Back on April 11th, 2023, Jake Neuman suffered a vicious crash at the Lakeside Speedway during qualifying with the High Limit Sprint Car Series. A suspension failure caused the car to make a hard right hand turn into the outside retaining wall at full speed. After six weeks of recovery, Jake was back on track and making strides towards getting back to winning races as the Brandt Professional Agriculture #3N team had been accustomed to doing. A second place run at the Angell Park Speedway to Bill Balog was as close as the team had gotten up to this point.
Bridesmaid no more, Jake Neuman is finally back in victory lane.
“It’s been a long road back.” Neuman said about his recovery process. “There were a lot of moments where I didn’t know if I’d ever be back to 100%. The last couple months or so I’ve felt pretty good but we just haven't been able to show our true speed.”
The night began with the beautiful Sheboygan County Fair as the backdrop to IRA Sprints Qualifying and Neuman put in a lap good enough for 7th quick overall out of 30 strong cars present. The New Berlin, IL native backed up the strong run with a heat race win from the 2nd starting position.
Neuman finally shook his dash draw bad luck and chose the pole position for Dash #2 and went on to take the victory in the 4-lap sprint.
Starting on the outside pole of the 30-lap Fair Night A Main, Neuman settled into 2nd early behind 2022 Plymouth and MSA 360 Sprints Champion Travis Arenz and holding off 10x IRA Champion Bill Balog. Working the high side, Neuman quickly found the rapidly building cushion and rocketed around Arenz to take the lead on lap 5. After three restarts, Neuman found himself with Balog hot on his heels through lapped traffic and a familiar sense of, “here we go again” in his head.
“Bill [Balog] took one away from us here last year in the last few laps.” Neuman said with a laugh. “I got behind [Jack] Vanderboom there and he kept showing me his nose so I knew I had to go.”
Balog threw a massive slider at Neuman through turns 3 and 4 with 3 laps to go and just barely crossed the front of the #3N. Neuman wasn’t phased and returned with a short slider of his own into turn 1 to retake the top spot. Coming down to the white flag, Neuman knew he needed a “buffer” of sorts between himself and Balog, and threw a huge move at the #U2 of Vanderboom and made it stick. Balog attempted a move of his own through turns 1 and 2 on the final lap but couldn’t clear the former POWRi National Midget Champion. Neuman drove away through the final corners to claim his first win of the season and second career IRA Sprints A Main triumph.
“I threw one in there at Jack and luckily he was smart enough to lift and here we are.” Neuman said in victory lane. “It’s great to get a win, but I wish we could start winning earlier in the year up here. We’d be a lot better off but it’s definitely a great feeling after the year we’ve had.”
Next up for the Brandt Professional Agriculture #3N team is a double-header with the Midwest Open Wheel Association at the Jacksonville Speedway and Macon Speedway this Friday and Saturday.
FULL RESULTS:
Qualifying: 7th out of 30 cars
Heat: S/2nd, F/1st
Dash: S/1st, F/1st
Feature: S/2nd, F/1st
NEXT UP:
9/8 at Jacksonville Speedway with MOWA Sprints
You can follow along with Jake’s 2023 campaign on his social medias; on Facebook at Jake Neuman Racing, Twitter at @jake_neuman3n, and on Instagram at @jake_neuman_racing, as well as his PR on Facebook at Box3 Media, Twitter at @box3_racing, and Instagram at @box3_media.
Jake Neuman Racing would like to thank all of their 2023 Marketing and Product Sponsors for their support this season!
Brandt Professional Agriculture
Modern Paving and Scrap
S&J Gray Trucking
Kelley Construction
KE Baker Trucking
Darren Wood & Son Heating and Cooling
Sheppard Trucking
Country Financial-Jake Surratt
FK Rod Ends
Pioneer Seeds
Midwest Sheet Metal
Stanton Engines
Schure Built Suspensions
Maxim Chassis
Hoosier Tire
Bell Helmets
TJ Forged
Lomelino Signs
Premier Powder Coating
Smith Titanium
ZMax Lubricants
Littleton Storm and Timber
Nightowl Design
Box3 Media
Article Credit-Box3 Media Public Relations
Photo Credit-Dave Olson
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