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Zach Wigal Takes AFS Badger Midget Series Fireman's Nationals At Angell Park

The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association welcomed drivers from six states to the 40th Annual Fireman’s Nationals at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. For the first time this season the weather was perfect. The event also appeared to draw one of the largest crowds of the year as Badger shared the card with the USAC National Midget Series, each running their own program.

THE PRELIMS

A season high 33 cars clocked in for the Badger portion of the show. Rod End Supply Fast Time honors went to Parker Jones with a lap of 14.883. It was the sixth time the newly minted Badger Midget Series champ has bested the field in qualifying.

For the first time this season there was a Madison Extinguisher Service Last Chance Qualifier. Its field was filled with those who qualified outside the top 24. The finishing order of this race would simply fill spots ten on back for the High Performance Lubricants B-Main. Nonetheless, cars went three wide a couple of times as the fastest were lined up in the back. Eric Blumer, a three-year veteran, took the win, his first in Badger competition.

A frequent winner in Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA) competition, Alex Midkiff was racing at Angell Park for the first time. Starting in the last row of Auto Meter Heat-One, he had plenty of drivers ahead of him who were much more familiar with the track. Still, it only took him until lap-five to take the lead and drive on to the win.

The current runner-up in Badger points, Derek Doerr led every lap in Dave Jones Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Protection and Electrical Heat-Two. The battle was for the fifth and last transfer spot into the Fireman’s Nationals/Lyco Manufacturing A-Main. That position was still in question as Sun Prairie’s Nick Kilian and Delmar, Iowa’s Miles Doherty battled in the closing laps. Doherty caught Kilian on the backstretch coming to the checkers. The pair were neck and neck as they exited the last corner. Here they made contact causing Doherty to slide high while Kilian collected his car and powered to the last transfer spot.

Jones passed Cody Weisensel on lap-two and won by about five lengths over Zach Wigal in Behling Racing Equipment Heat-Three. Jones was one of several Badger drivers that were also racing in the USAC portion of the show. He took a nasty flip in qualifying there but seemed to be alright.

Doherty jumped to the lead from P2 and despite a caution and a red flag that ended the race, he led every lap in the High Performance Lubricants B-Main. The red came out after a torrid battle for the last transfer spot into the A-Main. Mike Unger, Mitchell Davis and Mike Stroik were battling with one lap left. They went three-wide down the back chute and were that way coming out of turn-three when Unger caught the right rear of Davis. This sent Unger’s #67 hard into the outer wall. He exited under his own power.

LYCO MANUFACTURING A-MAIN

Prior to the Lyco Manufacturing A-Main, Jones did the Schoenfeld Headers Invert Draw. In a move that was kind of indicative of his whole night, Jones picked the least desirable card he could, a ten. This meant he would start tenth (a six for sixth starting spot would have been the best he could have drawn) in the Lyco A-Main. Jones was looking to keep his six race winning streak going at Angell Park.

Daltyn England and Tommy Colburn led the field of 22 to the green flag with Colburn having the lead as they completed the first lap. With one official lap in, the yellow came out for Davis whose car may have broken before tagging the turn-one wall. He was uninjured.

On the restart it was Colburn ahead of England and Daniel Robinson who was driving the car owned and normally piloted by Brandon Waelti. Once they took off there was an amount of side by side racing, but it became apparent the top was going to be the place to be.

Five laps in, Wigal who started seventh, found himself battling Jones for the fifth spot just behind Doerr.

Ten laps in, Colburn had a straightaway on the next car and was catching the back of the field. Now Midkiff was making some noise and worked his way into the battle for fourth. In short order Midkiff moved into third by pounding the big cushion just like the USAC cars did in the prior feature.

With nine laps left the red came out as a Robinson miscue got the 3W upside down. The mishap left Jones with nowhere to go and he was collected. Both cars were done for the night.

