Koenig and Schulte Capture Thunder at the Fair
July 23, 2021
Outagamie Speedway Powered by EWSC Seymour, WI.
By: Joe Orsini
The Methanol Monster IRA Sprint Cars invaded the fairgrounds as the main attraction for Thunder at the Fair as racing headlined the Friday festivities of the Outagamie County Fair. 25 IMCA Sport Compacts and 24 IMCA Northern Sport Mods completed the Appleton Camping Center racing action at the picturesque fair night show. Full results for the IRA 410 Sprint Cars can be found on their website or Facebook page.
The Gandrud Chevy Performance IMCA Northern Sport Mods were the top dogs of the IMCA ranks and the battles on the track were as hot as the mercury in the thermometer read. Elijah Koenig used his pole position starting spot to his advantage as he kept his 1K machine out front to lead the opening lap, the question was how long he’d hold on to it. Bernie Miller and Tim Sheppard quickly worked from their fourth and fifth starting spots in a hotly contested brawl for the second spot. The duo waged a side by side, door to door battle for most of the race until Sheppard was able to lock down the runner up spot. As laps wound down Sheppard set to work reeling in the race leader as both drivers encountered lap traffic. Koenig put on a clinic in working through the slower cars and captured the win. Sheppard settled for second, Miller held on to finish third, and a hard charging Travis Rhoades worked from eight to come home fourth.
The K&E Sales/Midwest Equipment Dock and Lift Service LLC IMCA Sport Compacts have been running a hot show every week this season and the fair night proved to be no different. The 54 machine of Brett Deprez wrestled the lead away from pole sitter Kyle Walters to take command of the opening lap. Ben Schulte and Al Cottrell quickly fell into a contest behind the leader for the second spot. The pair waged their battle and caught the leader to make it a three wide scrum for the top spot. Schulte found the inside line to his liking with Cottrell running the high side as they split Deprez. Schulte managed to put his 15 machine to the front with DePrez dropping to second and Cottrell setting up shop in third. As the laps wound down they continued to run nose to tail in that order with Tony Everard charging from tenth to throw his hat into the ring for the top four positions. Disaster struck on lap 15 for Cottrell as the third place runner had heavy contact with the back stretch wall and came to a stop on the track bringing out a late race caution. The restart saw Schulte able to hold off the field and capture the feature win. Everard took advantage of the late yellow to secure second, Deprez settled for third, and David Cox brought his ride home in fourth.
Be sure to join us next week as our regular five divisions are back in action, in addition the vintage mods will be on hand to bring their unique spin on racing history to the legendary third mile! Racing kicks off July 30th at 6:30, you won’t want to miss it!IMCA Northern Sport Mod 20 Lap Feature:
1. Elijah Koenig, 2. Tim Sheppard, 3. Bernie Miller, 4. Travis Rhoades, 5. Brady Harshberger, 6. Ryan Schmidt, 7. Skyler Woods, 8. Ryan Besaw, 9. Scott Besaw, 10. Kaden BesawHeat 1:1. S. Besaw, 2. Woods, 3. Koenig, 4. Jesse Cullen, 5. Taylor SorensonHeat 2:1. JJ Vanderloop, 2. Sheppard, 3. Schmidt, 4. Harshberger, 5. Dylan LaseeHeat 3:1. Miller, 2. K. Besaw, 3. Rhoades, 4. Skyelin Krohlow, 5. Sean FalkLCQ:1. R. Besaw, 2. Jay Potter, 3. Taylor Haufschildt, 4. Ryan Mech, 5. David McCutcheonIMCA Sport Compact 20 Lap Feature:1. Ben Schulte, 2. Tony Everard, 3. Brett Deprez, 4. David Cox, 5. Mitch Meyerhofer, 6. Bailey Tate, 7. TJ Everard, 8. Matthew Mann, 9. Jake Peters, 10. Andrew BehnkeHeat 1:1. Kyle Jorgenson, 2. Cox, 3. Deprez, 4. Thomas Schulte, 5. TJ EverardHeat 2:1. Cottrell, 2. Tate, 3. Kyle Walters, 4. Mann, 5. Jake PetersHeat 3:1. T. Everard, 2. B. Schulte, 3. Meyerhofer, 4. Cody Booth, 5. Dylan ManneyLCQ:1. Ericka Van Ooyen, 2. Andrew Pfluger, 3. Behnke, 4. Taylor Junk, 5. Malachi Bierman
