5/22/2016
IRA Interstate Racing Association
DANNY HOLTGRAVER TOPS ARCTIC CAT ALL STARS VS. BUMPER TO BUMPER IRA OUTLAW SPRINTS SHOWDOWN AT WILMOT!
HOLTGRAVER ENDS BLANEY’S IRA VS ALL STAR SHOWDOWN WIN STREAK!
May 21, 2016; Wilmot, WI – For the past several years when the Arctic Cat All Stars and the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints gather at Wilmot Raceway for a showdown, Dale Blaney has typically been the biggest benefactor. In fact, in the four prior meetings Blaney has planted the banner for the All Stars in victory lane.
While the All Stars were in fact dominant tonight it was a new face topping the showdown as Danny Holtgraver from Pittsburgh, PA led the contest from the opening lap to the checkered while fighting off fierce challenges from several drivers.
A late race restart for an errant infield tire which got knocked onto the racing surface created a showdown between Holtgraver, Blaney, Sheldon Haudenschild and Brandon Wimmer.
In the end Holtgraver was able to repel the challenges of his foes and made his way to the finish line with a six car length advantage on Haudenschild.
Blaney who spent the second half of the race trying to find a way to pass Holtgraver instead fell to Haudenschild charge giving Blaney the position with five laps to go. Haudenschild was unsuccessful in catching Holtgraver and ultimately had to settle for second. Blaney made up the final podium spot in third.
An impressive showing of 44 sprint cars had checked into the pit area resulting in the first “C” main in several seasons for the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints.
When the field was set it was former IRA Rookie of the Year and two-time Wilmot Raceway champion Jeremy Schultz sitting on the pole for the 35 lap main event.
Schultz had earlier turned in a stunning performance to top the dash and place himself onto the pole for the main event.
The initial start was waved off after a spin by Caleb Armstrong.
When the green flag fell in the main event it was Holtgraver gaining the upper hand using the high line.
Schultz worked the low line drawing even with Holtgraver on several occasions during the opening circuits but Holtgraver led at the line every lap.
Haudenschild who had started sixth quickly maneuvered toward the front working by Schultz for second on lap three. Two circuits later he was exchanging the top spot with Holtgraver as each managed to execute successful slide jobs.
Behind the pair Blaney had worked by Schultz into the third spot by lap five.
Haudenschild began to pressure Holtgraver for the lead and briefly took the top spot only to see the pass negated by a caution which was required when Jordan Goldesberry shed a wheel and came to a stop in turn three on lap ten.
The lone red during the contest occurred just one lap after the restart when T.J. Michael did a quick flip in turn three. He was unhurt in the incident and his crew made repairs to his car and he briefly returned to action before dropping from the contest with mechanical ills.
Underway again Holtgraver got a brief respite as the battle for second intensified between Haudenschild, Blaney and Wimmer. The trio tossed the runner-up spot back and forth while Holtgraver build a slim lead.
The lead was erased with the final caution for an infield tire working it’s way into the racing groove with eight laps to go in the contest.
The final green flag waved with Holtgraver able to pull away from Blaney. Haudenschild managed to work the high line to surpass Blaney with five laps to go but Holtgraver’s pace kept him out of reach to the finish.
The victory was the first career checkered in Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint competition for Holtgraver who became the fifth different winner in six nights of action for the IRA Sprints this season. Haudenschild and Blaney finished second and third respectively.
Wimmer, who had already won in IRA competition this year with a win several weeks ago at Manitowoc finished fourth. Kory Crabtree completed the top five.
Cap Henry, Chad Kemenah and Parker Price-Miller finished sixth through eighth respectively. Scott Thiel was the highest among the IRA regulars in ninth and Kraig Kinser completed the top ten finishers.
In earlier action T.J. Michael outran Todd Daun for victory in the B-main while Jordan Goldesberry and Jim Moughan Jr. advanced by finishing in the top four. Robbie Pribnow finished fifth just missing the show.
The “C” main was captured by Kris Spitz.
