McKellips Snags First Wilmot Win In A Year

WILMOT, Wis. — The best was saved for last as Dave McKellips became the fourth different 20-lap B&L Office Furniture Powered By American Tire & Auto in four nights for that division at Wilmot Raceway on Saturday night.

McKellips’ win was by 0.064 seconds over hard finishing runner-up Craig Kreuser as the two crossed under the checkered side-by-side sifting through lapped traffic.

Ryan Johnson was third with his brother, Austin Orth, fourth as the top-four finishers were separated by less than a half-second.

Jessica McKellips, the winner’s wife, rounded out the top five with a great view of her husband’s first feature victory since the 2023 season finale.

“I have been wanting a feature win for a long time, and I have been close many times before last year, but now I finally got another one,” said Dave McKellips, joined by his wife with a huge hug in victory lane and then several other competitors including the entire top five. “There’s a lot of people to thank.

“I knew Ryan, Austin, and my good friend Craig were all close, but I just stuck with my line and worked the traffic. This is fantastic.

McKellips led flag-to-flag, but not without challenges as a caution flew three laps into the main with a red flag coming out seven laps from the finish when Joe Pilman Jr. had an engine expire down the front straightaway erupt into flames as he coasted while exiting the track. The fire was quickly extinguished by the fire-safety team with Pilman exiting the car unharmed.

That set up a four-way battle to the finish with McKellips staying in front for the win.

A hotly contested 20-lap Wisconsin AutoMeter Powered by Gandrud Performance went to Allen Hafford.

C.J. Malueg followed up his season opening win with his second Lift Pro Hepfner Racing Products Series Winged 604 Sprints victory of the year at Wilmot.

With three laps remaining in the non-stop 11-75 Sports Bar IRA Lightning Sprints feature, 15-year-old Brian Strane Jr. made the third different leader work to his advantage going on to his second main event win at Wilmot this season.