An IRA Rookie of the Year Title was the first box to check off for long time road course ace Sean Rayhall when he made the move to full time 410 Sprint Car racing in 2020. He’s since accomplished that and then some. However, that was the first stepping stone in what he hopes will be a long career in the dirt racing world. Year number two with the IRA began this past weekend at Beaver Dam Raceway, and it kicked off with a bang.
The night began with Rayhall as one of the only drivers to choose the high line in qualifying on an already dry slick ⅜ mile oval, and it paid off. Sean qualified 6th overall against the loaded IRA Field, and locked himself into a 3rd place starting position in his heat race.
Starting alongside IRA standout Mike Reinke, Rayhall settled into the 4th position and began stalking Reinke for 3rd. While Russel Borland and fellow Midwest AutoSports driver Kyle Schuett battled up front, Sean reeled in Reinke and used an outstanding move on the outside of turns 3 and 4 to take the 3rd spot away. With his attention now focused on Schuett in 2nd, Reinke tried a pass on the front stretch, and made contact with Rayhall, sending the 10w into a wild spin, but the Keweenaw Chevrolet 14R carried on. The Georgia native once again pulled even with Schuett for 2nd, and made the pass along the front stretch, Shortly after, Schuett suffered fuel issues and Rayhall began to work on Borland for the lead, but the laps ran out and he would have to settle for a 2nd place finish. A great run that was rewarded with a spot in one of the night’s 2 dashes.
Sean drew 3rd in dash #1, and got off to an absolutely romping start in the 4 lap sprint. Immediately moving to 2nd ahead of Blake Nimee and started to chase Jeremy Schults for a possible pole position for the night’s feature. However, it was not to be. A throttle issue caused the 14R to miss the hooked up bottom side of the racetrack and allowed the 3 cars behind Rayhall to slip by on the final circuit, and he was relegated to a 5th place finish, setting up a 9th place starting spot in the 30 lap feature event.
The feature went well for the Sippel Rayhall 14R team. A heated battle between Rayhall, Reinke and Borland raged throughout the race, and all three made spectacular moves against each other in thick lapped traffic, and even after the track took rubber with around 10 laps to go. After the dogfight, Reinke wound up 8th, Rayhall in his original position in 9th, and Borland in 10th. A solid start to the season for the Keweenaw Chevrolet 14R program, and a perfect jumping off point for Rayhall.
“I’m really happy with our first night of the year in IRA competition.” Sean said when asked about opening weekend in Wisconsin. “We had a few issues with the car, but we overcame them as a team and brought home a Top 10 in the Keweenaw Chevrolet 14R. It’s definitely something to build on, and we think we have those few issues figured out to give us a better car at Wilmot this weekend! I want to thank all of our partners for giving us the opportunity to race full time this year and we also look forward to announcing some new partners coming on board for the rest of the season!”
The Sippel Rayhall 14R Team will move to Wilmot Raceway this weekend with the IRA Sprints on Saturday night, May 1st. Tickets are available at the track, and the race will be broadcast live on the FloRacing streaming service.
Sean and the entire 14R team would like to thank all their partners for the 2021 season!
Keweenaw Chevrolet
Able Roofing
Star Pharmaceuticals
Ping Racing
Marthaler Automotive
Bigg Golf
SU Group
X-1 Racecars
HRX Bespoke Racewear
ZMax Lubricants
Quality Freight Rate
Scott King Designs
Ricky Bassman Photo
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