7/10/2024
Beaver Dam Raceway
Fantastic Racing for Fan Appreciation Night
Beaver Dam, WI (July 10th, 2024) - If getting into the grandstands for free wasn’t enough for people, the fans at Beaver Dam Raceway were treated to some exciting racing on another night of weekly racing. Thanks to N&S Towing, all general grandstand tickets were free. Fans were also treated to a meet and great before the night started, with many of the cars racing later in the night at the top of the hill, showing off and providing goodies to the fans. Thanks to Professional Rehab and Ryan Sullivan as well as Brandon Paitrick, two lucky fans went home with a brand-new bike as well.
107 cars made the trip on a cloudy Tuesday night with 14 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 20 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, 20 Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds, 22 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, and 31 Legends.Direct Legends.
Heat races for the night went to James Fletcher and Dale Kreuziger in the EK Machine Unified Street Stock heats; N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heat races saw Jeremy Christians, Jeff Steenbergen, and Cole Czarneski picking up wins; Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified heat races were won by Dakota Johnson, Nick Schultz, and Tim Sheppard; Brandon Schmitt, Mike Schmuhl, and Dave Schoenberger picked up the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified heats; the final heats of the night for the Legends.Direct Legends went to Hunter Cardinal, Colton Utley, Payton Jones, and Michael Weber, with Jackson Lewis picking up the win in the B-Main.
The EK Machines Unified Street Stocks pulled onto the track first for their feature with T.J. Reichenberger starting from the pole and Jerry Winkler second. Winkler got the jump while Dustin Schwandt moved into second right away. Reichenberger fell back to third and quickly came under pressure from Dale Kreuziger. Kreuziger worked past Reichenberger and set his sights forward on Schwandt. Kreuziger got around Schwandt on lap 12 and continued his charge. Jon Schultz and James Fletcher battled with Schwandt for third and fourth, both getting past the #26S within a few laps. Kreuziger tried his best to catch Winkler but just couldn’t and for the first time in 2024, Jerry Winkler picked up his first feature win of the season. Kreuziger and Fletcher rounded out the top three with Fletcher up +7 spots and the hard-charger.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car feature was next, and Mike Klenz got the draw to start on pole with Karly Stadler alongside. Klenz led the field through the first few laps. Eric Arneson and Jeremy Christians found themselves second and third before the first yellow. A good restart for Klenz meant he kept the lead but not for long, as Christians ripped the lip and broke past the #77 for the lead. Jeff Steenbergen was looking at the third-place spot and worked past Klenz on lap 6 for second. A few yellows delayed the racing a bit, but on the eventual single file restart, Christians got the jump with Steenbergen still in tow. Cole Czarneski was closing on the leaders before some more yellow flags flew in the air. Christians would get a commanding restart but was quickly pulled in by Steenbergen, who on lap 16, made his move into the lead. Christians came right back at him and retook the lead 2 laps later. A third win of the season was waiting for Jeremy Christians, while Steenbergen and Czarneski took home second and third. Almost poetically, the N&S Towing sponsored driver Charlie Sancinati took home the hard-charger spot up +8 spots.
The Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified feature saw Tim Sheppard at the point and Dakota Johnson second. Johnson led the field through lap 1. Sheppard kept the pressure on and on lap 2 made the move past for the lead. Geoff Zdroik pressured Johnson for the second spot and moved past on lap 4. Austin Zdroik and Elijah Koenig battled for fourth as Koenig charged towards the front. Koenig worked past A. Zdroik on lap 9, and quickly turned his attention to the front pack who had somewhat broken away. Johnson got swarmed by Koenig and Colton See, with Koenig now third and See fourth. Koenig got his car out of sorts and fell back allowing See to take and keep the third spot before the yellow flew. See made quick work of Sheppard on the restart moving into the lead. Sheppard moved back to second with G. Zdroik still third. Nick Schultz began to make some moves, bursting into third on lap 17. Schultz moved past Sheppard for second but didn’t have enough time to chase down Colton See, who picked up his first win of the season. Schultz came home second with Sheppard third, while the top two both moved +9 spots and were the hard-chargers. A very rare authors shoutout goes to Jaedan Voigt, who got himself upside down in the first heat race, managed to get the car back together for the feature, and pulled off a tenth-place finish, an incredible feat of tenacity.
Steve Mueller started on the pole of the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds feature with Dan Jung in second. Trouble struck immediately as Jung got himself spun around in turns one and two, bringing out the yellow. Mueller led the field back to green with Don Scheffler and Dave Schoenberger second and third. Noah Schepp moved past Schoenberger for third before Skyler Woods moved into the third spot. Schepp began to fall down the order again as Jeff Schmuhl and Brandon Schmitt began to close in on the podium. Passes low, high, through the middle, and even slide jobs all made the battle for the final podium spot a thrill, with three of the best going at it for third, fourth, and fifth. Lapped traffic would get involved and cause some chaos allowing Schmuhl to break away a little but out front, Steve Mueller drove off into the night, picking up the win. Scheffler came home second with Schmuhl in third. Schmuhl and Schmitt both charged +7 positions earning them the hard-charger spot.
It was Faith Zellmer who led the final feature of the night to green in the Legends.Direct Legends, Art Hahn started in second. Zellmer got the jump and led the field through lap one. Caution would fly early in the race which cut Zellmer’s lead. Zellmer’s lead wouldn’t last long on the restart as her brother, Adam Zellmer, surged through to the lead while the #17F fell back even more after getting passed for second by Michael Weber. A rookie mistake from seasoned veteran Griffin McGrath brought out the second caution of the night as he pirouetted out of the final corner. Adam Zellmer led the field back to green and quickly came under pressure from Michael Weber and Jackson Lewis. Now Lewis fighting for the lead is nothing new, but Jackson came all the way back from twentieth position on the start. Weber and Lewis made the pass for the lead and second place quickly and got to battling with each other. The two Legends.Direct cars went wheel to wheel multiple times before Weber fell back after trying the highline. Behind them, Adam Zellmer, Ryan Sullivan, and Hayden Schmuhl began to dice it up, all getting past Weber after his mistake. After twenty laps, Jackson Lewis once again found victory lane once again and took the hard-charger spot, up a staggering +19 spots. Sullivan brought home second with Schmuhl third.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action right away for the rescheduled night two of the Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial with the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars and Midwest Legends Dirt Series on July 10th. The pit gates will open at 2:00pm with the grandstands opening at 4:00pm. On track action begins at 6:30pm with hot laps and qualifying, and racing is set to commence at 7:30pm.
For more information about future events visit Beaver Dam Raceway’s website at wismotorsports.net.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
