A perfect forecast and great crowd greeted the Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association as they hit the track at Angell Park Speedway on Sunday. For their part in the show that also included the Dirt Kings Late Models and IMCA Modifieds, Badger delivered.
QUALIFYING
When it comes to the points race everything matters in Badger. Parker Jones scored the FIVEone Motorsports Fast Time at 15.372 over Todd Kluever and Kyle Stark in group qualifying. All three are in the point battle and they took home 15, 10 and 8 points respectively for their efforts.
THE HEATS
Eric Blumer paced the field in Auto Meter Heat-1 and took off from the drop of the green. He led the first three laps running the low groove. From the back of the pack, Lamont Critchett and Stark were charging on the high line. By the fourth circuit, Critchett had the point with Stark right on his tail. Those two separated themselves from the field with Critchett taking the win over Stark, Blumer was third.
Simpson Race Products Heat-2 had four drivers in the thick of the Badger point race in the field. Brandon Waelti, who started third, got the jump on polesitter Jake Goeglein as the green flew. By the time they were at the start/finish line, Waelti had several lengths on the field and by the end of lap-one, he was ten lengths ahead of Cody Weisensel. Meanwhile, Matt Rechek and Kluever were mired in traffic.
While Waelti had checked out with one to go, Kluever and Rechek made up ground on Weisensel with Kluever up to Weisensel’s side. Weisensel maintained the advantage for the majority of the lap but Kluever got a run off the last corner and nipped Weisensel at the line for second. Recheck ended up fourth, with each of those drivers earning valuable points.
Aaron Fiscus edged Dave Collins Jr. at the line as they took the green for Behling Racing Equipment Heat-3. By the second lap Cale Coons was challenging Fiscus for the lead. On the fourth circuit Coons had him as he sailed on the high groove. With just a couple of laps to go, Daniel Robinson came into the picture. Despite neither being in the hunt for Badger points, Coons and Robinson put on a show from there, swapping the lead and trading slide-jobs, with Robinson taking Coons by a car length at the line. Jones was third. And with that, all of the title contenders were locked into the feature.
HIGH PERFORMANCE LUBRICANTS B-MAIN
Mitchell Davis who’s #6 didn’t sound well earlier, powered from the pole to take the High Performance Lubricants B-Main. Harrison Kleven ran a solid race on the bottom earning the runner up spot. Another regular in the feature field, Derek Doerr’s #20 also sounded sick in the heat, but he made the A-Main finishing third. Collins was the last car to make the A-Main.
“IT’S GOING TO BE A DRIVER’S TRACK TONIGHT”- ANNOUNCER HUENEFELD
It was a rough start to the Lyco Manufacturing Inc. A-Main. As cars came to the green, the middle of the pack stacked up causing an accordion effect. The yellow flew before they got to the first turn as Collins and Nathan Crane tangled in turn-four due to the action in front of them. Collins was done for the night, Crane got restarted.
Meanwhile Waelti and Blumer went to the infield. Blumer had a safety issue that was resolved and he got his starting spot back. Waelti made contact on the start and damaged a shock. It wasn’t bad enough to call it a night per his crew, but his run would not be as hoped and he was relegated to the back of the pack to restart the race. The point contender would never be a factor.
Lamont Critchett led the restart from the pole and paced the next couple of laps running the high line. By the third lap Weisensel drove under Critchett and took the lead. Weisensel then enjoyed a half a straightaway advantage on second place Stark who broke away from a pack that included Critchett, Recheck and Jones. Folks began to wonder if this would be the night Weisensel finally won a Badger A-Main.
With six laps in, Coons stalled out causing a yellow, erasing Weisensel’s lead. On the restart it was Weisensel, Stark, Recheck and Jones nose to tail. The next several laps saw Weisensel and Stark side by side with the former on the "huggy pole" and latter up on the cushion. Stark was best in the corners while Weisensel would take the advantage on the straights. Robinson now began to enter the picture.
By the half-way point of the contest Stark had driven by Weisensel on the strength of running low in the first corners and high in the last. With ten laps left Robinson had dispatched Weisensel and stole Stark’s playbook, running the corners the same way.
