“We just have to get better and better every night.” Sean Rayhall did that and then some this past Saturday night at Beaver Dam Raceway.
Rayhall’s night started off on a positive note, clocking a 12.765 lap in Hot Laps, good enough for 8th quick. After the MSA 360’s did their hot laps and qualifying, the track had widened considerably, and had built a thick cushion about a foot off of the outside wall, meaning qualifying for the IRA 410’s would be a treacherous dance on the lip of the speedway. Rayhall drew a 62 pill at the beginning of the night, putting him out 25th to qualify out of 29 cars. After getting loose in 1 and 2 on lap 1, Rayhall railed the cushion around the entire lap and powered to a 13.316, 8th overall and just .445 off of Bill Balog’s pole time of 12.871.
That fantastic effort put Rayhall starting outside pole for Heat #2. On the start, Rayhall spun the rears up and dropped 4 car links before even hitting the start/finish line. However, “Top Shelf” would jump up to the high line and hold on to 3rd for the first 7 laps of the event. On lap 8, the #64 of Scotty Thiel caught the #14r and attempted a low line pass in turns 1 and 2. Rayhall powered around the outside of the track, clearing Thiel before the backstretch. Then on lap 9, Thiel threw a massive slide job into turn 1, clearing Rayhall in the middle of turn 2. However, Rayhall would instinctively cross over Thiel and run side by side with the #64 down the back chute and dive down to the inside coming to the white flag. Unfortunately, Thiel got a better run on the cushion and would clear Rayhall down the front stretch. Rayhall stayed close to Thiel on the final circuit and brought home a 4th place finish. That result, along with his qualifying effort meant Rayhall would draw for a spot in one of the 2 dashes to set the top 10 starters in the 30 lap Feature.
Unfortunately, and quite hilariously, the young fan Rayhall chose to draw for him picked the #10 ball, meaning he’d start 5th in the 2nd dash. Racing against a stacked field (Jordan Goldesberry, Bill Balog, Jake Blackhurst, Scotty Thiel), Rayhall would nearly pass Thiel on the bottom in Turn 1, but the #64 would grab the preferred line off of Turn 2 and cleared the #14r down the backstretch. Rayhall held his own though, sticking with the top drivers in the IRA and bringing the car home in 5th, putting Rayhall in the 10th starting spot in the 30 lap A Main.
Rayhall got a good start initially, powering around 9th starter Brinton Marvel in the #21. However, a couple laps later Rayhall tried the top side of the track to get around the #12w of Josh Walter, and found out too late that there wasn’t anything to lean on and lost 3 or 4 positions in one lap, putting the #14r4Runner back in 15th. Sean moved back down to the bottom, and utilizing restarts and the middle-to-low groove to perfection, reeled off several outstanding moves in the slick, narrowly missing out on passing the 10th place car of Scott Biertzer in the #4b, bringing the Sippel Racin’ #14r home in 11th place. A solid ending to an outstanding night driving against one of the strongest fields the IRA has seen in regular competition this season.
“I feel like we were really good all night,” Rayhall said. “I made a few mistakes early in the race going back to 15th which made it hard to get back to 11th when the track went one lane. Any night we are making the dash at this point in our program is a good night for us, so I’m proud of our team and looking forward to getting 3 nights of racing in this week with the IRA!”
As Sean said, the IRA has a massive triple-header weekend coming up. Next on tap is the rescheduled Harry Neitzel Memorial at the “Horsepower Half Mile” at the Dodge County Fairgrounds on Friday, Sep. 4th. Then the methanol monsters invade the Plymouth Dirt Track at the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Sep. 5th for the Traditional “Fair Night” race, minus the fair this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. On Sunday, Sep. 6th the IRA will have another “Sunday Funday” at the 1/4 mile egg shaped Bullring at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, WI, which also happens to be the site of Rayhall’s best career IRA finish of 8th place after a sterling drive from 22nd on the grid.
Rayhall is closing in on the Sage Fruit Top Apple Rookie of the Year Award with the IRA this season, as his main rival Jack Routson was a no-show at Beaver Dam, and this last Saturday’s solid result has Rayhall sitting somewhat comfortably in 6th place in points heading into the final month of the season.
RACE RUNDOWN
Qualifying: 8th out of 29
Heat: S/2, F/4
Dash: S/5, F/5
Feature: S/10, F/11
NEXT RACE
Friday, September 4th at Dodge County Fairgrounds with the IRA 410 Sprints, Harry Neitzel Tribute Race. Can’t make it to the track? Catch the race live on FloRacing.
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