POSTED April 14, 2025

       Paul Scott won the $330 first prize for winning the 33 lap Pro Stock feature on a cold and wet Sunday night at the Mottville Speedway and the Raymond Beers Memorial Race!

Dennis Zimmerman, Ray Beer’s brother-in-law, took the early lead but spun and Randy Morley, driving the car Ray Beers drove most of last season, took over the lead until lap 7 when Scott took command! Scott led by as much as half lap until lap 27 when the caution came out! Donald Hunley came home 2^nd followed by Zimmerman, Tom Myers, and Terry Kline.

Scott won the dash but Zimmerman came back to win the heat in an emotional win! Zimmerman had a picture of Ray Beers in his race car! Tom Myers raced at Mottville for the first time in 2002 and Fred Lowrey, former flag person and maintenance man at Mottville, returned for the first time in years and drove Ray Beer’s last car he had owned! The feature win for Scott was his 5^th of the season and increased his season points lead in the PS division!

Jason Schafer, driving a car Ray Beers built, won the 25 lap Mottville Stock feature and won $100 for this win, his 4^th feature win of the season! Robert Teadt, Jr. who had won 3 features in 3 tries this season, was 2^nd. Randy Stephenson came to Mottville for the first time in 2002 and was 3^rd with Larry Birk 4^th and Paul Mishler, Jr. 5^th. Teadt won the dash and Jason Schaefer the heat. In the heat Wesley Schaefer and Bryan Allers came together on the front stretch and went into the wall. Wesley was done for the night but Allers finished 3^rd and left before the feature.

Season points leader Bryan Whitaker won the 35 lap Thunder Car feature for his 3^rd feature win of the season! During the heat Whitaker was spinning all over the track but he put more air in his tires and went on to the win! Richard Allbee came on strong for 2^nd with Cindy Grinnell 3^rd, Bill Crapo 4^th and Randy Burns 5^th.

In the first race of the night Eric Root, who often referred to Ray Beers as “uncle Ray” won the TC dash and was very emotional in receiving his plaque from Susan Beers. Heats were won by John Wegner (first time out in 2002), Allbee and Whitaker.

In a 2 lap "Reverse Gear Race" Whitaker took the checkered flag ahead of Grinnell, Randy Morley, Blowers, Root and Crapo. Crapo ended up stuck in the mud in the infield!

Season points leader Fred Garrett scored a narrow win in the 15 lap Mini Thunder Car feature for his 8^th feature win of the season! He just got by Joe Fitzpatrick on the final lap for the win! Rookie Greg Schaefer was 3^rd followed by Ron Kern, Jr. and John Fitzpatrick, at Mottville for the first time this season and a brother of Joe.

Joe Fitzpatrick won the dash and Garrett the heat. Brian Jenkins was back in his 68 MTC but had clutch problems and failed to complete a lap. He and his wife, Jennifer, are both expected back next week-end!

Susan Beers drove the PS 67 around the track carrying the checkered flag during the parade lap and playing of the National Anthem. She also presented plaques from Degoede Builders and Racing to all heat and dash winners and the top 5 in the features. I was most pleased to present Susan with a dozen roses just before the races started and we are giving her 2 sets of pictures from the night. We had 2 leftover feature winner plaques and they were given to Susan.

I was absolutely amazed at the turnout considering the horrible weather! Temperatures in the 30’s and a light drizzle all evening and the track never was close to being dry! Driving to the track I expected a very poor turnout and at 5:45 , just 15 minutes before race time, expected an average turnout at best! But we ended up with a season high 31 cars! We had a season high 10 TC, season high 8 PS, season high 6 MTC and 7 MS! The combined front and back crowd was our largest of the season which was a real tribute to Raymond Beers! Susan Beers came to the pit tower after the races and asked me to thank everyone for a wonderful night!

Somewhere above I had the very strong feeling Raymond Beers was smiling and very, very pleased!

This Sunday, April 28, the Mottville Stocks go for $250 to win! May 5 Tacos will be just $1 and PS will go for $350 to win! May 12 all Mothers receive a free soft drink and hot dog and MS go for $250 to win! May 19 the PS go for $350 to win! After that we will evaluate the 5 special nights and see if we want to try other specials! If we get the car count we will, if not we won’t!

The TC are rapidly becoming our most popular class! I look for 12-15 cars very soon! MTC should be at 10 before long! MS have been fairly strong and we are hoping with specials to get at least 12! PS are the biggest question mark as regards car count right now but by May 19 we should know more! I do know we are paying the PS and MS some very serious money and there are plenty of cars making far less in these classes at other tracks! Plus I seriously doubt you can have more fun than you can have at Mottville!

Two problems which came up Sunday-first when a car in lapped, even if only by the lead car and not the rest of the field, that lapped car goes to tail on any restart. We have had this rule for 12 seasons now at Mottville! 2^nd all cars must be self starting. When a car fails to start on the track and then goes to the pits and gets jumped started it is not considered self starting and thus is in violation of the rules and will not be permitted to re-enter the feature. This is especially true when it happens over and over with the same car!

Despite the weather this turned out to be a great week-end and I plan on asking Susan Beers if she wants a Raymond Beers Memorial again next season! My thanks to Dee Degoede for sponsoring the race and we missed seeing Dee and his family of racers at Mottville! Hope to see all of them real soon!