5/7/2016
IRA Interstate Racing Association
WIMMER EDGES NEITZEL FOR BUMPER TO BUMPER IRA SPRINT VICTORY IN MANITOWOC MAYHEM CONTEST!
BUMPER TO BUMPER IRA 50TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON STOPS AT MANITOWOC FOR SOLD OUT SHOW!
May 6, 2016; Manitowoc, WI – Before a capacity crowd at Manitowoc Speedway, Fairmount, Indiana native Brandon Wimmer tossed a perfectly timed slider on race leader Scott Neitzel with two laps to go in the 30 lap A-main event. Wimmer completed the pass successfully, and powered away to earn his first career victory with the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series. Neitzel had to settle for runner-up honors after pacing the majority of the contest.
A pair of late race restarts put Wimmer on Neitzel’s tail tank, and coming to the green flag for a three lap shoot-out Wimmer immediately applied the pressure. Neitzel, a two-time IRA sprint champion had kept Wimmer at bay throughout the contest, but Wimmer found the speed in his Hartnell Motorsports owned machine to squeeze past Neitzel and pace the final two circuits for the victory. Wimmer’s triumph marked the third different driver to put the #48 Hartnell Motorsports team in victory lane in IRA competition in the past two years as Sheldon Haudenschild and Ben Schmidt have also taken the car to the finish line first in IRA action.
Mike Reinke the most recent winner in IRA action at Manitowoc Speedway having won the lone contest at the track last year earned the final podium spot after coming out on top of a race long war with Todd King. Earlier in the evening Reinke shattered the track record with a blistering lap of 12.347 seconds knocking nearly four tenths of a second off the old standard. Reinke established himself in third after the final restart and made a final turn bid to steal second from Neitzel, but fell less than a car length short in that effort.
The 30 lap A-main rolled trackside with Scotty Thiel sitting on the pole of the contest. Thiel, whose Six Four Promotions team promoted the evening’s program took the opening lead at the drop of the green flag while fellow front row starter Neitzel dropped back into the second position. Wimmer who had started fifth, placed himself into the third spot before the conclusion of the first lap.
Behind the lead trio, a pair of drivers making their first IRA appearance of the season did battle for fourth place. Bill Rose the defending Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Series champ contested the spot with Mike Kertscher who made his debut with the Cab Construction Motorsports team. Kertscher a stalwart participant in the series returned to action after an absence of several seasons.
Out front Thiel began to feel the pressure from Neitzel who was rim riding the banked third mile oval. Thiel clung to the inside line tenaciously but by lap six Neitzel was able to grab the upper hand.
By the tenth circuit Neitzel, Thiel and Wimmer were nose to tail while working lapped traffic. King who hard started seventh, expertly worked the low line to advance into the fourth slot.
On lap fifteen Wimmer made a bold move, powering around the outside of Thiel, and then diving to the bottom of the track down the backstretch he was able to draw even with Neitzel. Wimmer began to edge ahead when the caution appeared for an encounter between Russel Borland and Phillip Mock.
As a result of the caution the pass was negated, and Wimmer dropped back to the third spot for the restart.
Underway again Neitzel set sail setting the pace in the high groove while Wimmer made quick work of Thiel to take second. Thiel would begin to fade allowing King, and Neitzel to move past and begin to wage a war for the third position.
By lap 20 Wimmer again began to setup Neitzel in effort to take the lead. Neitzel was able to remain out front when the caution again appeared on lap 24 when Mock did a 360 spin in turn two.
Neitzel was up to the task on the restart keeping Wimmer in his tire tracks. Wimmer was again closing on lap 27 when a 360 spin in turn four caused the caution to fly for a final time.
The three-lap dash to the checkered began with Neitzel showing the way but this time Wimmer stayed close. On the next circuit Wimmer was able to work under Neitzel and the pair traded the lead position until the final circuit when Wimmer was able to firmly gain the upper hand that he would hold to the finish.
Neitzel spent the final circuit fending off a hard charging Reinke taking the spot by less than a car length. Reinke scored a well-earned third place finish. King would settle for fourth followed by Rose in the top five.
Thiel earned a sixth place finish just ahead of Kertscher in seventh. Josh Walter had crossed the finish line in eighth, but he had hit a restart cone, which dropped him two positions. This elevated Robbie Pribnow to eighth and Ben Schmidt to ninth. Walter was credited with a tenth place run.
22 of the 24 cars were still on track at the finish in a relatively incident free contest.
In earlier action Wayne Modjeski outpaced Matt Vandervere for the victory in the B-main. Josh Walter, Joe Swanson, Kurt Davis and Tim Haddy comprised the top six drivers and transferred to the main event.
Heat race wins went to Steve Meyer, Kyle Marten and Thiel
30 cars attempted qualifications this evening with Reinke’s time of 12.437 seconds establishing a new track record. King was second quick with a 12.764 second effort and Schmidt turned in the third fastest lap of the night at 12.786 seconds.
Then series now heads to Wilmot Raceway for an event tomorrow evening. The Saturday Night May 7th show will also mark the season opening show for the third-mile clay oval located in the far southeastern part of Wisconsin.
An historic facility with a long history, Wilmot Raceway’s old Modified division was the forerunner to today’s sprint cars seen on the Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Car tour.
In addition to the traveling IRA competitors, the Wisconsin Wingless Sprints, Wisconsin-Illinois Mini-Sprints and the IMCA type modifieds are on the May 7 program.
