Medaryville, IN--Kyle Stark and Zach Boden shared a brilliant championship battle in 2022, but the title can only be won by one driver and one team.
This year, the AFS Badger Midget Championship is headed back to Cambridge, WI. After so many years of being the bridesmaid, it’s finally the #51’s turn at the top.
Kurt Mayhew and RJ Corson made up the front row of Saturday’s 25 Lap Advanced Fastening Supply A Main at the Shadyhill Speedway, with Boden lining up from the 6th position and Stark starting in 7th. It was Mayhew getting the jump on Corson for the top spot on lap 1, with Corson and Matt Rechek running side by side behind the #21K. Corson eased around Rechek on the next lap with Boden in tow and Adam Taylor close behind. Boden worked his way by the #38 of Rechek and set his sights on Corson for the 2nd spot as Taylor also began to make the high side work.
Meanwhile, Stark found himself mired back in the 7th position, unable to make up positions on the bottom side of the Shadyhill Speedway track surface. As the #2 of Stark closed in on the battling pair of Rechek and 6th place running Aaron Muhle, Rechek cut down the racetrack and made incidental contact with Muhle’s #24M machine. Muhle spun as a result and did so directly in front of Stark, leaving him with absolutely nowhere to go. Understandably dejected, Stark and his team looked at the front end damage and had no choice but to retire the car from the A Main. The misfortune meant that all Boden had to do now was finish 4 th or better to snatch the AFS Badger Midget Title from the jaws of defeat.
Mayhew got out to a fantastic launch on the ensuing restart with 22 laps to go. This left Corson in the clutches of Boden and the #51 car ripped around the outside of the #15C to take 2nd. Soon after, the Fusion Engineering #5X of Taylor followed suit and the pair began to close in on Mayhew for the lead. On lap 6, Boden snuck underneath Mayhew to take the top spot coming off of turn 2 with Taylor close behind. Just one lap later, Taylor pulled off the exact same move as Boden to move into 2nd with 18 laps to go.
With 17 circuits remaining, Rechek took a shot at Corson for the 4th spot but clipped the #15C’s left rear tire and spun them both around, collecting a hard charging Mike Stroik as well as Charles Rufi in the process. The race restarted with Boden and Taylor jumping out to a solid advantage over Mayhew. On lap 12, Taylor showed his nose to Boden exiting turn 2, and as Boden drifted high entering turn 3 the #5X snuck by and into the lead at the halfway point. Boden, perhaps conscious of his championship situation, did not attempt a move back at Taylor but instead followed the Indiana driver into turn 1.
6 laps remained when Michael Magic’s #4M appeared to suffer a mechanical failure and pulled off the racing surface, but the track stayed under green flag conditions. Over the final 5 circuits, Taylor cruised to his series leading 5th AFS Badger Midget win of 2022. However, the storybook ending to a hugely trying season came to the driver who finished 2nd. Boden crossed under the checkered flag not only on the podium at the Shadyhill Speedway, but the 2022 Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Champion.
“It’s unbelievable.” Boden stated in an interview after the night’s races. “I’m just trying to let it all sink in. We were a distant 2nd to Chase [McDermand] last year, but I knew we’d have a really good shot this season. To finally get a championship is amazing. It’s unfortunate for Kyle, but this team absolutely deserves it.”
Stark was gracious in defeat as he wrote in a Facebook post; “We were quick all day and got collected in a tangle in front of us. We unfortunately lost the championship by 8 points. Congratulations to Zach Boden on a great season.”
The title was indeed decided by just 8 points. The closest title fight since 2019 when Chase McDermand edged out Jack Routson by 2 points to take his first of three AFS Badger Midget titles. The Top 5 point scorers in 2022 rounded out with Todd Kluever 3rd, Corson 4th and Muhle in 5th.
Saturday’s Schoenfeld QuickTime Award went to Jakeb Boxell. Auto Meter Heat 1 was won by Carl Peterson and Adam Taylor took the checkered flag in Simpson Race Products Heat 2. The Madison Extinguisher Service Non-Qualifier was won by Michael Magic. Dave Collins Jr. earned the Advanced Racing Suspensions Hard Charger Award in the A Main with a 18th to 8th charge. Nick Klein went home with the Howard Law Cash Draw, and the Oliver Motors Last Place Bonus went to Jakeb Boxell. The Cartopia “Hard Luck” Award went to Jeremy Douglas.