On the restart it was Colburn, England, Midkiff, Wigal, Doerr, Wackerlin, Kluever, Magic, Weisensel and Doherty. A lap wasn’t complete before the yellow came out once more. This time it was for Midkiff who lost power after the belt running his pumps came off.

Wigal knew he had a fast car and that last caution was just what he needed. Without Midkiff to deal with, Wigal quickly dispatched the rest of the field and set his sights on Colburn. There were four laps to go when Wigal powered past Colburn. Wigal then showed his true speed as he won by a straightaway over England who nipped Colburn for second.

Chase McDermand, a three-time BMARA Champion, was the owner of the car driven by Wigal. Despite previous efforts, it was the first appearance of the year for the pair in Badger competition.

CONTINGENCIES AND NOTES

Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-Four was not contested.

The Spankins Motorsports Bob Tattersall Hard Charger Award went to Mike Stroik who passed seven cars after starting 22nd.

Brian Strane Jr. was the Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race.

Abby Hohlbein was the Rod End Supply Hard Luck Award recipient as she was unable to start the A-Main as scheduled.

The Last Place Bonus in Loving Memory of Addison Dahlke went to Jake Goeglein.

The clay of Angell Park Speedway was in the finest shape it had been all year, thanks to all of those who had a hand in the preparation.

Badger drivers and officials donated about 100 school back packs to give to children that attended the races. The giveaway was delayed several weeks due to rainouts, but every back pack was taken.

Fans stepped up for the Kenzie Dunn Youth Sponsorship program and made 30 donations with approximately 20 drivers receiving a boost for the night.

It was an all day affair at Angell Park where after the races fans were treated to a fireworks display. After that, the pavilion was opened for the teams and fans to enjoy a band. Here it was made clear Mike “The Mullet” Unger was uninjured from his wreck during the night as he was seen moving well on the dance floor.

Brandon Waelti didn’t feel he was up to racing yet, due to injuries sustained at the last Beaver Dam race and that’s when he tagged his friend Robinson to drive the 3W.

Three Badger regulars also signed in on the USAC side of the pits with different cars than their BMARA mounts. Zach Boden's USAC night was done after his heat race. Jones bounced back from his qualifying flip to answer the bell for his heat and the A-Main, but he was out early with mechanical issues in the Feature. Cody Weisensel fared the best of the local contingent finishing 17th in that A.

UP NEXT

The Nationals do not close the season for Badger as they will be on the card for the rescheduled World of Outlaws Sprint Car race now slated for October 19. This date is a point paying race for Badger.

Unofficially, after Sunday’s race Derek Doerr has locked up second place in the standings. Wackerlin is in third with Kluever and Weisensel still within striking distance of the last podium spot. The rest of the top-ten is also in question.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Lyco Manufacturing A - Feature (25 Laps): 1. 40X-Zach Wigal[7]; 2. 19E-Daltyn England[3]; 3. 31-Tommy Colburn[2]; 4. 20D-Derek Doerr[6]; 5. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[5]; 6. 20-Cody Weisensel[11]; 7. 5X-Michael Magic[13]; 8. 55-Todd Kluever[9]; 9. 57-Matt Rechek[1]; 10. 51-Zach Boden[12]; 11. 8D-Miles Doherty[16]; 12. 45-Trey Weishoff[15]; 13. 68-Eric Blumer[19]; 14. 17N-Nick Kilian[14]; 15. 29K-Mike Stroik[22]; 16. 5K-Kevin Douglas; 17. 05-Alex Midkiff[8]; 18. 3W-Daniel Robinson[4]; 19. 41-Parker Jones[10]; 20. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[17]; 21. 56-Mitchell Davis[21]; 22. 11H-Abby Hohlbein[18]; 23. 8-Jake Goeglein[20]

