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Neitzel Becomes IRA's 4th Different Winner In 2005
by Paul Pittman
Wilmot, WI (May 21, 2005): Fans who ventured out to the Wilmot
Speedway on Saturday night, expecting to see a great show with the Bumper to
Bumper IRA Outlaw Sprint Series were not disappointed. With 50 teams
signed into the pit area for the Wayne Daun Memorial, it was no holds barred
and the action started off right with time trials. Matt Folstad made his
long trip pay off as he picked up his 2nd fast time award of his rookie
season, and set a new track record for the speedway with a 13.368 second lap,
besting Todd Hepfner's 2002 record. Scott Biertzer would come close
later, but after posting the 2nd quick time of the night on his first lap,
Biertzer's #4B ended up on it's side in turn #2. The team would make
repairs in time for the 2nd heat race.. Heat races would go to
Scott Uttech, Brian Kristan, Kim Mock and Scott Neitzel. Scott Kuxhouse
won the last chance race but during the 1st B-Main, made hard contact with the
1stturn retaining wall, resulting in a red flag for his overturned
mount. Kuxhouse escaped injury however was finished for the night.
Folstad would go on to win the 1st B-Man while Travis Whitney persevered and
claimed the 2nd B-Main.
The front row of the 30 lap A-Main held a lot of promise as two of the IRA's
up and coming stars would sit side by side for the drop of the green
flag. Uttech and Kristan would race into turn one side by side, however,
it was Uttech who would emerged from turn #2 with the lead. Brake
problems would later force Kristan to drop from the event. Lap #20 saw
Mike Kertscher make a strong bid for the top spot, pulling along side Uttech
for the lead out of turn #4, however, Uttech was able to grab enough traction
on the bottom of the speedway to shut the door on Kertscher. Kertscher
would then stop on the speedway 2 laps later, setting up a shootout between
Uttech and past champions Scott Neitzel, Joe Roe, John Haeni and Donny Goeden,
all directly behind him.
The restart saw Haeni in the 2nd spot, but as laps continued to click off,
Neitzel moved his #2W to the top of the speedway and approaching lapped
traffic, the three leaders all went into turn #4, three abreast.
Neitzel's decision to go high earlier would pay off as he was able to get by
both Haeni and Uttech and once in front, never looked back to pick up his
first win of the 2005 season. Joe Roe also joined the fight but a brake
failure forced him to take a more conservative role in the waning laps.
Scott Young, who fell back as far as 6th at one point, fought back to finish
3rd.
For more information, please visit www.irasprints.com
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