Charter Raceway Park
Beaver Dam, WI - May 4, 2008.
Opening night at Charter Raceway Park
was chilly but the racing was red hot as the Badger Midget Series and
the Interstate Racing Association sprint cars took to the 1/3 mile
oval. In the headline event for the IRA cars, the action got off to a
rough start with Tommy Sexton flipping his 83D machine going into turn
number one just after completing lap number 1. Sexton was ok but was
obviously done for the night. Donny Goeden took the lead from John Haeni
on lap number seven. By lap 13, Goeden came up on lapped traffic and
had to slow, allowing Haeni to close the gap. Todd King, driving the
number 97 car, overtook Haeni on lap 17 just before the yellow came out
for the three car of Scott Young. On the restart, King was able to get
a great jump and worked past Goeden. But following another yellow on
lap 19, King coasted to the infield with a report of being out of gas
giving the lead back to Goeden. Following a red flag incident on lap
25, Goeden went on to the win followed by Steve Meyer and Scotty Neitzel.
For the Badger Midgets, teammates Mike
Hess and David Gough finished 1-2 in round number one of the Duel at the
Dam. Like the IRA cars, the Badger feature event got off to a rocky
start as Nick Lundgreen and Bubba Altig flipped on lap two. On the
restart, Gough had the lead with Michael Pickens charging through the
field to take second. Through the middle laps of the event, Gough, Hess
and Pickens would trade the lead numerous times around the speedway but
Gough always managed to lead the pack to the stripe. Hess finally
managed to get past Gough on lap 21 and pulled away for the win.
Finishing third was Gough.
Next week, Charter Raceway Park will
host the regular five division lineup in the 2008 season opener for the
Modifieds, Grand Nationals, Dirt Devils, Legends and Street Stock cars.
Pits open at 3:30 and the main gates open at 4:30. Racing starts
promptly at 6:30. Contact the track office for more information at
920-382-7858.
