Schultz gets breakthrough feature win at WIR By Tom Goff FRRC/WIR Media Director August 8, 2013; Buchanan, WI - Finally, “Mighty Max” is a feature winner. After coming so close to victory three times this season, Maxwell Schultz, better known as “Mighty Max,” won his first career Fox River Racing Club 35-lap feature Thursday on Al Huss Auto & Truck/Valley Gasket night at Wisconsin International Raceway. “It really takes a burden off,” said Schultz, 23, of Reedsville, who has been racing super lates for seven seasons. “We’ve been close so many times and had so many slip through our fingers.” Schultz finished 1.568 seconds ahead of Greg Haese, followed by points leader Jeff Van Oudenhoven in third, Lowell Bennett fourth and Kyle Calmes fifth. Schultz, who started inside of the second row, led for 22 laps, including the final 18. Schultz ran door to door with Calmes for seven laps before finally clearing him on lap 18 and was able to pull away in clean air as Calmes and Haese ran side by side, effectively blocking the track from the likes of the faster cars of Van Oudenhoven and Bennett to pass. “We had it covered and then the caution came out and we had a double-file restart and things keep creeping back in your head of times past and we finally got clear and I set sail and it was all good in the car,” said Schultz, a second-generation driver, whose dad Bob raced sportsman cars and Mid-Americans during the ‘90s at WIR and 141 Speedway. Still, he kept his fingers crossed, but he thought he was home free with about 10 laps to go. “You just pray, no caution, no caution,” Schultz said. “With five to go, you start hearing sounds but I had a big enough lead where I could kind back off a little bit and it worked out for us.” Brandon Conrad came off the pole to pace the main event for the first seven laps before the first caution flag came out for debris on the track. On the restart, Schultz took the outside and battled Conrad for a lap before clearing him on lap nine, Then on lap 11, the yellow flew again when Brady Baldry spun on the backstretch. Calmes grabbed the lead and he and Schultz waged another side by side duel until lap 18 when Schultz finally got past him. With three races to go in the season, Van Oudenhoven maintained the point lead with 755 to Schultz’s 717, going into the Blue Race, the final race of the Red, White and Blue state championship series next week. Andy Monday is third with 692, followed by Brett Piontek, the night’s top qualifier, with 682 and 12-time champion Terry Baldry with 668. Of note, three members of the Baldry family competed in the feature and the first heat race. In the heat race, Brady Baldry edged his dad, Terry, for the win in the eight-lap race, while Terry’s grandson, 14-year-old Wyatt Blashe of Clintonville, the son of Terry’s daughter Sarah Blashe, also made his super late debut in the event. Then in the feature, Terry Baldry placed 10th, Wyatt took 16th and Brady finished 19th in the 20-car field. Late model In one of the closest and most exciting battles of the season in any division, Brent Strelka nipped Mike Meyerhofer Jr. by a fraction of a second for victory in the 20-lap feature. On the final lap, Strelka of Freedom swung low out of turn four and edged Meyerhofer in a battle of drivers, who have been swapping the point lead all season. Only three points separates the two. Strelka leads with 797, while Meyerhofer has 794. “On the last lap, once I cleared him he shot to the outside and then we basically drag-raced,” said Strelka, who won for the third time this season. “He had me by about a quarter (of a car), but he came off (turn four) a little loose and we had a good run off and it had to be within inches at the line.” The official margin of victory was .006 seconds. Not only did Strelka have to worry about Meyerhofer, he was also battling an ill-handling car at the end. “It was great to watch, but I had a handful with the car,” Strelka said. “I’d rather just win a race walking away then have that happen. But I love running with Mike. Probably one of the best parts was being the tops in points and running with him, we’re going to bump a little bit, but we’re going to finish and that’s why I like racing with him.” Wisconsin sport trucks For the second straight week, the green No. 50 truck won the Wisconsin sport truck feature. Last week, it was driven by Matt Rhode of Menasha. This time, Freedom’s Todd Schuette was behind the wheel. Schuette took the lead on lap nine, driving by Jason Plutz on the outside out of turn four and held off Sam Haven and Brett Van Horn for the win, the truck’s third in the last four weeks. Schuette denied Haven of a clean sweep. Haven had set fast time and won a heat race. Super stocks Neenah’s T.J. Spierowski won his first ever feature, holding off former champion Greg Hauser over the final seven laps. The second-year driver from