Last year former track champion Jeremy Schultz, Blake Nimee, Dale Blaney, Todd Hephner, and Jordan Goldesberry were able to score victories in the five IRA shows held at the track. Schultz, Nimee and Goldesberry are expected to participate in the event held this Saturday night.
Grandstand admission on May 7th is $20.00 for adults ages 12 and over, $5.00 for ages 7-11; and children ages 6 and under admitted free. Parking is free.
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.
For the latest information phone the trackside raceline 262-862-2090 or check the track web site www.wilmotraceway.com.
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.
The IRA Sprints are presented by its long time supporting series partners. The series support is led by title sponsor Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts & Service Centers, and associate series partners Hoosier Tire, Osborn & Son Trucking, TW Metals, Cummins Onan, and Twin Lakes Marine.
Upcoming 2016 Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series Events:
5/7/2016 - Wilmot Raceway - Wilmot, WI
5/14/2016 - Beaver Dam Raceway - Beaver Dam, WI
5/21/2016 – Wilmot Raceway – Wilmot, WI
5/22/2016 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, WI
410 Sprints | IRA Interstate Racing Association
Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts A-Main (30 Laps): 1. 48h-Bandon Wimmer; 2. 2w-Scotty Neitzel; 3. 02-Mike Reinke; 4. 73-Todd King; 5. 6r-Bill Rose; 6. 64-Scotty Thiel; 7. 80k-Mike Kertscher; 8. 94r-Robbie Pribnow; 9. 35-Ben Schmidt; 10 12w- Josh Walter; 11. 5j-Jeremy Schultz; 12. 4b-Scott Biertzer; 13. 10v-Matt Vandervere; 14. 85m-Steve Meyer; 15. 14aj-Wayne Modjesky; 16. 99-Kyle Marten; 17. 79-Blake Nimee; 18. 21h-Tim Haddy; 19. 41- Dennis Spitz; 20. 4k-Kris Spitz; 21. 6k-Kurt Davis; 22. 7s-Joe Swanson; 23. 1m-Phillip Mock; 24. 23-Russel Borland
Behling Race Products B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[1]; 2. 10V-Matt Vandevere[4]; 3. 12W-Josh Walter[2]; 4. 7S-Joe Swanson[3]; 5. 6K-Kurt Davis[6]; 6. 21H-Tim Haddy[7]; 7. 7-Scott Uttech[11]; 8. 7F-Lance Fassbender[9]; 9. 4-Paul Pokorski[5]; 10. 81-Andrew Westphal[10]; 11. (DNF) 12-Michael Decker[8]; DNS 94-Jordan Mattson
Weld Specialty Supply Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 85M-Steve Meyer[2]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel[4]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[3]; 4. 48H-Brandon Wimmer[5]; 5. 23-Russell Borland[1]; 6. 02-Mike Reinke[6]; 7. 12W-Josh Walter[7]; 8. 4-Paul Pokorski[8]; 9. 81-Andrew Westphal[10]; 10. (DNF) 12-Michael Decker[9]
Diversified Machine Inc Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 99-Kyle Marten[2]; 2. 4B-Scott Biertzer[4]; 3. 6-Bill Rose[5]; 4. 1M-Phillip Mock[9]; 5. 73-Todd King[6]; 6. 94R-Rob Pribnow[3]; 7. 7-Scott Uttech[10]; 8. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[1]; 9. 6K-Kurt Davis[8]; 10. 7S-Joe Swanson[7]
All Star Performance Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 64-Scotty Thiel[3]; 2. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[4]; 3. 4K-Kris Spitz[1]; 4. 35-Ben Schmidt[6]; 5. 41-Dennis Spitz[2]; 6. 80K-Mike Kertscher[5]; 7. 10V-Matt Vandevere[7]; 8. 7F-Lance Fassbender[9]; 9. 21H-Tim Haddy[8]; DNS 94-Jordan Mattson
Osborn & Son Qualifying 1: 1. 02-Mike Reinke, 12.437[1]; 2. 73-Todd King, 12.764[2]; 3. 35-Ben Schmidt, 12.786[11]; 4. 48H-Brandon Wimmer, 12.905[24]; 5. 6-Bill Rose, 12.962[22]; 6. 80K-Mike Kertscher, 13.005[7]; 7. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 13.007[16]; 8. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 13.049[21]; 9. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 13.069[9]; 10. 79-Blake Nimee, 13.071[25]; 11. 94R-Rob Pribnow, 13.108[13]; 12. 64-Scotty Thiel, 13.134[18]; 13. 85M-Steve Meyer, 13.279[12]; 14. 99-Kyle Marten, 13.293[15]; 15. 41-Dennis Spitz, 13.358[3]; 16. 23-Russell Borland, 13.363[4]; 17. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 13.509[23]; 18. 4K-Kris Spitz, 13.512[17]; 19. 12W-Josh Walter, 13.603[19]; 20. 7S-Joe Swanson, 13.757[30]; 21. 10V-Matt Vandevere, 13.844[26]; 22. 4-Paul Pokorski, 14.044[10]; 23. 6K-Kurt Davis, 14.084[6]; 24. 21H-Tim Haddy, 14.170[5]; 25. 12-Michael Decker, 14.459[29]; 26. 1M-Phillip Mock, 14.490[28]; 27. 7F-Lance Fassbender, 14.713[27]; 28. 81-Andrew Westphal, 14.786[8]; 29. 7-Scott Uttech, 14.796[14]; DNS 94-Jordan Mattson
Article Credit: Jeffrey Sachse
Submitted By: Jeffrey Sachse
