5/17/2022
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
Waelti storms to Angell Park opener!
Sun Prairie, WI, May 16, 2022– For the 75th time the famous speedway at Angell Park welcomed the crowds of people to witness the spectacle of speed. The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midgets headlined a thrilling night filling the pits 27 strong.
The night started with some quick lap times being laid down on the heavy track surface narrowly missing the track record set by Jerry Coons Jr., leading the charge was Zach Boden with a lap of 14.454. Boden would claim his first Schoenfeld Headers quick time award of the season.
In preliminary action, Harrison Kleven took home top honors in the Madison Extinguisher Service Non-Qualifiers race. Brandon Waelti established early dominance and cruised in Auto Meter Heat #1. Kevin Douglas got to celebrate his new machine hitting the racetrack for the first time by claiming the win in Simpson Race Products Heat race #2, and Tyler Baran got the best of Boden in the 3rd and final heat presented by Behling Race Products. After a brief break in the action to roll in the formidable Sun Prairie clay, it was all Matt Rechek of Beaver Dam, Wi in the High-Performance Lubricants B Main.
RJ Corson and Kyle Stark led the field to green with Stark claiming the early advantage. Waelti quickly jumped from outside the 2nd row to challenge Stark for the lead on the opening circuit. Stark led the conga line of cars from 2nd on back as they all watched the 2016 champion distance himself within a matter of laps. Similar to Sycamore, Jack Routson had mechanical issues and was forced to retire from the event early after moving up several spots. He would not be the only one to be plagued with failure as the race was slowed twice for stalled machines. Those were the only two yellows of the evening, and the two restarts didn't seem to phase Wealti much as he was able to pull away comfortably on both. The battle for 2nd was feverish between Stark, Boden, Corson, and Todd Kleuver. The reigning rookie of the year, Stark did his best Dukes of Hazzard impression over the tractor tire exiting turn two. The 2 machines stayed on all fours and continued on, but that shuffled the running order which allowed for several competitors to slip by down the backstretch. As the laps ticked down it was apparent there was something more taking place inside the 3B machine. It's been a while since the former series champion has been in victory lane, and the will to win was growing by the lap. The win was well received by the hometown crowd. For the hometown racer, this marked his first time in victory lane with Badger since his championship season in 2016 and highlights an offseason centered around refocusing energy. "After the Chili Bowl, we got to thinking about building a Badger Midget, here we are a couple of months later in victory lane for the first time in I don't even know how long. I tried giving it away a couple of times but this one feels amazing!" Waelti was followed across the stripe by Zach Boden, Todd Kluever, Matt Rechek, and RJ Corson rounded out the top 5.
The ARS Hard Charger award goes to Rechek after he charged 11 spots and transferred from the B main. Tonight’s Howard Law Cash Draw award was granted to Jake Goeglein from Sullivan, WI.
Summary
Badger Midgets 27 Entries
Lap Leaders: Stark 1, Waelti 2-25.
A Feature 1 25 Laps | 00:12:37.418 | Advance Fastening Supply 1. 3B-Brandon Waelti[4]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[6]; 3. 55-Todd Kluever[5]; 4. 38-Matthew Rechek[15]; 5. 15C-RJ Corson[1]; 6. 19E-Daltyn England[9]; 7. 2-Kyle Stark[2]; 8. 5K-Kevin Douglas[10]; 9. 9K-Bryon Walters[8]; 10. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[7]; 11. 98-Jordan Nelson[11]; 12. 24M-Aaron Muhle[17]; 13. 8-Jake Goeglein[18]; 14. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[13]; 15. 59-Kyle Koch[20]; 16. 29-Harrison Kleven[19]; 17. 4-Pat Hensen[21]; 18. 77-Jack Vanderboom[22]; 19. 11T-Tyler Baran[3]; 20. 56- Charles Rufi; 21. 9S-Mike Stroik[14]; 22. 34-Ken Hanson[12]; 23. 87-Jake Dohner[16]
B Feature 12 Laps | 00:03:41.481 | High-Performance Lubricants 1. 38-Matthew Rechek[1]; 2. 87-Jake Dohner[2]; 3. 24M-Aaron Muhle[4]; 4. 8-Jake Goeglein[5]; 5. 29-Harrison Kleven[6]; 6. 59-Kyle Koch[8]; 7. 4-Pat Hensen[7]; 8. 56-Charles Rufi[11]; 9. 10-Denny Smith[10]; 10. 45KW-Trey Weisoff[12]; 11. 31- Shay Sassano[9]; 12. (DNS) 57A-Jack Routson
Non-Qualifier 8 Laps | 00:02:24.000 | Madison Extinguisher Service 1. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 2. 4-Pat Hensen[4]; 3. 59-Kyle Koch[5]; 4. 31-Shay Sassano[2]; 5. 45KW-Trey Weisoff[6]; 6. 10- Denny Smith[3]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:32.000 | Auto Meter 1. 3B-Brandon Waelti[6]; 2. 98-Jordan Nelson[2]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark[5]; 4. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[1]; 5. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[4]; 6. 57A-Jack Routson[3]; 7. 56-Charles Rufi[7]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:18.000 | Simpson Race Products 1. 5K-Kevin Douglas[3]; 2. 15C-RJ Corson[5]; 3. 19E-Daltyn England[4]; 4. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 5. 77-Jack Vanderboom[6]; 6. 87-Jake Dohner[2]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[1]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:02:30.000 | Behling Race Products 1. 11T-Tyler Baran[6]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[7]; 3. 34-Ken Hanson[2]; 4. 9S-Mike Stroik[1]; 5. 9K-Bryon Walters[4]; 6. 38- Matthew Rechek[5]; 7. 24M-Aaron Muhle[3]
Qualifying- Schoenfeld Headers 1. 51-Zach Boden, 00:14.454[9]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever, 00:14.787[2]; 3. 3B-Brandon Waelti, 00:14.848[26]; 4. 11T-Tyler Baran, 00:14.849[27]; 5. 77-Jack Vanderboom, 00:15.262[20]; 6. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.430[1]; 7. 38-Matthew Rechek, 00:15.452[12]; 8. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:15.523[4]; 9. 21K-Kurt Mayhew, 00:15.615[19]; 10. 9K-Bryon Walters, 00:15.650[7]; 11. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:15.712[10]; 12. 57A-Jack Routson, 00:15.759[16]; 13. 24M-Aaron Muhle, 00:15.759[6]; 14. 5KKevin Douglas, 00:15.839[5]; 15. 98-Jordan Nelson, 00:16.010[11]; 16. 34-Ken Hanson, 00:16.242[14]; 17. 87-Jake Dohner, 00:16.306[17]; 18. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.308[15]; 19. 9S-Mike Stroik, 00:16.375[3]; 20. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:16.756[8]; 21. 56-Charles Rufi, 00:17.388[24]; 22. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:17.843[25]; 23. 4-Pat Hensen, 00:18.275[21]; 24. 10-Denny Smith, 00:18.278[13]; 25. 31-Shay Sassano, 00:18.585[22]; 26. 45KW-Trey Weisoff, 00:19.868[23]; 27. 29- Harrison Kleven, NT.
Article Credit: Matt Vaade