Bell Wins Cornfest Feature at Angell Park

By Bryan Gapinski

Sun Prairie, Wis., Aug. 18– Christopher Bell scored a wire-to-wire victory, winning the Miller Lite Cornfest Midget Classic Sunday night at Angell Park Speedway. The event was co-sanctioned by the USAC Honda National Midget, POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget,and Zimbrick Chevrolet of Sun Prairie/Mid-State Equipment Badger Midget Series.

The victory also locked up the Badger Midget Driver’s Championship for Bell, who becomes the 41st different champion, in the organizations 78 years of sanctioning midget auto racing.

Bell jumped into the lead at the start, two cautions during the first three laps, slowed the event. On the fourth lap, Chris Windom flipped down the backstretch in one of the most spectacular crashes in years at the facility. Windom was uninjuried. During the cleanup process track officials measured the Windom’s flip at 254 feet in length.

Bell pulled away from the field on the restart. Daniel Robinson, and Bryan Clauson waged a torrid battle for second position. The pair made contact entering Turn 3 on Lap 10, the pair slid across the track into the wall, with Clauson flipping, the incident also collected fourth place running Rico Abreu. Clauson would restart in 20th position and eventually finish fifth in the event.

Bell again remained unchallenged for the lead, while Darren Hagen, Tracy Hines, Tyler Thomas and Jerry Coons Jr. battled for runner-up honors. Bell began lapping the tail of the field, with nine laps remaining. On the final lap Brady Bacon flipped, causing a two-lap restart.

Bell driving the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian owned Bullet-Toyota No. 71 finished ahead of Hagen, Thomas, Hines and Clauson. “ It’s a great honor to win the Badger Championship, the series has such a rich history, the car was great tonight, being up front kept me out trouble” commented Bell. The victory was his fourth of the year at the track, twelfth overall of the season.

Matt Paderta scored his sixth series victory of the season winning the 15-lap Badger 600 Micro Series feature. The event was slowed on the second lap, when a nine-car accident occurred, with multiple cars flipping. Once underway Paderta cruised to an easy victory over series points leader Brandon Sletten, Will Gerrits; Ben Paderta, and Tory Strauss. Paderta now trails Sletten by 18-points heading into the Aug. 23 event at Sycamore (Ill.) Speedway.

The Angell Park and Badger season finales will be on Sunday Aug. 31, featuring both divisions and the 12th annual Dave Schulenberg Memorial Trophy Dash.

HONDA USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: August 17, 2014 – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – Angell Park Speedway – “Miller Lite Cornfest” – (Co-sanctioned by Powri and Badger)

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-14.322; 2. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.359; 3. Rico Abreu, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.394; 4. Parker Price-Miller, 9P, Ronk-14.435; 5. Darren Hagen, 56, Hmiel-14.567; 6. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Curb-Agajanian-14.605; 7. Daniel Robinson, 57, Ecker-14.632; 8. Christopher Bell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.650; 9. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.690; 10. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.700; 11. Brady Bacon, 11, Wilke-14.706; 12. Seth Motsinger, 2, KBR-14.733; 13. Chris Windom, 3, RFMS-14.738; 14. Jerry Coons, Jr., 2s, Lein-14.739; 15. Andrew Felker, 11A, Felker-14.771; 16. Spencer Bayston, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-14.817; 17. Robbie Ray, 3R, Ray-14.826; 18. Jake Blackhurst, 25, Blackhurst-14.829; 19. Austin Brown, 7, KBR-14.920; 20. Terry Babb, 88, Babb-15.081; 21. Brandon Waelti, 15, Huston-15.126; 22. Kevin Olson, 25x, Hardy-15.134; 23. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-15.292; 24. Michael Pickens, 3F, RFMS-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Thomas, 3. Hines, 4. Bayston, 5. Robinson, 6. Brown, 7. Olson, 8. Price-Miller. NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Daum, 3. Bell, 4. Bacon, 5. Coons, 6. Chapple, 7. Ray, 8. Babb. 2:30.97

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Pickens, 2. Felker, 3. Thorson, 4. Clauson, 5. Blackhurst, 6. Abreu, 7. Motsinger, 8. Waelti. 2:30.58

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Darren Hagen, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 8. Andrew Felker, 9. Michael Pickens, 10. Jake Blackhurst, 11. Seth Motsinger, 12. Daniel Robinson, 13. Rico Abreu, 14. Tanner Thorson, 15. Austin Brown, 16. Terry Babb, 17. Kevin Olson, 18. Isaac Chapple, 19. Brady Bacon, 20. Spencer Bayston, 21. Chris Windom, 22. Parker Price-Miller, 23. Robbie Ray, 24. Brandon Waelti. NT

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Price-Miller flipped in Heat 1. Windom flipped on Lap 4 of the Feature. Clauson flipped on Lap 10 of the Feature. Bacon flipped on Lap 29 of the Feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Bell.

NEW HONDA USAC NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Abreu-822; 2-Hines-740; 3-Bell-719; 4-Clauson-675; 5-Daum-606; 6-Windom-559; 7-Thorson-531; 8-Pickens-499; 9-Dave Darland-418; 10-Felker-378.

NEXT HONDA USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACES: September 20 – Rossburg, OH – Eldora Speedway – 33rd “4-Crown Nationals”