From Bill Blumer
For about a season and a half Victory Lane eluded former Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Series Champion Brandon Waelti. Not since June of 2024 had he collected a Lyco Manufacturing A-Main trophy from the venerable club. That all changed on Friday night when the veteran beat a field of 24 Badger and Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA) cars at Davenport Speedway.
At the drop of the green for the 25-lap race Adam Taylor in the Ray Racing Enterprises #3 took to the point with Waelti on his tail. Taylor ran low and Waelti high. The pair went neck and neck by lap-two. Waelti set sail from there amassing at least a half-straightaway lead.
Waelti encountered lapped traffic at about the mid-way point allowing Jake Neuman to gain some ground now in second. With seven laps left Jake Dohner jumped the rear tire of a car that had slowed in turn-two and went for a flip bringing out the red flag. Dohner climbed out of the car on his own and appeared to be alright.
With former Badger competitor Bob Shreffler pacing the field in his familiar blue Jeep pace/push truck, it was Waelti, Neuman, Zach Boden, Tyler Roth and Jacob Sollenberger in the top five. A master of the restart, Waelti was three lengths ahead of Neuman by the time they were in turn-one when racing resumed and the Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, veteran driver went on to take the checkers.
Waelti had been concentrating harder than ever on his off-season program as he cut back on beer and cookies. He also started working out a bit. The effort paid off and he rewarded himself with his favorite post-race beverage and a chocolate chip cookie, the latter of which he had not sampled since January.
OTHER ACTION / NOTES
For the rest of the night the accolades were spread around quite a bit.
Will Gerrits took Rod End Supply Fast Time honors and earned the rights to the Schoenfeld Headers Invert Draw.
Eric Blumer scored the first heat win of his career in Auto Meter Heat-One. A late-race pass on the high groove over leader Nick Kilian gave Blumer the slim win over a charging Cody Weisensel.
Matt Rechek and Todd Kluever split Harrison Kleven as the trio batted at the drop of the green. It wasn’t long before Luke Wackerlin powered around the top and drove off to an easy Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-Two win.
Behling Racing Equipment Heat-Three Jacob Sollenberger a MARA regular, followed by Neuman and Gerrits.
The Bob Tattersall Spankins Motorsports Hard Charger award went to Tommy Colburn who charged from 21st to finish tenth.
The Last Place Bonus in Loving Memory of Addison Dahlke went to Matt Rechek.
Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race honors were collected by Spyder Akright.
Mike Gebhard was the CASM Safety Products Hard Luck recipient.
The AFS BMARA would like to thank 1855 Saloon and Grill in downtown Cottage Grove, WI and High Performance Lubricants for their support of the series.
Tyler Roth, a MARA regular, had a quietly positive night finishing fourth with fellow MARA driver Sollenberger in fifth. Boden’s podium finish will keep him in the top spot in the MARA point chase.
Sunday morning Dohner confirmed he was doing fine. He had a lot of work to do but planned to have “The Red Duce” ready for the Dahlke Memorial.
TAKE AWAYS
The Davenport Speedway facilities were top-notch with clean, modern grounds and a welcoming staff. Waelti took advantage of the unique Competitive Concrete Co. Victory Lane configuration as he drove up a ramp that was nearly a story high and stood above the track for his interview with Badger announcer Eric Huenefeld.
Billed as a quarter-mile track, Davenport races much bigger than that. It’s built within a now shuttered half-mile and shares the front straightaway with the bigger track’s footprint. This makes for dramatic runs off turn-four that many cars took advantage of.
Waelti noted in his interview that tire management was important. Fredrickson-Unger driver Mike Unger proved the point with his bald right rear Hoosier displayed on the team’s Facebook page.
UP NEXT
Next weekend is the first doubleheader for the AFS Badger Midget Series starting with Healthcare Workers Appreciation Night at Wilmot Raceway (Wilmot, WI). Badger will share the card with the Wisconsin wingLESS Sprint Cars and local classes on Saturday, May 16.
