By Bill Blumer
“The Blue Mounds Bullet” Parker Jones ran his tally to four out of five in Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association action on Sunday. It was Fanaktive night at Angell Park Speedway with a strong field of 29 Badger midgets signed in. Jones nearly swept the night by also winning his heat, but fell short by .004 seconds in Rod End Supply qualifying to Luke Wackerlin.
PRELIMINARY EVENTS
Kyle Stark passed Harrison Kleven on the second lap and despite one caution period walked away Auto Meter Heat-One.
Dave Jones Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Protection, Electrical Heat-Two saw “Danger” Dave Collins lead the field to the green and take a brief lead before yielding to Miles Doherty. By lap-three Jones was pressuring Doherty. Jones eventually passed him and sailed to the win followed by Doherty who had to hold off Daniel Robinson.
Behling Racing Equipment Heat-Three started with the team cars of Kevin Douglas and Aaron Fiscus sharing the front row. Before they got to turn-two Brandon Waelti and Cody Weisensel jumped the front row tandem and went neck and neck down the back stretch. In the end it was Waelti easily over Weisensel.
Despite everyone being locked into the main event, a spirited High Performance Lubricants B-Main was won by Kevin Douglas.
Hoosier Racing Tires Heat-Four and Madison Extinguisher Service Last Chance Qualifier races were not needed.
A THRILLER OF A FEATURE
At the drop of the green for the Lyco Manufacturing A-Main it looked like the dominance of Jones might come to an end as there was contact involving Jones as they came out of turn-two on the opening lap. Jones was nearly perpendicular to the field from his sixth starting spot. While he came out of the situation unscathed, several cars did stack up and spin in the back of the field and a caution was out before a lap was complete.
It was setting up to be an epic battle as Badger’s current (active) all-time leader in A-Main wins Brandon Waelti was on the pole with rookie Brian Strane Jr. at his side. Strane served notice early that he was undaunted as he gassed it up high while Waelti had the low groove at the drop of the green.
One lap was complete before the yellow flew again as Stark bicycled in turn-three. Stark saved the car and ended with just a spinout. The nose to tail restart had Wealti ahead of Strane followed by Derek Doerr, Todd Kluever and Jones.
They got one more lap in before disaster struck for Strane. He was pressuring Waelti, running high while the former BMARA champ was low. Strane was within a car-length or less. Now, he had bicycled several times throughout the evening and saved every one. This time he wasn’t as lucky and when his left rear rose, as he negotiated the first curve, he couldn’t regain control and took a series of nasty flips destroying the car. After a few agonizing seconds, reports from the corner indicated he was alright.
The restart, minus Strane, was similar to the last one but now Zach Boden was in fourth followed by Jones. As Waelti checked out, a four-way battle for the runner-up spot ensued with Doerr trying to hold off Kluever while Boden and Jones were just a few feet from the mix.
On lap-eight Jones slid under, then in front of Kluever to take second, setting his sights on Waelti who was ahead by nearly a straightaway. Doerr now settled into third.
Waelti was nearing lapped traffic, all in his low groove while Jones was pedaling high, at the half-way mark of the 25 lap race. At this point Waelti went high like Jones. For the next couple of laps the distance between the two depended on who ran the cushion better in any given corner, but Jones was never too far away. On lap 16 Jones got by Waelti, only to jump the cushion and yield the point back to the #3.
As they completed lap-20 Jones got under Waelti at the line for the lead, but Waelti got him back coming out of turn-two. Coming out of four Jones bicycled badly but collected his #41 and kept rolling and powered by Waelti at the line.
With two laps to go Jones was pulling away while Waelti made an unassisted and uncharacteristic error and spun in turn-four bringing out the caution. The restart had Kluever and Wackerlin behind Jones, but they had nothing for the 2024 champion in the end and he won by eight lengths. Doerr nipped Wackerlin at the line for third.
AWARDS
The Spankins Motorsports Bob Tattersall Hard Charger of the Race Award went to Cody Weisensel who passed seven cars and finished sixth.
Schoenfeld Headers Invert Draw went to Wackerlin.
Strane was the Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race and earned the Last Place Bonus in Loving Memory of Addison Dahlke.
The Rod End Supply Hard Luck Award went to Nick Klein.
UP NEXT
The AFS Badger Midget Series is back in action next Sunday at Angell Park Speedway with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. Please check their outlets for special pricing for both pit passes and grandstand seating.
