Kevin J. O'Donnell

FRANKLIN, WI (September 4, 1998) Although failing brakes forced Jerry Coons, Jr. to run the top side of the track for much of the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association's Back to School Classic Friday night at Hales Corners Speedway in Franklin, they had held up long enough for him to make the winning pass on Marty Davis as the two exited turn four on the eighth lap of the 30 lap feature event. Coons Jr. (Tucson, AZ) held of the field through several late race restarts to win his fourth BMARA feature of the 1998 season.

As the green flag flew on the David Hobbs Honda sponsored event, pole-sitter Davis (Racine, WI) jumped out to the lead but was passed by Randy Fiscus (Madison, WI) before the completion of lap one. Coons, who started outside the fifth row, burst into fourth by lap two. Two laps later Davis squared off the second corner and passed Fiscus for the lead.

On lap five Chris Maxson flipped hard going into turn three, bringing out the red flag. On the ensuing re-start, Coons Jr. quickly passed Fiscus and Scott Hatton (Roscoe, IL) down the front stretch to move into second position. Three laps later Coons Jr. moved inside Davis for the lead.

"I normally don't like the bottom at all," Coons Jr. explained. "But the guys were fast on top and I had to go somewhere that they weren't and I tried the bottom and it was working real good for me. After I got the lead around the eighth or ninth lap I lost the brakes on the car. Without any brakes, I couldn't run the bottom so I went to the top."

Coons elaborated, "It wasn't really bad, it didn't slow me down much, I just had to lift a little earlier and set the car and then get right back in the throttle. It only really hurt me in traffic, but just about the time I was getting to lapped traffic the yellow came out and kind of saved me."

Fiscus moved by Davis in the fourth turn on lap 17. Two late race caution flags for the stalled cars of Rob Keelan (Milwaukee, WI) and John Jones (Bluemound, WI) at lap 25 and 27 gave Fiscus two last opportunities to pass Coons, Jr. But Coons Jr. had found the fast way around the top and held off the challenges of Fiscus.

"He took off on the starts, got a bit of a jump on us … once he gets in front of you, he's a hard guy to pass and I knew I couldn't get him on top so I stayed on the bottom and tried to get around him," Fiscus said. "The car felt real good tonight but we're going to have to figure out a way to get it to work good on top."

Rounding out the top five were Hatton, Boyd Calvert (Mt. Horeb, WI) and Kevin Olson (Machesney Park, IL).

1998 BMARA point champion Dan Boorse experienced major internal motor problems in his heat race and had to park the Don Boorse owned #88 for the remainder of the night. It was unclear as of Friday night whether Boorse would be able to run the car in Sunday's Pepsi Nationals at Angell Park Speedway. However, Dwight Huston did offer Boorse the team car to Kevin Koch's Brayton / Beast. A car in which Boorse won at the Prairie earlier this season.

Randy Koch and Brad Webber also destroyed cars Friday night in the fourth heat race when a three way tumble involving Koch, Webber and Doug Schenck occurred in turns three and four.

Kevin Doty established a new six lap record for the midgets at Hales Corners Speedway … completing the evening's trophy dash in just 1:34.89.