DAUN IMPRESSES WITH SECOND PLACE EFFORT WHILE RACING ‘ABOVE THE CUSHION’!
August 15, 2014; Wilmot, WI – The sophomore slump has been something talked about in sports, but under its definition surely is an image of Jeremy “Sherm” Schultz. Schultz had a stunning rookie season a year ago, taking a pair of A-main event wins. With skill and good fortune he managed runner-up honors to Bill Balog in the season standings, handedly earning the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint series Rookie of the Year honors. It was the best showing by a rookie in the modern history of the series.
The 2014 season had proven to be an entirely different animal for Schultz. Call it a sophomore slump. His second season on the tour was filled with mechanical ills, and plenty of bumps along the way that has resulted in the resilient team taking a brief break to regroup.
Consider the regrouping process complete.
Exactly one year after his first career series victory, Shultz again was able to climb the wing of his 5j machine, and salute his loyal fans known as the Sherm nation with a checkered flag in hand. He now has back to back victories in the storied Kenosha County Fair contests.
To take the win tonight it took a bit of good fortune, as Schultz had been chasing six-time champion Bill Balog, when Balog had fortune turn on him. On lap 17 of the 25 lap contest, he clipped a tire. The incident also collected the most recent series winner Scotty Thiel, who was victor in the most recent series race held at Beaver Dam two weeks ago.
Schultz found himself in the lead, which he held the remaining 8 laps, scoring his third career A-main victory.
After saluting the crowd from the wing of his car Shultz exclaimed. “I’m stoked. I can’t say enough about these guys”, as he acknowledged his crew. “I’m so happy for those guys, we had such a terrible year. We were wrecking racecars left, and right. This car had been fixed twice already. I thank them for sticking behind me”, said an elated Schultz
He noted Balog’s misfortune that elevated Schultz to the lead. “That’s racing, sometimes we have bad luck, it sucks I couldn’t beat him for the win, but sometimes that’s racing”, Schultz concluded.
A near standing room crowd was on hand for the late night start of the 25-lap A-main contest. Officials had decided to shorten the scheduled length of the contest by five circuits due to the challenges of the ultra tacky racing surface.
Kris Spitz paced the field from the pole position but before a lap could be completed, Tommy Sexton, the 2012 Wilmot Raceway champ, took a tumble heading into turn four resulting in a red flag. Sexton, unhurt in the incident found his evening unceremoniously ending with his car being hauled off the raceway on a wrecker. The incident also collected Kyle Marten, a standout in 360 sprint competition at Plymouth. He was testing the IRA waters this evening by taking his first laps of the year in a 410 sprint. Marten’s crew was able to make repairs, and he eventually placed a respectable 13th position.
On the restart outside front row starter Scott Uttech, powered past Spitz into the lead. Balog, who had started in the third position, wasted little time working his way to the top spot powering past Uttech on lap two.
Schultz found himself chasing Uttech through a couple quick cautions. He took advantage of a restart to dive past Uttech for the second spot on lap 12. Further back, Sheldon Haudenschild who was driving the Hartnell Motorsports entry, and Todd Daun were advancing through the field. Sheldon, son of legendary open wheeled racer Jac Haudenschild, netted the team its first ever victory just a month ago at Angell Park Speedway.
Balog meanwhile was distancing himself from the field working through heavy lapped traffic when he clipped a tire spinning in turn four. The caution flew, and he headed for the work area only to find that repairs could not be made. He retired from the contest and Schultz, who had been running second suddenly found himself with the lead.
The contest got back underway with Haudenschild applying the pressure to Schultz, while Daun experimented with running the extremely high line. Running above the cushion, Daun thrilled the crowd, wheel standing his machine in no man’s land while setting a blistering pace. He was racing in a groove no one else dared to test.
Schultz had worked out to a slim advantage when the yellow flag flew on lap 16 for a spin as Matt Vandervere lost grip on the racing surface. With the field restacked, the green briefly waved before local favorite Brian Kristan found himself upside down. Kristan was unhurt and the resulting red flag was the final slowdown of the contest.
