Hess Hustles to Badger Midget Main

Mikie Hess Badger Midget feature Winner (Bob Cruse Photo)By Kurt Gilhart
Beaver Dam Raceway was back in action Saturday night, as the flood water subsided from the week before. The Mid State Equipment Badger Midgets A Main saw Mike Hess jump to the high side on lap 2 and get by Brandon Waelti and then hold off Matt Smith after a late race caution to take the 20 lap main event.

The Badger Midgets started out the night with Travis Berryhill setting fast time with a lap of 15.347. The heat races were won by Smith and Courtney Erfurth.

The A Main saw Brandon Waelti jump to the lead from the pole position. Hess followed behind Waelti and passed him on lap 2 to take the lead. Matt Smith who started sixth moved up to second on lap 7, but couldn’t advance any further and had to settle for the runner up spot. Bob Shreffler finished in the third position, with Berryhill in fourth and B.G. Woods rounding out the top five.

There was a field of 19 Choice Insurance Legend cars on hand. The heat races were won by Joel Wyttenbach and Ethan Ross.

The A Main saw Dave Fraser jump to the lead from the second starting position. While Fraser would lead the race, a good battle was going on behind him between Mike Mueller, Grant Greenfield, Joe Johnson, Ross and Wyttenbach for positions 2 thru 6. On lap 8 Wyttenbach would work his way to the front and around Fraser using the high side. Lap 9 saw the biggest wreck of the year for the legend cars as a half dozen cars got together on the front stretch, including current point leader Brandon Schmitt. On the restart, Wyttenbach would maintain his lead and take the victory, Greenfield would finish in second, followed by Johnson, Mueller and Dallas Ross in fifth.

The Piggly Wiggly of Beaver Dam Grand Nationals had another solid field of 24 cars. The heat races were taken by Don Sorce Jr., Tommy Moore, and Tim Thompson. The B Main was won by Roger Lee over Nick Strobbe and Dan Schumacher.

The A Main saw Troy Weich pace the field for the first 5 laps. Sorce Jr. would use the high side on a lap 5 restart and take the lead on lap 6. While Sorce had checked out, a good battle was going on between Lee, who started 16th, Weich, Thompson and Nick Schumacher. Sorce easily took the win, with Lee holding off Thompson for the second position, Weich finished in fourth and Schumacher came home in fifth.

Thirty-Six Weld Specialty Supply Modifieds were on hand to do battle. The heat races were won by Dave Schoenberger, Tim Lemirande, Joe McGrath and Craig Priewe. The B Mains were taken by Jeremy Christians and Mitch McGrath.
Joe McGrath, who started fourth, led all twenty laps to pick up the A Main win. Second place went to Don Scheffler who started tenth, Rob Schmid came home in third, Jeremy Christians charged from fifteenth to take fourth and Aaron Rake came home in the fifth spot.

The NAPA Street Stocks saw Brent Lepple and Brandon Riedner win the heat races.

The A Main got underway with Joe Brenner taking the lead from the pole position. While Brenner was out front, Jeremy Schwoch, who started 10th was making his way thru the field. He would crack the top 5 on lap 5 in the third spot, he would move to second on lap 8 and using the inside groove, he would take the lead on lap 13 from Brenner. Jon Schultz would move to second on the same lap only to retire to the pits with mechanical problems 2 laps later. Schwoch would go on and take the win, Brenner would finish in second, Aaron Streblow would come home third, followed by Justin Brown and Charlie Pinkalla.

The Performance Motorsports Sport Mods were racing for $350 to win. The heat races were won by Jeff Steenbergen and Kenny Richards.

The A Main saw Matt Bedker pace the first three laps. On lap 4, Richards would use the inside and slide past Bedker for the lead. One lap later Brian Besaw, the current point leader would move past Bedker for second. Steenbergen would get into the top 5 on lap number 7. One lap later he would move into fourth, the next lap he would move to third, using the high side, he would move to second on lap 11 and on lap 16 he would take the lead from Richards. Besaw would get by Richards on lap 20 of the 25 lap event for second, but didn’t have enough for Steenbergen who would go on to win the event. Richards would finish 3rd, Robert Mann would take 4th and Scott Besaw came home fifth.

Next week, the Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint cars come to town for their final appearance of the 2010 season. Joining them will be the Choice Insurance Legend cars and the WIMS Mini Sprints. Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 6:30pm and the first race is scheduled to start at 7:00pm.