6/7/2023
Beaver Dam Raceway
Mid-Season Championship Night Brings Great Racing to Beaver Dam Raceway
Beaver Dam, WI (6/6/2023) - Mid Season Championship Night did not disappoint at Beaver Dam Raceway as the five divisions of fun set out to award some championships halfway through the season. Jason White, Michael Weber, Skyler Woods, Kenny Richards, and Jeff Schmuhl all picked up wins on a very action packed night.
87 cars signed in for the night with 15 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 20 Legends.Direct Legends, 19 Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods, 11 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, and 22 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds.
Heat races saw Phillip Wuesthoff and Jesse Krahn win in the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks. The Legends.Direct Legends saw Hayden Schmuhl, Austin Winkel, and Jordan Miklas pick up wins. Jared Apel and Kenny Schehr won the Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMod heats. Rod Snellenberger and Timothy Warner took the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heats. And Nick Firari, Mitch Webber, and Mike Schmuhl picked up heat wins in the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified heats.
The EK Machine Unified Street Stocks rolled off first with Chris Prust and Dustin Ward on the front row. The green flew and Prust got the better of the two front row starters. Prust would build a small gap on the first lap before spinning in turn one in front of the field resulting in a yellow. With fresh oil dry on the ground the field went back green, now with the 9 of Dustin Ward the leader. Ward led the field as the 1X of Jason White chased him down. White carved a way through on lap four taking the lead away from the 9. White checked out from the pack as a gaggle of cars behind him battled for the second position. Another yellow would fly on lap seven as TJ Reichenberger found himself spun in turn two. As the green went back out, the battle for second was still going on and it was the 3R of Jacob Rens who got the short straw, spinning on the exit of turn two. The field relaunched with White still the leader. The 9 of Ward and 11X of Jon Schultz both made their way to the back bumper of White as the three battled for position for the remainder of the race. The 11X was able to get one opportunity at White, on the second to last lap with a slider in turns one and two but the 1X was able to turn back past him and pick up his first feature win of the season. Jon Schultz and Jesse Krahn rounded out the podium for the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks.
Hayden Schmuhl and Tim Franz occupied the front row of the Legends.Direct Legends main event. The green flew and the field panned out with three wides all around the racing surface. Schmuhl found the lead early but the 19X of Cal Swenson and 6E of Eric Blumer were right on his tail. A yellow flew on lap 6 for the 45 of Hunter Cardinal spun around in turn two. The green flew once again and it was the 88 of Austin Winkel who made the best out of the situation charging to the lead but it wasn’t for long as Michael Weber got past him for the lead a lap later. Weber drove off into the distance as the battle for second heated up with Eric Blumer holding it down with Winkel, Schmuhl, 44J of Jordan Miklas, and 117 of Adam Zellmer all going at it. A yellow for the stranded 45 bunched the pack back up as they went back racing. Weber checked out on the field in his 8W and picked up his fourth feature win of the season with Miklas and Zellmer taking up the other two spots on the podium.
Beaver Dam Tire and Service IMCA SportMods were up next with Kenny Schehr and Jaeden Voigt on the front row. The field went green but it didn't take long for the yellow to come out as the 40J of Dakota Johnson spun in turn one. A complete restart saw some sheet metal get bent but it was the 03 of Jaden Voig who found the early lead. A yellow for the 96 of Gary Klamrowski bunched the pack back up, now with the 32X of Skyler Woods in second. The green would come out for a lap before the 96 was once again spun, resulting in his night being over. The field went back green with Jimmy Berkevich in the 19B challenging Voigt for the lead. A three car fight for the lead saw the 03, 32X, and 19B all go at it for a few laps before 29R of Ryan Kuehn got it looped around in turn two. The battle for the lead started right again as the field went back green with Woods surging through to the lead. Woods was gone as he captured his second feature win of the season while Jeff Steenbergen and Jimmy Berkevich finished second and third.
The N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car feature was on track next with Roger Frank and Karly Stadler on the front row. The field took the green and the 21X of Rod Snellenberger took the early lead from his fourth place starting spot. A three car battle would start with Snellenberger, the 29P of Brandon Paitrick, and 9R of Kenny Richards all gunning for the lead. Paitrick led throughout most of the battle as he and Richards broke away from a pack that looked like they were playing bumper cars. Richards was able to find a way through for the lead as lap traffic started, and with five laps left in the race, he was able to pull into the lead. The flag to flag race saw Kenny Richards pick up his third feature win of the season with Brandon Paitrick and Jeremy Christians as the top three.
The final feature of the night saw Tom Robbins and Nick Firari on the pole for the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds. The green wouldn’t even come out before an incident out of turn four collected four cars, and an incident in turn one collected seven cars including points leader Brandon Schmitt, whose car violently rolled three times. Schmitt would be ok and the field would get to refire and race again. The field got a lap in before a yellow came out for a car into the wall in turn one. The 89S of Noah Schepp and 11S of Jeff Schmuhl found their way to the front before another yellow flew. The field wouldn't make it through turn one as the fourth yellow came out. The 39J found himself facing the wrong way for yellow number five. The field would take the green one last time and go fourteen laps green as a war between Schmuhl and Schepp broke out. Six lead changes later, Jeff Schmuhl came out on top to win the feature while Schepp finished second and Cody Apfelbeck brought his 34 car home in third. Schmuhl praised the clean driving and sportsmanship of Schepp after the race, saying, “It's great to come out here and trust the guys you race, Noah is a great racer and I love to fight with him like that”.
Beaver Dam Raceway’s next scheduled events are June 16th and 17th, where the Greatest Show on Dirt, the World Of Outlaws Nos Energy Drink Sprint Cars will invade Beaver Dam with The Wisconsin Dirt Legends Friday night and Saturday, and the Minnesota Micro Sprints as well on Saturday. All information can be found on wismotorsports.net and the Beaver Dam Raceway Facebook page.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger