7/20/2024
Beaver Dam Raceway
Schmitt Pockets $2,500 in Barn Burner
Beaver Dam, WI (July 20th, 2024) - Brandon Schmitt proved to be the best of the best as he surged through to pick up a $2,500 payday during Beaver Dam Raceway’s Stock Car Twin 25’s Night One. While the action in the stock car class was exciting, the other divisions racing put on their own shows.
The first night of racing for the weekend saw 115 cars fill the pits, with 17 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 18 Sorce Services Grand Nationals, 27 Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds, 27 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, and 26 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars ready to do battle.
Heat races and B-Mains set the stage for the A-Mains later in the night. EK Machines Unified Street Stock heat races went to Dale Kreuziger, Kyle Caswell, and Kyle Genett. Heat races for the Sorce Services Grand Nationals went to Brad Weiss and Dustin Weiss. The Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified heat races saw Coy Vlies, Jaeden Voigt, Jim Zdroik, and Ryan Kuehn pick up the wins. The heats for the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds went to Cody Apfelbeck, Cole Czarneski, Dave Schoenberger, and Noah Schepp. The main card class for the night, the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars heat races were won by Jeff Mueller, Jared Siefert, Tyler Wilson, and Trent Nolan. Jared Apel and Geoff Jeche picked up B-Main wins in their respective classes.
The EK Machines Unified Street Stocks started the features off with Brandon Mertes and Phillip Wuesthoff starting on the front row. A chaotic start ended with Wuesthoff getting the jump on the field. Wuesthoff got a good restart after a yellow but the battle behind got good, with Ryan Sullivan, Kenny Richards, and Dale Kreuziger going three-wide for second. Richards got the best of them and began to chase down Wuesthoff before the yellow flew again. Richards broke through on the restart for a moment before Wuesthoff throttled by him again on the middle line. Richards surged through again just in time for the yellow to fly. Richards led the field back to green with a great restart, breaking away from the pack. Kyle Genett and Mertes got some screen time on DirtVision for their battle for fourth, but attention went up front to Kenny Richards, who almost started his feature night off well with a win before drama struck. On the white flag, as Richards came out of turn four, an issue with his car caused him to start dropping fluids on the track and bring out the yellow. Wuesthoff inherited the lead with Kreuziger right behind. Phillip Wuesthoff would stay strong and take home the win with Kreuziger second and Genett third. James Fletcher would charge his way up 10 spots on the night to finish fourth with Mertes fifth.
Making another one of their appearances at the track this season, the Sorce Services Grand Nationals pulled onto the track next, with Nick Schumacher and Brad Weiss on the pole and second. Schumacher got the jump on the field with Jeff Richards breaking through into second quickly. Schumacher and Richards went to war with each other for the next twelve laps, swapping sliders and trading paint back and forth before Richards was able to jump ahead before the yellow flew. Richards led the field back to green followed by Schumacher and TJ Smith. Richards got the jump with Smith taking second and Schumacher third. The #14X of Will Sorce started to track down Schumacher for third and made the move past him on lap 13. Source set his sights on Smith for second but came under pressure from Aaron Streblow. The three of them battled for second while Jeff Richards ran away with the win. Streblow came away with second and Sorce third after a slip up from Smith put him back to fourth, Weiss took home fifth. Todd Ascherien picked up the hard charger spot up 7 positions.
Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds were up next with Derek Fehling and Nick Schultz first and second. Fehling got the jump with Schultz staying in second to pressure him. Quick yellows would follow with Fehling continuing to lead. It would take three yellows for Schultz to get a lap to count, with the #7S breaking through on lap 9 for the lead. Coy Vlies broke into the top three after starting ninth and began to close in on Fehling. Schultz got his first chance to lead the field back to green after another caution flew. Vlies went back to work on Fehling for a moment before Elijah Koenig snuck by. Koenig had a few looks at Fehling before Vlies came back for revenge. Vlies went low on lap 14 and got by the 2023 track champion Koenig. He set his sights forward before the yellow flew once again. Schultz led the pack back to green as Vlies slipped by Fehling for second. Nick Schultz would not be challenged again and went on to pick up the win with Vlies, Fehling, Geoff Zdroik, and Craig Dorner the top 5. Cole Thomas was up 14 spots from his starting spot and was the hard charger.
The second to last feature of the night, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, pulled onto the track with Trent Wyssbrod the pole sitter, and Jeff Schmuhl on his outside. Schmuhl tends to do a lot of talking and joking around, but he decided to put his money where his mouth is on the start and rocket shipped away from the field. Wyssbrod held onto second before Skyler Woods broke by. Brandon Schmitt, who was running in fourth, almost spun into Cole Czarneski but was able to save it and keep the race green. The green didn’t last that long after that as it flew for a stopped car in turn four a few laps later. Woods jumped to the top on one of the few restarts after some cautions and broke into the lead, with Schmuhl falling back to second before Schmitt got past him. In the process of trying to retake the second spot, Schmuhl lost third to Czarneski. Yellow flew which allowed Schmitt to take the lead on the restart. Czarneski broke by for second and put Woods back to third. Dan Roedl began his charge late, capitalizing on a mistake from Woods for third, and then began tracking down Czarneski. The yellow flew late in the race and issues for the leader Schmitt struck under yellow, forcing him off the track. Cole Czarneski took the lead and never looked back, picking up the win with Roedl and Cody Apfelbeck third after a night around the podium positions. Woods and Noah Schepp rounded out the top 5 with Roedl and Tony Wedelstadt both up 10 spots on the night.
$2,500 was on the line for the 26 drivers in the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars. Jeff Nowak got the draw to start on the pole while Kenny Richards started in second. A few quick yellows started the race off and on the third attempt, Richards got the jump and led the field through the first lap. Aaron Stolp ran the top all the way to second before coming under pressure for the spot a few laps later. Devin Snellenberger began to almost grip roll his way to second, only really using three tires to take the spot right as the yellow flew. Richards got the best restart and began to run away from the pack as a whole heap of chaos ensued behind with the rest of the podium spots consisting of probably six cars. A few quick yellows in short succession slowed the race down significantly. Stolp would run into issues on one of the restarts and be forced to end his night early. Richards led the single file restart back to green and racing got underway. Jeremy Christians began to chase down Richards from the second spot before the yellow flew again. Richards would get the jump but would be pressured by Brandon Schmitt, who worked into second, for the lead. Snellenberger moved into third on lap 10, starting his charge back to the front. Schmitt and Richards got to battling and a switchback from Schmitt put him in the lead. Richards came back at Schmitt and retook the lead on the low line, but Schmitt didn’t back down. Snellenberger caught the back of the lead duo and went battling with them, making it a three-car fight for the win. Schmitt went back to work and Richards, and used Snellenberger as a brace, going low under the leader and forcing Richards to have to defend from Snellenberger in order to not lose the second spot. Brandon Schmitt picked up a $2,500 payout with the win and a whole ton of bragging rights. Kenny Richards came home second after a rough night and Snellenberger third. Christians finished fourth with Matt Rechek up 15 spots, amazingly not the hard charger, finishing fifth. Charlie Sancinati and Timothy Warner took home the hard charger spot up 16 spots.
Action resumes once again this Saturday, with Night Two of Beaver Dam Raceway’s Stock Car Twin 25’s. The only change is a swap of class, with the Sorce Services Grand Nationals bowing out and the Midwest Legends Dirt Series Presented by Legends.Direct returning for another night of action.
All information on that event plus future races can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
