Angell Park’s Fantasy Midget experts have been battling hard all year, but after a good week five, they fell off a bit for the seventh installment. Tom Lindner lead all but five fans en route to a solid finish in the fifth week of the contest. From there, however, the experts slacked off, with 35 fans behind Lindner, but ahead of the next best expert, Bryan Gapinski. Amy Schulz, an early season star, brought up the rear of the pack on a week where even Racetrack Ronnie beat her.

Rain won week six, so with several days to gather their thoughts, we hoped the experts would be ready for the Firecracker 30, in week seven. In a half full world, it was great to see that only 16 fans snuck by our top two experts. But our prize vault will be a little emptier this week, as of those fans, 11 were ahead of our best expert on the week, Gapinski. Lindner was a respectable seventeenth over all.

In the season-long point race, Lindner is in third with Gapinski just outside the top ten.

Fans that beat the experts during the week are eligible for prizes. Winners will be notified by Email.

With three different feature winners on the season and guys like Hatton, Waelti and Hess lurking each week the picks will get tougher and tougher. We expect our experts to step up to the challenge and crush the competition from now to season’s end.

Visit www.angellpark.com to play Fantasy Midgets. It’s fun and free!

Don't forget to check www.midgetmadness.com to see how you can help out Marty Boyer!

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Sunday July 6th, 2008

Kids Night 30

Presented by Mid-State Equipment & Sun Prairie Sand & Gravel

Featuring the Badger Midgets and The Illini Racing Series

This Sunday July 6^th is Kids Night 30 sponsored by Mid-state Power & Equipment out of Columbus along with Sun Prairie Sand & Gravel and WJVL  99.9 out of Janesville.  

Mid-state Power and Equipment will invite anyone with a valid ID from Columbus and Watertown in FREE. 

Sun Prairie Sand & Gravel will be having their “sand dig” for the kids. This is the biggest sand pile around and will contain several hundred dollars of coins for the kids to dig in and keep the coins they find!

Sun Prairie Sand & Gravel has just opened a decorative stone division located right across the tracks from Angell Park Speedway – Need some decorative stone just drive right in and check it out ! 

WJVL out of Janesville has invited 500 members of the UAW Local to come and join us for a FREE night out after their devastating news about Janesville losing the GM Plant.

 It will be an action packed night of racing here at Angell Park this Sunday

 Gates Open 4:00pm

Hot Laps 5:30pm

Time Trials 6:00pm

Racing 6:30pm

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Sunday June 29th, 2008

Miller Lite Fire Cracker 30

Bubba Altig Wins!

Angell Park Speedway hosted the Miller Lite Firecracker 30 amid a hearty crowd eager for some racing action and Sun Prairie’s annual fireworks display. With a heavy, well watered track, it was a bit of a surprise to have only one car qualify under the 15 second mark, as Michael Pickens ran the fastest lap at 14.665.

Sun Prairie’s Brandon Waelti opened the racing action with a wire to wire win in the first heat. Starting fourth, he took the lead before the first lap was over and never looked back. Waelti joked that he, "needed directions to Victory Lane," as it had been so long since he had won a race. Indeed, while he’s been solid all season and is in the top five in the point chase, it was his first win of the year. Joe Wipperfurth, also from Sun Prairie, was second.

Aaron Fiscus took the early lead in the second heat, but was challenged on the second circuit by Gary (Bubba) Altig. Two laps later Altig drove by Fiscus for the lead. As Altig gained distance on the field, Fiscus had his hands full as AJ Fike tailed him from the midpoint of the race to the checkers. Altig took the checkers unchallenged. Fike dove under Fiscus at the line, but it was not enough, as the Sun Prairie driver maintained his runner up spot.

Pole sitter, Chad DeSelle of Sun Prairie, jumped into the early lead for the last heat. A caution flag on the second lap erased his advantage, though. The running order on the restart found Pickens in fourth after starting last in the eight car field. At the green, Pickens picked off Jake Slotten and Nick Lundgreen, while setting his sights on DeSelle. At about lap five, DeSelle bobbled and Pickens flew by. The New Zealand native was never challenged after that and won by a half a lap.

Scott Hatton lead every lap of the semi-feature after starting from the pole. With four laps to go he had to deal with lapped traffic, which allowed Mike Hess to get within four lengths of him, but there was never a serious challenge.

The last time the Badger midgets convened at Angell Park, Pickens had stopped the Angell Park winning streak of Jerry Coons Jr. With fast time and a heat win under his belt, Pickens was a favorite for the 30 lap feature, as Coons was absent this weekend. Fiscus lead the field into turn one at the start of the race, but front row mate Waelti took the point on lap three. Davey Ray, wheeling the Bernie and Bob Schreffler car, was in second by the fourth circuit, while a two wide battle with five cars ensued behind him for the third spot.

