5/26/19
141 Speedway
Francis Creek, WI
25 IRA Sprints
27 Wisconsin WingLESS Sprints
After another rainout at Knoxville, it was time for Ellen W and I to pack our bags and drive until we found a race. Our first trip to 141 Speedway in Wisconsin was an enjoyable one. Good weather, good food and plenty of open wheel cars…and Ray Underwood singing the National Anthem on Memorial Day weekend.
IRA
Bill Balog (8th car out) set quick time on the banked ¼-mile oval at 10.989 seconds. Jeremy Schultz (12th car out) was second quick, followed by Ben Schmidt (13th), Scott Biertzer (2nd), Mike Reinke (22nd), Austin Deblauw (3rd), Scotty Thiel (20th), Jake Blackhurst (19th), Russel Borland (17th) and Joey Moughan (15th).
Heat one (started): 1. Thiel 64 (2) 2. Balog 17B (4) 3. Moughan 73AF (1) 4. Biertzer 4B (3) 5. Dave Uttech 68 (5) 6. Jereme Schroeder 43 (6) 7. Hunter Custer 29 (8) 8. Matt Wiese 45 (7) 9. Keith Felner 18 (9)
Heats were 10 laps. Heat winners and the top seven timers who finished second through fifth drew for the top ten spots in the feature. Thiel led the distance in this one. Biertzer passed Moughan early for second, with Balog in tow. Balog would get by Biertzer at the halfway point for second. Moughan recovered late in his team car to Ben Schmidt to grab third with two to go.
Heat two (started): 1. Blackhurst 25 (2) 2. Todd King 22 (1) 3. Schultz 10w (4) 4. Reinke 02 (3) 5. Scott Neitzel 2w (5) 6. Kris Spitz 4K (6) 7. Adam Miller 24m (7) 8. Paul Pokorski 4 (8)
Blackhurst dominated this one from the front row. Schultz used the low side to get by Reinke for third with three to go in a good battle.
Heat three (started): 1. Borland 23 (2) 2. Schmidt 73 (4) 3. Steve Meyer 85m (1) 4. Deblauw 65 (3) 5. Wayne Modjeski 14AJ (5) 6. Nick Matuszewski 63 (6) 7. Lance Fassbender 7F (7) 8. Brian Strane 22s (8)
Borland led the distance. Myer was second early over Schmidt. They had a good battle with “The Gladiator” taking the spot at the halfway point.
A main (started): 1. Balog (1) 2. Thiel (3) 3. Schultz (9) 4. Borland (5) 5. Blackhurst (4) 6. Reinke (10) 7. Modjeski (15) 8. King (11) 9. Spitz (17) 10. Fassbender (21) 11. Meyer (12) 12. Schmidt (8) 13. Neitzel (14) 14. Schroeder (16) 15. Uttech (13) 16. Matuszewski (18) 17. Custer (19) 18. Strane (24) 19. Felner (25) 20. Pokorski (23) 21. Deblauw (7) 22. Miller (20) 23. Wiese (22) 24. Biertzer (2) 25. Moughan (6)
Balog shot out to an early lead in the 30-lapper with Thiel and Borland in tow. The leaders hit lapped traffic on lap four and battled through it, making some dicey moves. At the halfway point, a seventh running Biertzer tagged a lapped car in turn four and collected Moughan, who was running him down. The red had to be thrown when workers had trouble separating the cars. Unbelievably, both restarted and the same thing happened in the same spot when the green flew again. Both retired. Balog led Thiel, Borland, Schultz and Blackhurst back to green. Schultz rode the low side to take third from Borland. The leaders were back in traffic on lap 18. Wiese clubbed an infield tire on lap 20, bringing the final caution. Balog shot back into lapped traffic with six to go, but maneuvered through it for the win. On the last lap, Meyer and Schmidt were running fourth and fifth when tangling in turns three and four. Neitzel and Schroeder were also caught up.
Wisconsin WingLESS Sprints
Heat one (started): 1. Allen Hafford 38 (2) 2. Chris Dodd 01 (4) 3. Ryan Zelski 21 (2) 4. Greg Olsen 9 (5) 5. Tim Cox 40 (3) 6. Randy Stanford 29 (6) / 7. William Huck 39 (7) 8. Denny Smith 66 (9) 9. Greg Alt 22 (8)
8-lap heats took the top six to the feature. Hot laps doubled as qualifying. Dodd set quick time and heats were inverted by four. Hafford led the distance. One lap in, Smith flipped into the infield. He was uninjured. Alt was also involved.
Heat two (started): 1. Rusty Egan 50 (2) 2. Zach Raidart 23z (3) 3. Jordan Paulsen 4 (1) 4. Scott Grissom 54 (6) 5. Chris Klemko 70 (5) 6. Craig Campton 7s (4) / 7. Natalie Klemko 20 (8) 8. George Gaertner 89 (7) 9. Jim Wehrman 94 (9)
Egan led the distance. Campton spun while running third on lap three. It took him until the last corner to take the final transfer from N. Klemko.
Heat three (started): 1. Jimmy Sivia 91 (4) 2. Dennis Spitz 41 (2) 3. Shawn Swim 12 (1) 4. Derek Crane 19K (3) 5. Charles Spoonmore 51 (6) 6. Vince Bartolotta 6B (7) / 7. Paul Shaffer 00 (5) 8. James Walldan 77 (9) 9. Tom Eller 29OG (8)
Spitz led early, but yielded to Sivia on lap three.
B main (started): 1. Shaffer (1) 2. N. Klemko (3) 3. Gaertner (4) 4. Walldan (6) 5. Huck (2) 6. Eller (8) / 7. Wehrman (9) 8. Alt (7) 9. Smith (5)
The 10-lapper took the top six to the feature. Shaffer led the distance. Smith spun twice and exited, ending a tough night for him. Walldan took fourth with two to go.
A main (started): 1. Egan (1) 2. Crane (3) 3. Cox (5) 4. Sivia (6) 5. Zelski (2) 6. Dodd (8) 7. Hafford (9) 8. Campton (7) 9. Raidart (4) 10. Spitz (10) 11. Paulsen (11) 12. C. Klemko (15) 13. Olsen (13) 14. Bartolotta (18) 15. N. Klemko (20) 16. Grissom (14) 17. Walldan (22) 18. Spoonmore (16) 19. Stanford (17) 20. Swim (12) 21. Huck (23) 22. Eller (24) 23. Shaffer (19) 24. Gaertner (21)
Unfortunately, the crate engines weren’t supplying the power needed to work the high groove. Egan, a former IRA regular, led the field in the 20-lapper ahead of Zelski and Crane early on. Crane worked his way into second on lap four. Cox also got by Zelski to move into a podium position on lap seven. Egan was approaching the rear of the field on lap 13, when Shaffer and Eller tangled in front of him. That opened the track up for him the last seven laps. Crane applied some pressure late, but settled for second. N. Klemko was the hard-charger.