun car in turns three and four. Woods led the field back to green and went to the top to run from the field. A battle ensued behind him as Schmuhl held on to the second-place spot for his life, making his #14S wide before stepping on it and looping himself in turn two, bringing out the yellow. Woods once again led the field to green, this time with Cole Czarneski and Dan Roedl behind. Czarneski began keeping Woods honest, staying within a half-second of the #32X, but he quickly learned sitting around was not his M.O. Czarneski got close to Woods and whipped out a pretty vicious slider on him on lap nine but got turned under by Woods. Woods kept the lead and switched to the top. Skyler Woods never looked back, blasting past lapped traffic all the way to the double checkereds to pick up the win, with Czarneski and Roedl finishing out the podium, Czarneski also took home the hard-charger, up +10 on the night.
The final feature of the night, the Legends.Direct Legends pulled onto the track with Lilly Fassbender and Talyn Neuman on the front row. The green flew and so did Neuman, taking the lead for a moment before Hayden Schmuhl and Charlie Spoonmore swept by. Schmuhl and Spoonmore swapped the lead back and forth while the #7L of Jackson Lewis began making his weekly charge through the field. Lewis was bringing championship rival Jordan Miklas with him as they cut through the field towards the leaders. They made it to the back of the front three right as Adam Zellmer began to make his move towards the front, making it a five-car battle for the lead. Lapped traffic played a big factor as Spoonmore got held up and Schmuhl was able to break away. Somewhere within the first eight laps, something happened to Lewis’ front bumper which dislodged his front bar, remember that as it will be important later on. Lewis set his sights on Schmuhl, closing in on him fast and mounting his charge to the front. Spoonmore battled with Zellmer for the final podium spot before Miklas sped by both of them for third, heading towards the front two. Lewis got to the back of the #59S right as trouble struck Cal Swenson, bringing out the yellow. Now according to the INEX RuleBook which is what Beaver Dam Raceway follows for the legend division, “A car must compete with both bumpers that are not in contact with the track or considered in a dangerous position or condition by Track Officials at any time. If any of these conditions are not met, Track Officials may black flag the car.” Now unfortunately for Lewis, track officials noticed his front bumper bar was knocked askew and deemed it dangerous, calling him off the track and ending his night early, which for the #7L is truly a tough break situation. Schmuhl led the field back to green and quickly learned that Lewis was not the only scary fast driver in the field, Miklas was as well. The #44J stalked the bumper of Schmuhl for a few laps before the yellow flew and stacked the field back together. A three-lap sprint ensued with Schmuhl leading the way. A two-car battle ensued for the lead with Schmuhl and Miklas dueling it out for the win. A slider from Miklas started it out, which Schmuhl turned under and kept the lead heading into lap nineteen. Another slider sent by Miklas was turned under by Schmuhl but this time, through turns three and four, Miklas got a bit of encouragement by way of a swift bump in the rear from a new player in the battle, Glenn Mitchell. Schmuhl led at the white flag but Miklas was strong up top, taking the lead from Schmuhl through turns one and two. Schmuhl looked like he had one move left in him through turns three and four, but showed his experience and held behind Miklas. Jordan Miklas crossed the line to win his first race in weekly action this year, take over the points lead, and take a hard-charger performance home, up +10 positions. Schmuhl took the second-place spot with Mitchell taking home a late race third-place finish.
The Mid Season Championship is up next, on June 25th. The pits will open at 4:00pm, with the grandstands opening at 4:30pm. Racing is slated to start at 6:30pm sharp. All information on future races can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
