09/07/2026
Muehlbauer, Wuesthoff cap Gravity Park championship seasons with feature wins
CHILTON, Wis. (Sept. 4) – In the season points finale at Gravity Park Speedway, Jeff Muehlbauer and Phillip Wuesthoff both wrapped up championship seasons in style with feature wins.
Muehlbauer entered the night leading the Grand Nationals class but with work to do to clinch the title, while Wuesthoff already had a championship secured in the Street Stocks division. The two were joined as season champions by Joel Seegert Sr. of Sheboygan (A-Mods), Cascade’s Travis Schmidt (Sport Mods), Brad Lubach of Kiel (Stock Cars), Mark Hoeppner of Rubicon (Midwest LS Late Models) and Beaver Dam’s Cody McLain (Sport 4’s).
The final Friday night of Gravity Park’s weekly race schedule also saw Muehlbauer and Wuesthoff followed by five others as feature winners, including Chilton’s Tom Schneider (Sport Mods), Noah Schepp of Beaver Dam (A-Mods), Marcus Hoeppner of Rubicon (Stock Cars), Jake Binash of Forest Junction (Midwest LS Late Models) and Bennett Glidden of Chilton (Sport 4’s).
Season Championship Night almost never got off the ground, after more than five inches of rain fell in Chilton Thursday night into the morning hours on Friday. The speedway infield especially had high standing water as of Friday morning, but the track remained in good shape and furious work to pump out water and prepare the track was rewarded with a quality racing surface for the final points night of the season.
Muehlbauer finished his championship season with a sweep after also taking his heat race. Starting fourth in the 20-lap Grand Nationals feature, he quickly moved forward and overtook Tim Simon of Fond du Lac for the lead on lap 2.
A trio of spins by cars behind him in the race slowed but did not stop his march to victory, as Muehlbauer pulled away on all three restarts. He finished with his fourth feature win of the season, well ahead of Dustin Weiss of Iron Ridge in second with Neshkoro’s Jake Richards third, Simon fourth and Marshall Plate of Chilton fifth.
The 15-year old Plate (634 points) edged Richards (631) by three points for the runner-up spot in the standings. Collin Peterson of Waupun also added a heat win on the night, his first heat win of the season.
Wuesthoff capped off his first career championship on dirt with his eighth feature win of the season. He eventually came out on top of a three-car battle with Roman Blank of Slinger and Chilton’s Jason Brandes to win his fifth straight feature at the track.
Brandes led the first seven laps, including holding off Blank for the lead for two laps until Blank aggressively cut in front of Brandes on the frontstretch at the end of lap 8. Alex Haese of Manitowoc also got by Brandes in the brief checkup, but Wuesthoff moved into third again on lap 10, passed Haese a lap later and then drove inside Blank on lap 14 and cleared a lap later.
Blank finished second with first-time visitor this year Derek Moede of New Franken third, Haese fourth and Mark Hoeppner of Rubicon fifth. Wuesthoff and James Riske of Newton also both won heat races, including Riske running down Chuck Gilbertson Jr. of Kaukauna for the second heat win with a last lap pass.
Schneider won his second straight Sport Mods feature to close the season, leading all 20 laps but getting a challenge in the late going by Schmidt that led to an exciting finish coming to the line.
Schneider withstood a total of five yellow flags in the race for spins by cars in the field. He pulled away after every restart except for the last one on lap 14, when he slipped high and Schmidt got to the inside to get nearly even by the end of the lap.
Schneider retook the lead but Schmidt was back challenging on the inside on the white flag lap. Schneider still kept a slim lead but on the final lap drifted way high in turn four. Still holding a slight lead, he stayed in the gas, bounced off the wall out of the turn but kept momentum and held on to win by two car lengths.
Schmidt finished second in the race and claimed his second track championship this year, having also won the B-Mods title at Plymouth Dirt Track on Saturday nights. Tony Gates of Chilton finished third with Jerry Duggan of Reifs Mills fourth and Kiel’s Ryan Pafford fifth. Pafford and Schmidt also both won heat races.
Marcus Hoeppner finished the season with his sixth Stock Cars feature win after what appeared to be a comfortable win instead turned into another terrific finish after a late caution flag.
Hoeppner started on the pole and cruised away as the race stayed green for the first 18 laps. The fast cars of previous feature winners Lubach and Matt Rechek of Beaver Dam both were caught in traffic much of the race until Rechek got by Matt Klenz of West Bend for second with the help of a lapped car on lap 14.
Rechek was making up ground but still well behind Hoeppner and running out of time when Mike Klenz spun on lap 19, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart Hoeppner went high on the backstretch while Rechek got a huge run and took the lead going into turn three, only to slide high from the momentum. Hoeppner dove back to the inside, retook the lead coming to the white flag and would win by three car lengths at the checkers.
Rechek finished second with Matt Klenz third, Lubach fourth and Kyle Resch of Manitowoc fifth. Lubach, Rechek and Rick Malberg of Denmark won feature races, and Lubach finished winning the class championship by 26 points over Hoeppner on the strength of seven feature wins this year.
Schepp finished the season with his second A-Mods feature win, also leading all 20 laps but getting a challenge late. While Schepp held the lead, Eric Scribner of Kiel and Chilton’s Steve Schneider raced side-by-side for five laps for second until Scribner took the spot on lap 12. Scribner then got inside of Schepp on lap 14 before dropping back, then again got inside Schepp on lap 17 with the cars nearly even at the line. Schepp pulled back ahead on lap 18, though, and went on to win by five car lengths at the end with Scribner second, Seegert Sr. third, Schneider fourth and Jesse Cullen of Chilton fifth.
Seegert finished as the class champion after a consistent season that included two feature wins and 13 top-five finishes. Chris Pigeon of Allouez and Marion’s Adam Abbey both won heat races.
Binash won his first-ever feature in the Midwest LS Late Models, breaking through after a number of near misses in features this year in both his late model and also while pulling double duty racing with the Street Stocks.
Binash ran second on the outside of leader Eric Klawitter of Endeavor for the first two laps before taking the lead on lap 3 and clearing two laps later to conclude a five-lap side-by-side battle. Binash then pulled away while Klawitter held off Mark Hoeppner the rest of the race for second. Hoeppner still clinched the season championship to conclude the class’s first season at Gravity Park and after posting a track-best nine feature wins this year.
Glidden won his first feature of the season at Gravity Park, tracking down Carson Sheppard of Beaver Dam late in the race and taking the lead with four laps left in the 20-lap race.
Glidden and Sheppard raced side-by-side for three laps, with Glidden edging ahead and then clearing Sheppard with help from a lapped car on lap 17. He went on to win with McLain finishing second with a good run after entering the night having already clinched the class championship. Sheppard finished third after leading the first 15 laps and finished the race with a flat tire, limping around for the final two laps. McLain and Ben Schulte of Kaukauna both won heat races.
Gravity Park concludes its 2026 racing season with its two-day Fall Classic coming up Friday, Sept. 18 and Saturday, Sept. 19. Classes racing will include Grand Nationals, A-Mods, Sport Mods, Stock Cars, Street Stocks, Midwest LS Late Models, Sport 4’s, the Midwest Legends Dirt Series and Vintage Mods. Racing begins at 7 p.m. on Friday and at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
FULL RESULTS AVAILABLE AT https://www.myracepass.com/events/639477/races
