"Championships up for grabs as Badger enters final points race"

By Mike Weaver
DOUSMAN, WI - Greeted with a crisp fall day September 30th, racers at Badger Raceway converged to do battle in week 18, the final week in the Bridgestone Tire Badger Kart Club Championship points series. Several class championships were up for grabs so everyone knew the racing would be great. Race conditions and setup would prove to be the key as the track and air changed constantly throughout the day. Early in the morning, there was so much humidity in the air that you couldn't see the other side of the track 50 yards away due to the thick fog. But the sun slowly burned off the moisture and more moderate air moved in.

By the time the features rolled around, the track had plenty of grip and the air was near-perfect. Doug Della took advantage of this breaking his own track records in both HPV Jr. and Yamaha Jr. SSX Can. Earlier in the day, Della was involved in a pretty hard crash when four karts got together in "the sweeper". However, like previous days at Badger, when Della is involved in a heat race crash, he usually goes on to break the track record in the feature! Nate Gish also took advantage of the great conditions and broke the track record in Yamaha Heavy. Lastly the top 4 125cc shifter drivers broke that track record with Tommy Mayr besting the entire field.

Rookie sensation Derek Crane won the pole got to bring the Jr. Briggs class down to the green for their feature race. Crane managed to lead the field until a great late-race pace by class champion Kasi Graff caused Crane to lose a few positions. Graff would go on to win yet another feature and clinch the 2001 championship.

Joe Gidlund was running his last race at Badger, as he will be entering the Air Force in a few weeks. With 5th place locked up in the championship, he had nothing to lose and hit his setup perfect. Gidlund would lead flag-to-flag in Sr. Sportsman Lite although he was constantly challenged by Joel Steffen, Jeff Hanisch and Shane Leveille. In Briggs Heavy, it was the Brasser Boys taking a one-two with Cory besting Adam. The win by Cory also bagged him the class championship.

This weekend saw a couple of first-time feature winners as Michael Schumacher drove an excellent race holding off Cody Weber in Briggs Jr. Sportsman and Adam Michaels did everything he could to hold off eventual class champion Jeff Funk. Dennis Borchardt also picked up his first feature victory as first-place (and class champion) Marty Keck experienced motor problems coming down for the checkers! This forced 2nd place Nicole Baier to back off and Borchardt swung past both of them for the win!

Top 3 finishers in each class as of Sept 30, 2001:
2-Cycle Jr Sportsman: 1.) Trevor Raisbeck, 2.) Bryce Dunn, 3.) Ronny Graham
Yamaha Lite: 1.) Tom LeGault, 2.) Marty Keck, 3.) Erin Cechal
Junior Briggs: 1.) Kasi Graff, 2.) Garrett Goth, 3.) Derek Crane
Briggs Jr Sportsman: 1.) Michael Schumacher, 2.) Cody Weber, 3.) Talina Sotelo
Yamaha Heavy: 1.) Jerry Kindler, 2.) Mike Fuchs, 3.) Terry Thomas
Briggs Jr Stock: 1.) Brad Richards, 2.) Shelley Krzewinski, 3.) Rachel Neitzel
Jr Can: 1.) Adam Michaels, 2.) Jeff Funk, 3.) Nick Gillette
125cc Shifter: 1.) Lyle Longley, 2.) Matt Mercier, 3.) Colin Predith
Jr SSX Can: 1.) Doug Della, 2.) Rachel Neitzel, 3.) Adam Kempfer
HPV Sr: 1.) Dennis Borchardt, 2.) Nicole Baier, 3.) Marty Keck
Sr Sportsman Lite: 1.) Joe Gidlund, 2.) Jeff Hanisch, 3.) Joel Steffen
Sr Sportsman Heavy: 1.) Kory King, 2.) Mike Anor, 3.) Howard Hanisch
Briggs Heavy: 1.) Cory Brasser, 2.) Adam Brasser, 3.) Tom Beringer
HPV Jr: 1.) Zack Emmons, 2.) Doug Della, 3.) Nick Aymond
Briggs Lite: 1.) Mike Landeck, 2.) Aron Scalissi, 3.) Dave Storm