9/13/2021
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Tatnell Wins Richert Memorial
The Bumper to Bumper Outlaw Sprint Series headed to The Home of the Hamburger, Outagamie Speedway on Friday night to kick off a two day weekend of races. Scotty Thiel who has seemingly always been strong at the formerly D shaped speedway started the night off setting quick time. Steve Meyer, Scotty Neitzel and Dave Uttech picked up the heat wins while Jeremy Schultz and Thiel won the dashes, placing them on the front row for the A main.
As the A main went green, Jeremy Schultz grabbed the early lead followed by Thiel and Blake Nimee. Thiel stalked Schultz as he caught lapped traffic, with Nimee trailing not far behind. As the pair navigated lapped traffic, Thiel was able to maneuver past Schultz and claim the lead, but Nimee had once again closed to the back door of both drivers, this time with Jake Blackhurst in tow. Schultz would pass Thiel's 73 to lead once again near the halfway point, but Thiel would answer back and claim the lead once again, as Nimee would also sneak past The King of the Sherm Nation and into second place. A yellow flag for Steve Meyer in turn 2 would set up a restart with Thiel out front and Blake Nimee in 2nd with 15 laps to go. After the restart Thiel appeared to shift into another gear, gapping the field as he moved through lapped traffic. Nimee in his SRF Painting and Staining 79 followed Thiel through traffic but had nothing for the Gibbsville Cheese 73 as Thiel claimed the victory for the 3rd time this season.
After an exciting night at Outagamie Speedway, the high powered winged 410 sprints moved north to the Cedar Lake Speedway for the 21st annual Jerry Richert Memorial, honoring the 1962 Knoxville Nationals Champion. Sawyer Phillips set quick time over Justin Henderson, while Brooke Tatnell, Josh Schneiderman and Scotty Thiel all claimed heat race victory’s. Dash number one, setting the inside first 5 rows of the A main saw Danny Schlafer pick up the win over York Pennsylvania’s Chase Deitz. In dash 2 Skyler Prochaska and Scotty Thiel dueled hard for the lead, exchanging the top spot numerous times before Prochaska eventually was victorious, cementing an outside front row starting spot.
After taking the green, Scotty Thiel quickly moved 3 wide down the backstretch to steal the lead away from Danny Schlafer and Skyler Prochaska. Thiel and the Oz Motorsports team looked to claim their first ever victory in the $5,000 to win race. Justin Henderson would catch Thiel's 73 however and the pair would exchange slide jobs and the lead. While the duo bounced off of lapped traffic battling for the lead, the 5 time Richert Memorial winner Brooke Tatnell had moved into third and caught the pair. The top three ran nose to tail through lapped traffic looking for an opportunity to capitalize. Tatnell would find a line past Thiel and look to move past Henderson. While Brooke Tatnell and Justin Henderson battled, Thiel kept close to them looking for his chance to capitalize. With 5 to go, Tatnell slid Henderson for the lead. Henderson attempted to cross over but could not take the lead back. This would prove to be the race winning move as Brooke Tatnell claimed his 6th career Jerry Richert Memorial win in exciting fashion.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA outlaw Sprint Series have 3 races left on the schedule. Saturday September 18th the series runs Wilmot Raceway for the final time in 2021, then the series moves to the Dodge County Fairgrounds on September 24th and on the 25th -4 champions will be crowned as all Wisconsin based sprint car series’ meet at the Plymouth Dirt Track for the Wisconsin Sprint Car Championships. All events will be streamed live on Flo Racing for those who cannot attend live.
Article Credit: Gared Tennyson
Submitted By: Kim Tennyson