With six laps left, Stark and Robinson started to encounter lapped traffic. At this point and for the next couple of laps Stark might enjoy four or five lengths on Robinson only to have Robinson close the gap.
Coming to three laps to go it looked like Stark would play the lapped traffic well as he was on the bottom with a lapper up top ahead of Robinson. Robinson found just enough room and grip under the lapped vehicle and he took the lead at the line with Jones right behind him now occupying the runner-up spot.
With two laps left Robinson negotiated the lappers perfectly keeping Jones at bay as they passed the stands. That was the last best shot for Jones and Robinson went on to take the checkers by four lengths.
It was a special celebration in Bank of Sun Prairie Victory Lane as Robinson’s car owner Bill Ecker was celebrating his 77th birthday. In Victory Lane Robinson said, “I was just trying to be smart, take my time and be the veteran that I am, I guess. I drive six hours one way to come here. I love this place.”
After tech was through and they had a while to let their first win of the season sink in, Ecker said more than once, “You just don’t realize how hard it is to win here.”
When you look at Ecker’s #57 you’ll notice “RAB” prominently on the side. The “A” is for the late team principal Amy Ecker Reisdorf who passed away in 2019. A happy Cade Reisdorf, her son and Bill Ecker's grandson, is a member of the race team and noted of Robinson’s win, “I was in turns one and two on the four-wheeler screaming like my mom.”
AWARDS AND NOTES
Jones took over the point lead from Kluever. We’ll break this all down later in the week.
The Madison Extinguisher Service Last Chance Qualifier and VMS Rod Ends Heat-4 were not run.
Dave Collins Jr. was awarded the Last Place Bonus in Loving Memory of Addison Dahlke.
Brok Clifcorn was the Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race.
Derek Doerr, who’s car sounded sick most of the night got things together in the Lyco Manufacturing A-Main and bolted from eighteenth to eighth place to earn ASM Performance BobTattersall Hard Charger honors.
Parker Jones scored the Schoenfeld Headers Invert Draw.
The Hammer’s Auto Service Shop; Midwest Engine Service Hard Luck Award recipient was not available at press time.
Twenty-seven teams signed in for Badger and when they got to the pits they headed to the Addison Dahlke Kids Club trailer where they dropped off backpacks filled with school supplies they collected. In all the teams donated 80 backpacks for pint sized fans to help them get ready for the new school year.
If it weren’t for bad luck… 2023 AFS Badger Midget Series champion Adam Taylor was out of a ride until the team of the injured Miles Doherty asked him to occupy the seat while Doherty recuperates from a sprint car crash. Unfortunately an engine issue kept the team from running any competitive laps on Sunday. On a positive note, Miles has his casts off his arms and reports with a grin that he should be cleared to race in December, just in time for the Chili Bowl.
After the winning 50/50 ticket number, worth some $900 was announced, former Badger driver Jason Dull could be seen bounding out from the infield area with his arms raised as he had the winning ticket. Huenefeld happened to see him and with the mic hot, gave an impromptu interview where Dull thanked the Sun Prairie High School football team for working the 50/50 and said, “This is my biggest win I think!”
There was a bit of reworking and water added to the racing surface after the Badger B-Main. The modifieds took to the track for their feature and then Badger pushed off. While the track was dusty, the surface had two good grooves.
With the event over by 8:40 p.m. fans flocked to the pits where it was great to see them interacting with the drivers and teams.
UP NEXT
Things get tight for the AFS Badger Midget Series as the drive to the end of the season begins. Six races in three weeks coupled with an intense point battle should make for some outstanding racing to finish the season.
This coming week it’s a doubleheader starting with a co-sanctioned event including MARA at Sycamore Speedway on Saturday, August 17, the next night Badger will be at home for the popular Corn Fest race at Angell Park Speedway.
