The season concluded on Saturday, September 28th at the Plymouth Dirt Track as part of the Wisconsin Sprint Car Championships where 5 champions were crowned across the IRA Lightning Sprints, Wisconsin wingLESS Sprints, IRA Bumper to Bumper Outlaw Sprints, and the MSA 360 Sprints. The ILS had 3 drivers within 15 points of each other for the series championship after back to back Wilmot Raceway DNF’s from leading feature winner, Brian Strane Jr. Mark Heinert held a 6 point margin over Strane while Nick Petska was 15 points back after picking up his 2nd win of the season the week prior.
With 15 cars in attendance, it was rookie Chad Stouthamer edging out Mike Neau in qualifying for his first quick time award. Neau was looking to sweep the season quick times at Plymouth having captured the honor at the ILS’s previous 2 visits this season. Petska timed 3rd, Heinert 8th, and Strane – still fighting gremlins could not attempt to qualify. This changed the standings for Heinert to an 8 point lead over Strane and now just 10 points over Petska after qualifying.
Two heat races were on the card as Allstar Performance Heat 1 saw pole sitter Jordan Funderburk grab the lead and hold off a charging Nick Petska for his 2nd heat win of the season. In Rod End Supply Heat 2, pole sitter Mark Heinert cruised to his 6th heat win of the season and increased gap to 11 points over Petska and now 23 points to Strane as he was unable to start the heat. It was the first 2 heat wins to come from the pole position all season long.
The number 4 pill was pulled for the feature invert which was the best outcome for Heinert as it put him on the front row for the feature with Petska starting 6th and Strane at the tail. Any other pill and Heinert would have started in the 4th row with Petska guaranteed to start 2-3 rows ahead of him. Petska would need to beat Heinert by at least 2 spots if he wanted to grab the championship.
As the green flag dropped on the feature event, it would be Funderburk who would pass Heinert in turn 4 at the completion of lap 1 to grab the early lead. It would be short lived, however as Funderburk would hit a rut in turn 4 and take a detour through the infield. This would allow Heinert, 6th starting Petska, and 7th starting Neau to take the top 3 spots. Funderburk would blend back behind them in 4th. By lap 6, Neau would work past his teammate to take 2nd and start his pursuit of Heinert who had already established a 1.6 second lead. Neau would cut nealy three tenths of that lead each lap until overtaking Heinert for the lead on lap 15. Stouthammer would then work past Petska and Heinert for the runner up spot as Neau would claim his 2nd victory of the season. Stouthamer’s runner up effort would be his 3rd consecutive of the season and propel him to the 2024 ILS Rookie of the Year honors. Heinert, while fading to 3rd after leading early, stayed ahead of his closest completion, thus clinching the series championship. Strane was able to finally make repairs and tag the tail of the feature and finish 6th claiming the Weld Racing Hard Charger award.
The series saw 4 winners over 12 events (after losing 5 to rain) with Brian Strane Jr. claiming 7 of them, while Dream Chaser Racing teammates Nick Petska and Mike Neau each grabbing 2, and Mark Heinert claiming 1. Petska, Neau, and Strane led the way with 3 quick times each, while Petska picked up the most heat wins with 7 despite not competing in the heat or feature during the June Sycamore race due to an engine failure. The series also saw two new qualifying track records set this year as Nick Petska ran a 14.288 at Wilmot Raceway during the fair race on August 17th and Brian Strane Jr went 12.639 at 141 Speedway on September 14th where Strane, Petska, and Neau were all under the previous track record.
Season statistics can be found at http://www.iralightningsprints.com/rules/
The ILS 2024 season banquet will be held once again at series title sponsor 1175 Sports Park and Eatery on Saturday, December 7th with more details to follow.
9/28/2024 at Plymouth Dirt Track
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 16-Mike Neau[7]; 2. 5S-Chad Stouthamer[8]; 3. 55H-Mark Heinert[2]; 4. 17-Jordan Funderburk[3]; 5. 18-Nick Petska[6]; 6. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[15]; 7. 63-Jacob Irwin[10]; 8. 74-Tim Brannam[4]; 9. 74M-Max Brannam[12]; 10. 13-Tucker Richards[9]; 11. 23-Dominick Swierad[14]; 12. 01-Ron Brannam[13]; 13. 6-Jeff Schmidt[11]; 14. (DNS) 11-Derek Fortier; 15. (DNS) 38-Johnson Ginder
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Jordan Funderburk[1]; 2. 18-Nick Petska[3]; 3. 13-Tucker Richards[6]; 4. 5S-Chad Stouthamer[4]; 5. 11-Derek Fortier[5]; 6. 6-Jeff Schmidt[2]; 7. 01-Ron Brannam[7]; 8. (DNS) 22S-Brian Strane Jr
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 55H-Mark Heinert[1]; 2. 38-Johnson Ginder[3]; 3. 16-Mike Neau[4]; 4. 74-Tim Brannam[2]; 5. 63-Jacob Irwin[6]; 6. 74M-Max Brannam[5]; 7. 23-Dominick Swierad[7]
Qualifying: 1. 5S-Chad Stouthamer, 00:13.389[10]; 2. 16-Mike Neau, 00:13.450[11]; 3. 18-Nick Petska, 00:13.470[12]; 4. 38-Johnson Ginder, 00:13.582[3]; 5. 6-Jeff Schmidt, 00:13.611[9]; 6. 74-Tim Brannam, 00:13.622[15]; 7. 17-Jordan Funderburk, 00:13.732[4]; 8. 55H-Mark Heinert, 00:13.840[14]; 9. 11-Derek Fortier, 00:13.982[1]; 10. 74M-Max Brannam, 00:14.101[7]; 11. 13-Tucker Richards, 00:14.255[6]; 12. 63-Jacob Irwin, 00:14.396[2]; 13. 01-Ron Brannam, 00:14.471[13]; 14. 23-Dominick Swierad, 00:15.120[5]; 15. 22S-Brian Strane Jr NT[8]