8/9/2022
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
Taylor Picks Up Second Badger Victory of 2022 at Sycamore
Maple Park, IL August 6th, 2022–The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midgets headed down to Sycamore Speedway for their fourth appearance at the Illinois bullring in 2022, and the series now has four different winners at the track this season.
The 25 Lap BMARA A Main rolled to the green flag with Kevin Battefeld and Derek Doerr pacing the field, but it was Adam Taylor and Kyle Stark that made moves on the opening lap. Taylor dove to the inside of the front row starters in turns 1 and 2 and slid up the racetrack in front of Battefeld entering turn 3 to take the top spot. Meanwhile, Stark had followed Taylor to the top side and battled wheel to wheel with Doerr and 5th place starting Zach Boden in the opening stages.
On lap 3, Boden completed an inside move on Doerr to take the third position and while Stark tried to follow suit, Boden also overtook Battefeld for second. It was now Taylor, Boden and Doerr showing the way on the bottom side of the high banked speedway, with Stark putting on a show running the cushion in fourth.
As the field came to start lap 5, Mike Stroik spun his #9S machine entering turn 1 while running in the sixth position. Stroik was able to re-fire his car and return to action. Taylor led the field back to green with Boden hot on his heels. The #5X of Taylor jumped to the top side in turn 3 and Boden took full advantage, pulling even and momentarily taking the lead from Taylor on the front straightaway, but the duel for the lead would be halted by a slowing Jace Sparks in turn 3, which brought out the second caution of the race.
Once again, the green flag dropped with 20 laps remaining and this time Taylor got a much better jump on Boden, but the #51 car pulled even with the #5X on the following circuit entering turn 1. The two front-runners ran different lines for the ensuing laps, with Taylor running low in turns 1 and 2 and high in 3 and 4, and Boden keeping his car glued to the inside line all the way around Sycamore Speedway. The two ran side by side down the front stretch multiple times, but Taylor continued to lead Boden by fractions of a second every lap.
While the top 2 cars were putting on a show, Jack Routson and his #57B machine were doing the same back in the battle for 5th. Routson was hammering the cushion lap after lap and eventually overtook Battefeld and Cody Weisensel for the final Top 5 position. Aaron Muhle then followed Routson by Battefeld and moved his #24M into 6th.
With 12 laps to go, the battle for the lead heated up. Taylor made a slight mistake in turn 1 which allowed Boden to close on the rear nerf bar of the #5X down the back stretch. The two ran side by side through turns 3 and 4 with Boden momentarily taking the lead, but Taylor once again held strong on the top shelf and retained the top spot. With 10 laps remaining, Taylor caught the slower traffic at the back of the field. Entering turn 3, the #5X had to get hard on the brakes to miss the #59S of John Smith who was also running the top side of the speedway. The lapped car of Smith and the two leaders went three wide down the front stretch with Taylor somehow remaining in the lead of the race with 8 laps to go. On the next lap, 7th running Battefeld slowed to a stop exiting turn 4 and brought out the caution once again.
The field took the restart with Taylor and Boden once again setting the pace up front. Meanwhile, Stark once again pounded the top side of the speedway to overtake Doerr for third, and Muhle also got past the #20D on the bottom just a couple circuits later. Over the final five laps, the #5X of Taylor was not challenged and the K.O. Klassic Champion picked up his second Badger Midget win of the season and first career win at the Sycamore Speedway. Boden ran a strong 2nd with Stark completing the podium and maintaining his lead over Boden in the Championship Standings. Muhle and Douglas completed the Top 5 finishers.
Saturday’s Schoenfeld QuickTime Award went to Jack Routson, Auto Meter Heat 1 was won by Adam Taylor and RJ Corson took the checkered flag in Simpson Race Products Heat 2. Harrison Kleven earned the Advanced Racing Suspensions Hard Charger Award in the A Main. Kyle Stark went home with the Howard Law Cash Draw, and the Oliver Motors Last Place Bonus went to Jace Sparks. The Cartopia “Hard Luck” Award went to Jordan Nelson.
