Angell Park Speedway WoO/IRA and Badger Midget Results and Stories

Angell Park Speedway 8/21/16
 
Angell Park Speedway
Sun Prairie, WI
 
WoO/IRA
Badger Midgets
 
37 sprints
21 midgets
 
I had read it a while ago, but John Gibson reminded me of the significance of the WoO show at the beautiful Angell Park Speedway.  WoO founder Ted Johnson grew up not far from here, and came up with the four-wide salute after watching it here.  He would be proud to see the largest sprint crowd in the speedway’s history.  As the Hillerud’s informed me, SLS had ten days to get this one off, so kudos to them.  It didn’t hurt that the “Corn Fest” was going on as well.  As an Iowan, I’ve had my share of sweet corn this year already, but I indulged anyway.  I wasn’t the only one who made my reservations as soon as I saw the WoO and IRA would be squaring off here.  It didn’t disappoint.  In addition, we got the Badger Midgets, which frankly, are much different than the good old days.  We still have Bryan Gapinski on the mike, of course, and his expertise is always educational and entertaining.  It was good to see him again.

Dave Uttech WoO/IRA
 
Donny Schatz (5th car out to time) took two-tenths of a second off Bill Balog’s year-old track record on the 1/3-mile oval at 11.718 seconds.  David Gravel (4th car out) was second quick, followed by Shaen Stewart (9th), Joey Saldana (13th) and Paul McMahan (24th).  Those five were under the old record.  Daryn Pittman (18th) was sixth quick, followed by Jason Johnson (36th), Jason Sides (10th), Brad Sweet (29th) and Jacob Allen (16th).  Jeremy Schultz had issues and took one lap at the end.
 
Heat one (started): 1. Schatz 15 (1) 2. Sweet 49 (3) 3. Scott Neitzel 2w (5) 4. McMahan 7 (2) 5. Scott Thiel 64 (4) / 6. Jeremy Schultz 5J (6) 7. Greg Wilson w20 (7) 8. Scott Uttech 7u (8) 9. Blake Nimee 79 (9) 10. Tim Vandervere 7v (10)
 
Schatz led Sweet the entire 10-lap distance.  Neitzel used the low side to move by McMahan for third on lap two.  Thiel took the fifth and final transfer from Schultz on lap three.
 
Heat two (started): 1. Gravel 5 (1) 2. Pittman 9 (2) 3. Allen 1a (3) 4. Brandon McMullen 73 (4) 5. Parker Price-Miller 2x (5) / 6. Wayne Modjeski 14AJ (6) 7. Kyle Marten 99 (7) 8. Bill Wirth 53w (8) 9. Clyde Knipp 13 (9)
 
They finished where they started in this one.  McMullen was impressive.  He’s made just a handful of 410 starts, but looked very strong, pulling away from PPM.  He’s second in MSA 360 points.
 
Heat three (started): 1. Stewart 2 (1) 2. J. Johnson 41 (2) 3. Logan Schuchart 1s (3) 4. Mike Reinke 02 (5) 5. Bill Balog 17B (4) / 6. Phillip Mock 1m (6) 7. Matt Vandervere 10V (9) 8. Dave Uttech 68 (7) 9. Michael Decker 12 (8)
 
Before a lap could be completed, Decker made hard contact with the frontstretch wall, ending his night.  He was unhurt.  M. Vandervere visited the work area after contacting him, and returned to the fray.  Stewart led wire to wire.  A second caution flew for D. Uttech, who ran up the backstretch wall with three laps to go.  That caution was a stroke of luck for Balog, who was a straightaway behind Mock for the final transfer.  He took advantage of the double-file restart, and shot into fifth.
 
Heat four (started): 1. Saldana 83 (1) 2. Sides 7s (2) 3. Jordan Goldesberry 65 (3) 4. Mike Kertscher 80K (4) 5. Dominic Scelzi 41x (6) / 6. Ben Schmidt 59 (5) 7. Russell Borland 23B (7) 8. Kris Spitz 4K (8) 9. Dennis Spitz 41D (9)
 
The last heat was pretty single-file around the bottom, which is uncharacteristic of this place.  The lone move came from Scelzi, who found his way around Schmidt on the second lap for the last transfer.

Angell Park pits Dash (started): 1. Pittman (1) 2. Sweet (2) 3. Schatz (6) 4. Gravel (5) 5. Saldana (3) 6. Sides (8) 7. J. Johnson (7) 8. Stewart (4)
 
Pittman led Sweet and Stewart early in the 8-lapper.  Stewart suffered a flat right rear on the third lap while running third.  He changed it and rejoined at the tail.  Sweet was all over Pittman for the win at the checkers.
 
