Michael H. Babicz
(Wilmot, Wis., Saturday, May 23, 2026)–Late race battles highlighted the 20-lap AutoMeter Powered by Gandrud Performance Wisconsin WingLESS and the IRA Lightning 20-lap feature portion of the IRA Founders Night at Wilmot Raceway Saturday, May 23, 2026.
“Allen (Hafford) is a good racer, and I knew I had to keep close to see if he bobbled at all,” said Bristol’s Chris Klemko who scored the WingLESS win. “He got out of shape a little, just enough for me to get past him.”
Hafford, of Beach Park, IL, took the initial lead in the main with Klemko leading a group of four and sometimes five cars close behind. A caution on lap 2 strung out the field a little, as they worked to the finish.
The final couple circuits the front runners caught lapped traffic. Klemko took advantage of Hafford’s getting off his line coming out of turn four with three laps to go, using the outside to take the lead.
At the finish Klemko scored the win with Tim Cox of Park City, IL catching Hafford for second on the final lap. Hafford came home third. Eric Wilke of Genesee was fourth. Rusty Egan of Round Lake Beach, IL fifth.
For Klemko the win was somewhat emotional as his sister, Natalie, who passed away from cancer earlier this spring, wingLESS sprint car was driven by Jordan Paulsen, helping pace the feature field parade lap.
Brown Deer’s John Fahl won the Fox Lake Harbor/All Star Performance 1st Heat. Elkhart Lake’s Preston Ruh captured his first ever heat race winning the Five Star Race Car Bodies 2nd Heat. Watertown’s Greg Alt took the Behling Race Equipment 3rd Heat. Cox posted the Body Craft of Antioch fast qualifying time of ::15.011 seconds.
New Berlin’s Trinity Uttech scored the Behling Race Equipment WingLESS hard charger improving four spots from 13th starting spot to finish ninth.
“I didn’t think I could make it stick, but I thought I would give it a shot and it worked,” said Bristol’s Tucker Richards after scoring his second career lightning sprint feature win, with his first having come May 3 of 2025. “It all came together.”
Jordan Funderburk of Wadsworth, IL took the initial lead until the only caution to slow the main came on lap 9. Nathan Crane of Waukegan, IL, who earlier posted the Body Craft fast qualifying lap of :14.478 seconds, shot through the field from his eighth starting spot briefly taking the lead just prior to the yellow. With the lineup reverting back to the last fully completed lap, Funderburk retook the point with Crane restarting third.
Funderburk and Richards went back and forth during the last half of the feature, with Crane retiring to the infield with mechanical woes as the laps wound down.
As the two went side by side across the line at the checkered, Richards, who started seventh in the field, scored the win by 0.124 seconds. Funderburk took second. Waukesha’s Mark Heinert finished less than a car length back in third. Pleasant Prairie’s Mike Neau, who started 13th in the feature as he arrived late at the track due to other commitments, earned the Behling Hard Charger by improving nine spots to finish fourth. Ron Brannam of Barrington, IL was fifth.
Will Armitage of Athens, IL scored his first ever Bumper to Bumper IRA 410 Winged Sprint Car feature win in the 30-lap headliner.
The IRA was founded at Wilmot Raceway, known as Kenosha County Speedway at the time, 60 years ago by the late Ray Toft, late Junior Dodd and Whitey Harris. This year’s event marked the 12th Founders Night.
The WingLESS return to action Saturday, May 30 at LaSalle Speedway in Illinois along with the IRA 410s. The WingLESS will be back at Wilmot on Saturday, June 13.
The Lightning Sprints journey to Sycamore Speedway on Saturday, May 30 with their next Wilmot appearance coming Saturday, June 20.
