The Scoop
WITTKOPF WINS ONE FOR DAD, MULLEN STRIKES DK PAYDIRT AT SHAWANO & MORE
Posted on: Monday April 15, 2024
Green Bay’s Robert Wittkopf is all smiles after his opening night IMCA northern sportmod feature win at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek April 13. (danlewisphoto.net)
It was an emotional trip to victory lane for Robert Wittkopf.
The Green Bay driver put his racer into victory lane at 141 Speedway’s IMCA northern sportmod feature Saturday night. Last year Wittkopf’s dad, former racer Rod Wittkopf, passed away. The victory was a popular one at the high-banked, quarter-mile bullring. Wittkopf’s win came among a stacked field of 48 contestants. Three B mains were run along with five heat races.
141 Speedway’s six division show pushed through with 177 cars and finished the show in three hours and 45 minutes. An efficient and impressive feat, no doubt.
Mike Mullen emerged triumphant in the Dirt Kings Late Model Tour opener at Shawano Speedway. Mullen piloted the Ricky Lemmens-owned No. 99 to victory. Mullen announced earlier this year on social media his 2024 game plan included more of a focus on the late model in 2024. Rest assured the 99 car will most likely be a threat to win whenever and wherever the team decides to race.
Noticeably absent from the Dirt Kings field were a pair of regulars who were sidelined with motor issues – multi-time Shawano Speedway champion Ron Berna of Abrams and Seymour’s Jayden Schmidt. Random Lake’s Brad “JJ” Mueller, who often runs a bulk of the Dirt Kings schedule, raced with the Midwest Truck Series on the pavement at Dells Raceway Park.
With his IMCA stock car feature win at Shawano Saturday, Hortonville’s Travis Van Straten netted IMCA sanctioned career win number 131. The former national champion sits third among Wisconsin racers in all time victories in the class ‘Too-Tough-To-Tame’ behind a pair of two other former national champs and Pulaski natives Brandon Czarapata (136) and ‘Hot Rod’ Snellenberger (221), respectively.
Kewaunee’s Shawn Kilgore picked up career IMCA modified feature win No. 59 at 141 Speedway Saturday, April 13. (danlewisphoto.net)
Meanwhile with his IMCA modified feature win at 141 Speedway, Kewaunee’s Shawn Kilgore moved into a tie with Green Bay native Jared Siefert in 8th with all time Wisconsin career wins with victory number 59.
Shawano’s A.J. Springborn captured his first career IMCA northern sportmod feature win at Shawano Saturday.
GRAVITY PARK – 77 cars in six divisions answered the bell for the season opening race at Gravity Park USA in Chilton Friday, April 12. Eagle River’s Dustin White made the long tow from the northwoods worth it as he picked up the B modified feature win at the quarter-mile, dirt bullring.
ICEBREAKER RECAP – One driver to keep an eye on in the pavement super late model circles is 15-year-old Ty Fredrickson. The second-generation racer from Northfield, MN captured the Icebreaker 100 at Dells Raceway Park Saturday. The son of short track standout Danny Fredrickson, Ty is a Kulwicki Driver Development Program Finalist.
Frederickson’s win came against a stout 35 car field. In Midwest Truck Series action, Random Lake veteran Brad “JJ” Mueller copped third, Appleton’s Brandon Reichenberger took sixth, Appleton’s Nick Van placed seventh and Waupaca’s Danielle Behn finished eighth. The 50 lap feature was captured by Oregon’s Chester Ace. 28 trucks were in attendance for the DRP lid-lifter.
A LOOK AHEAD – The Dirt Kings Tour swings into the Beaver Dam Raceway for the Tour’s first ever stop at the third-mile, clay oval Saturday, April 20. The battle for cars is on in a late model class that’s not really high in numbers to begin with. The pay-to-win at BDR will be $2,000 while Shawano, which runs late models weekly on Saturday nights, has boosted their pay with $1,500-to-win and other increases in other positions throughout the field.
Either way it will be interesting to see where the loyalty lies within the dirt late model teams. Shawano had 18 late models in attendance Saturday, with 11 of those drivers which would be considered ‘Shawano regulars’ per se. A few more teams have yet to make it out yet. Hopefully there will be enough late models on the eastern half of the state to go around.
Meanwhile in the pavement circles 40 super late model entries are set to tackle the ‘World’s Fastest Quarter-mile’ Slinger Speedway for the Midwest Tour’s Jerry Priesgen Memorial Sunday, April 21.
Whatever the case is make sure whenever possible support your race track by attending in person. Not a knock at all on the all the online streaming platforms now available. But NOTHING beats the sounds and the smells of the race day experience. It’s something you cannot achieve by watching a race through your mobile device.
This will be the first Monday of the season where we post the traditional weekend notebook. We have also begun tracking feature wins at regional dirt tracks. If you ever see a discrepancy feel free to email me at jverdegan2@gmail.com. I get add up the results through MyRacePass account and sometimes an occasional error or two can pop up.
Have a great week!
Shawano’s A.J. Springborn, nephew of late model ace Troy Springborn, captured his first feature win in the IMCA northern sportmod class at Shawano Speedway April 13. (seeking photo credit)
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WIN TOTALS 2024 (as of 4/14)
(Tracks included, but not limited to, include Outagamie Speedway, 141 Speedway, Shawano Speedway, Plymouth Dirt Track, Gravity Park, The Hill Raceway, Beaver Dam Raceway, The ‘Burg & Plymouth Dirt Track. These totals will also reflect any driver feature wins that occur out-of-state or at other ovals in Wisconsin)
LATE MODEL
Mike Mullen 1
MODIFIED
Shawn Kilgore 1
Lucas Lamberies 1
Marcus Hoeppner 1
STOCK CAR
Cole Czarneski 2 (AZ, FLA, including UMP)
Travis Van Straten 1
Benji LaCrosse 1
Mitch Meier 1
Dustin White made the long tow from Eagle River pay off. White won the sportmod feature at Gravity Park USA in Chilton April 12. (Joe Holz Photography)
SPORTMOD
Dustin White 1
Robert Wittkopf 1
AJ Springborn 1
STREET STOCK
Courtney Atkinson 1
Travis Zirbel 1
GRAND NATIONAL
Dustin Weiss 1
Josh Pierce 1
FOUR CYLINDER
James Riske 1
Trevor Cronick 1