B main (started): 1. J. Schultz (2) 2. Modjeski (3) 3. Wilson (5) 4. Marten (6) / 5. Schmidt (1) 6. Mock (4) 7. S. Uttech (9) 8. Nimee (11) 9. Borland (8) 10. Knipp (14) 11. M. Vandervere (13) 12. Wirth (10) 13. K. Spitz (12) 14. D. Spitz (16) 15. T. Vandervere (15) 16. D. Uttech (7) DNS – Decker
 
Schmidt was penalized a row for jumping the initial start of the 12-lapper.  Modjeski led early over Schultz, Schmidt and Wilson.  Wilson disposed of Schmidt on lap two for third.  Schultz rode the cushion around Modjeski to take the lead for good on lap four.  First time WoO starte, Marten, worked over Schmidt before finally passing him on the last lap in an exciting battle for the final transfer.
 
A main (started): 1. Schatz (3) 2. Pittman (1) 3. Sweet (2) 4. Gravel (4) 5. Schuchart (11) 6. Stewart (8) 7. J. Johnson (7) 8. Saldana (5) 9. Allen (10) 10. McMahan (13) 11. Sides (6) 12. Reinke (15) 13. Neitzel (9) 14. Balog (19) 15. Scelzi (20) 16. Wilson (23) 17. Kertscher (16) 18. Schultz (21) 19. Marten (24) 20. Price-Miller (18) 21. Goldesberry (12) 22. Thiel (17) 23. Modjeski (22) 24. McMullen (14)
 
One lap of the 40 scheduled was in before Kertscher came to a stop with a broken left shock.  He made repairs and tagged the tail.  Pittman chose the inside line ahead of Schatz, Sweet, Gravel and Saldana on the restart.  McMullen flipped hard into the turn one wall when the green fell, however.  He was unhurt.  Once green, the leaders hit heavy lapped traffic by the tenth circuit.  Schatz was on Pittman’s bumper, and briefly passed him on lap 16.  Two laps later, disaster almost struck them both.  Thiel contacted the frontstretch wall by the pit gate and flipped in front of the leaders.  Both were able to avoid him.  Pittman had been running mostly the cushion, while Schatz ran the low side early.  Pittman chose the low side for the restart, got the jump, and headed to the cushion.  Schatz crossed to the bottom of one and two and made what would be the winning pass.  He would cruise through traffic to the checkers.  Pittman held onto second ahead of Sweet and Gravel, who battled for third most of the way.  Schuchart came from eleventh to claim fifth on lap 23.  It was Schatz’s 18th win of the year with the WoO and it was worth $10,000.

Jeff Zelinski Badger Midgets
 
Heat one (started): 1. Brandon Waelti 15 (1) 2. Brian Peterson 7 (4) 3. Laura Smith 6 (5) 4. Scott Zane 77 (3) 5. Jason Dull 01 (6) 6. Bryce Dunn 12D (2) DNS – Aaron Schuck 53
 
Waelti cruised, winning easily in the 8-lapper.  Dull exited on lap four while running third.
 
Heat two (started): 1. Robbie Ray 3 (5) 2. Jeff Zelinski 15z (2) 3. Buddy Luebke 43 (3) 4. Ken Hanson 34 (4) 5. Randy Reed 9 (6) 6. Denny Smith 21R (1) 7. Don Bigelow 04 (7)
 
Zelinski led Luebke and Hanson early.  Ray roared from fourth to second on the second lap.  D. Smith made heavy contact with the wall on lap five.  He would finish the race, but scratch from the feature.  Ray made an exciting pass for the lead on the last lap.
 
Heat three (started): 1. Kurt Mayhew 21 (1) 2. Andy Baugh 6B (4) 3. Derek Childs 29 (2) 4. Sean Murphy 5M (6) 5. Kyle Koch 71 (5) 6. Mike Stroik 9R (3) 7. Andrew Hennig 2A (7)
 
Mayhew led the distance.  Baugh quickly took second from Childs.  Koch passed Stroik for fifth on the last lap.
 
A main (started): 1. Zelinski (1) 2. Waelti (4) 3. Mayhew (3) 4. Ray (8) 5. Schuck (20) 6. Baugh (6) 7. Murphy (2) 8. Luebke (9) 9. Hanson (12) 10. Koch (15) 11. Childs (10) 12. Peterson (7) 13. Stroik (16) 14. Reed (14) 15. Hennig (19) 16. Dunn (17) 17. Zane (13) 18. Bigelow (18) 19. L. Smith (5) 20. Dull (11) DNS – D. Smith
 
Zelinski led Waelti and Murphy on the first lap of the 20-lap feature.  When Waelti tried the cushion, Murphy worked by, then Mayhew got under for third, and Ray passed him for fourth.  With the preferred bottom line, Mayhew and Ray moved by Murphy into second and third on lap seven.  L. Smith stopped with nine laps complete, bringing the caution flag.  Under caution, Zelinski tangled with a lapped car and went airborne, but kept rolling.  The restart saw him leading Mayhew, Ray, Murphy and Waelti.  Waelti fought back on lap eleven to pass Murphy for fourth, and then took third from Ray on the next lap.  With two to go, he rubbed Mayhew out of the way to take second.  Zelinski was too much up front, however, and he picked up his first ever Badger feature win at Angell Park.