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TEEN FREDRICKSON TAKES WIR/TUNDRA LOOT – REGIONAL DIRT FEATURE TOTALS & MORE

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Posted on: Monday May 13, 2024

15-year-old Ty Fredrickson scored the ‘Battle For The Bear’ TUNDRA series opener at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna May 11. (TUNDRA PR)

This past weekend remained consistent with the past several weeks of ‘early season’ racing.

It’s often a tale of two completely different weather days. Friday was washed out and both Outagamie Speedway and Luxy Raceway promptly gonged their shows early enough with a gloomy forecast pending.

Gravity Park USA in Chilton pushed through and managed to get one feature race in after the balance of the program was washed out. Even the karters at Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park weren’t immune from Mother Nature as the program was washed out but not before drivers were able to get some practice laps in.

Saturday was a different story. Cloudy skies and a few minor sprinkles occurred during the season opening oval race at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. The TUNDRA super late models squared off for the ‘Battle For The Bear’ in honor of my late friend Roger Regeth. The 19 super late models in attendance put on a great show.

When the dust settled it was a 15-year-old second-generation driver from Webster, Minnesota who stole the show. Under the tutelage of his dad Danny Fredrickson, this teen named Ty Fredrickson who doesn’t yet possess a Minnesota drivers license started the day off by clicking off an 18 second lap in qualifying. The kid followed that up by not flinching when veteran Dalton Zehr tried some ‘cat-and-mouse’ antics on a couple of restarts in the feature race.

Fredrickson went on to win the 75 lap feature. Zehr dropped out very late in the race with a faulty fuel pump. Keep an eye on young Fredrickson. He’s got a great mentor in his dad, he’s got solid equipment and he’s one of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program (KDDP) drivers. Ty proved his Icebreaker win at Dells Raceway Park was no fluke. Look for a feature story on Fredrickson on this website most likely tomorrow Tuesday, May 14.

It was great catching up with the legend Bill Prietzel. His familiar No. 5 Mid-American stock car was there but Montello’s Kenny Richards was the “Franklin Flyer’s” hired gun for the day. Richards won the Vercauteren Memorial for the Mid-American series. And props to Kyle Quella who earned his 50th career Wisconsin sport truck win Saturday.

In all a great day. A tip of the cap to the local SLM teams who supported WIR and TUNDRA in their season openers. Same goes for the travelers as Colin Reffner made the tow over, despite a later-than-normal night prior at Golden Sands Speedway in Plover due in part to weather delays. It’s not often you see many pavement SLM teams race nights back-to-back anymore.

Those teams that did support the WIR/TUNDRA opener – hats off to you for giving your sponsors a little bit of ‘extra’ exposure during an afternoon race at WIR!

See you in a couple of Thursdays for WIR’s ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ opener May 23.

Coy Vlies (17) is sandwiched between Craig Dorner (15) and Jake Carpenter (53). Carpenter would go on to win the IMCA northern sportmod feature at 141 Speedway Saturday night. (danlewisphoto.net)

On the dirt Saturday was good to go from a weather standpoint. 141 Speedway shattered another weekly night record with 226 cars in six divisions. Most tracks would be happy with half that amount for weekly racing. Green Bay’s Jake Carpenter bested a field of 54 IMCA northern sportmods to capture that division’s win at 141. No less than four B mains were run in the sportmod class alone.

A couple of counties over at Shawano Speedway it was the ‘Kyle Frederick show’ as the ‘High Side Hustler’ drew first blood by sweeping action in the ‘Too Tough To Tame’ series for IMCA stock cars. Frederick won the $1,200-to-win main, along with his heat and the fast dash. The next series show is scheduled at Shawano June 8. 32 IMCA stock cars were in attendance at Shawano.

Props to Greenville’s T.J. Smith who picked up his first career MSA sprint car feature at Plymouth Dirt Track Saturday night. Same goes for former Badger Mod Tour champion Mitch McGrath who scored a round one win at PDTR in the Super Six series. The next Super Six race at PDTR is scheduled for Saturday, June 1.

THIS WEEK – The season opening race for The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay will take place this coming Saturday, May 18 for Flanigan Distributing Night at 6 p.m. Joining the field for the season opening race will be a throwback of sorts with the vintage modifieds making a guest appearance at the third-mile, clay oval. A draw/redraw format will be used as stock cars, sportmods, Unified street stocks and four cylinders will make up the weekly program at John Miles Park.

Be sure and check their Facebook page for updated information.