The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Series would like to thank all of our 2022 series partners for their continuous support this season!
Advanced Fastening Supply
Auto Meter
Schoenfeld Headers
Simpson Race Products
Howard Law
Madison Extinguisher Service
Advanced Racing Suspension
My Race Pass
Hoosier Tire
Ryno Classifieds Online
Conrad Real Estate
Fusion Engineering
1855 Saloon & Grill
84 Lumber
Horizon Developments
SuperShox
Cardinal Heating & Air Conditioning
Ben’s Auto Service Inc.
Horizon Carpentry Inc.
Corey Oil
High Performance Lubricants
Industrial Truck Repair LLC
Box3 Media
Shadyhill Speedway “Season Finale” Results 9/17/22
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:16:42.709 | Advance Fastening Supply
- 5X-Adam Taylor[5]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[6]; 3. 49P-Carl Peterson IV[9]; 4. 44-Lamont Critchett[13]; 5. 5K-Kevin Douglas[11]; 6. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[1]; 7. 59-Kyle Koch[10]; 8. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[18]; 9. 4T-Cody Dye[17]; 10. 15C-RJ Corson[2]; 11. 9S-Mike Stroik[12]; 12. 10-Denny Smith[15]; 13. 29-Harrison Kleven[21]; 14. 45KW-Nicholas Klein[20]; 15. 97-Jim Jones[19]; 16. 4M-Michael Magic[16]; 17. 24M-Aaron Muhle[4]; 18. 38-Matt Rechek[3]; 19. 56-Charles Rufi[8]; 20. 2-Kyle Stark[7]; 21. 44JB-Jakeb Boxell[14]; 22. (DNS) 6-Jeremy Douglas
Non-Qualifier 8 Laps | Madison Extinguisher Service
- 4M-Michael Magic[1]; 2. 4T-Cody Dye[3]; 3. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[5]; 4. 97-Jim Jones[6]; 5. 45KW-Nicholas Klein[4]; 6. 29-Harrison Kleven[2]
Simpson Race Products Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:20.686 | Simpson Race Products
- 5X-Adam Taylor[6]; 2. 2-Kyle Stark[7]; 3. 59-Kyle Koch[1]; 4. 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 5. 56-Charles Rufi[2]; 6. 5K-Kevin Douglas[4]; 7. 9S-Mike Stroik[5]; 8. 44JB-Jakeb Boxell[8]
Auto Meter Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:38.513 | Auto Meter
- 49P-Carl Peterson IV[2]; 2. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[3]; 3. 51-Zach Boden[7]; 4. 38-Matt Rechek[5]; 5. 24M-Aaron Muhle[6]; 6. 6-Jeremy Douglas[4]; 7. 44-Lamont Critchett[8]; 8. 10-Denny Smith[1]
Schoenfeld Headers Qualifying 3 Laps | 00:03:46.000 | Schoenfeld Headers
- 44JB-Jakeb Boxell, 00:15.054[10]; 2. 44-Lamont Critchett, 00:15.228[7]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.231[4]; 4. 51-Zach Boden, 00:15.262[16]; 5. 5X-Adam Taylor, 00:15.299[22]; 6. 24M-Aaron Muhle, 00:15.481[5]; 7. 9S-Mike Stroik, 00:15.498[15]; 8. 38-Matt Rechek, 00:15.583[18]; 9. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:15.625[13]; 10. 6-Jeremy Douglas, 00:15.629[14]; 11. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:15.641[6]; 12. 21K-Kurt Mayhew, 00:15.711[8]; 13. 56-Charles Rufi, 00:15.904[19]; 14. 49P-Carl Peterson IV, 00:15.912[12]; 15. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:16.003[9]; 16. 10-Denny Smith, 00:16.184[3]; 17. 97-Jim Jones, 00:16.306[20]; 18. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.379[17]; 19. 45KW-Nicholas Klein, 00:16.407[11]; 20. 4T-Cody Dye, 00:16.465[21]; 21. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.660[1]; 22. (DQ) 4M-Michael Magic, 00:15.465[2]
Photo Credits: Casey Bollig, Ricky Bassman
- Loren Kelly on Sep 18, 2022
- Article Date: 9/18/2022 by Loren Kelly