Article by: Bill Blumer Jr.
Victory Lane Photo by: Roy Ophime
Flip Photos by: “JW’s Car & Raccing Photos” (yes, two c’s on Facebook).
COMPLETE RESULTS
Advanced Fastening Supply A – Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[6]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever[4]; 3. 20D-Derek Doerr[3]; 4. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[7]; 5. 51-Zach Boden[5]; 6. 20-Cody Weisensel[13]; 7. 57R-Daniel Robinson[11]; 8. 8D-Miles Doherty[14]; 9. 45-Trey Weishoff[10]; 10. 3W-Brandon Waelti[1]; 11. 57-Matt Rechek[12]; 12. 29-Harrison Kleven[15]; 13. 7-Brian Peterson[17]; 14. 29K-Mike Stroik[19]; 15. 8-Jake Goeglein[22]; 16. 17N-Nick Kilian[21]; 17. (DNF) 22S-Brian Strane Jr[2]; 18. (DNF) 5K-Kevin Douglas[16]; 19. (DNF) 2-Kyle Stark[9]; 20. (DNF) 53-Aaron Schuck[8]; 21. (DNF) 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[18]; 22. (DNS) 7F-Aaron Fiscus
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5K-Kevin Douglas[6]; 2. 7-Brian Peterson[1]; 3. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[8]; 4. 29K-Mike Stroik[10]; 5. 7F-Aaron Fiscus[3]; 6. 17N-Nick Kilian[5]; 7. (DNF) 8-Jake Goeglein[4]; 8. (DNF) 1W-Robby Wirth[11]; 9. (DNS) 68-Eric Blumer; 10. (DNS) 81-Mike Gebhard; 11. (DNS) 59-Kyle Koch; 12. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson; 13. (DNS) 17K-Nicholas Klein
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Kyle Stark[6]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[8]; 3. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[7]; 4. 57-Matt Rechek[5]; 5. 29-Harrison Kleven[2]; 6. 7-Brian Peterson[4]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[3]; 8. 81-Mike Gebhard[1]; 9. 59-Kyle Koch[9]
Madison Extinguisher Service Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[8]; 2. 8D-Miles Doherty[4]; 3. 57R-Daniel Robinson[5]; 4. 20D-Derek Doerr[7]; 5. 53-Aaron Schuck[6]; 6. 68-Eric Blumer[9]; 7. 17N-Nick Kilian[3]; 8. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[1]; 9. 29K-Mike Stroik[2]
Behlings Race Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3W-Brandon Waelti[6]; 2. 20-Cody Weisensel[4]; 3. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 4. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[8]; 5. 45-Trey Weishoff[5]; 6. 7F-Aaron Fiscus[3]; 7. 5K-Kevin Douglas[2]; 8. (DNS) 17K-Nicholas Klein; 9. (DNS) 1W-Robby Wirth; 10. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson
FiveOne Motorsports Fast Time Schoenfeld Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 00:15.002[1]; 2. 41-Parker Jones, 00:15.006[13]; 3. 51-Zach Boden, 00:15.054[29]; 4. 55-Todd Kluever, 00:15.145[19]; 5. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:15.273[12]; 6. 22S-Brian Strane Jr, 00:15.275[11]; 7. 3W-Brandon Waelti, 00:15.330[20]; 8. 53-Aaron Schuck, 00:15.332[17]; 9. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.396[22]; 10. 45-Trey Weishoff, 00:15.489[24]; 11. 57R-Daniel Robinson, 00:15.517[28]; 12. 57-Matt Rechek, 00:15.525[27]; 13. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:15.550[26]; 14. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:15.629[14]; 15. 7-Brian Peterson, 00:15.725[15]; 16. 7F-Aaron Fiscus, 00:15.789[10]; 17. 17N-Nick Kilian, 00:15.826[2]; 18. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:16.101[9]; 19. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:16.113[5]; 20. 29K-Mike Stroik, 00:16.160[7]; 21. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.409[6]; 22. 17K-Nicholas Klein, 00:16.553[16]; 23. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.778[23]; 24. 81-Mike Gebhard, 00:17.567[8]; 25. 1W-Robby Wirth, 00:21.178[3]; 26. (DNS) 68-Eric Blumer; 27. (DNS) 59-Kyle Koch; 28. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson; 29. (DNS) 41J-Payton Jones