Charter Raceway Park
Beaver Dam, WI – May 24, 2008.
After two weeks of less than perfect weather
conditions, it finally warmed up and the fans came out to see five
divisions of racing at Charter Raceway Park Saturday night. On the
track, however, the drivers had trouble dealing with what appeared
to be a beautifully prepared track.
The first A-Main of the evening was the Street Stocks and Jeremy
Schwoch jumped out to the lead on the first circuit followed by Noah
Schepp and Nate Gross. Roger Frank worked his way past Schwoch
before the field completed lap five to take the lead and drop
Schwoch to second. Jerry Kope was also on the move and held the
third spot just as Frank took over the top spot. Lap eight brought
out the only yellow of the event as Brandon Paitrick spun his number
29 in turn two. As the field of 19 cars completed lap number 10, the
running order was Frank, Kope, Jerry Winkler and Schwoch. Kope would
spend the last 10 laps of the event hoping Frank would make a
mistake. Frank however, was flawless all the way through the
checkered flag. Kope finished second, Winkler third and Schwoch
fourth.
Don Sorce Jr made it two in a row as he showed the Grand National
field the fast way around the 1/3 mile clay oval. Early on it was
Don Schumacher in the 55S leading Todd Ascherien and Roger Lee.
Ascherien took his place in front on lap eight but it was
short-lived as Don Sorce passed him as they were working lap ten.
Roger Lee followed Sorce past Ascherien into the second position. It
looked like it was going to be a two car battle between last year’s
points champion Lee and Sorce, but Lee took his car into turn four
just a bit too hard on lap 16 and spun out into the infield. For the
second week in a row, Ascherien finished in the runner-up spot
behind Sorce.
The Legends feature had a rough start for the second time this
season with a lap one incident involving Greg Hartlaub, Mike Mueller
and Luke Polzin. Following the restart, Joel Wyttenbach held the
lead and looked like a strong contender for the win. From second on
back, it was Kevin Brill, Eric Barth and Aaron Muhle. Muhle took
himself out of it when he looped his car in turn three on lap five
sending him to the tail end of the field. The event would go green
all the way to the end of the event with Barth the car on the move.
Once he took the lead on lap 14, all the other cars could do was try
to stay in range if he were to make a mistake. Unfortunately for the
field, that didn’t happen and Barth picked up the win followed by
Wyttenbach and Brill.
The toughest race of the night turned out to be the Modified
feature. After a couple nights of great, clean, side-by side racing
by the Modifieds, the A-Main Saturday night took a turn for the
worse. The fans got a sense of what was to come as Brian Crapser
brought out the yellow on the first lap when he went around in turn
one. On the restart, the leader, Joel Crowbridge spun in turn two
scattering the field behind him and putting him to the rear for the
restart. Once the field got going, this time with a single file
restart, the action was fast and furious as the cars from about
fourth on back traded paint and battled for position. Frank Firari,
who inherited the lead after Crowbridge’s incident still held the
top position as the field passed the half-way point. He was followed
by Chris Piquette and Jay Schraufnagel. Piquette’s chance at the win
evaporated when he spun out on lap 15. Schraufnagel, used a nice
move to the inside to get past Firari on lap 16 just before Crapser
went around for the second time. With open track in front of him
following the caution, Schraufnagel picked up with the win with
Firari finishing in the runner-up position.
The Dirt Devil feature event finished the racing program and was won
by Tim Draheim. The only caution of the race came out for a tire
that came off of Tim Sheppard’s car. Last weeks’ feature winner
Steve LeMay looked like he might make it two in a row as they
completed lap number five, but Draheim was too strong and got past
LeMay on lap 10. LeMay faded to a third place finish with Matt Janke
taking second.
Next week, Charter Raceway Park will host the Interstate Racing
Association sprint cars along with the Badger Midgets in Round
number 2 of “Duel at the Dam”. Pits open at 3:30 and the main gates
open at 4:30. Racing is scheduled to start promptly at 6:30. Contact
the track office for more information at 920-382-7858.
MODIFIEDS
HEATS Eddie Lemay Jr., Aaron Rake, Dave Schoenberger, Craig Priewe
B MAIN I Tim Lemirande, Joey Jaeger, Ralph Schneider, Marc Miller,
Tony McGuire
A MAIN Jay Schraufnagel, Frank Firari, Eric Scribner, Tim Lemirande,
Dave Schoenberger, Mitch McGrath, Eddie LeMay Jr., Don Scheffler,
Marc Miller, Joel Crowbridge
LEGENDS
HEATS Eric Barth, Joel Wyttenbach, Brad Weber
A MAIN Eric Barth, Joel Wyttenbach, Kevin Brill, Brad Weber, Warren
Ropp, Joe Johnson, George Giesen, Tom Hunter, Greg Hartlaub, Bethany
Wyttenbach
DIRT DEVILS
HEAT Tim Draheim
A MAIN Tim Draheim, Matt Janke, Robert Nelson, Raymond Keyser, Steve
LeMay, Jim Merkel, Mika Allard, Kevin Allard, Tim Sheppard, William
Young
STREET STOCKS
HEATS Nate Gross, Jeremy Schwoch
A MAIN Roger Frank, Jerry Kope, Jerry Winkler, Jeremy Schwoch, Jesse
Kanas, Craig Lepple, Todd Zimmerman, Matt Bedker, Andy Gross, Tim
Jahns
GRAND NATIONALS
HEATS Brian Gerber, Don Sorce Jr.
A MAIN Don Sorce Jr, Todd Asherien, Brian Gerber, Don Schumacher,
Tommy Moore, Craig Boettcher, Nick Schumacher, Dan Schumacher, Roger
Lee, Ron Koenig
