The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association closed their three-day weekend of racing with a very special event at their historic home Angell Park Speedway. Parker Jones continued to make history as he won his ninth Badger Lyco Manufacturing Feature in a row and third in three consecutive nights. He is setting a new consecutive win streak record in Badger with each A-Main victory.
It was Salute to Bryan Gapinski Night. Gapinski was the longtime media director of the club and helped keep it and Angell Park Speedway in the forefront of the minds of race fans. He passed away in 2020 at the age of 56.
A highlight of the evening was Badger Midget announcer Eric Huenenfeld welcoming Gapinski’s wife Jenna and children Kailey and Tyler to Victory Lane. They were joined by Badger Hall of Famer Father Dale Grubba.
Jenna addressed the crowd. In doing so she thanked Angell Park Speedway and Badger. She went on to say that Angell Park was home for her late husband and he’d be honored at being remembered. Gapinski noted it was fitting to honor Dean Billings too on this night as Bryan and Dean were such good friends. Billings drove a Gapinski-owner car for a period. The first Dash for Dean would be held later in the program.
QUALIFYING AND HEATS
Jones started his march to another clean sweep in Rod End Supply Qualifying where he beat Luke Wackerlin, Adam Taylor, Todd Kluever and Trey Weishoff in that order.
The heats would be interesting. While all cars were going into the A-Main, the top-five would start somewhere ahead of those who did not. Those five also earned points as always, but the top-two finishers would get a ticket to the Dash for Dean which included a special trophy and cash for all six participants.
In Auto Meter Heat-One Mike Stroik and Tommy Colburn battled on the opening lap but Taylor had the lead by the time the second lap was done. Now, the race was for second and the coveted Deans Dash bid. A spirited battle ensued between Colburn, Daniel Robinson and Zach Boden for second. Colburn got inside Robinson with three to go but the #31 expired and rolled to a stop on the track. On the restart Taylor took off without much of a challenge and Robinson took the second Dash transfer.
Dave Jones Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Protection and Electrical Heat-Two saw Dave Collins Jr. lead lap-one with Jake Dohner and Harrison Kleven in hot pursuit. It wasn’t long before five cars were battling for the lead. Within the next lap Dohner and Weisensel broke away. While it would have been easy to go nose to tail and ease their way into the Dash, neither gave an inch for several laps, exchanging the lead often within a circuit. Finally Weisensel got a bit of an advantage and over the last two laps kept a cushion on Dohner for the win.
Hometown driver Nick Kilian bolted to the lead on the drop of the green for Behling Racing Equipment Heat-Three. The next lap he was in a three-wide battle with Eric Blumer and Matt Rechek coming out of turn-two. Rechek popped out to take the lead by the next corners. It didn’t take long for Miles Doherty to assert himself and overtake Rechek.
With about four to go Jones was in the mix and took the lead. With two laps left Doherty was very high in turn-one nearly hitting the wall with his right rear as he occupied the last Dash transfer. On the next lap he tagged the wall. In doing so he rode up it, banged it and had a seemingly minor tip over actually balancing on his tail tank with his nose in the air. The car was righted and all indications at press time point to Doherty being alright.
Then before they could go green, Rechek, who had inherited second, came to the attention of the safety crew as his car was resting in turn-three. Rechek went off on the hook. Jones would take them to the green again with Blumer now in the last coveted transfer spot to the Dash. Jace Sparks, the current MARA point leader, was in third.
Blumer got next to Jones in turn-two on the restart, but then Jones powered away. Sparks made it interesting as they came to the checkers, getting his front tires to Blumer’s back, but it wasn’t enough and Blumer took the last Dash spot.
DASH FOR DEAN
The field was inverted with the slower cars in front for The Dash for Dean. Blumer had the pole and took the lead for about a lap but Jones was charging from his sixth starting spot and by the time they crossed the line Jones nipped Blumer for the lead and sailed to the win. Robinson was second. Jones collected the spoils that included a case of beer harkening back to the days when a case was given to the winner of each midget event.
LYCO MANUFACTURING A-MAIN
The Zimbrick Chevrolet Pace Truck led front row starters Jake Goeglein and Weisensel on their parade laps. The pill Jones drew put him in tenth starting spot. Things got hairy a couple of times for Jones during this event. The first time was on lap-four as they came out of turn-four. Here Jones got next to Weisensel and the pair banged wheels hard but neither missed a beat. Jones powered away to the lead.
A yellow on the eighth lap tightened the field with Jones ahead of Weisensel, Sparks, Robinson and Taylor. By the time they finished a lap Jones had a half a straight on the field again.
At the half-way point Jones was ahead by a straight and the battle was for second between Weisensel and Sparks. The pair swapped the position several times. Meanwhile Jones was encountering lapped traffic.
With seven laps to go the yellow flew for a spin and it was Jones, Sparks, Weisensel, Robinson and Kluever on the restart. Sparks got even with Jones when the green flew. In the middle of one and two Sparks bicycled getting about as far over as he could without flipping his mount. He gathered the car and kept motoring but Jones had another big advantage. Jones won by a half a straightaway. Sparks was second followed by Kluever.
