By Loren Kelly
Sun Prairie, WI August 14th, 2022–There’s a new leader in the 2022 Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Series’ win column, and Adam Taylor has laid claim to that spot in a year where the competition has been closer than ever.
The 25 lap Advanced Fastening Supply A Main rolled to the 1/3 mile oval in Sun Prairie with Jeremy Douglas and Aaron Muhle on the front row. The “King of the Park” feature event came to the green flag and Taylor immediately put pressure on the front two starters. Working to the outside of Douglas, he then switched to the bottom groove to attack Muhle for the top spot. The two raced side by side off of Turn 4 and Muhle emerged first to lead lap one.
While Taylor chased Douglas, series Point Leader Kyle Stark moved around Douglas and into the third position. Then on the ensuing lap, Taylor powered around the outside of Muhle to take the lead, while Stark and Zach Boden tried to follow suit in third and fourth. The top two cars of Taylor and Stark began to pull away from Muhle and Boden, while Todd Kluever started making moves through the field behind the top five cars. Kluever was subbing in for the absent Brandon Waelti behind the wheel of the iconic #3B machine.
Taylor and Stark continued their torrid pace up front, while Muhle, Boden and Kluever began a heated battle for the final spot on the podium. Muhle was rolling through the middle of the speedway, while Boden and Kluever looked high and low on the #24M trying to find any way past the Beaver Dam, WI driver. Boden looked low on Muhle on lap 5 and that opened the door for Kluever up top. The #3B rocketed by the #51 and started a new pursuit of Muhle for third.
Just one lap later, Kluever used the high groove once again to rip past the #24M and into third. While the battle for third continued on, Taylor and Stark began to encounter lapped traffic. The top pair put on a clinic, utilizing the high line to put car after car a lap down. Taylor seemed to have no issue with traffic, however Stark was coming under fire from Kluever for second as the pair were caught behind several slower cars. Stark continued to rip the cushion up high while Kluever experimented with several different lines to find a way by the #2 car. The intense battle for second not only allowed Taylor to run away with the lead, but also brought Boden back into the mix for a podium spot.
With 12 laps remaining, Kluever took a shot at Stark in turn 1 but couldn’t quite clear the #2. The wide and racey Angell Park surface allowed Stark, Kluever and Boden to try different lanes and passes, but Stark somehow continued to hold the charging #3B and #51 at bay. Back up front, Taylor continued to put in a showcase performance in traffic, splitting several pairs of cars and putting even more distance between himself and the field. As the race hit 5 laps to go, Stark drifted up high in turn 3 and opened the door for Kluever down low. It was all the invitation the #3B needed as Kluever drove by to take the second spot away.
Up front, there was no challenger to Taylor over the final five circuits, and the Indiana driver crossed the line to take his third Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget A Main win of 2022, and be crowned “King of the Park” in the midget division. Kluever held off Stark for second, with Boden and Derek Doerr rounding out the top five.
“I knew I had to get out front at the start so I could run where I wanted to.” Taylor said in Victory Lane. “Lapped traffic got sketchy there at the end but I just had to be patient. I think it worked out alright.”
Saturday’s Schoenfeld QuickTime Award went to Zach Boden, Auto Meter Heat 1 was won by Kurt Mayhew and Adam Taylor took the checkered flag in Simpson Race Products Heat 2. The Madison Extinguisher Service Non-Qualifier was won by Bryon Walters and the High Performance Lubricants B Main went to Mike Stroik. Charles Rufi earned the Advanced Racing Suspensions Hard Charger Award in the A Main. Charlie Rufi Kyle Stark went home with the Howard Law Cash Draw, and the Oliver Motors Last Place Bonus went to Charles Kunz. The Cartopia “Hard Luck” Award went to Chris Adrien.
Stark extended his lead at the top of the standings to 82 points ahead of Boden with six races remaining in 2022. Todd Kluever, RJ Corson and Aaron Muhle round out the top 5 point scorers.
The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midgets will return this weekend in double-header fashion starting Saturday, August 20th at Sycamore Speedway for their penultimate visit to the Illinois bullring in 2022. Sunday, August 14th at the Angell Park Speedway the series makes their annual “Corn Fest” appearance along with the Bumper to Bumper IRA Sprints. Can Taylor make it three wins in a row and a total of four on the season? Or will Boden or Stark break into the three time winners club? Be there Saturday and Sunday to find out! Tickets for Sunday’s races will be available at the track or in advance through the Ticket Hoss app, and FloRacing will provide live coverage on Sunday if you are unable to attend in person.