Ray took Waelti on the outside at the starting line on lap seven, but the lead was short-lived as Altig split the two frontrunners on the next lap. At this point Pickens had worked his way to fourth, running the top of the track unless he needed to get by another car running the high side. Altig enjoyed a lead spanning half a straightaway as he met lapped traffic on the fifteenth lap. By lap 20 Pickens had battled to the second spot, but soon got sideways coming out of turn two as he appeared to make contact with another car. He did a power slide, stopping in the middle of the back straight as the field came toward him. Several cars swerved by, but Dan Mecum caught the front of the Pickens machine, sending Mecum into a fast and hard flip. Mecum exited his car and appeared to escape any serious injury, but he was done for the night. The hit looked like it should have damaged some components around the left front wheel on the Pickens car too, putting that car on the hook. However, his crew expecting the worst, found nothing askew and later speculated that Mecum just caught their front bumper.

On the restart, with a cushion of lapped traffic between his car and the second place Waelti vehicle, Altig took off and sailed to the win. Waelti, Hatton, Hess and Ray rounded out the top five. Pickens came from the last spot to pass ten cars and finish in tenth.

The stands remained full after the races as fans stayed to enjoy the fireworks display sponsored by Evergreen State Bank.

Angell Park will host the usual Badger show this weekend and the Illini Racing Series midgets will also be in action with their own program. The Illini cars are billed as a midget sportsman group. They run chassis compatible with Badger, but have tire, engine and weight rules which attempt to level the field and keep the cost of racing down. Some drivers are expected to make adjustments between races so they can compete in both programs on the night. With the extra group, activities will start a half an hour earlier as hot laps will be at 5:30 and time trials at 6 p.m.

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Sunday June 15th, 2008

The Dash for Dads 30

Presented by Start Pontiac GMC of Sun Prairie, Budweiser & Pepsi

Micheal Pickens Wins!!

The Father’s Day race at Angell Park Speedway was held despite an early threat of rain and a still soggy infield. Cars pitted on the outside of the track due to the conditions, but the program ran smoothly, as in recent years this circumstance is less of a novelty for the teams.

Jerry Coons Jr started the night off by scoring the fastest lap in time trials, driving the car he usually runs in USAC competition.

In preliminary action, Australia’s Matt Smith took the first heat over NASCAR Truck Series driver Bobby East. The second heat was won by New Zealand’s Michael Pickens. Coons kept his unbeaten streak alive, dating back to last season, as he came from his eighth starting spot to claim the last heat. Sun Prairie’s Joe Wipperfurth had a bittersweet win in the semi, as it was his first trip to Victory Lane without his father, Jim who passed away last year.

Fan’s could see the track was ironically dry considering the period of flooding our area had suffered. Even so, it seemed there would be two grooves for racing in the feature. Smith took the early lead from the pole position as many watched what was happening far behind him. Justin Allgaier of Riverton, Illinois started in the back of the field and passed six cars prior to the first lap being completed. Coons seemed to be held up on his way to the front and at lap five he had only gained a couple of spots after starting tenth. By lap seven Mike Hess was tailing Smith and on the next circuit Hess took the lead over the teenager. A lap nine yellow flag bunched the field after Brandon Waelti and Scott Hatton tangled with each other and a lapped car. Waelti was the only one of the group to continue.

As Hess lead them down for the restart, Smith was still behind him. Coons was in fifth and Allgaier had worked his way to eighth. In the next four laps Pickens caught Hess and was battling for the lead. He got under Hess in turn two, but Hess got him back in turn three. This allowed Coons to enter the picture and he got around them both by lap 15. Lap 17 saw the field bunched again for a caution.

On the restart Coons took the green but before he arrived in turn one, his engine made a popping noise and a sick sounding drone. He stalled a bit and Pickens got by him for the lead, as Coons got back to speed. Waelti and Allgaier then put on an entertaining battle for fourth, as they traded lanes and position a couple of times, but then Allgaier’s motor let loose and he rolled to a stop, bringing out another caution.

With less than ten to go, Pickens lead the field down for the green. Coons immediately stalled and pulled high to allow those behind him to move on, his day was done. Pickens went on to the win, ending the Angell Park win streak of Coons who was unable to finish. Hess was second followed by Waelti and East. For Pickens it was his first feature win since August of last year, in what had been the last time Coon’s had been beaten at Angell Park.

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