By Quinn McCabe
September 4, 2021- Sycamore, IL– Twenty-seven midgets were on hand for the Franklin B. Alexander Memorial event at Sycamore Speedway on Saturday night opening up the final doubleheader weekend for Badger Midget Series stars. The finish will go down as one for the memory banks for the fans.
Chase McDermand revved things up early by locking down the Schoenfeld Headers quick time with a 14.535 on a very fast and beautifully prepared racetrack. In preliminary action ‘KO’ Kevin Olson was forced to drive the car with one hand to keep it in gear but managed to secure the win in the Madison Extinguisher Service Non-Qualifier race before his crew could get to work on his 9k machine. Lamont Critchett, Sean Murphy, and McDermand all scored heat wins on the evening.
In the High-Performance Lubricants B-Main, twelve cars would do battle to claim the final seven starting spots in the night’s A-Main. Kyle Koch jumped out to the lead and led most of the race before being passed by Cody Weisensel late. Weisensel went on to secure the victory followed by Koch, ‘KO’, Kevin Douglas, Shay Sassano, Jake Goeglein, and Dave Collins Jr who all advanced to the finale.
Daltyn England and Mike Stroik brought the field to green with Stroik jumping out to the early advantage, while the field scattered behind the duo. Tyler Baran moved from his 5th starting spot to challenge for the lead before a hard crash off of turn four halted the action. Rookie Kyle Stark got turned around and collected Stroik and K.O. ending all of their chances at claiming the top prize. All three drivers were able to climb out under their own power. When action resumed the cream was beginning to rise. From their middle row starting positions Jeff Zelinski, Zach Boden, and Chase McDermand were solidly inside the top 5 and poised to challenge for the win. Baran said postrace the track changed under yellow which opened the door for McDermand to slide into the lead just past halfway. In the closing laps, Lamont Critchett picked his way into 4th around Zelinski a lap later he was in second, hot on the leader’s heels. McDermand working the low line and with Critchett up on the cushion, the two were wheel to wheel as they took the white flag bringing the crowd to their feet. McDermand with a timely slider in turn one made a great move to block the crossover coming from Critchett and was on his way to his ninth victory of the season. By winning tonight’s event, he has cemented his place in the Badger Midget history books by capturing his third straight series crown. Making McDermand just the third driver to ever do so in series history.
The Badger Midget Series will end the weekend at Angell Park Speedway, Sunday night for the Firemans Nationals. Only three events remaining in the 2021 season. Stay connected by visiting BMARA.com or the BMARA Racing Facebook page for additional announcements and information regarding events for the 2021 season.
Howard Law Cash Draw Winner: Aaron Muhle
Badger Midget Series Points: 1. Chase McDermand 1791; 2. Zach Boden 1187; 3. Lamont Critchett 1138 4. Kyle Stark 1041; 5. Andy Baugh 958; 6. Kevin Olson 950; 7. Mike Stroik 863; 8. Kevin Douglas 827; 9. Kyle Koch 77; 10. Cody Weisensel 718.
Badger Midgets 27 Entries
Lap Leaders:
A Feature 25 Laps
1. 40-Chase McDermand[10]; 2. 14-Lamont Critchett[8]; 3. 11T-Tyler Baran[5]; 4. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[9]; 5. 19E-Daltyn England[1]; 6. 6-Jeremy Douglas[12]; 7. 23-Patrick Ryan[13]; 8. 20-Cody Weisensel[16]; 9. 3A-Chris Adrien[15]; 10. 87-Jake Dohner[14]; 11. 5K-Kevin Douglas[19]; 12. 71-Kyle Koch[17]; 13. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[22]; 14. 31-Shay Sassano[20]; 15. 8-Jake Goeglein[21]; 16. 15C-RJ Corson[11]; 17. 51-Zach Boden[7]; 18. 24M-Aaron Muhle[3]; 19. 5X-Sean Murphy[6]; 20. 2-Kyle Stark[4]; 21. 9S-Mike Stroik[2]; 22. 9K-Kevin Olson[18]
B Feature | High-Performance Lubricants
1. 20-Cody Weisensel[4]; 2. 71-Kyle Koch[1]; 3. 9K-Kevin Olson[7]; 4. 5K-Kevin Douglas[3]; 5. 31-Shay Sassano[2]; 6. 8-Jake Goeglein[5]; 7. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[6]; 8. 76-Mike Unger[10]; 9. 29-Harrison Kleven[9]; 10. 92-Dan Kleven[8]; 11. 1-Scott Koerner[11]
Non Qualifier | Madison Extinguisher Service
1. 9K-Kevin Olson[4]; 2. 76-Mike Unger[3]; 3. 92-Dan Kleven[2]; 4. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 5. 1-Scott Koerner[6]; 6. 10-Denny Smith[5]
Heat 1 | Behlings Racing Equipment
1. 14-Lamont Critchett[7]; 2. 11T-Tyler Baran[6]; 3. 3A-Chris Adrien[1]; 4. 24M-Aaron Muhle[5]; 5. 6-Jeremy Douglas[3]; 6. 5K-Kevin Douglas[4]; 7. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[2]
Heat 2 | Simpson Race Products
1. 5X-Sean Murphy[6]; 2. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[7]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark[5]; 4. 87-Jake Dohner[2]; 5. 19E-Daltyn England[4]; 6. 31-Shay Sassano[3]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[1]
Heat 3 | Auto Meter
1. 40-Chase McDermand[7]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[6]; 3. 23-Patrick Ryan[2]; 4. 9S-Mike Stroik[4]; 5. 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 6. 71-Kyle Koch[1]; 7. 20-Cody Weisensel[5]
Qualifying | Schoenfeld Headers
1. 40-Chase McDermand, 00:14.535[17]; 2. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski, 00:14.618[12]; 3. 14-Lamont Critchett, 00:14.827[26]; 4. 51-Zach Boden, 00:14.882[25]; 5. 5X-Sean Murphy, 00:14.890[16]; 6. 11T-Tyler Baran, 00:14.890[24]; 7. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:15.113[2]; 8. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.189[27]; 9. 24M-Aaron Muhle, 00:15.394[8]; 10. 9S-Mike Stroik, 00:15.445[1]; 11. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:15.571[3]; 12. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:15.609[5]; 13. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:15.622[7]; 14. 31-Shay Sassano, 00:15.776[4]; 15. 6-Jeremy Douglas, 00:15.830[11]; 16. 23-Patrick Ryan, 00:15.845[19]; 17. 87-Jake Dohner, 00:15.971[9]; 18. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.057[22]; 19. 71-Kyle Koch, 00:16.128[21]; 20. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:16.145[6]; 21. 3A-Chris Adrien, 00:16.190[14]; 22. 9K-Kevin Olson, 00:16.204[13]; 23. 76-Mike Unger, 00:16.320[15]; 24. 92-Dan Kleven, 00:16.571[23]; 25. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.778[18]; 26. 1-Scott Koerner, 00:16.778[10]; 27. 10-Denny Smith, 00:16.778[20]