6/7/2021
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
Budres Returns to Victory Lane at Angell Park
June 6, Sun Prairie, WI-- The Badger Midget Series returned to Angell Park Speedway and completed their first feature event at the hallowed grounds since the COVID-19 pandemic shut racing down at the facility in 2020. David Budres took the victory, ending a nearly five-year drought since his last win which came during his championship-winning season in 2015.
The Badger Midgets, competing in conjunction with the IRA Bumper to Bumper Sprint Car Series & the All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars, packed the pit area with 31 cars as well as the grandstands with one of the largest crowds seen at Angell Park Speedway in years. Heat race winners were former champion, Scott Hatton, second-year driver Derek Doerr, defending series champion Chase McDermand, and 2021 season opener winner Andy Baugh.
A total of 15 cars started the B-Main event with only six cars advancing to the night’s A-Main. Harrison Kleven led early and at times held a six to eight car length lead over second place. Cautions bunched up the field and allowed Nick Baran to slice his way to take the victory and transfer to the main event.
Budres and Mike Stroik made up the front row for the A-Main starting field with Budres taking the lead at the drop of the green flag. Lamont Critchett, who was starting in the fifth spot, got a terrible start bunching up the inside rows allowing several drivers on the outside rows to advance quickly. Stroik, Kevin Olson, Zach Boden, and Doerr followed Budres through the first lap. Baugh worked his way into third on lap nine just behind Stroik who was four car lengths behind Budres. Over the next three laps, the pair tracked down Budres with Stroik taking the lead coming off of turn four to lead lap 12. Budres battled back on the high side but Stroik pulled away. The next lap saw Baugh move into second passing Budres in turn two. Baugh closed in on the back bumper of Stroik, making contact down the backstretch on laps 16 and 17. However, the lap 17 contact proved to be too much, sending Stroik around and out of the lead. Under caution, Baugh was penalized three positions handing the lead back to Budres. Budres was followed by Olson, Boden, Baugh, and Critchett on the restart. Critchett made a valiant charge on the outside to get by Baugh on the restart and looked to be ready to take another position when on lap 18 Jeff Zelinski got upside down, in turn, two bringing out the only red flag of the event. Under red, Critchett was found to have a flat left rear tire and was forced to retire from the event. On the restart, Budres jumped out to a three-car length lead while Baugh moved by Boden to move into third. A lap 19 caution for the cars of Jim Fuerst and RJ Corson bunched up the field one more time. On the restart, Budres pulled away while an intense battle for second ensued between Olson, Baugh, Cody Weisensel, and McDermand. Budres would cross the finish line .632 seconds ahead of Baugh, Olson, Boden, and Weisensel rounding out the top five.
Badger Midgets 31 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:14:17.587 1. 31B-David Budres[1]; 2. 6B-Andy Baugh[8]; 3. 9K-Kevin Olson[3]; 4. 51-Zach Boden[4]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel[12]; 6. 40- Chase McDermand[9]; 7. 20D-Derek Doerr[6]; 8. 1-Scott Hatton[7]; 9. 5K-Kevin Douglas[11]; 10. 71-Kyle Koch[16]; 11. 9SMike Stroik[2]; 12. 87-Jake Dohner[22]; 13. 57-Chase Jones[13]; 14. 76-Mike Unger[14]; 15. 29-Harrison Kleven[18]; 16. 28-Jim Fuerst[19]; 17. 15C-RJ Corson[21]; 18. 14-Lamont Critchett[5]; 19. 18-Tyler Roth[10]; 20. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[15]; 21. 10-Denny Smith[20]; 22. 11T-Nick Baran[17]
B Feature 1 12 Laps | 00:07:57.921 | High Performance Lubricants 1. 11T-Nick Baran[5]; 2. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 3. 28-Jim Fuerst[3]; 4. 10-Denny Smith[2]; 5. 15C-RJ Corson[4]; 6. 87-Jake Dohner[8]; 7. 24-Aaron Muhle[9]; 8. 92-Dan Kleven[12]; 9. 31-Shay Sassano[11]; 10. 8-Jake Goeglein[6]; 11. 98-Jordan Nelson[13]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:42.000 | Auto Meter 1. 1-Scott Hatton[5]; 2. 9K-Kevin Olson[4]; 3. 14-Lamont Critchett[7]; 4. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 5. 15Z-Jeff Zelinski[6]; 6. 87- Jake Dohner[2]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[8]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:38.000 | Simpson 1. 20D-Derek Doerr[3]; 2. 9S-Mike Stroik[4]; 3. 51-Zach Boden[7]; 4. 18-Tyler Roth[8]; 5. 10-Denny Smith[5]; 6. 24-Aaron Muhle[2]; 7. 92-Dan Kleven[1]; 8. 98-Jordan Nelson[6]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:02:39.000 | Engler 1. 40-Chase McDermand[8]; 2. 5K-Kevin Douglas[1]; 3. 20-Cody Weisensel[4]; 4. 57-Chase Jones[6]; 5. 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 6. 11T-Nick Baran[5]; 7. 21K-Kurt Mayhew[7]; 8. 6-Jeremy Douglas[2]
Heat 4 8 Laps | 00:02:38.000 | Auto Meter 1. 6B-Andy Baugh[7]; 2. 31B-David Budres[4]; 3. 76-Mike Unger[1]; 4. 71-Kyle Koch[2]; 5. 28-Jim Fuerst[5]; 6. 55-Todd Kluever[3]; 7. 31-Shay Sassano[6] Kurt Mayhew, 00:22.333[27]
Article Credit: Droz Andrews
