5/22/2023
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
Story Tale Win For Waelti In Dahlke Memorial
Sun Prairie, WI (May 21st, 2023) - Brandon Waelti, in a story tale finish, would take home the win in the first feature for The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Racing Association at the famous Angell Park Speedway in the first ever Dahlke Memorial.
The event, named the Dahlke Memorial, after the late BJ and Addison Dahlke, who tragically passed away after an automobile accident during the off season, was the first of what will be an annual tradition. The event had one of the largest purses of the season, with over $9,000 being donated as well as extra money for every position on lap 9, thanks to very generous sponsors. Todd Kluever ran a special wrap for the event, a throwback to the one BJ ran when he raced. The Bumper to Bumper IRA 410 Sprint Cars and Wisconsin Dirt Legends also were in attendance for the track's season opener.
The pits saw 32 AFS Badger Midgets ready for action. The previous night's winner at the Plymouth Dirt Track, Jace Sparks led an extremely strong field with other drivers such as Kyle Stark, Derek Doerr, and Kyle Koch all checking in. Also, ready to race were drivers such as Charles Rufi, Trey Weishoff, Daltyn England, and rookie Parker Jones, who ran double duty with his legend.
The FiveOne Motorsports Fast Time Award went to the quickest driver of the night, Todd Kluever, whose time of a 14.702 set the pace on the.333 mile track. Derek Doerr was second, Waelti third, Lamont Critchett, and Kyle Stark rounding out the top five.
The Madison Extinguisher Service non-qualifier heat was the first racing action on the track with Rufi taking the win with Harrison Kleven second and Jim Fuerst third. Auto Meter Heat 1 saw England take home the checkered with Jones and Matt Rechek trailing him at the checkered flag. Simpson Race Products Heat 2 would see Mitchell Davis take a heat win back to Auburn, IL, while Stark and Derek Doerr rounded out the top three. VMS Rod Ends Heat 3 saw Daniel Robinson take the win with Kluever, and David Budres on the podium.
The High Performance Lubricants B-Main would see seven drivers lock into the feature as the next race on track, with Dave Collins Jr and Mike Stroik on the front row. Waelti, RJ Corson, Stroik, Collins, Fuerst, Jake Goeglein, and John Heitzman would all transfer to the feature while the rest of the field's night would come to an end.
The AFS Badger Midget feature was set and on the track with the front row being filled by Mitchell Davis and Budres. At the drop of the green, Davis and Budres would battle with Budres taking the lead early. Two quick yellows would come out for Rufi when he spun his #56 machine off turn two, and on the ensuing restart, Brian Peterson would brush the front stretch wall ending his night. When the field restarted, Budres would have Stark to deal with, as the #2 was stalking him. Stark would take the lead on lap eight and start to run away from the field while a battle for second ensued between Budres, Doerr, and the #3W of Waelti, all the way from the B-Main. Heartbreak would strike for Stark though as his axle broke causing him to flip in turns three and four. Stark would be okay as he exited the car. Budres would inherit the lead with Waelti right behind him. The green would fly and Waelti wouldn’t wait around, rocketing past Budres for the lead. Doerr and Budres would battle for second as Waelti started to run away from the field. Waelti, with a head of steam, controlled the rest of the race to bring home the win from his 15th starting spot in the first annual Dahlke Memorial. Waelti dedicated the win to BJ and Addison in victory lane, as tears of joy ran through everyone involved in the night.
The AMS Hard Charger award went to winner Waelti, up 14 spots from his initial starting spot. The #45 of Trey Weisoff received the CarTopia Hard Luck award after he flipped in the non-qualifier race. And rounding the awards, the Oliver Motors Last Place Bonus went to Jim Fuerst finishing 22nd.
The AFS Badger Midget Series will make their return to the Kenosha County Fairgrounds and Wilmot Raceway on May 27th for their fourth race of the season.
To learn more about the Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association visit BMARA.com or the BMARA Racing Facebook Page today.
