September 12, 2021, Plymouth, WI-- The Badger Midget Series returned to action last night as the Plymouth Dirt Track played host to the final Wisconsin event for the series in 2021. Chase McDermand scored the win earlier in the season during the midget’s only other appearance at the track and backed up that win by capturing his series-high tenth win of the season.
Jeff Zelinski kept his momentum rolling forward after a strong doubleheader weekend. He put his #15Z Bullet by Spike powered Honda on top of the leaderboard during Schoenfeld Headers qualifying. Racing action got off to a rough start when Dan Kleven went for a wild ride on the opening laps of the non-qualifier. Kleven was visibly shaken up but was able to climb from his car before being transported by EMS. Shay Sassano scored the first checkered flag of the evening with the win in the Madison Extinguisher Service Non-
Qualifier race. McDermand captured Auto Meter Heat 1, while Lamont Critchett, built off his success from a week ago, went on to win Simpson Race Products Heat 2. RJ Corson took home the checkers in the High-Performance Lubricants B-Main to advance to the 25 lap main event.
Critchett was the big winner of the invert, positioning his #14 Spike Honda machine on the point, sharing the front row with Ken Hanson. Critchett jumped to the early lead at the drop of the green flag as Zach Boden darted through the middle to climb to second from his fifth-place starting position. Boden and Critchett thrilled the fans, swapping the lead an incredible fifteen times in the first thirteen circuits. As the pair upfront swapped the lead Zelinski and McDermand were steadily gaining on their battle, closing to their tail tanks on lap thirteen. On lap fourteen, McDermand pulled the trigger and fired his #40 machine through the middle of the dueling pair to capture the lead. The race was halted twice for red flags. First, when Charlie Kunz suffered a broken rear axle which sent his stars and stripes #27 flipping wildly down the backstretch. The second red flag flew after Critchett, giving up the battle for the lead, took a tumble in turns three and four making hard contact with the outside wall. Both drivers were in good spirits post-race but unfortunately for them, their 2021 season is over. When the green flag was displayed for the final time, Boden did everything he could to stay with McDermand, but it wasn’t enough to derail the sitting king as McDermand rolled away late to capture his tenth win of the season. Zelinski gave Boden a good run for the second position, but was forced to settle for third. Cody Weisensel had another solid top-five performance and ended up in fourth. Todd Kleuver continues to make gains with his midget program coming home fifth.
The safety team at Plymouth deserves a wealth of praise for their rapid response and diligent repair work for all classes during the night. Next Saturday night the Badger Midgets will venture east into the heart of open-wheel country. They will make their final stop of 2021 at Pulaski County Indiana’s Shadyhill Speedway, which is located in Medaryville.
Howard Law Cash Draw Winner: Todd Kluever
Badger Midget Series Points: 1. Chase McDermand 1905; 2. Zach Boden 1359; 3. Lamont Critchett 1215; 4. Kyle Stark 1089; 5. Andy Baugh 997; 6. Kevin Olson 996; 7. Kevin Douglas 906; 8. Mike Stroik 903; 9. Cody Weisensel 883; 10. Jeff Zelinski 852.
Stay connected by visiting BMARA.com and the BMARA Racing Facebook page for additional announcements and information regarding events for the 2021 season.
