CHILTON, Wis. – Nick Anvelink was crowned King of the Bullring at Gravity Park Speedway after winning for the first time of the 2022 WABAM Dirt Kings Late Model Tour season.
Brad Mueller and Justin Schmidt led the field to the green flag, with Schmidt taking the lead on the backstretch on lap one. Schmidt continued to pace the field until caution slowed the field on lap nine, when Ron Berna and Jared Siefert slowed in turn one.
On the restart, Schmidt ran the high side with Brett Swedberg restarting on the top side, and tried to pass for the lead a couple laps later as they worked through turns one and two.
Swedberg brought out the caution in turn three as he made contact with Schmidt and pushed up the track and parked on top of Schmidt in turn three. Mueller tried to avoid the accident, sliding into the pair in turn three. The red flag flew as the safety crew worked to clear the track.
Lukas Postl led the field back to the green, with 19 laps to go, as Avenlink, Troy Springborn, Justin Ritchie and Jim Schmidt followed. Anvelink looked to the inside of Postl, following him for the next three laps, until making the pass to the inside of Postl just past the halfway point. Anvelink continued to lead with Postl being challenged for second by Springborn and Ritchie.
With five laps to go, Anvelink had a half straightaway lead as Springborn and Ritchie battled for second position. Ritchie made the pass as caution slowed the field with just two laps to go as Shawn Miller spun in turn four.
On the restart, Anvelink maintained the lead with Ritchie in second and Jim Schmidt made a move around Springborn to third. Anvelink finished .455 seconds ahead of Ritchie, for his seventeenth WABAM Dirt Kings Late Model Tour victory with Jim Schmidt, Springborn, and Postl rounding out the top five.
Justin Ritchie was the Champ Pans Fast Qualifier, leading WABAM Dirt Kings Late Model Tour Qualifying Group A with a lap of 13.817 seconds.
Brad Mueller was the Ken’s Sports Inc. Pole Award winner, after wining his heat race and participating in the re-draw for the top six starting positions.
Jim Schmidt was the Allstar Performance Hard Charger, gaining nine positions in the 30-lap King of the Bulling.
The Finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15-Nick Anvelink[6]; 2. 70-Justin Ritchie[5]; 3. 79-Jim Schmidt[12]; 4. 81-Troy Springborn[8]; 5. 5-Luke Postl[4]; 6. 7-Joel Bennett[9]; 7. 55-Joe Bongiorno[15]; 8. D1-Turk Letizia[7]; 9. 03-Kyle Raddant[16]; 10. 77-Bill Edler[10]; 11. 21-Todd Frank[13]; 12. 21M-Shawn Miller[20]; 13. 51-Jarrid Curtin[19]; 14. 95W-Aaron Wickersheim[18]; 15. 97-Justin Schmidt[2]; 16. 3-Brett Swedberg[3]; 17. 89-Brad Mueller[1]; 18. 66-Ron Berna[11]; 19. 25-Jared Siefert[17]; 20. 9N-Tom Naeyaert[14]