OUTAGAMIE SPEEDWAY – After last week’s show washed out, Outagamie Speedway in Seymour will host a $600-to-win Unified dirt street stock special. It is also Police/Fire/Emergency Services night at the Speedway. It all kicks off at 6:30 at the Outagamie County Fairgrounds. Yours truly will be there behind the microphone. Stop up and say hello!

KARTING KORNER – GSR Kartway in Clintonville will kick off its 2024 season Wednesday night, May 16. A full program of kart and lawn mower racing is set to take place with the action beginning at 7 p.m. You can reach out to GSR for additional information at gsrkartwayinfo@gmail.com.

Pulaski’s Gavin Ambrosius debuted his new winged kart at Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park Friday. The winged class is a new addition to the weekly program at the Cecil oval.

After getting last Friday’s show washed out Little Buckaroo Jr. Motorsports Park will attempt once again to get their first race under their belt for 2024 Friday, May 17. Action at the Cecil raceway will get underway at 7 p.m.

PAVEMENT PONDERINGS – WIR will host it’s annual Pit Party on Thursday, May 16 at 4 p.m. The event is free and is the perfect opportunity for fans to get up close and personal with the drivers and their respective race cars. Admission is free to this event. The season opening race for WIR’s ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ will be the following Thursday, May 23 at 6:45 p.m.

Truckin’ – The Midwest Truck Series will roll into State Park Speedway in Wausau Saturday, May 18. Among the northeastern Wisconsin drivers who are entered include Freedom’s Kasey & Cody Vanderloop, Appleton’s Brandon Reichenberger, Amherst’s Eugene Gregorich III, Hortonville’s Nick Van and Waupaca’s Danielle Behn. Qualifying takes place at 5:15 p.m. with racing starting at 6:30 p.m.

Joining the trucks will be super late models, pure stocks, mini mods and mini stocks.

For my Sheboygan and Manitowoc county friends, I will be at Chris & Sue’s in Plymouth Thursday May 16 for their ‘Saloon Stories’ series. My topic Thursday night will be the history of 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. It’s bound to be a dandy. It gets underway at 6:30 p.m. I will have all seven of my books for sale and it’s shaping up to be a fun night! Swing on out of you can.

In the meantime get out and support your local short track IN PERSON whenever possible. Streaming and all that jazz online is okay. But it’s always MUCH BETTER to BE THERE instead of watching the races through a tiny screen on your mobile device!

NORTHEAST WISCONSIN REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WIN TOTALS 2024 (as of 5/12 )

(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

Brett Swedberg 2

Mike Mullen 1

Nick Anvelink 1

Brad Mueller 1

Mitch McGrath 1

Ron Berna 1

MODIFIED

Benji LaCrosse 2

Shawn Kilgore 1

Lucas Lamberies 1

Marcus Hoeppner 1

Dan Roedel 1

Will Garceau 1

Cole Czarneski 1 (UMP mod win)

Cody Afelbeck 1

Jason Czarapata 1

Steve Mueller 1

Derek Janke 1

Konnor Wilinski 1

Marcus Yarie 1

Greg Gretz 1

STOCK CAR

Mitch Meier 3

Benji LaCrosse 2

Brandon Czarapata 1

Kyle Frederick 1

Cole Czarneski 1

Jeremy Christians 1

Brandon Schmitt 1

Travis Van Straten 1

Dave Bouche 1

Nick Buckarma 1

Trent Nolan 1

Shawn Havel 1

Travis Welch 1

Tim Warner 1

SPORTMOD

Colton See 2

Dustin White 1

Elijah Koenig 1

Robert Wittkopf 1

AJ Springborn 1

Nick Kresbach 1

Matt Radtke 1

Cole Thomas 1

Tommy Rindt 1

Tony Gates 1

Dylon Waldvogel 1

Alec Wery 1

Colton Van Hierden 1

Jake Carpenter 1

Cole Magnin 1

STREET STOCK

Travis Zirbel 3

James Fletcher 3

Mark Hoeppner 2

Kenny Richards 1

Courtney Atkinson 1

Jason Geyer 1

GRAND NATIONAL

Dustin Weiss 2

Josh Pierce 2

Brad Weiss 1

Greg Haese 1

Daniel Schumacher 1

TJ Smith 1

Maverick Ruh 1

FOUR CYLINDER

James Riske 2

James Reese 2

Dalton Nelson 2

Trevor Cronick 1

Adam Broehm 1

Taylor Junk 1

Brian Watzka 1

Shawn Bangart 1

Carl King 1

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