Mullen captures 3rd straight feature win at Shawano Speedway

The Shawano Speedway celebrated its Night of Champions on May 1, honoring the 2020 championship class.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a champion as “someone who fights or speaks publicly in support of a person, belief, cause.” Before the races, another champion’s life was honored as Bobby Bennett was remembered. Although Bennett never won a track championship at Shawano, it was only appropriate to honor his life on the Night of Champions.

The IMCA Modifieds took to the track to open the features with Mike Mullen trying to extend his season opening win streak to three. Kevin Feck looked to be the man to end the streak early on, as he led the opening five laps of the race.

Further back in the pack, Andy Karl, Marcus Yarie, along with Jerry and Konnor Wilinski were waging a spirited battle with three-wide racing and competing slide jobs.

Meanwhile, Mullen was dicing his way forward and with a power move grabbed second on lap six. Riding his momentum, Mullen took his spot at the lead on lap eight.

Mullen continued his early season dominance with his third win in three weeks. Feck finished second, with Yarie taking third and Konnor besting his dad Jerry for fourth.

The racing in the IMCA Stock Car division is almost worth the price of admission by itself each and every night. Saturday was no different, proving you can race four-wide on the back stretch, three wide in the corners and just about anywhere on the track. The drivers in the division put on a show.

Kevin Hebbe grabbed the lead on lap seven, wrestling the spot from Shawn Wagner. Hebbe dominated the second half of the race to pick up his first feature win.

While that would normally be the end of the recap, not on this night. Behind Hebbe, Trent Nolan, Chummy Arneson, Jeremy Christians and Travis Van Straten showed why this class is too tough to tame. When the dust settled, Arneson grabbed second, Nolan third and Van Straten fourth after having to start 16th coming from the B-Main.

Last year’s Late Model champion Troy Springborn led the field to the line for their feature event. Springborn, who feels his car hasn’t been running the best early in the season, looked to make a break from the pack. Nick Anvelink had a different idea as he went from fifth to second on lap one and began his chase of Springborn.

Lap four was where Anvelink took the lead away and set sail. Late in the race, it looked like lap traffic would threaten Anvelink’s lead, but he rocketed between the two cars and went on to victory. Springborn held off a late charge by Mullen for second with Ron Berna taking fourth.

The IMCA Sport Mods have been putting on great shows each week themselves; unfortunately this week, the theme of the night would be the yellow flag.

Zachary Raab was up to every restart to lead the event. Behind Raab, Tyler Sobiescyk, Teagan Wudstrack and Jeffery Teske were battling it out. After the sixth caution slowed the pack on lap 10, the event would be determined by a green, white, checkered finish.

Raab looked to maintain that top spot, and if the speedway would have been 5 feet shorter, he would have had the win. Teske rode the high side momentum to sneak past Raab at the line for the win. Raab settled for second, with Sobiescyk third and Wudstrack fourth.

The Mighty 4’s saw Tony Everard taking the lead on lap five, getting past the car of Justin Finlan. Tanner Westphal grabbed the runner-up spot on lap eight and looked to add to his Night of Champions night with a feature win.

Meanwhile, Jason Stueck worked the high side of track to move forward lap after lap.

With two laps to go, Stueck grabbed the top spot and captured the win. Everard was second, with Westphal and Brad Wedde in the top four.