Charter Raceway Park 6-09-07
By Dennis Thompson
It was a special night at Charter Raceway Park in Beaver Dam, WI on Saturday night. It marked the first event for the five regular divisions at the Raceway since the May 20 fire. In a special ceremony prior to the racing events, general manager Rex Melius gave recognition and thanks to all who were involved from the day of the fire and in the time since that worked to get the facility race ready and to everyone else who have shown their support for Charter Raceway Park.
On Johnsonville Brats Night at the Races, Jay Schraufnagel of Beaver Dam drove to his first win of the season in the Johnsonville Brats Modifieds A-Main. Schraufnagel held off the hard charging Mike Sandholm of Oconomowoc in a race that was shortened to 17 laps after a horrendous crash involving Russ Reinwald of Iron Ridge, Frank Firari of Lowell and Marc Miller of Juneau. Fortunately, all drivers escaped serious injury. Joe McGrath of Neosho came all the way from the seventh row to finish in third behind Schraufnagel and Sandholm. John Stanton of Reeseville also came from deep in the pack as he started in row ten and finished in fourth. Robbie Bunkelman finished in fifth.
Don Sorce Jr. of West Allis took over the lead on lap ten and stayed out in front the rest of the way to score his first win of the season in the Mortgage Guys Grand Nationals A-Main. Steve Seitz of Beaver Dam put the pressure on Sorce and finished a close second. Roger Lee of Wind Lake picked his way up through the traffic, moving up from the sixth row to finish in third. Dan Schumacher of Milwaukee followed in fourth ahead of Will Schumacher of Hartford.
Jerry Winkler of Oshkosh recorded up his third win in as many events as he drove to victory in the 20-lap Dodge Central Credit Union Stocks Division A-Main. Winkler, who started in row five, made a move to the inside of Jon Schultz of Waunakee on lap eighteen to take over the top spot and score the win. Barry Cates of Greenfield followed in third ahead of Jeremy Schwoch of Horicon and Ron Koenig of Fox Lake.
Brad Weber of Rolling Prairie started on the inside of row three, but pulled off a big move down on the inside groove coming out of turn two to rocket into the lead on the first lap of the 20-lap Gibbsville Cheese INEX Legends/Wisconsin Legends Racing Dirt Series A-Main. Despite a couple of late race cautions that bunched up the field for restarts, Weber left no doubt that he had the field covered as quickly sprinted away from the rest of the field each time and crossed the line first for his first win of the season. Eric Barth of Sauk City quickly moved up to second at the start of the race and remained there the rest of the way. Warren Ropp of Kalona, IA made his first appearance of the season and drive to third. Phil Van Tatenhove of Gibbsville had an impressive run as he came from the fifteenth starting position to finish in fourth. Bethany Wyttenbach of Plain was fifth.
Matthew Janke of Mequon took over the lead from Eddie Lemay III of Milwaukee on lap twelve of the 20-lap Wally’s Auto Dirt Devils A-Main. Janke then fended off any attempts by Lemay to retake the lead and drove to his first win of the season. Aaron Stolp of West Allis moved up to finish in third. Early race leader, Cody Allard of Waupun drove to fourth ahead of Brian Budde of Beaver Dam.
Modified B-Main wins were recorded by Dennis Krause of Oconomowoc, Joe McGrath and Tim Lemirande of Verona. Mike Sandholm, Frank Firari, Mike Klenz of West Bend, Larry Zirbel of Iron Ridge, Joey Jaeger of West Bend and Robbie Bunkelman claimed the heat race wins.
Grand National heat race wins were registered by Will Schumacher, Tommy Moore of Muskego and Don Sorce Jr. Stock heat race wins went to Jim Berkevich and Brent Lepple. The Legends heat race wins were scored by Brad Weber and Joel Wyttenbach. Doug Draheim of Brookfield and Aaron Stolp were victorious in the Dirt Devils division heats.
Johnsonville Brats Modifieds
A-Main (1-10) – Jay Schraufnagel, Mike Sandholm, Joe McGrath, John Stanton, Robbie Bunkelman, Brian Crapser, Tim Lemirande, Chris Piquette, Dennis Krause, Jeremy Christians, (11-20) – Joey Jaeger, Larry Zirbel, Frank Firari, Don Scheffler, Russ Reinwald, Eddie Lemay Jr., Andy Voigt, Marc Miller, Jim Zdroik, Dave Schoenberger, (21) – Mike Klenz
B-Main 1 – Dennis Krause, B-Main 2 – Joe McGrath, B-Main 3 – Tim Lemirande
Heat 1 – Mike Sandholm, Heat 2 – Frank Firari, Heat 3 – Mike Klenz, Heat 4 – Larry Zirbel, Heat 5 – Joey Jaeger, Heat 6 – Robbie Bunkelman
The Mortgage Guys Grand Nationals
A-Main (1-10) – Don Sorce Jr., Steve Seitz, Roger Lee, Dan Schumacher, Will Schumacher, Tommy Moore, Brian Gerber, Russ Davison, Eric Grunst, Kevin Rank, (11-19) – Paul Tod, Ross Stalter, Nick Schumacher, Corey Stanton, Marcus Cox, Justin Bader, Shane Heaney, Dion Wahl, Nathan Persha
Heat 1 – Will Schumacher, Heat 2 – Tommy Moore, Heat 3 – Don Sorce Jr.
Dodge Central Credit Union Stocks
A-Main (1-10) – Jerry Winkler, Jon Schultz, Barry Cates, Jeremy Schwoch, Ron Koenig, Roger Frank, Jeff Hoerchner, Andrew Araco, Matt Bedker, Noah Schepp, (11-16) – Nathan Gross, Dan Troyan, Brent Lepple, Jim Berkevich, Aaron Streblow, Mike McNeil
Heat 1 – Jim Berkevich, Heat 2 – Brent Lepple
Gibbsville Cheese INEX Legends/Wisconsin Legends Racing Dirt Series
A-Main (1-10) – Brad Weber, Eric Barth, Warren Ropp, Phil Van Tatenhove, Bethany Wyttenbach, George Giesen, Butch Dahlke, Steve Boelter, Ric Mattie, Greg Hartlaub, (11-15) – Don Gillham, Luke Polzin, Mike Mueller, Joey Johnson, Joel Wyttenbach
Heat 1 – Brad Weber, Heat 2 – Joel Wyttenbach
Wally’s Auto Dirt Devils
A-Main (1-10) – Matthew Janke, Eddie Lemay III, Aaron Stolp, Cody Allard, Brian Budde, Shaun Deibert, Doug Draheim, Kevin Allard, Tim Sheppard, Kip Klawitter, (11-19) – Stephen Lemay, Mac MacDonald, Jesse Budde, Amber Bolstad, Kevin Schutz, Brandon Hummelmeier, Tim Draheim, Brandon Bobholz, Shawn Klapps Jr.,
Heat 1 – Doug Draheim, Heat 2 – Aaron Stolp