By Bill Blumer Jr.
The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association rolled into Wilmot Raceway for the first race of a doubleheader weekend.
Tracks Badger doesn’t visit often such as Wilmot have a tendency to lend themselves to first time winners and this Wisconsin three-eighths mile didn’t disappoint. Gunnar Pio filled the seat of former Badger Midget Series Champion Chase McDermand’s #40 and the driver/owner duo nearly swept the night. A veteran of the micro ranks, it was his first time racing a midget.
QUALIFYING
Todd Kluever was poised for the sweep too after taking Rod End Supply Fast Time (Pio was second) and his heat. With that, Kluever also earned the rights to the Schoenfeld Headers Invert Draw.
THE HEATS
Matt Rechek led most of Auto Meter Heat-One from his front row starting spot. Meanwhile, Pio who started eighth, made it three-wide early and then began picking off cars as he marched to the front. With two laps left he got by Rechek and went on to a sizable win over the Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, driver.
In Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-Two Kluever finished well ahead of Luke Wackerlin and Miles Doherty who had an entertaining battle for second with Wackerlin nipping Doherty at the finish line.
LYCO MANUFACTURING A-MAIN
Brian Peterson and Eric Blumer led the field to the green for the 25 lap Lyco Manufacturing feature event. Peterson got the jump and led the first lap before Wackerlin, from his sixth starting spot, took to the point.
Behind the leader Pio was making it three-wide for the third spot. Four laps in, Pio found himself in second. An infield tire was struck by an unidentified car and rolled onto the track, crossing the finish line, bringing out the yellow on lap-eight.
On the restart it was Wackerlin, Pio, Kluever, Doherty and Cody Weisensel ahead of the field. Wackerlin and Pio were even coming out of turn-two when racing resumed. Wackerlin pinched Pio a bit causing Pio to back off. For the next several laps Pio would get within two lengths in the corners only to have Wackerlin pull away on the straights.
By the half-way mark Wackerlin had found his groove and amassed nearly a straightaway lead on Pio. Behind them after some banging of wheels between Kluever and Brandon Waelti for third, the top five were all about five lengths apart from each other.
With nine laps left Wackerlin encountered lapped traffic without incident. Pio’s route around them was a little more challenging. With five laps left Wackerlin was 1.25 seconds ahead of Pio, enjoying his biggest lead of the night per announcer Eric Huenefeld.
As he crossed the line with four laps left flames shot out of Wackerlin’s header and he slowed to a stop on the backstretch, bringing out the caution and ending his bid for the second win of his Badger career.
This restart, with five laps to go, had Pio in first followed by Doherty, Kluever, Magic and Waelti. Doherty stayed tight on Pio as the green flew. When they went into the corner Doherty went low accomplishing a slide job between one and two, but Pio rallied on the exit of the second corner and retained the advantage.
Mike Stroik in the Sober Racing #31 was battling for sixth when his car expired with two laps left bringing out the final yellow. This restart had Pio, Doherty, Kluever, Waelti and Magic ahead of the field. Pio knew what was coming on this restart and didn’t give Doherty a shot. Pio launched his car as the green dropped, never looking back. Doherty and Kluever rounded out the podium.
In his Victory Lane interview the Pennsylvania driver said, “The car was on point all night. I just kept making a lot of mistakes… I was a little bit all over.” He went on to thank the McDermand crew and sponsors.
NOTES
The Bob Tattersall Spankins Motorsports Hard Charger Award went to Boden who came from the 18th starting spot to finish 5th.
The Last Place Bonus in Loving Memory of Addison Dahlke went to Harrison Kleven.
Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race honors were collected by Spyder Akright.
Kyle Koch’s night stated by qualifying last, two seconds off the pace. He then failed to make the call for his heat race due to the mechanical issues in time trials. Koch and his 86 year old grandfather Paul Krueger (also a Badger and National Midget Hall of Fame inductee) rallied to get the car going for the feature. After starting in the back Koch worked his way into a top-ten finish in the team’s first run of the year.
Along with the above sponsors, the AFS Badger Midget Series thanks CASM Safety Products, Behling Racing Equipment, 1855 Saloon and Grill in downtown Cottage Grove, WI and High Performance Lubricants for their support of the series.
UP NEXT
What was supposed to be day-two of a doubleheader weekend was rained out early on Sunday. Badger’s Dahlke Memorial slated for May 17 has been rescheduled for May 31. It’s possible the $35,000-plus purse could increase between now and then.
Up first for the last weekend in May for Badger is a Saturday, May 30, race at The Plymouth Dirt Track. Badger will have updates on this race next week. Please see PDT’s pages for official details.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Lyco Manufacturing A – Feature (25 Laps): 1. 40-Gunnar Pio[7]; 2. 8D-Miles Doherty[4]; 3. 55-Todd Kluever[8]; 4. 3W-Brandon Waelti[15]; 5. 51-Zach Boden[18]; 6. 68-Eric Blumer[2]; 7. 7-Brian Peterson[1]; 8. 56-Michael Magic[16]; 9. 17-Nick Kilian[10]; 10. 59-Kyle Koch[17]; 11. 53A-Spyder Akright[19]; 12. 31-Mike Stroik[3]; 13. 67U-Mike Unger[14]; 14. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[6]; 15. 20-Cody Weisensel[5]; 16. 8-Jake Goeglein[11]; 17. 15C-RJ Corson[12]; 18. (DNS) 29-Harrison Kleven; 19. (DNS) 40JR-Dave Collins Jr; 20. (DNS) 57-Matt Rechek
Auto Meter Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 40-Gunnar Pio[8]; 2. 57-Matt Rechek[2]; 3. 20-Cody Weisensel[6]; 4. 7-Brian Peterson[3]; 5. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 6. 17-Nick Kilian[4]; 7. 15C-RJ Corson[5]; 8. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[9]; 9. (DNS) 3W-Brandon Waelti; 10. (DNS) 59-Kyle Koch
Hoosier Tire Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 55-Todd Kluever[8]; 2. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[6]; 3. 8D-Miles Doherty[5]; 4. 68-Eric Blumer[3]; 5. 31-Mike Stroik[4]; 6. 51-Zach Boden[7]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[9]; 8. 67U-Mike Unger[1]; 9. 53A-Spyder Akright[10]; 10. 56-Michael Magic[2]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 55-Todd Kluever, 14.955[11]; 2. 40-Gunnar Pio, 15.040[1]; 3. 51-Zach Boden, 15.106[19]; 4. 3W-Brandon Waelti, 15.170[8]; 5. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 15.204[3]; 6. 20-Cody Weisensel, 15.282[5]; 7. 8D-Miles Doherty, 15.311[6]; 8. 15C-RJ Corson, 15.335[7]; 9. 31-Mike Stroik, 15.418[10]; 10. 17-Nick Kilian, 15.577[14]; 11. 68-Eric Blumer, 15.627[4]; 12. 7-Brian Peterson, 15.634[2]; 13. 56-Michael Magic, 15.683[12]; 14. 57-Matt Rechek, 15.711[13]; 15. 67U-Mike Unger, 15.975[18]; 16. 29-Harrison Kleven, 16.270[16]; 17. 8-Jake Goeglein, 16.276[15]; 18. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 16.722[17]; 19. 53A-Spyder Akright, 16.899[20]; 20. 59-Kyle Koch, 17.068[9]