Neenah grabbed the lead on lap six in the crash-marred 20-lap feature, which included six cautions including four in the first five laps. Spierowski, 15-year-old son of former late model driver Tom Spierowski, held the inside lane in the closing laps, forcing Hauser to pass him on the outside. The Wrightstown veteran inched ahead on lap seven, but couldn’t sustain it the rest of the way. Sizzlin’ 4s Green Bay’s Cody Huven was the winner in the 20-lap feature, fending off a stiff challenge in the final laps by Little Chute’s Ethan Beattie for his second victory of the season. Huven who started in seventh position in the 16-car field, got by Alex Seidl on lap eight and led the rest of the way. Figure 8 Willy Van Camp of Appleton started sixth, passed Craig VandeWettering on lap eight and went on to win his second 10-lap feature of the season. Summary Super late models 35-lap feature: 1, Maxwell Schultz, Reedsville; 2, Gregg Haese, Manitowoc; 3, Jeff Van Oudenhoven, Kimberly; 4, Lowell Bennett, Neenah; 5, Kyle Calmes, Freedom; 6, Brett Piontek, Green Bay; 7, Ty Majeski, Seymour; 8, Tanner Bohlen, Hortonville; 9, Andy Monday, Appleton; 10, Terry Baldry, Omro; 11, Brandon Conrad, Freedom; 12, Pete Vandermolen Jr., Oshkosh; 13, Randy Schuler Mequon; 14, Kyle Rhoades, Pulaski; 15, T.J. Smith, Menasha; 16, Wyatt Blashe, Clintonville; 17, Bobby Kendall, Montello; 18, Tom Gee Jr., Sobieski; 19, Brady Baldry, Omro; 20, Michael Anthony, Appleton. 8-lap heats: First: 1, B. Baldry; 2, T. Baldry. Second: 1, Conrad; 2, Schultz. 6-lap dash: 1, Haese; 2, Calmes. Fastest qualifier: Piontek 19.422 seconds. Late models 20-lap feature: 1, Brent Strelka, Freedom; 2, Mike Meyerhofer Jr., Hilbert; 3, Brad Anthony, Appleton; 4, Cory Kemkes, Appleton; 5, Brett Wenzel, Manitowoc; 6, Alex Stumpf, Woodville; 7, Terry Miller, Neenah; 8, Brandon Reichenberger, Appleton; 9, Corey Manders, Hilbert; 10, Sawyer Effertz, Darboy. 8-lap heats: 1, Louie Goss, Green Bay; 2, Ben Miller, Neenah. Second: 1, Wenzel; 2, Effertz. 6-lap dash: 1, B. Anthony; 2, Springstroh. Fastest qualifier: Kemkes 20.660 seconds. Wisconsin sport trucks 20-lap feature: 1, Todd Schuette, Freedom; 2, Sam Haven, Kaukauna; 3, Brett Van Horn, Green Bay; 4, Kyle Quella, Appleton; 5, Jason Plutz, Appleton; 6, Taylor Vandermoss, Darboy; 7, Brian Vixmer, St. Peter; 8, Hayden Waztka, Green Bay; 9, Kylee Vandermoss, Darboy; 10, Tyler Nettekoven, Appleton. 8-lap heats: First: 1, Plutz; 2, Vixmer. Second: 1, Haven; 2, B. Monday. Fastest qualifier: Haven 16.016 seconds. Super stocks 20-lap feature: 1, T.J. Spierowski, Neenah; 2, Greg Hauser, Wrightstown; 3, Andy Meyerhofer, Kaukauna; 4, Mark Truckey, Freedom; 5, Denny Crass, Rosecrans; 6, Jessie Van Roy, Kaukauna; 7, Rick Wenzel, Fremont; 8, Erik Turner, Two Rivers; 9, Rachel Meyerhofer, Kaukauna; 10, 8-lap heats: First: 1, Trevor Howard, Kaukauna; 2, Andy Paluch. Second: 1, Crass; 2, Truckey. Fastest qualifier: Sizzlin’ 4’s 15-lap feature: 1, Cody Huven, Green Bay; 2, Ethan Beattie, Little Chute; 3, Randy Sonkowsky, Combined Locks; 4, Corey Romenesko, Kaukauna; 5, Steve Van Oudenhoven, Two Rivers; 6, Devin Yaeger, Appleton; 7, Braison Bennett, Neenah; 8, Austin Birling, Menasha; 10, Cody Booth, Oshkosh. 8-lap heats: First: 1, P. Braun; 2, Ethan Beatie. Second: 1, R. Braun; 2, Romenesko. Figure 8’s 10-lap feature: 1, Willy Van Camp, Appleton; 2, Jared Baughman, Kaukauna; 3, Craig VandeWettering, Freedom; 4, Randy Krueger; 5, Jeff Wilz, Harrison. Point standings Super late models: 1, Van Oudenhoven 755; 2, Schultz 717; 3, Monday 692; 4, Piontek 682; 5, T. Baldry 668; 6, Gee Jr. 663; 7, Bennett 632; 8, Calmes 587; 9, Conrad 582; 10, Bohlen 576. Late models: 1, Meyerhofer Jr. 797; 2, Strelka 794; 3, Kemkes 739; 4, Anthony 732; 5, Springstroh 715; 6, Stumpf 706; 7, Effertz 694; 8, Reichenberger 658; 9, Wenzel 599; 10, Manders 565. Wisconsin sport trucks: 1, Quella 802; 2, Van Horn 771; 3, Plutz 743; 4, T. Vandermoss 738; 5 (tie), Bryan Monday and Jacob Boldiga, 729; 7, Todd Kostichka, 687, 8, Vixmer 609; 9, Nettekoven 558; 10, Matt Rhode/ Schuette 556. Super stocks: 1, Dylan Wenzel 451; 2, Larry Raygo 416, 3, Turner 409; 4, R. Wenzel 362; 5, Van Roy/Andy Casavant 337; 6, Neal Sannes 332; 7,Truckey 3324; 8 (tie) Jeff Treml and Ed/Trevor Howard 304; 10, Denny/Matt Crass 287. Sizzlin 4’s: 1, Romenesko 478; 2, Ethan Beattie 468; 3, Huven 455; 4, B. Bennett 451; 5, Sonkowsky 450; 6, P. Braun 435; 7, R. Braun 419; 8, Van Oudenhoven 407; 9, Yaeger 363; 10, Alex Seidl, Appleton, 355. Figure 8’s: 1, Baughman 612; 2, Van Camp 520; 3, Terry Van Roy 407; 4, VandeWettering 362; 5, Krol, 317; 6, Ken Van Wychen, Kaukauna 257; 7, Jamie Verstegen 217; 8, M, Meyerhofer Jr. 190; 9 (tie), Wilz and Derek Schmitt 147. Attendance: 2,000.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 02:32:06 +0000
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