BEAVER DAM REPORT: May 16, 2015

BEAVER DAM, Wis. – Don Scheffler held off a hungry Matt Rechek to win
the 20-lap modified “A” main Saturday at Beaver Dam Raceway.
Also picking up “A” main victories were Nate Chitko (legend), Kenny
Richards (grand national), Jeff Steenbergen (sport modified) and Mark
Baker (street stock).
For Richards, he stayed perfect on the season – 4 for 4 in “A” mains.
He’s 3 for 4 in heat races this season after Saturday’s events.
The night’s program was delayed more than 2 hours and 30 minutes
because track was in the right shape. But once the track was ready to
go and as the night progressed, it turned into a racey track.
The legend heat races, three of them, were up first. The legend
division had some difficulty working in the track as it was still a
bit slick.

Chitko, Mike Mueller and Kim Clover won the heat races.
A pair of sport modified heat races were next, with Mike Plate Sr. and
Brandon Riedner winning those eight-lap shootouts.
Riedner then hustled from his sport mod into his street stock and won
the first street stock heat race of the evening. Jason White and Baker
won the other two heats.
Don Schumacher and Richards won the pair of grand national heats.
Three modified heat races finished off the heat-race portion of the
night. Brian Crapser, Bart Sievert and Scheffler took the checkered
flag in their respective eight-lap heat races.
Moving quickly into the “A” mains, there was no intermission. The “B”
main for the modifieds was scratched.
The 20-lap “A” main was first, with Dan Mech and Chris Flick started
on the front row.
Flick led the first seven laps of the race from his second-place
starting position. Chitko, who started the feature 10th, took the lead
on lap 8.
At the halfway point, Chitko paced the field, with Flick, Mueller,
Mech and Jim Bucher rounding out the top five.
The white flag came out, then the caution came out, giving the victory
to Chitko.
In second was Mueller, followed Cody Apfelbeck, Clover and Austin
Wiese, last week’s feature winner, to round out the top-five.
Twenty laps for the sport modified division was up next in the
program. Jason Schilling and Jeremy Schwoch started on the front row.
Schwoch led the first seven laps. But while battling for the lead with
Riedner, the two made contact in Turn 4 and Schwoch wasn’t able to
continue, pulling his car into the infield.
Steenbergen assumed the lead on lap 8 and led the rest of the race. It
was Steenbergen’s second straight victory in the division and third
overall. He also won a street stock “A” main earlier this year to
become the first driver in track history to win a feature in each of
its five divisions. He won a track record 14 features in 2013.
Jeff Schmuhl, the defending track champion, was second, followed by
Riedner, Nick Schultz and Adam Peschek.
Roger Frank and Dustin Weiss sat on the front row for the 20-lap grand
national “A” main. Richards started 10th.
Weiss led the first four laps, then Schumacher led the next six.
Richards took the lead at the halfway point, with Schumacher, Justin
Brown, Weiss and Frank rounding out the top five.
By race’s end, Richards had a straightaway led on second-place
finisher Brown. Schumacher, Tommy Moore and Jeff Tondryk rounded out
the top-five.
The street stock “A” main was next. Stuart White and Sam Wood. In the
heat races, Wood, an Army veteran in his second season at Beaver Dam,
finished a career best second, leading on the final lap before Riedner
took over the lead.
Baker started the feature third, but split White and Wood going
through Turns 1 and 2 and had the lead on the backstraight.
While running in second, Wood appeared to have a mechanical issue and
was unable to continue.
At the halfway point, Baker led Alex Crapser, Riedner, Dave Kinjerski
and Doug Engelking.
Baker had a comfortable lead, but slower traffic began to play a
factor. That allowed Crapser to narrow the gap with a handful of laps
to go.
Then lap traffic held up Crapser, which allowed Baker to get some
distance and go onto the victory – his first of the season. In
addition, Baker is the fourth different winner in the division this
season in four races.
Crapser went on to finish second, followed by Riedner, Engelking and
Jason White.
To finish off the evening, it was the high-flying modifieds. Joel
Seegert and Dave Jaeger started on the front row.
There were four lead changes in the first six laps. The fourth one was
also the last, with Scheffler passing Nick Firari for the lead.
As the race progressed into the second half, a spirited battle began
between Scheffler and Matt Rechek. For Rechek, he’s winless in 25
feature starts and he certainly did his best to end the drought.
He used every possible line he could find to try and gain some ground
on Scheffler, the 2013 track champion. But no matter what Rechek
tried, Scheffler was able to hold him off and go onto the feature
victory, his second in a row.
Rechek finished second, followed by Andrew Araco, Dave Schoenberger
and Kevin Tillema.
Next Saturday night, it’s another action-packed night of five-division
racing – modified, sport modified, grand national, street stock and
legend. It’s also Bud Night at the Races and an INEX legends national
qualifier. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., with racing starting at 6:30 p.m.

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