410 Sprints – Winged
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7A-Will Armitage[1]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien[2]; 3. 15K-Creed Kemenah[3]; 4. 25T-Travis Arenz[7]; 5. 25-Danny Schlafer[4]; 6. 99D-Zach Daum[6]; 7. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[15]; 8. 10V-Matt VanderVere[17]; 9. 87A-Austin Hartmann[10]; 10. 2W-Scott Neitzel[14]; 11. 12-Corbin Gurley[8]; 12. 34-Sterling Cling[19]; 13. 96-Jake Blackhurst[11]; 14. 79-Blake Nimee[9]; 15. 4K-Kris Spitz[12]; 16. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[18]; 17. 9K-Kyle Schuett[21]; 18. 09-Clayton Rossmann[20]; 19. 29L-Brayton Lynch[16]; 20. 21H-TJ Haddy[22]; 21. 68-Dave Uttech[23]; 22. 24-Scott Conger[24]; 23. (DNF) 9X-Paul Nienhiser[5]; 24. (DNF) 15-Laela Eisenschenk[13]
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 9K-Kyle Schuett[2]; 2. 21H-TJ Haddy[1]; 3. 68-Dave Uttech[10]; 4. 24-Scott Conger[5]; 5. 9-Tommy Colburn[13]; 6. 99-Tyler Brabant[7]; 7. 70-Chris Klemko[4]; 8. 26R-Preston Ruh[8]; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder[12]; 10. 26-Cody Schlafer[3]; 11. 91-Kevin Seidler[9]; 12. (DNF) 4P-Jordan Paulsen[6]; 13. (DNF) 70W-Logan Wienke[11]; 14. (DNS) 13V-Van Gurley Jr; 15. (DNS) 13-CJ Malueg
Dash 1 (4 Laps): 1. 7A-Will Armitage[2]; 2. 15K-Creed Kemenah[1]; 3. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[4]; 4. 25T-Travis Arenz[5]; 5. 79-Blake Nimee[3]
Dash 2 (4 Laps): 1. 85J-Logan Julien[2]; 2. 25-Danny Schlafer[1]; 3. 99D-Zach Daum[4]; 4. 12-Corbin Gurley[3]; 5. 87A-Austin Hartmann[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99D-Zach Daum[2]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien[3]; 3. 15-Laela Eisenschenk[1]; 4. 87A-Austin Hartmann[4]; 5. 09-Clayton Rossmann[6]; 6. 21H-TJ Haddy[5]; 7. 70-Chris Klemko[7]; 8. 26R-Preston Ruh[9]; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 12-Corbin Gurley[2]; 2. 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 4. 10V-Matt VanderVere[5]; 5. 25-Danny Schlafer[3]; 6. 13V-Van Gurley Jr[6]; 7. 4P-Jordan Paulsen[8]; 8. 91-Kevin Seidler[9]; 9. (DNF) 70W-Logan Wienke[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15K-Creed Kemenah[2]; 2. 4K-Kris Spitz[1]; 3. 25T-Travis Arenz[3]; 4. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[4]; 5. 34-Sterling Cling[5]; 6. 9K-Kyle Schuett[6]; 7. 24-Scott Conger[7]; 8. 68-Dave Uttech[9]; 9. 9-Tommy Colburn[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7A-Will Armitage[4]; 2. 96-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[5]; 4. 29L-Brayton Lynch[1]; 5. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk[3]; 6. 26-Cody Schlafer[7]; 7. 99-Tyler Brabant[8]; 8. 13-CJ Malueg[6]
