WILMOT, Wis. — Zach Raidart captured his second 20-lap AutoMeter powered by Gandrud Performance Wisconsin WingLESS Sprints feature of the season at Wilmot Raceway Saturday.
“The cushion in turn two was tricky, and I had to watch it,” admitted Raidart. “I had no idea how close anyone was, so I kept having to run as hard as I could. It worked out.”
Raidart jumped out in front from his outside front row starting spot, eventually leading every circuit but not without some challenges. With nine laps remaining, Raidart went hard into the second turn jumping the berm and nearly spinning out while holding an advantage of nearly four seconds. The large lead, plus Raidart’s quick reaction and gathering the out of control machine into control, shot him back in front with a tight battle for second closing in on him.
A spin in turn four brought out a caution allowing Raidart to gather himself, resulting in the larger lead being completely erased.
Powering back in front of the field, Raidart began pulling away with a three and sometimes four way battle for second raging on behind him.
Veteran and two-time series champion Tim Cox and current series pointleader Adam Taylor traded slide jobs several times just prior to the caution and continued with the confrontation as the laps were winding down.
Chris Klemko, 2-time and defending Wilmot track champion, made it a three-way battle following the restart.
Taylor, who had gotten into second, nearly spun out in turn two, saving it but losing several spots. Heading hard into turn three, Taylor looped it bringing out the final caution four laps from the finish relegating him to the rear on the restart resulting in a 14th-place finish.
Raidart pulled away to the win by over two seconds at the checkered.
Klemko, coming on strong in the closing laps, ended up second by half a second over third finishing Dennis Spitz, who earlier in the week celebrated his 75th birthday.
Cox, who came into the night holding onto the Wilmot track championship point lead, came across fourth edging out fifth finishing Allen Hafford.
Other feature winners were C.J. Malueg Winged 604 Sprints, Josh Gehrig Prarie Street Stocks and Kevin Chasin Bandit 4-Cylinder Stock Cars.