Sunday, May 17, it’s the biggest payday of the Badger season. Angell Park Speedway is the venue for the Dahlke Memorial. Fans and sponsors pony up extra cash which goes toward lap money and other contingencies. The funds are spread around and all drivers find a little (or a lot) extra in their race check. There is still time to donate, just check out the Badger Facebook page to learn how you can help.
Follow the Badger Midget Facebook page for updates this week and the pages of the tracks for official information and updates.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Lyco Manufacturing A – Feature (25 Laps): 1. 3W-Brandon Waelti[2]; 2. 57R-Jake Neuman[8]; 3. 51B-Zach Boden[3]; 4. 18-Tyler Roth[5]; 5. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[14]; 6. 40-Will Gerrits[7]; 7. 15C-RJ Corson[9]; 8. 20-Cody Weisensel[10]; 9. 3R-Adam Taylor[1]; 10. 31-Tommy Colburn[21]; 11. 56X-Mark Chisholm[18]; 12. 8D-Miles Doherty[19]; 13. 7-Brian Peterson[22]; 14. 67U-Mike Unger[20]; 15. 68-Eric Blumer[11]; 16. 17-Nick Kilian[13]; 17. 53A-Spyder Akright[23]; 18. 29-Harrison Kleven[12]; 19. 51-Chris Young[24]; 20. (DNF) 55-Todd Kluever[6]; 21. (DNF) 73W-Luke Wackerlin[4]; 22. (DNF) 4K-Charles Kunz[15]; 23. (DNF) 2-Jake Dohner[16]; 24. (DNF) 57-Matt Rechek[17]
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 68-Eric Blumer[3]; 2. 20-Cody Weisensel[4]; 3. 51B-Zach Boden[6]; 4. 18-Tyler Roth[7]; 5. 17-Nick Kilian[1]; 6. 56X-Mark Chisholm[5]; 7. 67U-Mike Unger[2]; 8. 53A-Spyder Akright[8]
Hoosier Tire Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[6]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 3. 15C-RJ Corson[4]; 4. 3R-Adam Taylor[5]; 5. 29-Harrison Kleven[2]; 6. 57-Matt Rechek[3]; 7. 51-Chris Young[8]; 8. 81-Mike Gebhard[1]
Behlings Race Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[2]; 2. 57R-Jake Neuman[5]; 3. 40-Will Gerrits[8]; 4. 3W-Brandon Waelti[6]; 5. 4K-Charles Kunz[1]; 6. 2-Jake Dohner[3]; 7. 8D-Miles Doherty[7]; 8. 31-Tommy Colburn[4]; 9. 7-Brian Peterson[9]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 40-Will Gerrits, 16.794[22]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever, 16.834[4]; 3. 18-Tyler Roth, 16.969[23]; 4. 8D-Miles Doherty, 17.004[5]; 5. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 17.047[18]; 6. 51B-Zach Boden, 17.049[7]; 7. 3W-Brandon Waelti, 17.053[20]; 8. 3R-Adam Taylor, 17.132[1]; 9. 56X-Mark Chisholm, 17.170[6]; 10. 57R-Jake Neuman, 17.212[2]; 11. 15C-RJ Corson, 17.228[10]; 12. 20-Cody Weisensel, 17.245[17]; 13. 31-Tommy Colburn, 17.302[16]; 14. 57-Matt Rechek, 17.352[15]; 15. 68-Eric Blumer, 17.405[19]; 16. 2-Jake Dohner, 17.674[12]; 17. 29-Harrison Kleven, 17.791[11]; 18. 53A-Spyder Akright, 17.791[9]; 19. 5-Jacob Sollenberger, 17.954; 20. 81-Mike Gebhard, 18.010[13]; 21. 67U-Mike Unger, 18.012[3]; 22. 4K-Charles Kunz, 18.183; 23. 51-Chris Young, 18.602[21]; 24. 17-Nick Kilian, 19.267[14]; 25. (DNS) 7-Brian Peterson