Heat race wins went to Haudenschild, Wimmer, Lee Jacobs and Holtgraver.
The dash was captured by Schultz.
Blaney set the fastest time of the evening with a lap of 13.376 seconds. Parker Price Miller was second quickest with a 13.477 second effort.
The series now packs up and head to Angell Park Speedway for a show on Sunday evening.
Sunday May 22nd the appearance of the Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprints will serve as Angell Park Speedway’s season opener.
In addition Badger Midgets, and Badger Micros will be on hand for a full program. The event will mark the start of the 80th Anniversary season for the Badger Midgets.
One of six events at the track featuring the Bumper-to-Bumper IRA Sprint cars this season, the historic 1/3rd mile puts on an action-packed sprint car show and it has become a fan favorite on the IRA schedule.
In 2015, fans saw Parker Price-Miller, Jeremy Schultz, Scotty Neitzel, and Bill Balog take victories with the IRA. Some travelers are expected to make the trip over after Wilmot and some other IRA stars are expected to join the fray Sunday as well.
Spectator Gates will open at 4:30pm with hot laps at 6:00pm. Racing action is set to get underway after hot laps. Adult admission is $20.00, Students ages12 to 18 are admitted for $ 15.00 and children ages 12 and under are FREE with an adult.
For more information, visit www.angellparkspeedway.net.
Tickets are just $20 for adults, $10 for students age 6-11 and kids 5 and younger are free. Qualifying begins at 5 p.m., with racing to follow.
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.
410 Sprints | IRA Interstate Racing Association
A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 70-Danny Holtgraver[2]; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 3. 1-Dale Blaney[4]; 4. 48-Brandon Wimmer[9]; 5. 60-Kory Crabtree[7]; 6. 21-Cap Henry[13]; 7. 10H-Chad Kemenah[15]; 8. 2-Parker Price-Miller[3]; 9. 64-Scotty Thiel[22]; 10. 11K-Kraig Kinser[14]; 11. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[1]; 12. 2W-Scott Neitzel[19]; 13. 81-Lee Jacobs[10]; 14. 40-Caleb Helms[16]; 15. 19-Todd Daun[11]; 16. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[5]; 17. 99-Kyle Marten[17]; 18. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[18]; 19. 10V-Matt Vandevere[20]; 20. 1M-Phillip Mock[8]; 21. 68-Dave Uttech[21]; 22. 8M-T.J. Michael[12]; 23. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[23]; 24. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr[24]
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 8M-T.J. Michael[3]; 2. 19-Todd Daun[1]; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[4]; 4. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr[2]; 5. 94R-Rob Pribnow[8]; 6. 7-Scott Uttech[11]; 7. 41-Dennis Spitz[6]; 8. 4B-Scott Biertzer[16]; 9. 53W-Bill Wirth[12]; 10. 50-Rusty Egan[7]; 11. 70H-Raymond Hensley[14]; 12. 43-Jereme Schroeder[10]; 13. 4K-Kris Spitz[15]; 14. 95-Hunter Mackison[5]; 15. 14X-Ben Schmidt[9]; 16. 57X-Andrew Palker[13]
C Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4K-Kris Spitz[1]; 2. 4B-Scott Biertzer[5]; 3. 23-Russel Borland[2]; 4. 56-Ryan Irwin[3]; 5. 79-Blake Nimee[9]; 6. 2B-Jimmy Sivia[6]; 7. O1-Chris Dodd[8]; 8. 49H-Bradley Howard[10]; 9. 12-Michael Decker[4]; 10. 12W-Josh Walter[7]
