GOEDEN TAKES IRA'S OPENING DUE
By Paul Pittman

Beaver Dam, WI 5/3   Donny Goeden captured the season opener for the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series by capturing Round 1 of Charter Raceway Park's Duel At The Dam. Goeden, last year's winningest IRA driver,  picked up where he left off last season with another trip to victory lane aboard the Bob Walldan owned #11 Maxim. Despite starting on the front row, the win by no means came easy. Action galore throughout the field gave the fans who braved an extremely cold evening a show well worth the trip. The Charter Raceway Park officials committed themselves to getting the show in despite cold, windy, and wet weather.
 
John Haeni grabbed the initial lead, though the red flew early as third-row starting Tommy Sexton took a tumbler after contact with another machine bringing out the first of two reds in the 30 lap headliner. Haeni would continue to lead Goeden and Scotty Neitzel when action resumed. Goeden would move to point after a good battle with Haeni. Neitzel, Mike Reinke, Brian Kristan, and Mike Kertscher would mix it up fighting for the top five positions. Todd King, Steve Meyer, and Bill Wirth were charging through the field, with King running the bottom line to perfection.
 
King would roar into the top three and by mid-race the 5th row starting King, would overtake Goeden for the lead. Despite a broken right front shock, King was beginning to pull away and looked as though he may be on his way to his first career IRA feature win. However a spin by Bill Warren who had charged his way to battle for a top ten position after starting near the back, slowed the field on lap nineteen.
 
Shockingly King appeared to run out of fuel as the race restarted with Goeden, a determined Meyer, Haeni, Neitzel, Kristan, Reinke, Wirth, and Kertscher in tow.
Goeden would take back the lead following a restart for a Billy Hafemann spin, and then on lap twenty-five the multi-lap three way battle for seventh came to a head as Kertscher tried to split Wirth and Reinke with contact sending Reinke into a hard third turn crash. The wreck also eliminated Kertscher.
 
Goeden would again stay in command despite pressure from Meyer and Haeni, while Wirth, and nineteenth starting Tim Vandervere began to flex their muscles. A lap 27 yellow for Scott Young tightened the field for a three lap dash to the checker. Goeden got a good jump while Meyer settled in for a solid second. On the race's final corner Haeni would make contact with the infield tire barrier and spin wildly into the infield sending officials and photographers scattering as the checker flew. Neitzel would claim third with a rim-riding Vandervere taking fourth over Wirth. Kristan slid back to sixth with Billy Balog, Kurt Davis, Jason Johnson, and TJ Luetke completing the top ten with the rest o the field ending on yellow checker due to the Haeni's misfortune.
 
Kertscher set quick time over the thirty-one car field, while heat wins went to Dave Uttech, Young, and King. Kim Mock captured a very entertaining B-Main.

IRA travels to Iowa next weekend May 9-10 with shows at 34 Raceway and Knoxville Raceway. IRA is an ASA affiliated series with associate sponsor support from United Trailers and Bar's Leaks & Rislone.
 
Charter Raceway Park A-Main Finish;
1. Donny Goeden, Steve Meyer, Scotty Neitzel, Tim Vandervere, Bill Wirth, Brian Kristan, Billy Balog, Kurt Davis, Jason Johnson, TJ Luetke, Bill Warren, Kim Mock, Dave Uttech, Andy Hunt, Russel Borland, John Haeni, Scott Young, Mike Reinke, Mike Kertscher, Todd King, Billy Hafemann, Tommy Sexton