WEST COAST STAR SHINES ON PRAIRIE

SUN PRAIRIE, WI (May 31, 1998) -- Jerry Coons, Jr., Tucson, AZ, loves fast racetracks, citing Belleville (Kansas) and Manzanita (Arizona) as two of his personal favorites. Sunday night, in just his second run at the popular circuit, Coons, Jr. added Angell Park Speedway to his list as he decimated the field by nearly half a lap in the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association Salute to Sun Prairie 25 lap A-feature event.

Five time BMARA champion, Kevin Olson, Machesny Park, IL also put on a memorable drive in the #1 Comp 66 powered Stealth owned by Denny Lammers. Olson came from dead last to finish third.

Coons, Jr., who recently moved from Tucson to Indianapolis to pursue opportunities to race full time, found his speed on the top groove in the McNulty #V4 - Esslinger powered Outhouse Chassis.

"I was trying to figure out where the car would run the best." Coons said, "I've driven a few cars with Esslinger power before and they always seem to work best on the top. After the restart the car was getting better and better and I got a good run on the 57 car (Scott Hatton, Roscoe, IL) and I was able to get by him on the bottom in (turn) one and two … after that, it was back on top all the way." Coons, Jr. passed Hatton on lap eight.

The restart was the result of a caution that came out when the car driven by John Jones stalled in turn two.

Three laps after Coons had taken the lead, the Wilke PAK #11 driven by Kevin Doty, Burlington, IA, slowed on the front straight with mechanical problems which brought out another yellow. The caution eliminated the 10-car-length lead that Coons had quickly built on Hatton.

On the restart, Hatton got out of shape entering turn three and Dan Boorse, #88, Whitefish Bay checked up to avoid hitting Hatton as the cars entered turn four. Australian Adam Clarke, #76, not realizing that Boorse had slowed, bumped Boorse from behind which caused Boorse's car to go sideways and into the line of the quickly closing #71 driven by Doug Schenck. Schenck and Boorse collided as the cars came off of the fourth turn which sent Schenck spinning down the front stretch. Neither car made contact with the wall and only Schenck had lost position in the incident.

On lap fourteen, Boorse moved into second after passing Hatton in turn two.

"Even if we had caught another caution," Boorse said, "I don't think we ever would have caught him (Coons, Jr.) tonight. I had picked up a chunk of mud on my right front wheel on lap three that made the steering shake like crazy."

"It shook so hard, it actually worked one of the radius rod bolts about half way out of it's hole … this was a workout tonight."

Olson, who was scheduled to start the feature event from the fifth row, ultimately had to start from row 11 after being penalized for not making the drivers introductions in time.

"We broke the rear-end of the car in our heat race and we barely had enough time to make the field as it was. But on the track the car worked really well which is a credit to my crew, they gave a hundred and ten percent, so tonight the driver did too." Olson grinned.

Rounding out the top five were Boyd Calvert, #23 - Fontana / Stealth and Dean Billings, #96 Esslinger / Stealth.

The Badger Midgets will be back in action next Sunday night at Angell Park Speedway.

xxx

Additional Notes:

Easy Come / Easy Go!!! -- Marty Davis, Racine, WI, who won the inaugural Milwaukee Cup BMARA event at the Hales Corners Speedway, pocketed more than $500 that fans added to the race purse bringing his total winnings for the night to nearly $2,700. The extra cash couldn't have come at a better time however, as Davis broke his motor's crankshaft Sunday night at Angell Park during his heat race.

See Him on "Thunder" -- Although his primary racing job for the summer is piloting the CED motorsports #7 midget on the United States Auto Club trail, Jerry Coons, Jr. expects to run the majority of the Badger season for the McNulty team in the V4. The team won on their third night out and should be a prime contender in Badger competition. Coons Jr. is currently 6^th in the USAC National Midget Series points championship.

OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS 5/31/98

POSITION, DRIVER/POINTS, PASS PTS, .......CAR # ,OWNER POINTS

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