[Gapinski]

BADGER MIDGET SERIES PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Bryan Gapinski

"Bell tops Pepsi Nationals field" |
"Oklahoma driver becomes 20th different event winner"

By Bryan Gapinski
Sun Prairie, Wis., July 6---Christopher Bell took the lead the with eleven laps remaining to win the 33rd annual Peps Midget Nationals Sunday night at Angell Park Speedway. The event was co-sanctioned by the USAC Honda National Midget, POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series and Zimbrick Chevrolet of Sun Prairie/Mid-State Equipment Badger Midget Series. Bell becomes the first driver since Stevie Reeves (1991) to win the event in his first attempt.

Polesitter Garrett Aitken paced the initial lap, before New Zealand’s Michael Pickens took the lead. Bell who topped the field in qualifying, moved into third place on the fifth lap, and two laps later passed Aitken for the second position.

Pickens enjoyed a two-plus second lead over Bell, with ten laps completed. Bell narrowed Pickens lead to four-car lengths at the midway point. Two caution flags for stalled cars on Laps 16 and 18, bunched up the field.

Bell passed Pickens entering Turn 3 on Lap 18, and began to increase his lead each lap. Pickens slid sideways running in third place causing several cars to slow, brining out the caution despite any cars coming to a stop.

Bell quickly moved away from teammate Tanner Thorson on the restart. Rico Abreu running the third Kunz/Curb-Agajanian entry passed several cars in the final laps to claim third and complete a “podium sweep” for the team. The win was third event victory for car owner Keith Kunz. Chris Windom and last year’s winner Zach Daum completed the top five.

“Keith and crew had the car perfect all weekend the track was tricky at times, it’s great to win an event with such history” commented Bell who scored his eleventh overall midget feature victory of the season.

Sun Prairie’s Bobby Ollerman scored an exciting victory in the non-stop 20-lap Badger 600 Micro feature. Polesitter Will Gerrits took the lead at the start followed by Ollerman. The pair pulled away from the field. Gerrits encountered lapped traffic with three laps remaining giving the lead to Ollerman. Gerrits drew even with Ollerman as the pair took the white flag. The leaders ran wheel to wheel on the final lap, passing several lapped cars, with Ollerman winning by one- car length. Matt Paderta, Norm Ehrke, and Tory Strauss completed the top five.

SUMMARY
MIDGETS
30-lap Feature: 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Rico Abreu, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Tracy Hines, 8. Michael Pickens, 9. Jake Blackhurst, 10. Bill Balog, 11. Jerry Coons, Jr., 12. Tyler Courtney, 13. Bryan Clauson, 14. Tyler Thomas, 15. Andrew Felker, 16. Austin Brown, 17. Garrett Aitken, 18. Parker Price-Miller, 19. Seth Motsinger, 20. Terry Babb, 21. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 22. Spencer Bayston.
12-lap Semi Feature Winner: Abreu.
10-lap Heat Race Winners: Bell, Clauson, Thorson.
Fast Time: Thorson, 14.611 seconds.
Cars Present: 25 Feature Lap Leaders: Aitken 1, Pickens 2-18, Bell 19-30.
**Chapple flipped during Heat 1. Abreu flipped during Heat 1.

MICROS
20-lap Feature: 1. Bobby Ollerman; 2. Will Gerrits; 3. Matt Paderta; 4. Norm Ehrke; 5. Tory Strauss; 6. Vance Lein; 7. Zach Boden; 8. Chad Bogar; 9. Jerry Reif; 10. Dusty Gerrits; 11. Jake Reif; 12. Jason Dull; 13. Tyler Brabant; 14 Jake Goeglein; 15. Brandon Sletten; 16. Dustin Stefan.
8-lap Heat Race Winners: W. Gerrits, Sletten.
Feature Lap Leaders: W. Gerrits 1-16, Ollerman 17-20.

Pepsi Nationals Notes:
---Garret Aitken led the opening feature lap, only once has a driver led the opening lap and won the event, Davey Ray in 2003.
----The win marked the fifth straight Pepsi Nationals victory for engine manufacturer Toyota.
----Car Owner Keith Kunz’s previous event victories came with Page Jones (1993) and Jay Drake (2000).
---Five former winners ran the event: Kevin Olson, Tracy Hines, Jerry Coons Jr., Brady Bacon, and Zach Daum.
----Nine drivers were competing in their first ever Pepsi Midget Nationals.