Title: From Iowa to Victory Lane: Kelby Watt Grabs First Ever 410 Victory
By: Gracie Cleveland
Photo by HW Designs
Plymouth Dirt Track attracted a 25-car field on a hot, sunny 96-degree day for the Road America Challenge and Round 4 of the Hopf Farms Bullring Showdown. The young gun from Oconomowoc, Logan Julien, put down an 11.637-second lap to go quick time in Box3 Media hot laps. Soon after, the 9K of Kyle Schuett picked up his second Hi Plains Building Division Quick Time award of the 2025 season with an 11.916-second lap in Carbon Safety Technologies Qualifying.
Heat race action came shortly after with Julien maintaining the first position in Fox Lake Harbor presents Allstar Performance Heat Race #1 to grab the win. IRA veteran, Scotty Neitzel, went on to do the same in BodyCraft of Antioch presents Engler Machine & Tool Heat Race #2. Heat race action was concluded by the ‘Lone Wolf’ Danny Schlafer after advancing one position to win Game Day Men’s Health presents Behling Racing Heat Race #3. All drivers advanced to the Horizon Whiskey Dash Redraw.
In the Horizon Whiskey Dash Redraw, Kelby Watt in the 1K and Danny Schlafer in the 25 pulled the pole positions for Optimum Electric Dash #1 and Kristine Hartmann-Pleasant View Realty Dash #2. Watt held off the field behind to secure the pole position for the night’s feature. Kristine Hartmann-Pleasant View Realty Dash #2 was slated next. The 3N of Jake Neuman, who started second in the stacked dash line-up, gained a position and took the checkered to start on the outside of the front row. No Behling Racing Equipment B-Main was needed for the event.
With the sun going down and temperatures becoming tame, it was time for the Road America Challenge 30-lap feature. Watt, who led the field, kept his position early on and started pulling away from the rest of the field almost immediately. Travis Arenz in the 25T jumped to second, which led to an almost instant battle for the second position between him and Neuman, who quickly took back the second position. The 1K made his way into lap traffic, where Neuman followed closely behind. Arenz, who held onto the third position after an early race battle, was challenged by Julien, who had been running fourth. Arenz was able to create a gap between himself and the 85J when making his way through lap traffic.
With 16 laps to go, the red flag would come out for the 26 of Tyler Tischendorf, who took a tumble in turn 2 after some contact at the top of the race track. Fortunately, he is okay after getting out of the car and communicating with safety officials. The 26 then retired for the night.
14 laps in and 16 to go, the Honest Abe Roofing Caution Flag flew to get cars rolling, and the Gibbsville Cheese Restart Cone would also come out. On the restart, Watt continued with his lead, while Arenz returned to second. Neuman, still in third, had a battle brewing from behind between Julien in the 85J and Blake Nimee in the 79 for fourth. Nimee threw a massive slider on Julien and Neuman to go from fifth to third, which was shortly after taken over by Neuman again. The 1K re-entered lap traffic with 10 laps to go, the 25T followed closely and began to close the gap. With 9 laps to go, Arenz took the lead after Watt had led every lap so far. Contact was made between the 1K and 25T, then the Honest Abe Roofing Caution Flag flew when the 25T came to a stop going into turn 3. Arenz and his team got to work in the Honest Abe Roofing Work Zone, where he was able to push back out and rejoin the field from the tail. The Gibbsville Cheese Restart Cone came back out with 5 laps to go. Shortly after the restart, Clayton Rossman in the 09 brought back out the Honest Abe Roofing Caution Flag after he came to a stop on the backstretch, where he ultimately ended his night after experiencing some motor issues.
Watt kept his lead on the restart, but an intense battle for the second position began between the 3N and 79. The two exchanged positions multiple times before Neuman finally secured it. The white flag flew for Watt, then 13.887 seconds later he crossed the checkered to park it in Real American Beer and Horizon Whiskey Victory Lane to celebrate his first ever 410 sprint car and Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Car Series win. The 3N of Jake Neuman and 79 of Blake Nimee rounded out the podium for the Road American Challenge and Round 4 of the Hopf Farms Bullring Showdown.
The Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprint Cars will be back in action in the Hoosier State on Friday, June 27th at Bloomington Speedway, and in Michigan on Saturday, June 28th at Butler Motor Speedway. Can’t be there? Watch all the action live on Flo Racing!
A Feature 30 Laps | 00:21:38.456
- 1K-Kelby Watt[1]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[2]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[5]; 4. 25-Danny Schlafer[6]; 5. 16C-Max Guilford[18]; 6. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[11]; 7. 2W-Scott Neitzel[10]; 8. 85J-Logan Julien[4]; 9. 9K-Kyle Schuett[7]; 10. 96-Jake Blackhurst[8]; 11. 47-Todd King[13]; 12. 12-Corbin Gurley[19]; 13. GR8-Will Gerrits[17]; 14. 4K-Kris Spitz[15]; 15. 25T-Travis Arenz[3]; 16. 5-Zackary Sokol[16]; 17. 43-Jereme Schroeder[23]; 18. 21H-TJ Haddy[20]; 19. 4-Paul Pokorski[24]; 20. 24-Scott Conger[22]; 21. 99-Tyler Brabant[12]; 22. 70W-Logan Wienke[25]; 23. (DNF) 09-Clayton Rossmann[21]; 24. (DNF) 26-Tyler Tischendorf[14]; 25. (DNF) 87A-Austin Hartmann[9]
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:00:51.000
- 1K-Kelby Watt[1]; 2. 25T-Travis Arenz[5]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 4. 9K-Kyle Schuett[2]; 5. 87A-Austin Hartmann[3]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:00:52.000
- 3N-Jake Neuman[2]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien[4]; 3. 25-Danny Schlafer[1]; 4. 96-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel[5]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:00:51.000
- 85J-Logan Julien[1]; 2. 25T-Travis Arenz[3]; 3. 9K-Kyle Schuett[4]; 4. 87A-Austin Hartmann[2]; 5. 26-Tyler Tischendorf[5]; 6. 16C-Max Guilford[7]; 7. 09-Clayton Rossmann[6]; 8. 24-Scott Conger[8]; 9. 70W-Logan Wienke[9]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:01:43.000
- 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 2. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[2]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 4. 99-Tyler Brabant[7]; 5. 96-Jake Blackhurst[3]; 6. GR8-Will Gerrits[6]; 7. 12-Corbin Gurley[5]; 8. 43-Jereme Schroeder[8]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:02:51.000
- 25-Danny Schlafer[2]; 2. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 3. 1K-Kelby Watt[4]; 4. 47-Todd King[7]; 5. 4K-Kris Spitz[6]; 6. 5-Zackary Sokol[1]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy[5]; 8. 4-Paul Pokorski[8]
Qualifying | 00:17:14.000
- 9K-Kyle Schuett, 00:11.916[6]; 2. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:12.022[3]; 3. 1K-Kelby Watt, 00:12.030[4]; 4. 25T-Travis Arenz, 00:12.050[11]; 5. 96-Jake Blackhurst, 00:12.087[7]; 6. 3N-Jake Neuman, 00:12.106[5]; 7. 87A-Austin Hartmann, 00:12.158[8]; 8. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.191[10]; 9. 25-Danny Schlafer, 00:12.202[13]; 10. 85J-Logan Julien, 00:12.219[19]; 11. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:12.279[23]; 12. 5-Zackary Sokol, 00:12.421[17]; 13. 26-Tyler Tischendorf, 00:12.444[1]; 14. 12-Corbin Gurley, 00:12.449[14]; 15. 21H-TJ Haddy, 00:12.599[12]; 16. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 00:12.609[21]; 17. GR8-Will Gerrits, 00:12.618[20]; 18. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:12.634[15]; 19. 16C-Max Guilford, 00:12.639[16]; 20. 99-Tyler Brabant, 00:12.917[2]; 21. 47-Todd King, 00:13.091[25]; 22. 24-Scott Conger, 00:13.194[22]; 23. 43-Jereme Schroeder, 00:13.407[18]; 24. 4-Paul Pokorski, 00:13.629[9]; 25. 70W-Logan Wienke, 00:13.750[24]
- Gracie Cleveland on Jun 23, 2025
- Article Date: 6/23/2025 by Gracie Cleveland