4/26/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Cold Temps Doesn't Stop Great Racing at Beaver Dam Raceway
Beaver Dam, WI (4/27/2023) - Cold weather and previous rain couldn't keep the stars and cars of Beaver Dam Raceway away. With a good amount of rain during the previous weekend and a few sprinkles on Monday, track crews made sure the track was in great condition for racing.
86 cars would register with the biggest news being the 18 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, who would all be duking it out for a prize of $750 for the win. 19 Legends.direct Legends, 17 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 15 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 17 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds would also line the pits ready for battle.
Racing would get underway with 11 heat races for the 86 cars. Phillip Wuesthoff and Jesse Krahn would win in the Street Stocks. Scott Busch, Adam Zellmer, and Eric Blumer would bring home checkers from the Legend heats. Skyler Woods and Tim Sheppard would win the SportMod heats. Tim Warner and Kenny Richards would share the Stock Car heat wins. And finally, Andy Voigt and Mike Schmuhl would win the Modified heats.
The $750 to win EK Machine Unified Street Stock feature would be up first with opening nights winner in the 55K Jesse Krahn on the front row with Manitowoc’s Paul Diefenthaler alongside him. The race would go green off the start and Diefenthaler would take the lead in the early stages of the race. Krahn would fall back allowing Presley Harrington in the 24H to move up into second and chase down Diefenthaler. After a good battle with the leader, Harrington would fall back and be under pressure from Krahn before a yellow flag came out on lap fifteen for a slow car on track. Diefenthaler would bring the field back to green with five laps to go, all while the 55K and the 24H were breathing down his neck. A battle would commence for the final two podium spots with Larry Richards, Jason White, Jesse Krahn, Josh McDonald, and Presley Harrington all fighting. Diefenthaler would not let the late caution ruin his night, bringing the 35D to victory lane $750 richer with the late charging 11R of Larry Richards and 1X of Jason White second and third.
The Legends.direct Legends would be the second feature on track and with 19 cars, it was set to be a good feature. The Cuba City, WI driver in the 71B of Scott Busch would start from the pole with the 117A of Adam Zellmer to his outside. Zellmer would start well and take the lead at the end of lap one. Battles in the pack would be interrupted by the 57 of Caden Reisdorf spinning down the back straightaway causing a yellow. Zellmer would fire off once again on the drop of the green with the 88 of Austin Winkel behind him, and multiple cars racing for third, even going three wide at points. Zellmer was out in front when a mistake in turn 2 caused him to slow and lose eight spots before regaining control and driving back off allowing the 88 of Winkel to lead. The 88 of Winkel, 44J of Jordan Miklas, and 8 of Michael Weber would all fight for the lead before the 88 would spin, lose the lead, and cause another yellow. The 44J of Jordan Miklas, this year's season opener winner would lead them back to green for a few laps before the 57 would spin again and pull off the track. Miklas would have two laps to defend from challenges from the 8W and 71B. Miklas would be able to keep the lead and bring the 44J to victory lane for the second time this season with Weber and Busch rounding out the podium.
The Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMod feature would pull onto the track next with Beaver Dam’s very own Skyler Woods in the 32X on the pole with the party man, Greenfield’s Ryan Mech in the 29M second. Woods would pace the field at the drop of the green but immediately a yellow would come out for the 51 of Jared Apel and 84 of Mark Hoeppner getting tangled. A complete restart would follow with Woods once again bettering the field and driving into the sunset before another caution on lap three for a spun car. Woods would fire off well again and lead while fighting the 7S of Nick Schultz who was up from his eighth place starting spot. The 18Z of Geoff Zdroik would run out of luck while tiptoeing the top and spun out causing the final caution of the race. Woods would, yet again, put his foot to the floor and speed away into the Beaver Dam night and earn his first win of the season with the 7S of Schultz and 1K of Elijah Koenig joining him on the podium.
The second to last feature of the night would see the 57 of John Heinz and the 10 of Karly Stadler hold down the front row of the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars feature. Stadler would start well and lead but quickly got tracked down by the 48 of Roger Frank, the 29P of Brandon Paitrick, and the 12P of Tim Paitrick before a yellow slowed the field down. The field would fight from the moment the green was thrown again with three and four wide throughout the pack but it would be the 03W of Tim Warner who would come out victorious winning the race of attrition with the 6Z of Jim Zdroik second and 19S of Aaron Stolp third.
The final feature of the night, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds would see an all Schepp front row, with Jeff in the 63 on the pole and 89S of Noah alongside. The green would fly on the final feature but be quickly canceled out by a tangle in turn one causing a caution. A full restart would see the 89S pull away from the dogfight that was the pack behind him. The 20 of Brandon Schmitt was on a charge from his tenth starting spot before two quick yellows saw 6 cars involved. The green would fly and Schmitt would make quick work of Noah Schepp making his way past on lap 11 before the 89S would be forced to the infield due to a car issue. Schmitt would pick up his first win of the season with a hard charging Mike Mullen and Kelsy Hayes right behind him.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action next Tuesday, May 2nd with a regular, 5 class show. Before then, on April 29th, there will be an open practice throughout the day. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