Dash 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[3]; 2. 70-Danny Holtgraver[2]; 3. 2-Parker Price-Miller[1]; 4. 1-Dale Blaney[5]; 5. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[6]; 6. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]; 7. 60-Kory Crabtree[8]; 8. 1M-Phillip Mock[7]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]; 2. 40-Caleb Helms[2]; 3. 1-Dale Blaney[6]; 4. 99-Kyle Marten[1]; 5. 21-Cap Henry[3]; 6. 19-Todd Daun[5]; 7. 12W-Josh Walter[11]; 8. 56-Ryan Irwin[10]; 9. 50-Rusty Egan[7]; 10. 14X-Ben Schmidt[8]; 11. 57X-Andrew Palker[9]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 48-Brandon Wimmer[2]; 2. 1M-Phillip Mock[4]; 3. 2-Parker Price-Miller[6]; 4. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski[1]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech[7]; 6. 70H-Raymond Hensley[9]; 7. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr[5]; 8. 95-Hunter Mackison[3]; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder[8]; 10. 12-Michael Decker[10]; 11. O1-Chris Dodd[11]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Lee Jacobs[2]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser[3]; 3. 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 4. 5J-Jeremy Schultz[5]; 5. 7C-Caleb Armstrong[6]; 6. 8M-T.J. Michael[4]; 7. 79-Blake Nimee[11]; 8. 94R-Rob Pribnow[7]; 9. 4B-Scott Biertzer[10]; 10. 4K-Kris Spitz[9]; 11. 7-Scott Uttech[8]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 70-Danny Holtgraver[6]; 2. 64-Scotty Thiel[7]; 3. 60-Kory Crabtree[5]; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah[3]; 5. 10V-Matt Vandevere[1]; 6. 23-Russel Borland[9]; 7. 49H-Bradley Howard[11]; 8. 53W-Bill Wirth[8]; 9. 41-Dennis Spitz[2]; 10. 2B-Jimmy Sivia[10]; 11. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[4]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 1-Dale Blaney, 13.376; 2. 2-Parker Price-Miller, 13.477; 3. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 13.631; 4. 70-Danny Holtgraver, 13.652; 5. 19-Todd Daun, 13.699; 6. 1MM-Jim Moughan Jr, 13.749; 7. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 13.772; 8. 60-Kory Crabtree, 13.781; 9. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.814; 10. 1M-Phillip Mock, 13.815; 11. 8M-T.J. Michael, 13.826; 12. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 13.831; 13. 21-Cap Henry, 13.835; 14. 95-Hunter Mackison, 13.874; 15. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.887; 16. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 13.899; 17. 40-Caleb Helms, 13.903; 18. 48-Brandon Wimmer, 13.905; 19. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.915; 20. 41-Dennis Spitz, 13.969; 21. 99-Kyle Marten, 13.979; 22. 14AJ-Wayne Modjeski, 14.030; 23. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 14.033; 24. 10V-Matt Vandevere, 14.079; 25. 50-Rusty Egan, 14.087; 26. 68-Dave Uttech, 14.098; 27. 94R-Rob Pribnow, 14.101; 28. 64-Scotty Thiel, 14.137; 29. 14X-Ben Schmidt, 14.146; 30. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 14.153; 31. 7-Scott Uttech, 14.157; 32. 53W-Bill Wirth, 14.169; 33. 57X-Andrew Palker, 14.180; 34. 70H-Raymond Hensley, 14.198; 35. 4K-Kris Spitz, 14.206; 36. 23-Russel Borland, 14.221; 37. 56-Ryan Irwin, 14.270; 38. 12-Michael Decker, 14.282; 39. 4B-Scott Biertzer, 14.422; 40. 2B-Jimmy Sivia, 14.426; 41. 12W-Josh Walter, 14.560; 42. O1-Chris Dodd, 14.792; 43. 79-Blake Nimee, 22.045; 44. 49H-Bradley Howard, 99.280
Upcoming 2016 Bumper to Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series Events:
5/22/2016 – Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, WI
5/27/2016 - Oshkosh Speed Zone Raceway - Oshkosh, WI
5/29/2016 - 141 Speedway - Francis Creek, WI
6/4/2016 - Cedar Lake Speedway – New Richmond, WI
6/5/2016 - Angell Park Speedway – Sun Prairie, WI
Article Credit: Jeffrey Sachse
Submitted By: Jeffrey Sachse
