Brandon Waelti Captures Badger Midget Opener Night 1 at Amsoil Sandbox Arena!
By Bryan Gapinski New Richmond, Wis., March 29
Brandon Waelti captured the season opening Badger Midget Series 30-lap feature at the Amsoil Sandbox Arena at Cedar Lake Speedway, Saturday Night. The event was the first ever automobile race event inside America's newest indoor racing facility.
Waelti passed the initial two laps around the 1/4-mile dirt oval, before Dave Darland took the lead. Running multiple grooves Darland, Waelti, Bubba Altig and Jerry Coons Jr. pulled away from the field. Four cautions between laps 7-12 slowed the event.
Darland and Waelti crossed the line separated by inches at the midway point. Exiting turn two Waelti drove under Darland for the lead. Waelti's two car length lead was erased with eight laps remaining when third and fourth place running Coons and Altig came to a stop in turn two. On the restart Waelti and Darland changed grooves with Waelti running the high side and Darland tried several low side passes, coming up two-car lengths short at the finish. Waelti drove the Jim Fiscus/Spike/Ford-Esslinger#7, and was followed by Darland, Aaron Fiscus, fast qualifier David Gough and Nick Lundgreen.
Qualifying: 14 Gough, 34 Lejune, 67 Altig, 7x Waelti, 15 Hatton, 63 Ray, 4 Hess, 19 Wipperfurth, 71 Noble, 43 Luebke, 56 Dull, 8 Mecum, 7 Fiscus, 6x Rosenboom, 41 Lundgreen, 2 Darland, 31 Budress, 5w Walters, 1 Peterson, 5 Coons, 94 Deselle, 21s Shreffler, 33 Ray
Heat 1: Ray, Altig, Lundgreen, Noble, Deselle
Heat 2: Coons, Budress, Rosenboom, Wipperfurth, Hatton
Heat 3: Darland, Fiscus, Waelti, Hess, Luedke
Dash: Darland, Waelti, Fiscus, Altig, Ray, Coons, Rosenboom, Budres, Lundgreen
Feature: Waelti, Darland, Fiscus, Gough, Lundgreen, Hatton, Noble, Ray, Wipperfurth, Dull, Altig, Coons, Peterson, Mecum, Deselle, Rosenboom, Budress, Hess, Luebke, Lejune
Dave Darland Scores Clean Sweep on Day 2 of the Badger Midget Indoor Event at the Sandbox Arena
By Bryan Gapinski, New Richmond, Wis., March 30
Dave Darland scored a wire-to-wire victory Sunday afternoon capturing the 40-lap Badger Midget Series feature at The Amsoil Sandbox Arena at Cedar Lake Speedway. Darland capped off a near perfect weekend with the victory after finishing second in Saturday Night's feature. Darland driving the Hans Lein/Spike/Ford-Esslinger#2 also won his heat race and the trophy dash each day.
Darland jumped into the lead from the pole at the start, followed by Jerry Coons Jr. Scott Hatton moved from seventh to third place on the opening lap. Three caution flags for minor spins slowed the race between laps 7-11. After the restart Darland, Coons and Hatton broke away from the field, the final caution appeared at the halfway point.
On the restart Darland again held off Coons. The final twenty laps saw Coons glued to Darland's, with Coons trying several attempts to move under Darland but none succeeded. Darland finished one car length ahead of Coons when the checkered flag was displayed. Hatton, Aaron Fiscus and Bubba Altig completed the top five.
After a capacity crowd on Saturday Night and a large Sunday crowd, event promoters and the Badger announced the two-day event would be again held in March 2009, with the exact date announced in the upcoming months.
Heat 1: Darland, Altig, Fiscus, Wipperfuth, Lundgreen
Heat 2: Coons, Noble, Gough, Peterson, Deselle
Heat 3: Ray, Hatton, Hess, Luebke, Mecum
Dash: Darland, Coons, Ray, Noble, Gough, Altig, Hatton, Hess
Feature 40 Laps: Darland, Coons, Hatton, Fiscus, Altig, Hess, Lundgreen, Waelti, Deselle, Dull, Peterson, Luebke, Rosenboom, Noble, Ray, Gough, Mecum, Lejune, Budres, Wipperfuth
Stay tuned for future announcements regarding the 2nd Annual Badger Midget Indoor event in the Amsoil Sandbox Arena at the Cedar Lake Speedway. See you at the big track this summer!