By Quinn McCabe
June 28, 2021- Sun Prairie, WI — The Badger Midgets were back in action on a beautiful Sunday night at Angell Park Speedway in front of an energized crowd for the 6th Annual Norm Nelson Classic.
Current Series points leader and two-time defending Champion Chase McDermand started the night where he left off last Saturday, by claiming the Schoenfeld Headers quick qualifier award. Cody Weisensel bounced back nicely after missing the trip last Saturday scoring the win in the Non-Qualifiers race. Jack Routson made his first series start of the 2021 season by picking up the win in Heat race number one. Todd Kleuver took his familiar colors to victory lane for the first time in a midget by scoring the win in Heat race number two.
“KO” Kevin Olson led the field to the green and paced the first lap with young guns Dave Collins and Derek Doerr in hot pursuit. Collins passed Olson coming off turn four to lead lap two, but Olson slipped back by him in the following lap. Doerr passed Collins for second and then made several attempts to get alongside the cagey veteran. Doerr was denied time and time again until he was forced to battle for 2nd with Scott Hatton. Hatton would eventually work his way past Doerr for the 2nd position and set his sights on Olson. The field was slowed for a stalled machine in turn 3 on the 12th lap bunching things up. On the restart, Olson was able to slip away while Hatton, Doerr, and Kleuver battled for the 2nd position behind him. Doerr and Hatton swapped positions several times during the next few laps. The two made contact allowing Kleuver to slip by momentarily before Hatton set off in search of Olson for good bringing Routson along. When the pair caught Olson the trio battled into the final laps bringing the Firemans Angell Park faithful to their feet. One final yellow for an accident off turn two would slow the field with just two laps remaining setting up a green-white-checker finish. Olson got a clean start down into turn one, but Routson let it all ride and hung it out on the high side clearing Olson before they got to the scoreboard. Routson never looked back to claim his first Badger Midget win and 2nd for the RAB racing group of the 2021 season.
The Badger Midget Series’ next stop on the 2021 trail will be Beaver Dam Raceway on Saturday, July 3rd, and returning to Angell Park Speedway Sunday, July 4th for the fireworks celebration.
Howard Law Cash Draw Winner– Harrison Kleven
Advance Suspension Hard Charger– Kevin Douglas
Lap Leaders– Kevin Olson- 1, 3-21, Dave Collins Jr- 2, Jack Routson- 22-23
Badger Midgets 26 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 13:55.984 1. 57-Jack Routson[8]; 2. 1-Scott Hatton[7]; 3. 9K-Kevin Olson[1]; 4. 20D-Derek Doerr[4]; 5. 55-Todd Kluever[5]; 6. 14- Lamont Critchett[9]; 7. 20-Cody Weisensel[15]; 8. 28-Jim Fuerst[2]; 9. 9S-Mike Stroik[14]; 10. 87-Jake Dohner[6]; 11. 5KKevin Douglas[23]; 12. 6-Jeremy Douglas[12]; 13. 8-Jake Goeglein[11]; 14. 71-Kyle Koch[17]; 15. 98-Jordan Nelson[19]; 16. 76-Mike Unger[13]; 17. 29-Harrison Kleven[18]; 18. 92-Dan Kleven[21]; 19. 4-Brad Hensen[20]; 20. 10-Denny Smith[16]; 21. 6B-Andy Baugh[10]; 22. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[3]; 23. 31-Shay Sassano[22]
Non Qualifier 8 Laps | 2:32.000 | Madison Extinguisher Service 1. 20-Cody Weisensel[8]; 2. 10-Denny Smith[3]; 3. 71-Kyle Koch[6]; 4. 29-Harrison Kleven[4]; 5. 98-Jordan Nelson[5]; 6. 4- Brad Hensen[7]; 7. 92-Dan Kleven[1]; 8. 31-Shay Sassano[2]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 2:36.000 | Auto Meter 1. 57-Jack Routson[8]; 2. 1-Scott Hatton[6]; 3. 20D-Derek Doerr[4]; 4. 6B-Andy Baugh[7]; 5. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[3]; 6. 6- Jeremy Douglas[5]; 7. 76-Mike Unger[1]; 8. 9S-Mike Stroik[2]; 9. (DNS) 5K-Kevin Douglas
Heat 2 10 Laps | 2:56.000 | Simpson 1. 55-Todd Kluever[4]; 2. 28-Jim Fuerst[2]; 3. 14-Lamont Critchett[7]; 4. 87-Jake Dohner[5]; 5. 9K-Kevin Olson[9]; 6. 8-Jake Goeglein[1]; 7. 7T-Adam Taylor[6]; 8. 40-Chase McDermand[8]; 9. (DNS) 2-Kyle Stark
Qualifying | 4:14.000 | Schoenfeld 1. 40-Chase McDermand, 15.029[3]; 2. 6B-Andy Baugh, 15.370[8]; 3. 14-Lamont Critchett, 15.547[21]; 4. 57-Jack Routson, 15.764[24]; 5. 7T-Adam Taylor, 15.793[10]; 6. 1-Scott Hatton, 15.800[11]; 7. 87-Jake Dohner, 15.860[25]; 8. 6-Jeremy Douglas, 15.994[20]; 9. 55-Todd Kluever, 16.077[4]; 10. 20D-Derek Doerr, 16.131[22]; 11. 2-Kyle Stark, 16.161[12]; 12. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 16.277[13]; 13. 28-Jim Fuerst, 16.286[14]; 14. 9S-Mike Stroik, 16.349[1]; 15. 8-Jake Goeglein, 16.400[6]; 16. 76-Mike Unger, 16.565[2]; 17. 9K-Kevin Olson, 16.614[19]; 18. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 16.721[18]; 19. 71-Kyle Koch, 16.743[17]; 20. 98-Jordan Nelson, 16.912[9]; 21. 29-Harrison Kleven, 16.957[23]; 22. 10-Denny Smith, 17.123[5]; 23. 31-Shay Sassano, 19.136[16]; 24. 92- Dan Kleven, 20.087[15]; 25. 4-Brad Hensen, 22.028[26]; 26. 20-Cody Weisensel, 22.028[7