Stark finds himself atop the BMARA Point Standings, but Zach Boden has limited the gap to just 73 points between the Top 2. Todd Kluever, RJ Corson and Daltyn England round out the top 5 point scorers through 16 events in 2022.
The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midgets will return this Sunday, August 14th at the Angell Park Speedway for the “King of the Park”. The Dirt Kings Late Model Tour and Modifieds join the midgets for an action packed Sunday night. Tickets will be available aat the track or in advance through the Ticket Hoss app.
Sycamore Speedway Results 8/6/22
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:14:03.219 | Advance Fastening Supply
- 5X-Adam Taylor[3]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[5]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark[4]; 4. 24M-Aaron Muhle[10]; 5. 5K-Kevin Douglas[11]; 6. 20D-Derek Doerr[2]; 7. 15C-RJ Corson[9]; 8. 9S-Mike Stroik[8]; 9. 38-Cody Weisensel[7]; 10. 29-Harrison Kleven[17]; 11. 59-Kyle Koch[13]; 12. 56-Charles Rufi[14]; 13. 3A-Chris Adrien[15]; 14. 59S-John Smith[16]; 15. 57B-Jack Routson[6]; 16. 42-Kevin Battefeld[1]; 17. 40J-Jace Sparks[12]; 18. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson
Simpson Race Products Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:02:16.605 | Simpson Race Products - 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 2. 57B-Jack Routson[8]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark[7]; 4. 42-Kevin Battefeld[5]; 5. 9S-Mike Stroik[4]; 6. 40J-Jace Sparks[6]; 7. 56-Charles Rufi[1]; 8. 59S-John Smith[2]; 9. (DNS) 29-Harrison Kleven
Auto Meter Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:02:10.205 | Auto Meter - 5X-Adam Taylor[7]; 2. 24M-Aaron Muhle[3]; 3. 38-Cody Weisensel[5]; 4. 20D-Derek Doerr[6]; 5. 51-Zach Boden[8]; 6. 5K-Kevin Douglas[4]; 7. 59-Kyle Koch[2]; 8. 3A-Chris Adrien[1]; 9. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson
Schoenfeld Headers Qualifying 3 Laps | Schoenfeld Headers - 57B-Jack Routson, 00:15.132[3]; 2. 51-Zach Boden, 00:15.261[5]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.281[15]; 4. 5X-Adam Taylor, 00:15.360[18]; 5. 40J-Jace Sparks, 00:15.613[10]; 6. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:15.626[8]; 7. 42-Kevin Battefeld, 00:15.680[2]; 8. 38-Cody Weisensel, 00:15.803[11]; 9. 9S-Mike Stroik, 00:15.813[1]; 10. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:15.832[13]; 11. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:16.304[9]; 12. 24M-Aaron Muhle, 00:16.548[17]; 13. 59S-John Smith, 00:16.577[4]; 14. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:16.596[7]; 15. 56-Charles Rufi, 00:16.718[16]; 16. 3A-Chris Adrien, 00:16.901[12]; 17. (DNS) 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.901; 18. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson, 00:16.901
Hot Laps 1 | 00:01:03.000 - 20D-Derek Doerr[8]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[5]; 3. 5X-Adam Taylor[18]; 4. 57B-Jack Routson[3]; 5. 42-Kevin Battefeld[2]; 6. 2-Kyle Stark[15]; 7. 40J-Jace Sparks[10]; 8. 9S-Mike Stroik[1]; 9. 15C-RJ Corson[9]; 10. 98-Jordan Nelson[14]; 11. 5K-Kevin Douglas[13]; 12. 24M-Aaron Muhle[17]; 13. 59-Kyle Koch[7]; 14. 38-Cody Weisensel[11]; 15. 59S-John Smith[4]; 16. 29-Harrison Kleven[6]; 17. 3A-Chris Adrien[12]; 18. 56-Charles Rufi[16]
Article Credit: Loren Kelly
Submitted By: Loren Kelly