Angell Park Speedway “King of the Park” Results 8/14/22
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:06:53.765 | Advance Fastening Supply
1. 5X-Adam Taylor[4]; 2. 3B-Todd Kluever[5]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark[6]; 4. 51-Zach Boden[8]; 5. 20D-Derek Doerr[7]; 6. 38-Matt Rechek[3]; 7. 24M-Aaron Muhle[2]; 8. 6-Jeremy Douglas[1]; 9. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[9]; 10. 40J-Jace Sparks[11]; 11. 56-Charles Rufi[16]; 12. 15C-RJ Corson[12]; 13. 59-Kyle Koch[10]; 14. 9K-Bryon Walters[17]; 15. 9S-Mike Stroik[15]; 16. 87-Jake Dohner[14]; 17. 5K-Kevin Douglas[13]; 18. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[18]; 19. 00-John Heitzman[19]; 20. 57B-Eric Blumer[22]; 21. 4-Brad Hensen[20]; 22. 27-Charles Kunz[21]
B Feature 10 Laps
1. 9S-Mike Stroik[2]; 2. 56-Charles Rufi[3]; 3. 9K-Bryon Walters[5]; 4. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[1]; 5. 00-John Heitzman[4]; 6. 57B-Eric Blumer[11]; 7. 4-Brad Hensen[7]; 8. 27-Charles Kunz[9]; 9. 29-Harrison Kleven[6]; 10. 39-Dwight Stefan[10]; 11. 45KW-Nicholas Klein[8]
Non-Qualifier 8 Laps | 00:03:48.000 | Madison Extinguisher Service
1. 9K-Bryon Walters[7]; 2. 29-Harrison Kleven[6]; 3. 4-Brad Hensen[2]; 4. 45KW-Nicholas Klein[3]; 5. 27-Charles Kunz[5]; 6. 39-Dwight Stefan[1]; 7. (DNF) 57B-Eric Blumer[8]; 8. (DNS) 3A-Chris Adrien
Auto Meter Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:04:51.000 | Behling
1. 5X-Adam Taylor[6]; 2. 6-Jeremy Douglas[2]; 3. 38-Matt Rechek[4]; 4. 2-Kyle Stark[7]; 5. 51-Zach Boden[8]; 6. 40J-Jace Sparks[5]; 7. 5K-Kevin Douglas[3]; 8. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[1]; 9. 56-Charles Rufi[9]
Simpson Race Products Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:10.000 | Simpson Race Products
1. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[2]; 2. 24M-Aaron Muhle[4]; 3. 20D-Derek Doerr[8]; 4. 3B-Todd Kluever[7]; 5. 59-Kyle Koch[1]; 6. 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 7. 87-Jake Dohner[6]; 8. 9S-Mike Stroik[5]; 9. 00-John Heitzman[9]
Schoenfeld Headers Qualifying 3 Laps | 00:00:49.000 | Schoenfeld Headers
1. 51-Zach Boden, 00:14.777[10]; 2. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:14.981[5]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.065[2]; 4. 3B-Todd Kluever, 00:15.087[24]; 5. 5X-Adam Taylor, 00:15.131[7]; 6. 87-Jake Dohner, 00:15.246[3]; 7. 40J-Jace Sparks, 00:15.288[1]; 8. 9S-Mike Stroik, 00:15.445[15]; 9. 38-Matt Rechek, 00:15.486[13]; 10. 24M-Aaron Muhle, 00:15.566[12]; 11. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:15.652[22]; 12. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:15.659[25]; 13. 6-Jeremy Douglas, 00:15.699[9]; 14. 21K-Kurt Mayhew, 00:15.727[4]; 15. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:15.885[20]; 16. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:15.936[8]; 17. 56-Charles Rufi, 00:16.068[16]; 18. 00-John Heitzman, 00:16.309[11]; 19. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.643[17]; 20. 27-Charles Kunz, 00:16.731[26]; 21. 3A-Chris Adrien, 00:16.919[14]; 22. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:17.047[19]; 23. 45KW-Nicholas Klein, 00:17.053[23]; 24. 4-Brad Hensen, 00:17.132[21]; 25. 39-Dwight Stefan, 00:18.199[18]; 26. (DNS) 9K-Bryon Walters, 00:17.376; 27. (DQ) 57B-Eric Blumer, 00:16.870[27]