

4/26/2025
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Neuman Outruns Field in Glenn Hepfner Memorial Season Opener
Neuman Outruns Field in Glenn Hepfner Memorial Season Opener
By Madeline Ruh “Chatty Madi”
It was a crisp Wisconsin spring as 29 of the best of the upper midwest checked into the Beaver Dam Raceway for Round One of the Hopf Farms Bullring Showdown and the Glenn Hepfner Memorial.
Scotty Thiel checked into work as usual, and went fastest overall in Box3 Media Hot Laps, Carbon Safety Technologies Qualifying, and earned himself the Hi Plains Building Division QuickTime Award.
Fox Lake Harbor Presents Allstar Performance Heat #1 was won by Travis Arenz. BodyCraft of Antioch presents Behling Racing Heat #2 was awarded to Blake Nimee, and GameDay Men’s Health presents Engler Machine & Tool Heat #3 was won by Jake Blackhurst.
Optimum Electric Dash 1 was won by Jake Neuman, and Kristine Hartmann-Pleasant View Realty Dash 2 was won by Brooke Tatnell setting the front row.
Winning the Behling Equipment B-Feature was Max Guilford.
The green would fly for the chilly season opener at Beaver Dam Raceway with Neuman on top. He was immediately challenged with the presence of Brooke Tatnell, Blake Nimee, and Travis Arenz.
Arenz quickly made moves to second place, and the 2024 MOWA Champion Will Armitage would creep into fourth against Thiel. There would be a battle for 4th between the 7A and 51 when Neuman would weave into traffic.
With 7 laps in the books, the Honest Abe Roofing Caution Flag would be drawn for Danny Schlafer on the back stretch, while the 2w of Neitzel would pull into the Honest Abe Roofing Work Area with a flat left rear tire. Neitzel was able to return, but Schlafer retired the 25 for the night.
Neuman, Tatnell, Arenz, Thiel, and Armitage would leave the field for the remaining 23 laps. Arenz and Thiel would use the momentum to pass Tatnell and begin reeling in race leader Jake Neuman.
Blake Nimee would break his way quickly into the top 5, Nimee would pass Tatnell for fourth and Thiel for third. The 79 would begin to track down Arenz and Neuman.
Arenz would exchange the lead with Neuman and lead for a single lap before the halfway mark with the 3N taking back the lead. Blackhurst would jump into the 5th spot.
Thiel, Nimee, and Arenz would begin the race for second. Inches apart from one another, they would exchange positions. Arenz would ultimately win the battle between the three and take the second place spot as Neuman would take the checkered and park the 3N in Real American Beer Victory Lane. Travis would kick start the year second, and Blake Nimee would round out the podium of the Glenn Hepfner Memorial Race and Round one of the Hopf Farms Bullring Showdown.
The RT's Fifth Quarter Hard Charger award went to Max Guilford, who went from 19th to 7th advancing 12 positions. Logan Julien also went +12 spots but finished 8th, one spot behind Guilford.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints are back in action next weekend at the Wilmot Raceway for the Dick Colburn Tribute. Purchase tickets in advance here: https://www.myracepass.com/tracks/1853/tickets/1428681?rKey=1170
Event Times
Pits Open 2:00 PM
Gates Open 4:00 PM
Hot Laps At 5:45 PM
Racing Starts 6:45 PM
Tickets
Adult General Admission (13+) $27.00
12 and UNDER General Admission FREE $0.00
Pit Pass $35.00
A Feature 30 Laps | 00:15:21.178