High Performance Lubricants B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 8D-Miles Doherty[2]; 2. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[3]; 3. 11H-Abby Hohlbein[5]; 4. 68-Eric Blumer[10]; 5. 8-Jake Goeglein[4]; 6. 56-Mitchell Davis[6]; 7. 29K-Mike Stroik[1]; 8. 5K-Kevin Douglas[8]; 9. 29-Harrison Kleven[13]; 10. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[17]; 11. 59-Kyle Koch[11]; 12. 81-Mike Gebhard[16]; 13. 97-Jim Jones[15]; 14. 67U-Mike Unger[12]; 15. 10-Denny Smith[14]; 16. 2-Jake Dohner[9]; 17. (DNS) 7F-Aaron Fiscus; 18. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson

Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Alex Midkiff[8]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[4]; 3. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[7]; 4. 57-Matt Rechek[5]; 5. 45-Trey Weishoff[1]; 6. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[6]; 7. 56-Mitchell Davis[3]; 8. 2-Jake Dohner[2]

Dave Jones Plumbing HVAC Electrical Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20D-Derek Doerr[7]; 2. 19E-Daltyn England[6]; 3. 5X-Michael Magic[2]; 4. 55-Todd Kluever[8]; 5. 17N-Nick Kilian[1]; 6. 8D-Miles Doherty[4]; 7. 11H-Abby Hohlbein[5]; 8. 5K-Kevin Douglas[3]

Behling Racing Equipment Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[8]; 2. 40X-Zach Wigal[7]; 3. 3W-Daniel Robinson[6]; 4. 20-Cody Weisensel[4]; 5. 31-Tommy Colburn[5]; 6. 29K-Mike Stroik[1]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[2]; 8. 7F-Aaron Fiscus[3]

Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones, 00:14.883[30]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever, 00:14.977[2]; 3. 05-Alex Midkiff, 00:15.091[25]; 4. 40X-Zach Wigal, 00:15.129[10]; 5. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:15.182[22]; 6. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 00:15.299[5]; 7. 3W-Daniel Robinson, 00:15.311[15]; 8. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:15.497[27]; 9. 22S-Brian Strane Jr, 00:15.503[12]; 10. 31-Tommy Colburn, 00:15.510[16]; 11. 11H-Abby Hohlbein, 00:15.582[7]; 12. 57-Matt Rechek, 00:15.596[23]; 13. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:15.673[21]; 14. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:15.703[24]; 15. 51-Zach Boden, 00:15.750[20]; 16. 7F-Aaron Fiscus, 00:15.761[8]; 17. 5K-Kevin Douglas, 00:15.778[6]; 18. 56-Mitchell Davis, 00:15.788[29]; 19. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:15.864[1]; 20. 5X-Michael Magic, 00:15.888[32]; 21. 2-Jake Dohner, 00:15.985[14]; 22. 29K-Mike Stroik, 00:15.991[31]; 23. 17N-Nick Kilian, 00:16.001[13]; 24. 45-Trey Weishoff, 00:16.032[19]; 25. 68-Eric Blumer, 00:16.119[17]; 26. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.193[4]; 27. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.385[28]; 28. 67U-Mike Unger, 00:16.507[9]; 29. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:16.923[26]; 30. 97-Jim Jones, 00:17.202[33]; 31. 98-Jordan Nelson, 00:17.255[11]; 32. 81-Mike Gebhard, 00:17.284[3]; 33. 10-Denny Smith, 00:17.319[18]; 34. (DNS) 20R-Randy Doerr; 35. (DNS) 68B-Griffin McGrath; 36. (DNS) 41J-John Jones

Madison Extinguisher Service Non-Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 68-Eric Blumer[9]; 2. 59-Kyle Koch[5]; 3. 67U-Mike Unger[6]; 4. 29-Harrison Kleven[8]; 5. 10-Denny Smith[1]; 6. 97-Jim Jones[4]; 7. 81-Mike Gebhard[2]; 8. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[7]; 9. 98-Jordan Nelson[3]

Photo by Dave Olson
Article by Bill Blumer Jr.

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