Badger Midgets 27 Entries
Lap Leaders: Lamont Critchett 1-6 & 11-13, Zach Boden 7-10, Chase McDermand 14-25
Advanced Race Suspension Hard Charger: Chase McDermand
A Feature 25 Laps
- 40-Chase McDermand[8]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[5]; 3. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[9]; 4. 20-Cody Weisensel[6]; 5. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 6. 6-Jeremy Douglas[4]; 7. 20D-Derek Doerr[3]; 8. 15C-RJ Corson[15]; 9. 9K-Kevin Olson[14]; 10. 9S-Mike Stroik[13]; 11. 24M-Aaron Muhle[18]; 12. 5K-Kevin Douglas[17]; 13. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[16]; 14. 71-Kyle Koch[10]; 15. 29-Harrison Kleven[21]; 16. 87-Jake Dohner[11]; 17. 28-Jim Fuerst[20]; 18. 8-Jake Goeglein[22]; 19. 14-Lamont Critchett[1]; 20. 77-Ken Hanson[2]; 21. 27-Charles Kunz[19]; 22. 2-Kyle Stark[12]
B Feature 1 12 Laps | High-Performance Lubricants
- 15C-RJ Corson[1]; 2. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[3]; 3. 5K-Kevin Douglas[2]; 4. 24M-Aaron Muhle[11]; 5. 27-Charles Kunz[4]; 6. 28-Jim Fuerst[6]; 7. 29-Harrison Kleven[9]; 8. 8-Jake Goeglein[7]; 9. 10-Denny Smith[8]; 10. 39-Dwight Stefan[10]; 11. 31-Shay Sassano[5]; 12. (DNS) 92-Dan Kleven
Heat 2 10 Laps | Simpson Race Products
- 14-Lamont Critchett[1]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 3. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[8]; 4. 51-Zach Boden[6]; 5. 20D-Derek Doerr[2]; 6. 87-Jake Dohner[5]; 7. 9S-Mike Stroik[3]; 8. 15C-RJ Corson[4]; 9. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[9]
Heat 1 10 Laps | Behlings Racing Equipment
- 40-Chase McDermand[8]; 2. 71-Kyle Koch[1]; 3. 77-Ken Hanson[2]; 4. 6-Jeremy Douglas[4]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel[7]; 6. 2-Kyle Stark[6]; 7. 9K-Kevin Olson[5]; 8. 5K-Kevin Douglas[3]; 9. 27-Charles Kunz[9]
Non-Qualifier 10 Laps | Madison Extinguisher Service
- 31-Shay Sassano[5]; 2. 28-Jim Fuerst[4]; 3. 8-Jake Goeglein[8]; 4. 10-Denny Smith[2]; 5. 29-Harrison Kleven[6]; 6. 39-Dwight Stefan[1]; 7. 24M-Aaron Muhle[7]; 8. 92-Dan Kleven[3]
Qualifying | 00:00:47.000 | Schoenfeld Headers
- 15Z-Jeff Zelinski, 13.422[24]; 2. 40-Chase McDermand, 13.692[17]; 3. 55-Todd Kluever, 13.721[14]; 4. 20-Cody Weisensel, 13.811[13]; 5. 51-Zach Boden, 13.827[3]; 6. 2-Kyle Stark, 13.916[18]; 7. 87-Jake Dohner, 14.029[26]; 8. 9K-Kevin Olson, 14.040[25]; 9. 15C-RJ Corson, 14.066[27]; 10. 6-Jeremy Douglas, 14.112[19]; 11. 9S-Mike Stroik, 14.219[15]; 12. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 14.263[12]; 13. 20D-Derek Doerr, 14.279[20]; 14. 77-Ken Hanson, 14.353[16]; 15. 14-Lamont Critchett, 14.556[7]; 16. 71-Kyle Koch, 14.572[9]; 17. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 14.808[4]; 18. 27-Charles Kunz, 14.913[21]; 19. 8-Jake Goeglein, 14.922[11]; 20. 24M-Aaron Muhle, 14.948[6]; 21. 29-Harrison Kleven, 14.948[22]; 22. 31-Shay Sassano, 15.137[2]; 23. 28-Jim Fuerst, 15.451[5]; 24. 92-Dan Kleven, 15.636[10]; 25. 10-Denny Smith, 16.051[1]; 26. 39-Dwight Stefan, 16.898[23]; 27. 34-Mike Burba, NT[8]
- administrator on Sep 12, 2021
- Article Date: 9/12/2021 by Matt Vaade