Qualifying: 1. 87A-Austin Hartmann, 12.706[4]; 2. 79-Blake Nimee, 12.722[1]; 3. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 12.762[18]; 4. 7A-Will Armitage, 12.782[5]; 5. 85J-Logan Julien, 12.810[13]; 6. 25-Danny Schlafer, 12.888[29]; 7. 25T-Travis Arenz, 12.908[12]; 8. 1-Amelia Eisenschenk, 12.949[21]; 9. 99D-Zach Daum, 12.961[6]; 10. 12-Corbin Gurley, 12.974[24]; 11. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 13.022[9]; 12. 96-Jake Blackhurst, 13.025[32]; 13. 15-Laela Eisenschenk, 13.050[15]; 14. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 13.060[23]; 15. 4K-Kris Spitz, 13.077[20]; 16. 29L-Brayton Lynch, 13.090[33]; 17. 21H-TJ Haddy, 13.137[14]; 18. 10V-Matt VanderVere, 13.141[27]; 19. 34-Sterling Cling, 13.154[26]; 20. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 13.229[10]; 21. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 13.278[11]; 22. 13V-Van Gurley Jr, 13.278[19]; 23. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 13.465[16]; 24. 13-CJ Malueg, 13.483[7]; 25. 70-Chris Klemko, 13.591[2]; 26. 70W-Logan Wienke, 13.597[35]; 27. 24-Scott Conger, 13.643[31]; 28. 26-Cody Schlafer, 13.675[8]; 29. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 13.692[22]; 30. 4P-Jordan Paulsen, 13.784[3]; 31. 9-Tommy Colburn, 13.848[25]; 32. 99-Tyler Brabant, 13.869[34]; 33. 26R-Preston Ruh, 14.263[28]; 34. 91-Kevin Seidler, 15.661[17]; 35. (DNS) 68-Dave Uttech
Non Wing Crate Sprints
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 70-Chris Klemko[1]; 2. 14-Tim Cox[4]; 3. 38-Allen Hafford[2]; 4. 24-Eric Wilke[5]; 5. 50-Rusty Egan[3]; 6. 0-John Fahl[7]; 7. 26R-Preston Ruh[8]; 8. 2J-Christian Janssen[11]; 9. 7-Trinity Uttech[13]; 10. 22-Greg Alt[9]; 11. 57-Tristan Furseth[12]; 12. 41-Dennis Spitz[14]; 13. 44J-Jordan Miklas[6]; 14. 29J-Ralph Johnson[10]; 15. 99J-Seth Johnson[16]; 16. 7D-Josh Davidson[18]; 17. 4G-George Gaertner III[15]; 18. 54-Chance Ciskowski[19]; 19. 11-Colin Sivia[21]; 20. 34-Kevin Hinich[20]; 21. 52-Craig Lager[17]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 0-John Fahl[2]; 2. 29J-Ralph Johnson[1]; 3. 70-Chris Klemko[3]; 4. 41-Dennis Spitz[5]; 5. 14-Tim Cox[4]; 6. 99J-Seth Johnson[6]; 7. 34-Kevin Hinich[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 26R-Preston Ruh[2]; 2. 50-Rusty Egan[4]; 3. 57-Tristan Furseth[5]; 4. 7-Trinity Uttech[1]; 5. 24-Eric Wilke[3]; 6. 7D-Josh Davidson[7]; 7. 54-Chance Ciskowski[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Greg Alt[2]; 2. 44J-Jordan Miklas[3]; 3. 2J-Christian Janssen[1]; 4. 38-Allen Hafford[4]; 5. 4G-George Gaertner III[5]; 6. 52-Craig Lager[6]; 7. 11-Colin Sivia[7]
Qualifying: 1. 14-Tim Cox, 15.011[2]; 2. 50-Rusty Egan, 15.062[1]; 3. 38-Allen Hafford, 15.217[19]; 4. 70-Chris Klemko, 15.282[8]; 5. 24-Eric Wilke, 15.288[12]; 6. 44J-Jordan Miklas, 15.352[18]; 7. 0-John Fahl, 15.356[6]; 8. 26R-Preston Ruh, 15.436[9]; 9. 22-Greg Alt, 15.498[20]; 10. 29J-Ralph Johnson, 15.627[7]; 11. 7-Trinity Uttech, 15.762[10]; 12. 2J-Christian Janssen, 15.777[4]; 13. 41-Dennis Spitz, 15.792[13]; 14. 57-Tristan Furseth, 15.918[11]; 15. 4G-George Gaertner III, 15.946[5]; 16. 99J-Seth Johnson, 15.960[17]; 17. 54-Chance Ciskowski, 16.045[21]; 18. 52-Craig Lager, 16.090[14]; 19. 34-Kevin Hinich, 16.107[3]; 20. 7D-Josh Davidson, 16.248[16]; 21. (DQ) 11-Colin Sivia, 15.809[15]