7/4/2021
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
“Zelinski Best at Beaver Dam”
July 4, Beaver Dam, WI-- The Badger Midgets kicked off the first leg of a double header weekend at Beaver Dam Raceway Saturday night. Thirty-two midgets made the haul to the high banked oval.
The night started with Zach Boden locking down the Schoenfeld Headers quick time in his Bullet Chassis Mazda powered #51. Adam Taylor started shotgun on the field in the Madison Extinguishers Non Qualifier race. Taylor wasted little time getting to the front jumping to the topside to pass all competitors in the opening laps before sailing to victory.
Kyle Stark picked up his first midget career win by taking the checkers in Auto Meter heat race number one. Chase McDermand added a heat win to his 2021 totals by winning Simpson Race Products heat number two and Sean Murphy took the Fusion Engineering 5x to victory in the Behling Race Equipment heat number three.
Fifteen cars were left to fight for seven spots in the 12 lap High Performance Lubricants B Main. Todd Kluever scored the win over Adam Taylor with Kurt Mayhew, Jeremy Douglas, Jim Fuerst, Kevin Douglas and Mike Stroik all advancing to the 25 lap A-Main.
Sean Murphy and Kyle Stark led the field of twenty two down to the green flag but was thwarted by a five car melee off turn 2 with several cars going over, with no drivers injured. After a lengthy cleanup, Murphy would gain the whole shot at the drop of the green flag. Stark battled back along with Jeff Zelinski, Chase McDermand, Scott Hatton and Andy Baugh. They began to apply pressure to Murphy for the lead before McDermand ripped the cushion in turns one and two to take the lead. Baugh looked to be running with McDermand stride for stride before apparent contact with Murphy sent him spinning in turn 4. Zelinski running second, and Hatton in tow was able to apply pressure to McDermand in the closing stages. Zelinski was committed to the bottom side hoping for a McDermand slip up. McDermand made the mistake on a late race restart and the hole opened up for Zelinski to take the lead. Hatton began searching for grip all over the racing surface and found a little by diamonding turns one and two to pressure Zelinski for the lead. Zelinskii held off Hatton for his first win of the 2021 season in BMARA action. Zelinski was followed across the line by Hatton, McDermand, Boden, and Murphy.
The win marks the sixth different winner in seven events to start the season. The Badger Midgets will complete the doubleheader tonight at Angell Park Speedway.
Howard Law Cash Draw: Kyle Stark
Advanced Racing Suspension Hard Charger: Mike Stroik
Badger Midget Series Points: 1. Chase McDermand 607; 2. Kevin Olson 477; 3. Zach Boden 449; 4. Lamont Critchett 439; 5. Andy Baugh 366; 6. Mike Stroik 362; 7. Scott Hatton 343; 8. Cody Weisensel 339; 9. Kyle Koch 314; 10. Kyle Stark 312.
