WILMOT, Wis. – Oconomowoc’s Ryan Zielski became the fifth different 20-lap Autometer/Brewington Electric Wisconsin Wingless Sprint Car Series feature winner of the year at Wilmot Raceway on Saturday.
Zielski held off a late charge from second place Jimmy Sivia of Winthrop Harbor, Ill., highlighting the Memorial Day weekend Framily Night sponsored by Grand Foundation. Burlington’s Rusty Egan took third, less than half car length alongside Sivia.
“We broke last week so this made up for it,” said Zielski. “Jimmy (Sivia) is tough and I knew he’d be coming.”
Caledonia’s Chris Carlson took the lead on a restart following a caution with six laps remaining and went on to take the victory for the fifth time in as many 20-lap modified features at Wilmot this season. Early race leader Joe Huenfeld of Freeport, Ill., ended up second. Tim Hamburg of Dixon, Ill., was third.
“I might have won four in a row before, but never five,” said Carlson. “With all of the good cars starting in front I didn’t know if I could win it without the caution. My crew keeps setting me up a great car.”
John Cole of McHenry, Ill., led flag to flag in the 20-lap Bandit 4-Cylinder Stock Car feature for his first main event win of the year. David McKellips of Mt. Pleasant was second. Scott Ellis of Lake Villa, Ill., took third.
“This is the first time I won a feature without my wife, Danielle, watching me,” said Cole, the reigning Wilmot champion, who became the third different feature winner of the season. “This makes up for all of the hard work by the crew after the problems we had last week.”
Cody Erickson of Algonquin, Ill., won his first 20-lap street stock feature of the season, leading wire to wire. Rob Maule of Hebron, Ill., was second. Muskego’s Courtney Atkinson recovered from an opening-lap spin to take third.
“This car is a 10-year anniversary of the Cadillac which my Dad, Dave, built,” Erickson said, explaining the nickname “Cadzilla” on the sides of the car. “He built this one, too, and it’s been running great.”
The Sprint Car Challenge comes to Wilmot Raceway’s third-mile clay oval on Friday, June 4 as Tony Stewart’s All Star Circuit of Champions take on the Bumper to Bumper Interstate Racing Ass’n at the IRA’s original home track.
Wingless Sprints and IRA Lightning Sprints round out an all sprint car program.
The finish:
1. 14Z-Ryan Zielski [2]; 2. 91-Jimmy Sivia [4]; 3. 50-Rusty Egan [3]; 4. 7X-Ryan Marshall [8]; 5. 22S-Brian Strane [1]; 6. 01-Chris Dodd [7]; 7. 6-Jake Kouba [11]; 8. 40-Tim Cox [9]; 9. 09-Clayton Rossmann [12]; 10. 38-Allen Hafford [6]; 11. 4-Jordan Paulsen[13]; 12. 19K-Derek Crane [15]; 13. 41-Dennis Spitz [20]; 14. 70-Chris Klemko [19]; 15. 9-Greg Olsen [17]; 16. 20-Natalie Klemko [18]; 17. 19X-Nathan Crane [24]; 18. 12-Shawn Swim [5]; 19. 0-John Fahl [21]; 20. 61-Zach Hansen [23]; 21. 6B-Vince Bartolotta [10]; 22. 9X-Mike Sullivan [16]; 23. 00-Paul Shaffer [14]; 24. 47-Chance Ciskowski [22].