Summary:
32 Cars
AFS A Feature 25 Laps - Advanced Fastening Supply
- 3W-Brandon Waelti[15]; 2. 31B-David Budres[2]; 3. 20D-Derek Doerr[6]; 4. 38-Matt Rechek[8]; 5. 44-Lamont Critchett[5]; 6. 87-Jake Dohner[3]; 7. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 8. 20-Cody Weisensel[9]; 9. 5K-Kevin Douglas[12]; 10. 19E-Daltyn England[13]; 11. 40-Jace Sparks[11]; 12. 9S-Mike Stroik[17]; 13. 41-Parker Jones[22]; 14. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[18]; 15. 15C-RJ Corson[16]; 16. 8-Jake Goeglein[20]; 17. 2-Kyle Stark[4]; 18. 00-John Heitzman[21]; 19. 6B-Mitchell Davis[1]; 20. 7-Brian Peterson[14]; 21. 56-Charles Rufi; 22. 28-Jim Fuerst[19]; 23. (DNS) 57-Daniel Robinson
High Performance Lubricants 10-Lap B-Main
- 3W-Brandon Waelti[8]; 2. 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 3. 9S-Mike Stroik[2]; 4. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[1]; 5. 28-Jim Fuerst[11]; 6. 8-Jake Goeglein[12]; 7. 00-John Heitzman[7]; 8. 56-Charles Rufi[9]; 9. 29-Harrison Kleven[10]; 10. 68-Eric Blumer[16]; 11. 59-Kyle Koch[14]; 12. 1W-Robby Wirth[17]; 13. 17-Nick Kilian[15]; 14. 6-Jeremy Douglas[4]
VMS Rod Ends Heat 3 8 Laps
- 57-Daniel Robinson[4]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever[8]; 3. 31B-David Budres[6]; 4. 44-Lamont Critchett[7]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel[5]; 6. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[1]; 7. 15C-RJ Corson[3]; 8. (DNS) 10A-Tommy Colburn
Simpson Race Products Heat 2 8 Laps
- 6B-Mitchell Davis[6]; 2. 2-Kyle Stark[7]; 3. 20D-Derek Doerr[8]; 4. 7-Brian Peterson[2]; 5. 40-Jace Sparks[4]; 6. 9S-Mike Stroik[3]; 7. 6-Jeremy Douglas[5]; 8. 00-John Heitzman[1]
Auto Meter Heat 1 8 Laps
- 19E-Daltyn England[2]; 2. 41-Parker Jones[8]; 3. 38-Matt Rechek[4]; 4. 5K-Kevin Douglas[3]; 5. 87-Jake Dohner[5]; 6. 68-Eric Blumer[7]; 7. 31-Shay Sassano[1]; 8. (DNS) 3W-Brandon Waelti
Five-One Motorsports Qualifying
- 55-Todd Kluever, 00:14.702[26]; 2. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:14.945[9]; 3. 3W-Brandon Waelti, 00:15.221[20]; 4. 44-Lamont Critchett, 00:15.226[6]; 5. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.254[14]; 6. 87-Jake Dohner, 00:15.362[31]; 7. 31B-David Budres, 00:15.457[18]; 8. 6B-Mitchell Davis, 00:15.459[5]; 9. 38-Matt Rechek, 00:15.476[16]; 10. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:15.570[30]; 11. 6-Jeremy Douglas, 00:15.663[21]; 12. 41-Parker Jones, 00:15.700[3]; 13. 57-Daniel Robinson, 00:15.705[19]; 14. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:15.761[8]; 15. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:15.766[25]; 16. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:15.862[27]; 17. 9S-Mike Stroik, 00:15.920[15]; 18. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:15.975[24]; 19. 10A-Tommy Colburn, 00:16.055[10]; 20. 7-Brian Peterson, 00:16.103[28]; 21. 68-Eric Blumer, 00:16.342[29]; 22. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.381[7]; 23. 00-John Heitzman, 00:16.381[17]; 24. 31-Shay Sassano, 00:16.398[32]; 25. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.471[11]; 26. 56-Charles Rufi, 00:16.534[13]; 27. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:16.570[2]; 28. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:16.749[4]; 29. 28-Jim Fuerst, 00:16.826[12]; 30. 17-Nick Kilian, 00:17.674[23]; 31. 45-Trey Weishoff, 00:18.226[22]
Madison Extinguisher Service Non-Qualifier
- 56-Charles Rufi[5]; 2. 29-Harrison Kleven[6]; 3. 28-Jim Fuerst[2]; 4. 8-Jake Goeglein[4]; 5. 17-Nick Kilian[8]; 6. 45-Trey Weishoff[1]; 7. (DNS) 59-Kyle Koch; 8. (DNS) 1W-Robby Wirth
Article Credit: Zack Krueger
