In a tuneup for next weekend, Jerry Coons Jr. took the Cornfest 50 at Angell Park before a packed house. Coons took the lead before the race was half over and never looked back. It was a nice return for Davey Ray, back from a racing injury, who finished second. Mike Hess was third and Dakota Armstrong, perhaps preparing for the next three big nights of racing at the speedway finished fourth.

Coons was the fastest in time trials, where over half of the field ran in the 14-second range. Preliminary wins went to Matt Smith, Bubba Altig, Coons, Scott Hatton and Armstrong.

This weekend, it’s a double header at Angell Park Speedway as Badger and USAC take to the track in a co-sanctioned event. Both Saturday and Sunday will have 30 lap features as most of the nation’s best midget drivers compete in the Hall of Fame Classic, sponsored by McGovern’s, Miller Genuine Draft and the Sun Prairie Tourism Commission.

Davey Ray has been released to race after almost 12 weeks of recovery from a broken knee cap suffered in an accident at Knoxville Raceway back in May. Ray was expected to be out for at least 6 weeks for the initial break to heal, but it took an additional 6 weeks of physical therapy exercises for the muscles around the knee cap to heal. Daily biking, stretching, and climbing in the cockpit of his racecar were some of the activities Ray performed in order to get his knee at the 90 degree angle needed to safely return to racing.

Ray is set to make his return on Sunday August 23rd at Angell Park Speedway for the “Corn Fest 50” event. Ray is a two-time winner of the “Corn Fest” event claiming the 2008 50-lapper driving for John Jones and the 2004 event driving for RaJo/Wilke. Ray will pilot the Mecum Racing No. 33 this weekend, and couldn’t be happier to make his return.

Photos by Jeff Wilcenski www.openwheelpictures.comThe Mid-Season 25 by Merillat Cabinets and Chase Lumber was contested at Angell Park Speedway on Sunday.

Indiana's Brad Kuhn set the bar in qualifying, as he was the only car to crack the 14-second bracket.

The trophy dash was won by Mike Hess in the Jerryatric Motor Sports number 1.

In heat action, Scott Hatton in the Huston Solution Racing midget took the first one. Meanwhile, Kurt Mayhew wondered where all the fast guys were, as he backed up several Victory Lane visits of late, with a feature win over both Hess and Kuhn.

Bubba Altig, with Mopar power, won the qualifying race, while Sun Prairie's Chad DeSelle took the Semi.

The Badger A-Main started with a strong run by Aaron Fiscus. Kuhn looked good early, but a flat tire put him in the pits and relegated him to a 13th place finish. In the end it was Hess who topped the field.

Bill Blummer Photo - Sun Prairie's Leroy Waelti flipped during Badger Midget action at Angell Park on Sunday. His car is a historic one and it was his first time out with it, this year. A former Fiscus car, it was driven in its prime by Hall of Famer BiFans had the pleasure of monitoring two streaks this week at Angell Park Speedway, as Brad Loyet and Kurt Mayhew each had a string of feature wins to defend. Loyet had won the last four Badger Midget Auto Racing Association mains at the Speedway, while Mayhew, also a Badger regular, had poached the last five events from the Illini Racing Series there. The race was sponsored by Mid-State Equipment, the Sun Prairie Tourism Commission and Pepsi of Madison who provided many kids in attendance with big Pepsi water bottles.

Story by Bill Blumer photos by Jeff Wilcenski
Missouri's Brad Loyet made it four straight feature wins at Angell Park Speedway, as he took the Firecracker 25. The main event saw Jason Dull and Aaron Fiscus lead the field to the green. It was a drag race between the two down the backstretch, where Fiscus won the battle into the third turn. From here Fiscus paced the field for the next five laps until Loyet slid under him in turn-four. With that, Fiscus got his car high and in trying to gain control, headed down toward the inner guardrail, as the field came toward him. Chad DeSelle did an excellent job as he swung high, just narrowly missing Fiscus.

The restart had Loyet in front followed by Scott Hatton, DeSelle, Mike Hess and Matt Smith. Hatton stuck to Loyet when racing resumed, but Loyet quickly put distance between the two. On the tenth lap, Hatton rode against the turn-four wall and appeared to be stuck in that cycle, but just as the yellow came out, he freed himself and continued on, as if all was well. The next restart had Hess in second and Hatton in third.