Andy Schmidt had a dream day at Blackhawk Farms in May of 1989, winning three Yamaha-paying WERA sprint races. Here Schmidt accelerates out of a turn ahead of Shawn Nicoloff (66) and Dick Koehler (111) en route to winning the regional Formula Xtreme race. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Beaver Dam, Wisconsin rider Andy Schmidt was a first-year expert and considered a decent mid-pack racer – that was until he showed up to first race of the season at Blackhawk Farms Raceway for the WERA sprint races in May of 1989. Schmidt was magic that day, winning three sprint finals on Sunday aboard his Freber’s Jewelry/Beaver Sport Haus sponsored Yamaha FZR600 and taking home $1500 in Yamaha contingency money.

Schmidt’s most hard-fought victory that day came in B Superbike. Bob Sandy put his Kawasaki ZX-7 in to the lead on the opening lap. Schmidt was biding his time behind Sandy, all the while feeling that he could overtake the bigger machine. “He was having problems slowing the big bike down going in to tight corners. He also couldn’t keep on the gas through the carousel, so I figured I could get around him, even though I was worried about the speed of the ZX,” said Schmidt.

Dick Koehler was making an attempt to get up with the leaders, and he was closing in on them before running off the track. Koehler made a spectacular save but lost several positions and ended up fifth. With two laps to go, Schmidt took a tight line through the high-speed carousel and grabbed the lead. Sandy tried to out-brake Schmidt on the last lap while entering turn one which was crowded with lapped riders. “That was a pretty bold move on his (Sandy) part. We came up on three or four lapped riders in that turn. I just waited until last possible moment to brake, and was hoping that those guys held their line,” said a wide-eyed Schmidt.

Schmidt made it through turn one first. That was the advantage he needed to hold off Sandy. Sandy made one last attempt to take over the lead. He used the power of his 750 to move alongside Schmidt’s 600 on the front straight, but at the line, it was Schmidt by a wheel.

Schmidt went on to win two more exiting races, including an upset win over favored Shawn Nicoloff in the Formula USA contest. His performance at Blackhawk that day was one of the best of the year in WERA racing.