Action resumed for the final time, and Schultz had to fend off a determined Haudenschild whose fearless driving style had allowed him to briefly pull inside Schultz. Once he gained his momentum Schultz began to pull away, finding the speed in his 5j ride that would leave his fellow competitors in his wake.
Over the final laps Schultz drove flawlessly securing the victory by a full straight. Behind him Daun proved simply amazing in the highest possible groove on the track. He powered past Haudenschild with six laps to go. Impressive as his run was we was unable to slice into Schultz’s margin, and settled for runner-up honors.
Haudenschild managed to hold onto the final podium position fending off a late race challenge by Mike Reinke. Reinke, the winner of the B-main had drove up from an 11th place starting position taking a respectable fourth place finish. Spitz comprised the top five with a steady run after having started on the pole.
Scott Uttech, Ben Schmidt, Bill Rose, Dave Uttech and Todd Hepfner comprised the top ten finishers. The effort of Rose was especially notable. He started deep in the B-main, racing his way into the show by taking the final transfer spot with only a couple laps to go in the event. He then started the A-main in 22nd position and steadily worked forward the entire event.
17 of the 22 starters were still on the track at the finish.
With an amazing 39 cars checking into the pit area, 23 cars had been scheduled to start the 15 lap B-main. Through attrition, 18 drivers had answered the call. Reinke dominated the non-stop contest taking a convincing win. Scott Biertzer, Kristan, Vandervere, Dave Uttech and Rose advanced into the main event by finishing in the top six. Russel Borland just missed the show finish seventh losing the final transfer position to Rose with a couple laps to go.
Heat race victories were scored by Scotty Neitzel, Raymond Hensley, Thiel and Schmidt.
Reinke was the evening’s fastest qualifier turning in a lap of 13.645 seconds., Daun was second quick with a 13.764 second effort, while Haudenschild was third fast with a lap of 13.787 seconds.
Lance Fassbender, and Jordan Goldesberry were among the notable series competitors with extreme bad luck this evening with both fighting mechanical ills. Steven Muth also was on the wrong end of fortune this evening taking a wild tumble in qualifying. He was unhurt but done for the evening before the first lap of competition.
The series is back in action again this evening at Wilmot Raceway with the running of the prestigious Roger Iles Tribute presented by Carriage Auto Body.
The Saturday night, August 16th show will see the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints running for an increased purse during the Tribute event. Once again the families can take in an afternoon of fun at the Kenosha County Fair and then witness the high-speed thrills on Wilmot Raceway’s third-mile clay oval. Also on hand will be the tracks own Modified, Mini-Sprint and Vintage Modified divisions.
Warm-ups will take place at 6:00 p.m. with racing action beginning at 7:00 p.m. For the latest updates contact the trackside race line 262-862-2090, raceway web site www.wilmotraceway.com or for fair event information 262-862-6121 or www.kenoshacofair.com.
The Kenosha County Fairgrounds where the track resides is located just north of the intersection of county roads C and W in Wilmot, WI. Wilmot, Wisconsin is located just 8 miles west of I-94 taking county highway C which is exit 345..
Then on Sunday evening, August 17th, the series will make its first appearance at Seymour Speedway since the 2008 racing season. To wrap uo the triple-header weekend.
IRA proudly moves continues it’s 2014 season backed by its long time supporting series partners led by title sponsor Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts & Service Centers, and associate series partners Osborn & Son Trucking, TW Metals, Hoosier Tire, Cedar Creek Motorsports, Cummins Onan, and Carriage Auto Body.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints are a featured member of Racetext.net a website dedicated to bringing fans the best possible coverage of local short track racing.
For more information on the IRA Outlaw Sprints check out the tour website at www.irasprints.com or by logging onto the series Facebook page at www.facebook.com/irasprints the series is also on twitter at #IRA_sprints.