Badger Midgets 32 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 40:43.279
- 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[5]; 2. 1-Scott Hatton[3]; 3. 40-Chase McDermand[6]; 4. 51-Zach Boden[10]; 5. 5X-Sean Murphy[1]; 6. 9K-Kevin Olson[7]; 7. 19E-Daltyn England[13]; 8. 6B-Andy Baugh[9]; 9. 9S-Mike Stroik[22]; 10. 5K-Kevin Douglas[21]; 11. 42-Kevin Battefeld[12]; 12. 28-Jim Fuerst[20]; 13. 6-Jeremy Douglas[19]; 14. 2-Kyle Stark[2]; 15. 20-Cody Weisensel[4]; 16. 15C-RJ Corson[11]; 17. 14-Lamont Critchett[8]; 18. 29-Harrison Kleven[14]; 19. 55-Todd Kluever[16]; 20. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[18]; 21. 10-Denny Smith[15]; 22. 7T-Adam Taylor[17]
B Feature 1 12 Laps | 4:48.502 | High Performance Lubricants
- 55-Todd Kluever[5]; 2. 7T-Adam Taylor[8]; 3. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[1]; 4. 6-Jeremy Douglas[4]; 5. 28-Jim Fuerst[3]; 6. 5K-Kevin Douglas[9]; 7. 9S-Mike Stroik[11]; 8. 87-Jake Dohner[10]; 9. 71-Kyle Koch[7]; 10. 98-Jordan Nelson[12]; 11. 31-Shay Sassano[6]; 12. 8-Jake Goeglein[13]; 13. 92-Dan Kleven[15]; 14. 4-Brad Hensen[14]; 15. (DNS) 40JR-Dave Collins Jr
Non Qualifier 10 Laps | 4:31.000 | Madison Extinguisher Service
- 7T-Adam Taylor[8]; 2. 5K-Kevin Douglas[5]; 3. 87-Jake Dohner[7]; 4. 9S-Mike Stroik[2]; 5. 98-Jordan Nelson[3]; 6. 92-Dan Kleven[6]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[4]; 8. 4-Brad Hensen[1]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 5:56.000 | Auto Meter
- 2-Kyle Stark[4]; 2. 20-Cody Weisensel[6]; 3. 42-Kevin Battefeld[3]; 4. 14-Lamont Critchett[8]; 5. 1-Scott Hatton[5]; 6. 28-Jim Fuerst[2]; 7. 31-Shay Sassano[1]; 8. 71-Kyle Koch[7]
Heat 2 10 Laps | 2:56.000 | Simpson
- 40-Chase McDermand[7]; 2. 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 3. 6B-Andy Baugh[8]; 4. 10-Denny Smith[1]; 5. 29-Harrison Kleven[2]; 6. 77-Ken Hanson[6]; 7. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[5]; 8. 55-Todd Kluever[4]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 4:54.000 | Behlings Racing Equipment
- 5X-Sean Murphy[3]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[8]; 3. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[6]; 4. 9K-Kevin Olson[7]; 5. 19E-Daltyn England[2]; 6. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[5]; 7. 6-Jeremy Douglas[1]; 8. 57-Jack Routson[4]
Qualifying | 18:02.000 | Schoenfeld
- 51-Zach Boden, 15.510[25]; 2. 6B-Andy Baugh, 15.573[18]; 3. 14-Lamont Critchett, 15.643[20]; 4. 9K-Kevin Olson, 15.650[30]; 5. 40-Chase McDermand, 15.741[11]; 6. 71-Kyle Koch, 15.906[23]; 7. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski, 16.025[22]; 8. 77-Ken Hanson, 16.037[26]; 9. 20-Cody Weisensel, 16.044[28]; 10. 21K-Kurt Mayhew, 16.094[32]; 11. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 16.194[17]; 12. 1-Scott Hatton, 16.196[12]; 13. 57-Jack Routson, 16.340[15]; 14. 55-Todd Kluever, 16.360[6]; 15. 2-Kyle Stark, 16.439[27]; 16. 5X-Sean Murphy, 16.441[8]; 17. 15C-RJ Corson, 16.443[16]; 18. 42-Kevin Battefeld, 16.483[3]; 19. 19E-Daltyn England, 16.497[14]; 20. 29-Harrison Kleven, 16.519[21]; 21. 28-Jim Fuerst, 16.658[19]; 22. 6-Jeremy Douglas, 16.848[24]; 23. 10-Denny Smith, 16.978[5]; 24. 31-Shay Sassano, 17.018[29]; 25. 7T-Adam Taylor, 17.036[10]; 26. 87-Jake Dohner, 17.230[13]; 27. 92-Dan Kleven, 17.290[2]; 28. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 17.325[9]; 29. 8-Jake Goeglein, 17.531[4]; 30. 98-Jordan Nelson, 17.607[7]; 31. 9S-Mike Stroik, 17.717[1]; 32. 4-Brad Hensen, 19.255[31]
Article Credit: Matt Vaade