9/27/2022
IRA Lightning Sprints
Heinert Grabs Plymouth Finale, Neau wins 2nd Series Championship, Curasi Rookie of the Year!
17 cars made the trip to the Plymouth Dirt Track in support of the Wisconsin Sprint Car Championships where nearly 100 sprint cars across 4 divisions raced to decide who would be crowned champions for 2022. This year the stakes were even higher thanks to A Main Apparel and the IRA for organizing bonus money for all the classes. The ILS saw at least $650 extra dollars added to the purse which included lap leader bonuses for the feature, bonuses for quick time, heat race wins, hard charger, and hard luck. A huge thank you goes out to all that helped pull that together for our drivers!
The 16 of Mike Neau signed in and drew the #3 pill which would mathematically lock up his 2nd IRA Lightning Sprint Championship and would make it 2 for 2 this year as he had previously won the Wilmot Track Championship earlier this month. The 3 of Ron Curasi also locked up his series Rookie of the Year campaign as he was sitting 7th in points entering the night with an unsurpassable lead over the next rookie.
The top 10 in points still had some close battles to be decided on the track and the absence of 2 racers in the top 5 was sure to shake things up a bit. The new father, Andrew Kiedrowski in the K9, was sitting 2nd in series points with a slim margin over the 55 of Mark Heinert was a no show as well 5th place Kevin Frederiksen in the 67 as he had just sold his car days before the final event to focus on midget racing next year with his son and previous ILS competitor Mike Unger. We would like to wish Andrew and wife Andi congrats on the birth of their first child, Ivy Ray earlier this month and wish the best for Frederiksen/Unger in their future racing endeavors.
Qualifying saw the 9 of John Kirk rise to the top of the leaderboard with his first quick time of the season. Neau, the 6B of Derek Fortier, Heinert, and the 01 of Ron Brannam would round out the top 5. Heat race action then saw Heinert (heat 2) and Fortier (heat 1) bring home wins and they would lead the series in season heat wins at 5 and 3 respectively.
The number 3 pill was drawn for the feature giving the 6 of Jeff Schmidt the pole position, but it was 3rd starting Heinert who would sneak under him heading into T1 on the start that would grab the lead. Heinert would lead Fortier for almost the entire race with Fortier challenging for the lead on a couple restarts but not being able to overtake the 55 machine. A late race red with only 2 laps to go would setup a GWC finish with Heinert leading Fortier, Neau, and Kirk back to the green. Neau was able to power by Fortier on the start in turns 1 and 2 and slowly real in Heinert but there was not enough time to catch him. Heinert lead every lap and grabbed his 3rd win of the season and 2nd in a row with his Dream Chaser Racing Teammate, Mike Neau in tow. This marks the 5th time this season that Dream Chaser racing has finished together on the top 2 spots on the podium. Fortier would grab the final podium spot – tying his best finish of the season. Hard Charger would go to the 74 of Tim Brannam charging +6 spots to finish 5th after a DNF in his heat race and propelling to 3rd in the series point standings
We are sad to see the season come to an end as Mother Nature claimed 6 of our events this year, but are looking forward to 2023 and it can’t come fast enough. Stay tuned for Banquet information as we get the planning started on that.
2022 Season Highlights:
28 drivers competed in 10 events
Largest car count: 21
Average car count: 18+
Submitted By: Mike Neau
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