In Bank of Sun Prairie Victory Lane Jones was quick to credit his crew for their hard work. He told the crowd his team was still working and still learning as recently as the Dash tonight. He went on to say he saw Sparks get upset and thought the two were going to go for a ride. After the interview Gregg McKarns, the promoter of Angell Park Speedway paid Jones the $2,000 bounty that was out on Jones, to the driver in $100 bills.
CONTINGENCIES AND MORE
Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-Four; Madison Extinguisher Service Last Chance Qualifier and the High Performance Lubricants B-Main were not run. Likewise, there were no rookies in the field to earn a Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race.
Mike Unger passed ten cars and earned the Spankins Motorsports Bob Tattersall Hard Charger Award.
Miles Doherty was the Rod End Supply Hard Luck Award recipient.
Kyle Koch received the Last Place Bonus in Memory of Addison Dahlke.
Several drivers who did not make the Dash for Dean were still awarded prizes by the Billings family after the races.
Fans may have recognized a couple of former Badger people in the crowd including Hall of Famer Dan Boorse, championship crew chief Greg Nelson, former driver Chargin’ Charlie Ford and 1989 Badger Rookie of the Year Billy Berg.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Lyco Manufacturing A - Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[10]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks[3]; 3. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 4. 5X-Adam Taylor[8]; 5. 57R-Daniel Robinson[6]; 6. 20D-Derek Doerr[5]; 7. 20-Cody Weisensel[2]; 8. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[9]; 9. 68-Eric Blumer[14]; 10. 31-Tommy Colburn[18]; 11. 51-Zach Boden[13]; 12. 7F-Aaron Fiscus[4]; 13. 67U-Mike Unger[23]; 14. 29-Harrison Kleven[20]; 15. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[12]; 16. 2-Jake Dohner[11]; 17. 8-Jake Goeglein[1]; 18. 29K-Mike Stroik[21]; 19. 57-Matt Rechek[19]; 20. (DNS) 17N-Nick Kilian; 21. (DNS) 8D-Miles Doherty; 22. (DNS) 45-Trey Weishoff; 23. (DNS) 98-Jordan Nelson; 24. (DNS) 59-Kyle Koch
Dash 1 (6 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[6]; 2. 57R-Daniel Robinson[4]; 3. 68-Eric Blumer[1]; 4. 5X-Adam Taylor[5]; 5. 2-Jake Dohner[2]; 6. 20-Cody Weisensel[3]
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5X-Adam Taylor[8]; 2. 57R-Daniel Robinson[7]; 3. 51-Zach Boden[3]; 4. 7F-Aaron Fiscus[6]; 5. 8-Jake Goeglein[5]; 6. 31-Tommy Colburn[4]; 7. 29K-Mike Stroik[1]; 8. 59-Kyle Koch[2]
Dave Jones Plumbing HVAC Electrical Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Cody Weisensel[5]; 2. 2-Jake Dohner[4]; 3. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[8]; 4. 20D-Derek Doerr[6]; 5. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[3]; 6. 45-Trey Weishoff[7]; 7. 29-Harrison Kleven[2]; 8. 67U-Mike Unger[1]
Behlings Race Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[8]; 2. 68-Eric Blumer[2]; 3. 40-Jace Sparks[5]; 4. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 5. 17N-Nick Kilian[1]; 6. 8D-Miles Doherty[6]; 7. 57-Matt Rechek[3]; 8. 98-Jordan Nelson[4]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones, 00:15.858[8]; 2. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 00:16.271[21]; 3. 5X-Adam Taylor, 00:16.313[7]; 4. 55-Todd Kluever, 00:16.386[11]; 5. 45-Trey Weishoff, 00:16.451[14]; 6. 57R-Daniel Robinson, 00:16.517[20]; 7. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:16.627[15]; 8. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:16.667[12]; 9. 7F-Aaron Fiscus, 00:16.703[4]; 10. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:16.708[22]; 11. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:16.725[1]; 12. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:16.792[5]; 13. 98-Jordan Nelson, 00:16.801[6]; 14. 2-Jake Dohner, 00:16.895[2]; 15. 31-Tommy Colburn, 00:17.000[18]; 16. 57-Matt Rechek, 00:17.024[17]; 17. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:17.036[3]; 18. 51-Zach Boden, 00:17.065[10]; 19. 68-Eric Blumer, 00:17.182[9]; 20. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:17.386[24]; 21. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:17.518[19]; 22. 17N-Nick Kilian, 00:17.666[16]; 23. 67U-Mike Unger, 00:17.934[23]; 24. (DNS) 29K-Mike Stroik; 25. (DNS) 55K-Colin Campbell; 26. (DNS) 20R-Randy Doerr; 27. (DNS) 41J-John Jones
Roy Ophime Photo
Article by Bill Blumer Jr.
- William Blumer on Jul 28, 2025
- Article Date: 7/28/2025