IRA Sprint Cars - IRA Interstate Racing Association
Event #15 – Wilmot Raceway – Wilmot, WI – August 15, 2014
IRA Sprint Cars | IRA Interstate Racing Association
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 5j-Jeremy Schultz; 2. 19-Todd Daun; 3. 48h-Sheldon Haudenschild; 4. 02-Mike Reinke; 5. 4k-Kris Spitz; 6. 7-Scott Uttech; 7. 35-Ben Schmidt; 8. 6r-Bill Rose; 9. 68-Dave Uttech; 10. 94-Todd Hepfner; 11. 14-Wayne Modjeski; 12. 2w-Scotty Neitzel; 13. 99-Kyle Marten; 14. 10v-Matt Vandervere; 15. 4b-Scott Bietzer; 16. 01-Chris Dodd; 17. 5h-Patrick Hayes; 18. 5k-Brian Kristan; 19. 64-Scotty Thiel; 20. 17b-Bill Balog; 21. 70-Raymond Hensley; 22. 83-Tommy Sexton
Behling Circle Track B Feature (15 Laps): 1. 02-Mike Reinke; 2. 4b-Scott Biertzer; 3. 5k-Brian Kristan; 4. 10v-Matt Vandervere; 5. 68-Dave Uttech; 6. 6r-Bill Rose; 7. 23-Russel Borland; 8. 41-Dennis Spitz; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder; 10. 65-Jordan Goldesberry; 11. 56-Ryan Irwin; 12. 23-Trey Datweiler; 13. 79-Blake Nimee; 14. 5w-Josh Walters; 15. 71-Chad Tessman; 16. 53-Bill Wirth; 17. 16 Don Durham; 18. 55w-Robbie Wirth; 19. 1m-Phillip Mock (dns); 20. 7f-Lance Fassbender (dns); 21. Steven Muth (dns); 22. Dave Maynard (dns); 23. 11k-Rick Kelsey (dns)
Weld Racing Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2w-Scotty Neitzel; 2. 83-Tommy Sexton; 3. 94-Todd Hepfner; 4. 5j-Jeremy Schultz; 5. 5k-Brian Kristan; 6. 43-Jereme Schroeder; 7. 02-Mike Reinke; 8. 1m-Phillip Mock; 9. 72-Dave Maynard; 10. 7f-Lance Fassbender (dns)
Diversified Machine Inc. Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 70-Raymond Hensley; 2. 14aj-Wayne Modjeski; 3. 7 Scott Uttech; 4. 19-Todd Daun; 5. 68-Dave Uttech; 6. 23-Trey Datweiler; 7. 53-Bill Wirth; 8. 56-Ryan Irwin; 9. 65-Jordan Goldesberry; 10. 71-Chad Tessman
All Star Performance Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 64-Scotty Thiel; 2. 17b-Bill Balog; 3. 4k-Kris Spitz; 4. 48h-Sheldon Hausenschild; 5. 23-Russel Borland; 6. 79-Blake Nimee; 7. 41-Dennis Spitz; 8. 16-Don Durham; 9. 55-Robbie Wirth; 10. 11k-Rick Kelsey (dns)
King Racing Products Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 35-Ben Schmidt; 2. 5h-Patrick Hayes; 3. 01-Chris Dodd; 4. 99-Kyle Marten; 5. 6r-Bill Rose; 6. 5w-Byron Walters; 7. 4b-Scott Biertzer; 8. 10v-Matt Vandervere; 9. 25-Steve Muth (dns)
Osborn & Son Qualifying (Top 10) 1. 02-Mike Reinke; 2. 19-Todd Daun; 3. 47h-Sheldon Haudenschild; 4. 4b-Scott Biertzer; 5. 5j-Jeremy Schultz; 6. 56-Ryan Irwin; 7. 17b-Bill Balog; 8. 10v-Matt Vandervere; 9. 5k-Brian Kristan; 10. 7-Scott Uttech
- Jeffrey Sachse on Aug 16, 2014
- Article Date: 8/16/2014