6/28/2024
Beaver Dam Raceway
Tuesday Night Tussle at Beaver Dam
Beaver Dam, WI (June 28th, 2024) - A night full of racing at Beaver Dam Raceway saw new and returning winners to the Dump Bar and Grill Victory Lane. Paul Diefenthaler, Jeff Steenbergen, Elijah Koenig, Skyler Woods, and Jackson Lewis all ended their nights up top in another edition of weekly racing.
104 cars on the night with 20 EK Machine Unified Street Stocks, 15 N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, 23 Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds, 21 Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modifieds, and 25 Legends.Direct Legends.
Heat races started the night off with Nathan Persha and Dustin Schwandt winning in the EK Machine Unified Street Stock heats; the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Car heat races went to Karly Stadler and Timothy Warner; Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds heat races went to Ryan Mech, Kevin Bethke, and Matthew Roehl; Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified heats were won by Ben Godlewski, Don Scheffler, Geoff Jeche; the Legends.Direct Legend heats went to Jordan Miklas, Hayden Schmuhl, Jackson Lewis, and Charlie Spoonmore.
T.J. Reichenberger and Nathan Persha led the first feature to green in the EK Machine Unified Street Stocks. Persha got the jump on the field before the first yellow flew. Persha once again got the jump and this time it counted. Persha quickly came under pressure from Jon Schultz and Paul Diefenthaler. Schultz made the move for the lead on lap six but it wasn’t enough and he had to go back to work. Lap eight was the lap Schultz was able to get past Persha but the caution came out right at before the line and it negated the pass. Persha led the field back to green and once again came under pressure from the rest of the field. Diefenthaler surged through for the lead on the restart and took over the lead. Yellow flew once again for a parking lot situation in turn four. Single file restarts ensued half way and the green came back out. A big battle for the fifth place spot ensued with around 6 cars going for it. Eyes turned to the battle for second as Schultz and Phillip Wuesthoff swapped the spot back and forth. Schultz got to the back of Diefenthaler with four laps to go and the battle was on for the win. Diefenthaler went up top and Schultz went down low, which worked out best for Paul Diefenthaler as he was able to keep momentum and pick up the win. Schultz came a close second with Wuesthoff in third. Diefenthaler also took home the hard-charger spot on the night.
Feature number two, the N&S Towing IMCA Stock Cars, featured Nick Kufalk and Karly Stadler on the front row. Jesse Krahn got promoted to the pole after Kufalk failed to start. He started strong before a quick caution reset the field. On the restart Krahn got swarmed by a bunch of different drivers with Timothy Warner taking the lead. Cole Czarneski took over the second spot with Matt Rechek in third. Caution flew again for some trouble for a few different cars. Warner led the field back to green and racing commenced. Jeff Steenbergen moved into the battle for the top spot and it was a four car battle now. Brandon Schmitt started to get close to the battle as well and it was on. Warner and Steenbergen broke away from the rest of the field and the two went to battle. Czarneski caught the top two before the yellow came back out for a stopped car in turn three. Another quick yellow came out after some chaos kicked off. Warner, Steenbergen, and Schmitt held onto the top three spots on the restart. Warner once again got the jump but this time Steenbergen stayed with him, and sent it past on lap fifteen after a mistake from Warner. Schmitt got the back of Warner and went to work, getting past him right near the end on lap seventeen. Meanwhile, Jeff Steenbergen ran away with the win and the hard-charger spot. Schmitt and Warner rounded out the podium.
The Rich’s Truck & Auto Repair IMCA Sport Modifieds started with Ryan Mech and Matthew Roehl up front. Green flew and Roehl took the lead early and began to distance himself from the field. Caution flew on lap five and brought the pack back together. Green came back out and eyes turned to the three and four wide fighting back in the pack. No surprise anywhere but Elijah Koenig began to dice through the field and into third in no time. Mech had a look at the lead for a brief moment before yellow flew once again. Once back racing Roehl held onto the lead before another yellow slowed the fun down. Green came back out and a battle for the top spot started with Cory Kemkes and Koenig making moves for the lead. The yellow flew on lap fourteen for a slow car setting up a battle for the lead. Kemkes and Koenig began going at it for the win on lap sixteen. Koenig went low and snatched the top spot away from Kemkes. Elijah Koenig never looked back and drove on to pick up yet another win while Kemkes and Roehl came home second and third. Colten Van Hierden picked up the hard-charger spot up +13 positions.
Don Scheffler started from the pole of the Shepy’s Auto Body IMCA Modified feature with Ben Godlewski starting next to him. It didn’t take long for the gloves to come off as cars came together on the start. A complete restart ensued and it was Scheffler who got the jump and led at the end of lap one. Godlewski slotted into second with Troesch in third. Skyler Woods began to pressure Troesch and moved past him on lap three for the third place spot. Godlewski moved into the lead and pushed Scheffler back to second and into the reach of Woods. Woods blitzed past Scheffler for second on lap four and set his sights on Godlewski for the lead. Caution flew for a collision through turns three and four. On the restart Woods thread the needle and split the bunch, running through the middle and taking the race lead. Godlewski and Scheffler went at it for second as others started to close in on them. Jeff Schmuhl was the first to charge at Scheffler for third taking it on lap fourteen. Brandon Schmitt began to charge through the top five, making quick work of Scheffler. Woods had it all but sealed as he drove off into the night and as he rounded turn four on the final lap, he didn’t see the flag he expected, as the yellow flew instead of the checkered. That gave the field one last shot at the lead. Skyler Woods got the jump on the field and once again drove off into the night never to look back. Schmitt came home a close second as the hard-charger with Godlewski in third.
With the final feature of the night up next, the Legends.Direct Legends, Keith Meyer and Art Hahn on the front row. Green flew and the field burst off into turn one. Payton Jones got the jump and led at the end of lap one. A multi-car incident led to a lengthy red flag. The field re-fired and got back racing. This time Meyer got the jump and led the field through the first few laps. Jackson Lewis was once again rushing through the pack. The yellow came out for a front bumper on the track and slowed everything down. The green came back out and Jones made the most of it, surging by for the lead before the yellow flew again. The green flag came back out and attention turned to Lewis, who drove past Hunter Cardinal for third and Meyer for second on lap five. Lewis got to the back of Jones on lap seven and started to make a move towards the lead. He sealed the deal on lap eight and began to drive off. The caution flew once again and brought the field back together. Adam Zellmer made the move into third midway through the race after a big battle with many different drivers. Out front Jackson Lewis went on to pick up yet another feature win and hard-charger spot with Jones and Zellmer rounding out the podium.
Beaver Dam Raceway will be back on June 29th for a big three class race with the Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midgets, Bumper To Bumper IRA Sprints, and AutoMeter Wisconsin WingLess Sprints. Weekly racing will resume on July 9th.
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
Submitted By: Zack Krueger
