BADGER KART CLUB PRESS RELEASES

By Bill Blumer

The Badger Kart Club in Dousman, Wisconsin completed the fifth race in their Bridgestone Championship Series on Sunday. With nearly twenty classes of racing, it was a busy, action- packed day at the famed Badger Raceway. With "The Local Lap," also in attendance, the club and its drivers did their best to look good for the cameras.

In Yamaha Junior action, Dylan Warner jump into the lead for the feature, from his starting spot on the pole. Quentin Poupore was in tow, though and stuck to the leader in the opening laps. On the fourth circuit, Poupore made a banzai move to the inside of Warner as they went into turn-one. The kart stuck and Poupore motored around Warner. Warner tailed Poupore, but ended up a quarter of a second short in the end. Tim Trocke held third from start to finish followed by Alex Zambrowski and Joe Bongiorno.

Keenan Hertzner paced the opening lap of the TaG Sr. class of seven karts. The next lap saw Jacob Sekey take to the point. Sekey maintained a bit of a margin, but with two to go, the second place kart of Dillion Kranz started to take peeks. First it was a bump, then a front wheel even with a back wheel. All the while Sekey appeared as undaunted as Krantz was undeterred. As the came through No Man’s Land, the final major corner at Badger, on the final lap, Kranz pulled an outside, in move and snuck by Sekey. Sekey battled back as they came to the line, but was denied a shot at the win as Kranz was about .1 seconds quicker to the checkers. Hertzner rounded out the top three.

Veteran race fans know sometimes the best racing isn’t for the top spot in an event. Such was the case in Animal Senior action. Casey Bollig took the hole shot from Regan Vehring at the drop of the green. Bollig gave up the lead to Vehring just before the second lap was completed. By then the pair had amassed a ten kart-length lead over the next pack. And what a pack it was. In a repeat of their heat race, Vince Bartolotta, Joe Ciszek, Shawn Zanon and Ryan Hoke spent much of their time nose to tail and two by two as they navigated the twists and turns of Badger. The group even succeeded in a couple of three-wide maneuvers during the race, with nobody breaking formation.

At the line, Hoke, who started sixth of the seven karts in the race, took third, but the spots all seemed to swap several times in the course of a couple of laps. The other three each occupied the fourth spot at least once according to the transponder report, in the last three laps, but rounding it out in order were Bartolotta, Ciszek and Zanon. Vehring took the win followed by Bollig.

Next week the Route 66 Series visits Badger for a Saturday/Sunday two-race date.

Badger is back in action with their own doubleheader the following week, June 26 and 27.