Wi Dirt Racin

BEAVER DAM, Wis. – Parity continued Saturday night at Beaver Dam Raceway.
Austin Wiese won the 20-lap legends “A” main, leading the final eight
laps, for his first career feature triumph.
Wiese is the fourth different winner in the division.
In the grand national division, it was a familiar car in winner’s
circle: Kenny Richards.
Richards has won each of the three features this season in the grand
national division, leading the final three laps of the race to stay
perfect.

In the IRA Outlaw Sprint Car Series action, the 30-lap produced a
first-time feature winner: Ben Schmidt.
Last year, Phil Mock got his first and second career feature victories
at Beaver Dam, and Scotty Thiel won his first career feature as well.
Seven-time defending series champion Bill Balog, who won the series’
visit April 26 and the series’ first two races of the season, didn’t
compete in the evening’s races. He was in Knoxville, Iowa, for a
National Sprint League race.
Mock finished second in Saturday’s “A” main and Blake Nimee was third.
Jason Johnson was fourth and Bill Rose rounded out the top five.
Rose was the fastest in qualifying. He was first on the track and
turned a lap in 11.955 seconds; keeping Daryn Pittman’s track record
of 11.275, set Sept. 29, 2001, in tact.
The evening started with IRA qualifying as 29 cars tried to take down
Pittman’s long-standing record.
After Rose, Mike Reinke was second-quickest in qualifying with a
12.257. Reinke was fastest in the hot laps (12.913 seconds).
Travis Whitney, Scott Uttech and Kris Spitz rounded out the five
fastest qualifiers.
Next it was three heat races for the legends.
Mike Mueller won the first eight-lap heat race. In the second heat
race, Nelson Stewart passed Chris Hoedel on the outside of Turn 4 and
won the race to the line to take the checkered flag. Chris Flick won
the final heat race.
The IRA heat races were next and there were three of them, with the
top six advancing to the “A” main. The winners were Jeremy Schultz,
Dave Uttech and Schmidt.
Two heat races for the grand nationals were next with Jeff Tondryk and
Don Schumacher picking up the victories.
The final heat race of the night was for the Badger 600 Micros and the
winner was Jake Reif.
The IRAs needed to settle its “A” main field with a “B” main. The top
six advanced to the 30-lap main event.
Spitz took the checkered flag in the 12-lap event.
The first “A” main of the evening was the legends, with Flick and Ryan
Mech on the front row. There were four lead changes in the 20-lap
event.
Mech led the first three circuits around the one-third mile oval.
Hoedel took over the top spot for two laps, then Tim Vargo held onto
the lead for six laps. At the halfway point, Vargo was the leader.
On lap 12, Wiese took over the lead from Vargo.
On lap 17, Mueller had an apparent mechanical problem and had to pull
of the course while running fourth. Mueller had finished in the
top-two in each of the first three feature events of the season.
Wiese held off Vargo for the feature triumph. Mech was third, followed
by Chitko and Kim Clover.
The grand national “A” main followed the legends, with Schumacher and
Troy Weich leading the field to the green flag for 20 laps of racing.
Schumacher was strong early, quickly pulling away from the field and
nearly had a straightaway lead at the halfway point. But within two
laps, Aaron Streblow closed the gap and on lap 13, Schumacher was off
the pace and relinquished the lead to Streblow.
The race’s first caution came on lap 17. One lap was completed before
another caution came out.
On the lap 18 restart, Richards, who started the feature 10th, made a
move on Streblow and took over the lead and go on to make it 3 for 3
this season.
Justin Brown was second, followed by Streblow, Nick Schumacher and Tommy Moore.
The micros held its feature next with Zach Boden taking the checkered flag.
The IRAs closed out the program with a 30-lap event. Johnson and
Schmidt were on the front row.
A scary crash involving Jeremy Schultz, Reinke and Whitney in the
first turn of the opening lap stopped the race. Schultz and Whitney
were able to continue and Reinke was OK.
On the restart, Johnson led the first lap before Schmidt took the lead
on lap 2 and was away from the field from there.
Next week, it’s a five-division program with a $20 car load. Gates
open at 4:30 p.m. and races begin at 6:30 p.m.

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