Some day, we hope to write a simple race report. It will basically read, “Eric went fast, turned left, passed some cars and won the race!” Until then, you’ll have to settle for this.
As evening set on Beaver Dam Raceway for the special July 4 race that included the Badger Midgets, WingLESS Sprint Cars and Wisconsin Dirt Legends, an orange moon was rising. It looked to be full.
The day started out normal enough with Justin, Eric and Justin’s new right-hand man, Greg Leatherberry, re-checking the car, trying to figure out the track and working to void heat exhaustion with an index pushing 100 degrees.
Running with the Open Wheel cars was meaningful to the team because these are two classes Eric is hoping to move into some day. Plus, with Angell Park Speedway currently shut down due to the virus, it was as close as we’d get to an APS crowd. We knew a lot of people in the pits and the stands, who were not BDR regulars.
There was qualifying for this race and Eric’s group was the first, out of four total flights. They did a great job of spreading out and giving each other room. The track was fresh. Eric was horrible. He felt like the nose was coming out from under him, something Greg had observed. Eric’s first reaction was that there was something wrong with the car. Justin, didn’t say much. They got the wheels off, did some reviewing of notes and made some minor changes.
The results showed Eric qualified 16th out of 28. The track couldn’t be blamed as Ryan Sullivan and Tristian Furseth qualified in the top-ten out of Eric’s group. It was decided that Eric didn’t wheel the 6E in the optimal line for the track he had. We figured the qualifying run would put him in the back of the field for the feature.
In the heat race, Eric started third and promptly split the front row cars of Dominick Troyan and Faith Zellmer coming out of turn-two on the initial lap. He led for several circuits, but Mike Mueller caught him and went on to the win. Eric was second, about a length and a half away. Dave Eberle was third and Faith Zellmer held off a hard charge by Jamie Clos for the final transfer spot. “I wasn’t expecting that track,” Justin said later, referring to a pre-race watering and his choice for set-up.
The boys monitored the track as the night went on and had the advantage of watching the Legend B-Main before making their final adjustments. Considering the qualifying attempt, we were surprised to see that the 6E slated to start from the outside of the front row.
Eric took the lead at the drop of the green and put about four car lengths on the field, but that’s all he could muster. Ryan Mech, Eberle, Sullivan and Mueller were all battling to catch Eric.
A pile up of several cars, accompanied by a flip for Troyan (he was OK) caused a red with ten laps to go. Sullivan and the 6E wound up next to each other on the stoppage. When the cars fired again, Eric heard a sick noise. He and Ryan had started their cars at the same time and Eric didn’t know which car was ill. They gassed it simultaneously and again Eric didn’t know. Once out of concert, Eric knew his car was OK.
Sullivan pulled into the pits and several people, including Justin and Bill, went to the work area to see if they could get the #18 back on track. The hood was popped and Justin quickly saw the problem. A spark plug had come out and was gone. Sullivan was done for the night. Mueller, Eberle, Ryan Mech and Jordan Miklas all expired for various reasons too.
Eric led the next four laps on the restart until Clos passed him on the outside. Eric kept him in sight and gained a bit on the last two laps. Eric got a great run going into turn-three and might have had a slight advantage on the bottom. But Clos pulled ahead in the middle of the turn on the outside groove as they powered to the checkers. Eric got a great run coming off the turn, and made a charge that fell .083 seconds short or about half a car length.
The top several cars were summoned to the tech barn. Some drivers pointed out that Clos had been push-started after the red, which is a violation. They felt he should have been penalized. Since this was not observed by officials, no action was taken.
In the end, Clos failed the post-race inspection and Eric got the win. Brian Peterson, who was so instrumental in getting Eric started in Legends was second.
This run should put Eric on top of the points race for the first time ever with WLRDS. It also goes toward INEX world rankings where Eric had fallen to 32 out of over 100 (for entertainment purposes only).
UP NEXT AND NOTES
Next Saturday, July 11, we’ll be back in action for a five division night of racing at Beaver Dam.
The team was pleased to host Dawn and Tessa Leatherberry along with Greg’s good friend Michael from University Towing. Thanks to Bob and Bill Kastorff and Bill Tefft for checking in from the stands; Bob Ropke (of Northern Air Systems Inc) for riding every lap with Eric via live timing and scoring; Doug Schenck and Pam Krueger for stoping by to say “Congrats”; and Brandon Waelti (from BRS) for sticking around for our Main.
A special thanks to the photographers Casey Bollig of Casey Bollig Photography, Diane and Allison Mech of Mech Photography and Bob Cruz of BC Photos, for hanging around until near midnight so we could do Victory Lane photos!
And thanks to Hutch from the Zellmer team for his help this week!
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!
As always, thanks to our sponsors: Dog Guard of Wisconsin; BRS Radiator, Machine & Fabrication; Northern Air Systems, Inc.; Phil Espenes; Storage & Handling Systems; Club LaMark; Bullseye Games; Ground Up Lifts; Sieg Law Office; OWL Graphics and Lettering; Grandpa Blumer.
We couldn’t do it without the folks who helped put the 6E on the track this season. Justin Hoium, Big Dumb Guy, Greg Leatherbeary, Joe Wipperfurth, Bill Tefft, Brian Benisch, Cody Weisensel and Stephanie Blumer.
And thanks to “Our Troops,” Andrew Upperman and Owen Leatherberry!