8/21/2024
Beaver Dam Raceway
Title Fights Heat Up at Beaver Dam
Beaver Dam, WI (August 21st, 2024) - With just nights left of regular season points racing, Beaver Dam Raceway returned after a break with one heck of a night. A night full of racing saw new and returning winners all night. The return was capped off with some lucky kids winning bikes donated by 172 Media and Mike and Hayden Schmuhl.
19 EK Machines Unified Street Stocks, 26 Legends.Direct Legends, 22 Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds, 17 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 23 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds meant 106 cars ready for battle.
Heat races came and went, with Russ Davison, Dustin Schwandt, and Ryan Sullivan winning their EK Machines Unified Street Stocks; Hayden Schmuhl, Lilly Fassbender, Adam Zellmer, and Jackson Lewis won the Legends.Direct Legend heats; Matthew Roehl, Jim Zdroik, and Elijah Koenig won the Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds heats; N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heats went to Jeremy Christians, Matt Rechek, and Jesse Krahn; the final trio of heats for the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds going to Noah Schepp, Adam Crapser, and Geoff Jeche. Glenn Mitchell picked up the B-Main win in the Legends.Direct Legend division.
Ryan Sullivan and Russ Davison started on the front row of the EK Machines Unified Street Stock feature. Davison got the jump on the field and led the field through the initial laps. The pack behind battled before chaos erupted for six cars. Davison led the field back to green on lap four while the pack battled behind. Sullivan found himself in second, closing in on Davison for the lead. Sullivan looked to the inside of the #68 of Davison, trading paint and getting a little over eager into turn one, looping it and bringing out the yellow. Davison once again led the field to gren, this time having Jon Schultz in tow. Caution flew once again for a spun car which center punched an infield tractor tire. Single-file restarts ensued, with Davison leading the field through the restart cone. Schultz got to the back of Davison and drama kicked off. Schultz got into the back of the leader, sending him around in turn one. In a good display of sportsmanship, Schultz tapped out, sending himself to the back and allowing Davison to retake the lead on the restart. Craig Lepple took over the second spot but quickly came under fire from Brian Besaw, who broke through for the spot. Sullivan came back after spinning to surge into third on the final lap after a late race restart. Russ Davison brought home the win with Brian Besaw and Ryan Sullivan second and third. Besaw took home the hard charger spot, up thirteen positions at the end.
The front row of the Legends.Direct Legends feature went to Cal Swenson and Tim Franz. Swenson took off, leading the field through lap one. Ryan Sullivan and Talyn Neuman battled for the second spot before Jackson Lewis and Adam Zellmer burst through to join the battle. A three-car incident brought out the yellow and then red flag. Lewis got the jump on the restart and broke through to the lead with Zellmer and Sullivan second and third. Payton Jones worked past Sullivan for the third place spot on lap twelve, with Sullivan waiting for the right time to work back past him. Lap fifteen was the one for Sullivan as he shot low and underneath Jones to retake third. The red flag would fly once more for Hayden Schmuhl as the driver of the #59S pulled over ablaze. A four-lap sprint to the finish ensued with Lewis flanked by Zellmer and Sullivan. Zellmer stayed with Lewis before being challenged by Sullivan and Jones. The spot was swapped for the remaining laps before the checkered flew. Jackson Lewis picked up his eighth win of the season while Sullivan and Zellmer finished second and third. The other Zellmer, Faith, picked up the hard charger spot, up twelve spots in the end.
It was Kelly Brown and Karly Stadler on the front row of the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car feature. Roger Frank got the jump on the field from his third-place starting position, leading the first few laps before the yellow flew. Frank led the field back to green and kept the lead, watching his metaphorical mirror to see the pack behind him going three and four-wide at moments. Matt Rechek was making his way through the field, and bringing Jeremy Christians with him. The duo made their ways into second and third respectively and began to chase down the leader. The trio would swap the lead and the other two spots for three laps, before Christians began to run away. Dustin Ward made his way to the Frank in third, challenging the former leader for the final podium spot. Alex Crapser and Cole Czarneski joined in the fun and made it a four-car fight for second as issues struck Rechek, forcing him to pull off. Jeremy Christians out front though had no issues, driving into the night to pick up the win. Crapser snuck by for second with Ward taking the final podium spot. Christians not only took home the win, but also the hard charger spot, with a gain of nine spots during the feature.
Jacob Rens and Jim Zdroik held down the front row of the Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modified feature. The pack bunched up and they got racing with Zdroik jumping to the lead. Jared Apel moved into the lead past Zdroik before the yellow flew for some stopped cars in turn one. Apel led the race back to green for a moment before two more cars got tangled together. Apel tried it again, getting on the power to green. While the field tried to stack it up, they managed to keep it nice and straight, until they didn’t. Caution flew on lap eight for a collision and then once again on lap ten. Apel once again led the field back to green, getting racing back underway. Colton See turned some heads as he broke into second and began to track down the leader Apel. Lap seventeen was the one for See, using a lapped car to build him space to turn underneath Apel for the lead. Caution flew on lap eighteen for a two car stackup in turn three. See led the field back to green and Elijah Koenig quickly surged by Apel to try a shot at the lead, but never to fruition. Colton See picked up the win with Koenig and Apel second and third. Apel was the hard charger in the race, up fourteen spots.
Joe Wrzinski and Adam Crapser led the final feature of the night, the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified feature to green. The finale feature of the night went green and Crapser made the most of the start, jumping to the lead. Geoff Jeche moved into second and immediately began to chase down Crapser for the lead. The pack behind battled for a long while while the top two began to run away. Caution flew on lap six for a spun car. Crapser led the field back to green for a moment before the yellow flew again. The green flew once again and Crapser again fell under pressure from Jeche. This time, Jeche had the time to move past Crapser for the lead with Brandon Schmitt and Jeff Schmuhl going at it for third. Skyler Woods found himself in a world of upside downness in turn two as the red flag flew. Jeche led the field back to green with Crapser and Schmuhl in tow. Schmuhl worked past Crapser for the second spot, and Schmitt worked past Crapser for third. Yellow flew with three to go as someone found themselves looped around in turn two. Green flew for the final time with Jeche getting the jump. Geoff Jeche wouldn’t look back as he drove home to the win. Schmitt pipped Schmuhl at the line for the rest of the podium. Schmitt took home the hard charger spot on the night, up nine spots at the end.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back in action this coming Tuesday, August 27th for the final night of weekly racing. Five champions will be crowned after a long and grueling season. Pits will open at 4:00pm with grandstands opening at 4:30pm. Racing will kick off at 6:30pm.
For more information about future events visit Beaver Dam Raceway’s website at wismotorsports.net.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
