By: Paul Reichert
April 27, 2025
April showers will come your way, and they bring the flowers that bloom in May. We believe that you can apply that famous saying to racing as well. Now that we had the April showers in recent days, we are ready to begin the 2025 racing campaign. Before we do that in a matter of days, we kicked off the second annual Enduro Triple Crown Championship at Tomah-Sparta Speedway with the running of the Daytomah 200 on Sunday afternoon. Davey Pennel had a very speedy race car back on New Years’ Day, and that car was just as speedy as ever on Sunday. The outcome would be much different on this day as Pennel would capture the checkered flag and win the first-ever ‘clean and green’ enduro race run at Tomah in only about an hour and three minutes.
31 cars fired up for 200 laps of non-stop fender-bending action that the legendary Tomah-Sparta Speedway has been famous for. Last year’s Summer Sizzle Enduro winner Adam Hayden led the opening two circuits before Kyle Ansolabehere powered by Hayden to be in the lead spot of an enduro for the first-time ever. The lead became a hot potato early on as Adam Moore shot past both Louis and Kyle Ansolabehere to take the number one position on lap eight. The younger Ansolabehere was not intimated by the dominance of the Moores at Tomah for years as Kyle charged past Adam to settle back into the lead on lap ten. Making a fast climb through the competition was Davey Pennel, the driver that dominated the Chill Chaser until a mechanical issue ended his road to victory with a mere 14 laps to go. Pennel made quick work of Ansolabehere on lap 13 to power his way to the top, and he began to run away with this race like he did in the Chill Chaser. The good early run for the younger Ansolabehere came to a sudden halt with a mechanical issue on Kyle’s car that sent him to the pits on lap 25. On the other hand, dad Louis continued to have a very strong effort that kept him in the top five for much of the first half of the race. After passing the quarter-mile pole of the race, the race suddenly turned into a two-man fight between veterans of racing at Tomah. Hayden had a good run going until an issue sent him to the pits for good after only 62 laps. Adam Moore was doing everything he could to keep up with Davey Pennel, but Moore had a bit of a gap to close up on Pennel.
Pennel continued to dominate the race with a massive nine-second advantage over Moore as the crossed flags were displayed. We reached the halfway mark in only 32 minutes without a single red flag on-track incident. The gap between Pennel and Moore held steady around nine seconds for several laps after the midway point, but then Pennel turned up the wick on Moore and built up a nearly 15 second advantage at lap 125. Moore began to turn faster laps than Pennel for several laps after that to start to bring the gap back down to 14 seconds. Moore began to struggle with his race car as we closed in on 50 laps remaining, and that allowed Pennel to put Moore down a lap. Moore’s car came back to life after the three-quarter mark was reached as he began to try and drive back around Pennel to return to the lead lap. Moore continued to do everything he could to power his way back around, but it was turning into a trade-off of fast laps as Pennel continued to keep Moore in his rear view mirror. The complexion of the race changed when Moore headed to the pits with a mechanical situation with 18 laps to go that allowed Terry Biddick to move into second with 12 laps left, and Tomah HSRA champ Curtis Hellickson to take charge of third with ten laps remaining. Mike Chadderdon and Louis Ansolabehere broke into the top five during the closing laps of the race, while Moore managed to hang onto sixth despite his late race issues. Pennel would not be denied this day as he avenged his bitter loss in the Chill Chaser with a runaway effort in the first leg of the Tomah Enduro Triple Crown.
Now that we have run the enduro races to get you slowly back into a racing state of mind, we can officially declare the 2025 racing season underway at Tomah-Sparta Speedway on Friday, May 2. This will be an action packed season opener with the Sportsmen, Hobby Stocks, Hornets, Six Shooters, Great North Legends and Bandoleros. Gates open at 6, group qualifying for all divisions revs up at 6:15, and the first fender rubbing racing action of the new year begins at 7:30.
Call the track at 608-461-1920, visit our website at tomahspartaspeedway.com and be sure to like the track’s Facebook page for more information about Tomah-Sparta Speedway and the 2025 schedule of events.
RESULTS
Daytomah 200 Enduro (200 laps): 1. Davey Pennel 200, 2. Terry Biddick 195, 3. Curtis Hellickson 193, 4. Mike Chadderdon 186, 5. Louis Ansolabehere 186, 6. Adam Moore 182, 7. Jon Francois, 8. Mike Hennessy, Jr. 176, 9. Jason Witte 173, 10. Paul Servais 171, 11. Colter Sagler 167, 12. Zach Furber 164, 13. Alex Lueth 162, 14. Tanner Chadderdon 157, 15. Dean Pennel 157, 16. Shawn Carpenter 135, 17. Jeremiah Jacobson 131, 18. Jeremiah Anderson 125, 19. Justin Schelitzche 114, 20. Alex Rud 114, 21. Zach Liebsch 112, 22. Mike Krueger, Jr. 88, 23. A.J. Finnigan 68, 24. Seth Scholl 64, 25. Adam Hayden 64, 26. Caleb Uksas 46, 27. Russell Allen 36, 28. Tristan Finnigan 27, 29. Kyle Ansolabehere 25, 30. Jack Barta 17, 31. Levi Thompson 14