FULL RESULTS
Advanced Fastening Supply A - Feature (25 Laps): 1. 57A-Daniel Robinson[4]; 2. 41-Parker Jones[7]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark[5]; 4. 55-Todd Kluever[6]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel[3]; 6. 45-Trey Weishoff[8]; 7. 38-Matt Rechek[2]; 8. 20D-Derek Doerr[18]; 9. 7F-Aaron Fiscus[13]; 10. 44-Lamont Critchett[1]; 11. 6B-Mitchell Davis[16]; 12. 68-Eric Blumer[15]; 13. 5K-Kevin Douglas[12]; 14. 31-Nathan Crane[20]; 15. 17-Nick Kilian[11]; 16. 3W-Brandon Waelti[9]; 17. 29-Harrison Kleven[17]; 18. 51A-Colton Anderson[14]; 19. 8-Jake Goeglein[19]; 20. 51C-Brok Clifcorn[21]; 21. 63-Cale Coons[10]; 22. (DNS) 40JR-Dave Collins Jr
High Performance Lubricants B - Feature (10 Laps): 1. 6B-Mitchell Davis[1]; 2. 29-Harrison Kleven[3]; 3. 20D-Derek Doerr[12]; 4. 8-Jake Goeglein[5]; 5. 31-Nathan Crane[4]; 6. 51C-Brok Clifcorn[6]; 7. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[7]; 8. 28-Jim Fuerst[8]; 9. 1W-Robby Wirth[11]; 10. 59-Kyle Koch[2]; 11. (DNS) 51-Zach Boden; 12. (DNS) 53M-Adam Taylor
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Lamont Critchett[6]; 2. 2-Kyle Stark[8]; 3. 68-Eric Blumer[1]; 4. 51A-Colton Anderson[3]; 5. 5K-Kevin Douglas[4]; 6. 29-Harrison Kleven[2]; 7. 51C-Brok Clifcorn[5]; 8. 51-Zach Boden[7]; 9. (DNS) 53M-Adam Taylor
Madison Extinguisher Service Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3W-Brandon Waelti[5]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever[8]; 3. 20-Cody Weisensel[7]; 4. 38-Matt Rechek[6]; 5. 17-Nick Kilian[4]; 6. 59-Kyle Koch[2]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[3]; 8. 28-Jim Fuerst[9]; 9. 1W-Robby Wirth[1]
Behlings Race Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 57A-Daniel Robinson[7]; 2. 63-Cale Coons[4]; 3. 41-Parker Jones[8]; 4. 7F-Aaron Fiscus[3]; 5. 45-Trey Weishoff[5]; 6. 6B-Mitchell Davis[9]; 7. 31-Nathan Crane[6]; 8. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[2]; 9. (DNS) 20D-Derek Doerr
FiveOne Motorsports Fast Time Schoenfeld Qualifying (50 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones, 00:15.372[1]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever, 00:15.460[25]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.513[3]; 4. 57A-Daniel Robinson, 00:15.535[10]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:15.670[14]; 6. 51-Zach Boden, 00:15.755[11]; 7. 31-Nathan Crane, 00:15.759[5]; 8. 38-Matt Rechek, 00:15.820[6]; 9. 44-Lamont Critchett, 00:15.839[17]; 10. 45-Trey Weishoff, 00:15.860[23]; 11. 3W-Brandon Waelti, 00:15.918[26]; 12. 51C-Brok Clifcorn, 00:16.019[4]; 13. 63-Cale Coons, 00:16.080[19]; 14. 17-Nick Kilian, 00:16.101[22]; 15. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:16.131[9]; 16. 7F-Aaron Fiscus, 00:16.140[8]; 17. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:16.415[7]; 18. 51A-Colton Anderson, 00:16.455[2]; 19. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.567[12]; 20. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:16.757[13]; 21. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.939[27]; 22. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:17.078[20]; 23. 1W-Robby Wirth, 00:17.237[24]; 24. 68-Eric Blumer, 00:17.353[21]; 25. 28-Jim Fuerst, 00:17.686[18]; 26. (DNS) 53M-Adam Taylor; 27. (DNS) 6B-Mitchell Davis
Photo credit: Roy Ophime Photography
Article by: Bill Blumer Jr.
- William Blumer on Aug 12, 2024
- Article Date: 8/12/2024