- 3N-Jake Neuman[1]; 2. 25T-Travis Arenz[4]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[5]; 4. 51-Scotty Thiel[3]; 5. 53-Jack Dover[12]; 6. 14-Brooke Tatnell[2]; 7. 16C-Max Guilford[19]; 8. 85J-Logan Julien[20]; 9. 96-Jake Blackhurst[7]; 10. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[11]; 11. 7A-Will Armitage[6]; 12. 19J-Jett Mann[10]; 13. 9K-Kyle Schuett[14]; 14. 4-Alex Pokorski[17]; 15. GR8-Will Gerrits[15]; 16. 99-Tyler Brabant[18]; 17. 87A-Austin Hartmann[13]; 18. 2W-Scott Neitzel[9]; 19. 33-Scott Broty[21]; 20. 10V-Matt VanderVere[16]; 21. 4K-Kris Spitz[22]; 22. 43-Jereme Schroeder[24]; 23. 52-Cody Schlafer[23]; 24. (DNF) 25-Danny Schlafer[8]
B Feature 10 Laps | 00:06:14.786
- 16C-Max Guilford[2]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien[1]; 3. 33-Scott Broty[3]; 4. 4K-Kris Spitz[4]; 5. 52-Cody Schlafer[5]; 6. 43-Jereme Schroeder[8]; 7. 68T-Tyler Davis[6]; 8. 21H-TJ Haddy[7]; 9. 10C-Nathan Crane[10]; 10. 24-Scott Conger[9]; 11. (DNS) 12-Corbin Gurley
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:01:03.000
- 3N-Jake Neuman[2]; 2. 51-Scotty Thiel[4]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[1]; 4. 96-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[5]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:03:08.564
- 14-Brooke Tatnell[2]; 2. 25T-Travis Arenz[1]; 3. 7A-Will Armitage[5]; 4. 25-Danny Schlafer[3]; 5. 19J-Jett Mann[4]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:04:08.000
- 25T-Travis Arenz[2]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 3. 51-Scotty Thiel[4]; 4. 9K-Kyle Schuett[6]; 5. 10V-Matt VanderVere[7]; 6. 7A-Will Armitage[3]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz[9]; 8. (DNF) 12-Corbin Gurley[5]; 9. (DNF) 21H-TJ Haddy[8]; 10. (DNF) 24-Scott Conger[10]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:04:05.000
- 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 2. 25-Danny Schlafer[1]; 3. 53-Jack Dover[7]; 4. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 5. GR8-Will Gerrits[6]; 6. 19J-Jett Mann[2]; 7. 33-Scott Broty[5]; 8. 68T-Tyler Davis[9]; 9. 43-Jereme Schroeder[8]; 10. 10C-Nathan Crane[10]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:01:41.000
- 96-Jake Blackhurst[2]; 2. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[6]; 3. 14-Brooke Tatnell[1]; 4. 87A-Austin Hartmann[5]; 5. 4-Alex Pokorski[7]; 6. 99-Tyler Brabant[8]; 7. 52-Cody Schlafer[9]; 8. (DNS) 16C-Max Guilford; 9. (DNS) 85J-Logan Julien
Qualifying | 00:00:23.000
- 51-Scotty Thiel, 00:11.544[23]; 2. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:11.709[17]; 3. 85J-Logan Julien, 00:11.744[1]; 4. 7A-Will Armitage, 00:11.778[27]; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman, 00:11.806[25]; 6. 16C-Max Guilford, 00:11.808[19]; 7. 25T-Travis Arenz, 00:11.812[5]; 8. 19J-Jett Mann, 00:11.824[12]; 9. 96-Jake Blackhurst, 00:11.829[10]; 10. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:11.851[8]; 11. 25-Danny Schlafer, 00:11.865[2]; 12. 14-Brooke Tatnell, 00:11.918[13]; 13. 12-Corbin Gurley, 00:11.920[26]; 14. 33-Scott Broty, 00:11.943[11]; 15. 87A-Austin Hartmann, 00:11.946[6]; 16. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 00:11.967[16]; 17. GR8-Will Gerrits, 00:12.035[14]; 18. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.042[24]; 19. 10V-Matt VanderVere, 00:12.050[15]; 20. 53-Jack Dover, 00:12.061[7]; 21. 4-Alex Pokorski, 00:12.110[29]; 22. 21H-TJ Haddy, 00:12.197[28]; 23. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 00:12.255[20]; 24. 99-Tyler Brabant, 00:12.343[18]; 25. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:12.502[4]; 26. 68T-Tyler Davis, 00:12.737[9]; 27. 52-Cody Schlafer, 00:12.887[21]; 28. 24-Scott Conger, 00:13.309[22]; 29. 10C-Nathan Crane, 00:13.469[3]
Article Credit: Madeline "Chatty Madi" Schultz
Submitted By: Madeline Schultz