5/31/2026
Badger Midget Auto Racing Association
Boden Takes AFS Badger Midget Series Go At Plymouth Dirt Track
The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Series rolled into the Plymouth Dirt Track on the first night of a doubleheader weekend, Saturday, May 30.
The action kicked off with Rod End Supply qualifying where Todd Kluever scored fast time over Brandon Waelti.
Brian Peterson paced the first laps of Auto Meter Heat-One before slipping up the track in turn-four. After running side by side with Peterson for a lap, Mark Chisholm was waiting and took advantage of the situation, diving low and taking the lead. Chisholm went on to an easy win.
Mitchell Davis walked away with Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-Two followed by Waelti, Eric Blumer and Miles Doherty who had a spirited battle for those spots.
Kluever gained six positions in Behling Racing Equipment Heat-Three over Luke Wackerlin and Nick Kilian. Kilian led the first half of the race before washing up and getting sideways in turn-four with three laps left, yielding to Kluever. Kluever’s win gave him rights to the Schoenfeld Headers Invert Draw.
LYCO MANUFACTURING A-MAIN
It was a bumpy start to the Lyco Manufacturing A-Main. When the green flag flew Miles Doherty and Zach Boden went side by side before Doherty grabbed the lead. Two laps in, the yellow flag came out for a stalled car.
On the restart the pair separated from the field for a lap before a flip by Waelti in the first turn brought out the red. Waelti was out of the car and walking in short order. He appeared to be alright.
One lap was complete before another stalled car bought out the yellow again. When racing resumed it was Boden, Doherty, RJ Corson, Kluever and Davis rounding out the top-five. Boden took advantage of the battle between Corson, Kluever and Doherty and put a good eight-lengths on the followers. As Boden tested various grooves Corson stayed steady on the low side and eventually gained a lot of ground on the leader.
At about the half-way point Corson was even with Boden coming out of turn-four. With Corson on the bottom and Boden high, Boden got a big run out of the corner and powered past Corson and promptly took to Corson’s low groove after several laps on the cushion.
While Boden was racing the track and in the lead, Corson and Kluever were now side by side for several laps with Corson low and Kluever high. Just when Kluever would get next to Corson, Corson would find a way to power ahead.
With eight laps left Boden was catching the back of the field and one of the lappers was consistently running in the line Boden would want. Kluever cleared Corson and was setting his sights on Boden. As the duo entered turn-three Kluever tried to sneak high around Boden who was near the cushion himself now. Kluever jumped Boden’s right rear with his left front and suffered a series of barrel rolls ending in some contact with the wall.
The red flag came out and fans waited for Kluever to exit. He did so primarily on his own, but crews did help him down off his mount. Kluever removed his helmet and walked to the ambulance. He had an extended visit with the EMS crew before racing would start again.
With six laps left the restarting order was Boden, Corson, Doherty, Davis, and Wackerlin. On the green, Boden jumped to a five-car advantage over Corson who had several lengths on Doherty.
As Boden checked out, Doherty kept trying to go high to get by Corson but it was evident the bottom was fastest and with just a couple laps left Doherty filed in behind Corson. Boden easily took the checkers.
In his Victory Lane interview with PDT announcer Eric Mueller, Boden indicated he felt bad about the contact with Kluever, but had no idea Kluever was there until he heard the “thump.” Boden further indicated he was good in the low groove and didn’t want to move up until they hit lapped traffic and didn’t really want to go high even then.
The top ten were Boden, Corson, Doherty, Davis, Weisensel, Wackerlin, Blumer, Peterson, Jake Dohner, Dave Collins Jr.
Boden's win made him the third different winner in AFS Badger Midget Series action in 2026.
NOTES
Cody Weisensel had an issue with a fuel fitting in his heat causing the Sun Prairie driver to head to the pits before the completion of the race. Relegated to the back of the Lyco Manufacturing A-Main he raced his way from 18th to 5th to take Bob Tattersall Spankins Motorsports Hard Charger honors.
The Last Place Bonus in Loving Memory of Addison Dahlke went to Derek Crane.
Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race honors were collected by Spyder Akright.
Mike Gebhard was the CASM Safety Products Hard Luck recipient.
The AFS BMARA would like to thank 1855 Saloon and Grill in downtown Cottage Grove, WI and High Performance Lubricants for their support of the series.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 56X-Mark Chisholm[3]; 2. 7-Brian Peterson[2]; 3. 15C-RJ Corson[5]; 4. 51-Zach Boden[4]; 5. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[1]; 6. 53A-Spyder Akright[6]
Hoosier Tire Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 56-Mitchell Davis[4]; 2. 3W-Brandon Waelti[6]; 3. 68-Eric Blumer[3]; 4. 8D-Miles Doherty[5]; 5. 67U-Mike Unger[1]; 6. 31-Derek Crane[2]
Behlings Race Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 2. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[6]; 3. 17-Nick Kilian[4]; 4. 2-Jake Dohner[3]; 5. 1W-Robby Wirth[2]; 6. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 7. 20-Cody Weisensel[5]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 55-Todd Kluever, 13.682[16]; 2. 3W-Brandon Waelti, 13.779[15]; 3. 15C-RJ Corson, 13.822[8]; 4. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 13.850[5]; 5. 8D-Miles Doherty, 13.862[20]; 6. 51-Zach Boden, 13.932[3]; 7. 20-Cody Weisensel, 13.955[18]; 8. 56-Mitchell Davis, 13.984[13]; 9. 56X-Mark Chisholm, 14.315[17]; 10. 17-Nick Kilian, 14.347[1]; 11. 68-Eric Blumer, 14.353[19]; 12. 7-Brian Peterson, 14.451[4]; 13. 2-Jake Dohner, 14.480[11]; 14. 31-Derek Crane, 14.518[7]; 15. 53A-Spyder Akright, 14.852[14]; 16. 1W-Robby Wirth, 14.925[6]; 17. 67U-Mike Unger, 15.049[12]; 18. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 15.073[21]; 19. 29-Harrison Kleven, 15.120[10]; 20. (DNS) 57-Matt Rechek; 21. (DNS) 81-Mike Gebhard
At press time Lyco A-Main results were not available.
Photo credit: JW's Car and Raccing Photos
Article by Bill Blumer Jr.
Submitted By: William Blumer