[Task Force]

SET Racing sweeps night one at Angell Park Speedway

By Zach Tasker

The Illini Racing Series returned to the famed Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on Saturday May 25 with a highly entertaining show. One IRS car owner described APS as "the Yankee Stadium of midget racing' and this rings true as once you walk into the gates you feel the great atmosphere of the track. 18 Illini midgets braved the unseasonably cool weather for night 1 of a double header. The first of two 8 lap heat races started the racing program with Jason Allen and Eddie Sauer on the front row. 3rd place starter Sean Murphy quickly asserted himself to the front of the pack and would win but not after a ferious charge from defending champion Patrick Bruns placed him in 2nd after starting deep in the field from 8th.

Next on track was heat race two, this saw Doug Orseske and points leader Brad Greenup lead the field to green. The "Passin Assain" Mike Anderson would live up to his name as he quickly moved into the lead and never looked back taking the victory.

The 20 lap feature rolled off with Greenup and Lamont Critchett on the front row. In the early stages of the race the #77 Volkswagon powered Buzzard of Critchett stretched his lead and seemed comfortable up front. A flip on the front straight by Andrew Hennig would bring things to a halt on lap 9. On the restart the fans were treated to an eleven lap shootout featuring great midget racing from the top of the track to the bottom. Heat race winners Anderson and Murphy had climbed their way to the front after starting mid field due to the inversion. Meanwhile Bruns had already asserted himself to the top of the pack. For a few laps it looked as if it was Bruns race to lose. With just a handfull of laps remaining the race for the win suddenly became a 3 way barnburner. At one point with 2 to go the cars were 3 wide coming off of turn two with the #83 of Bruns being squeezed into the outside wall. This meant it was a two horse race between the SET Racing teamates on the white flag lap. Murphy made a smooth final circuit to pick up his first ever victory at Angell Park Speedway. Bruns would follow close behind with Anderson right on his tail.

The "Smurfinator" Sean Murphy, has started off the season hot as a firecracker after winning a heat race last weekend at Sycamore Speedway "This is the coolest track in the world. I can remember coming up here from the age of 3 or 4 years old and just sitting in the infield with my dad watching races so to me this is pretty damn awesome that I was able to not only win a heat but a feature here tonight. " The driver of the #5 Potential AG/SET Racing Engines Twister/Ecotec knew he had a fight on his hands the last few laps" I saw Bruns go on the outside and Mike was working the inside pretty well and it looked like the inside was the perfered choice of lane and sure enough Mikey got a good run and passed Bruns and he really checked out and I followed two people behind him then it was just me and Mike. It turns out I was a little better in turn 2 than him and I saw that white flag come out and I said its now or never and I got a nice run coming off 2 and I put a little bump on Mike and I made the pass. I apologize to Mike, but racing is racing and I told him when its his turn to do that, he is more than welcome to."
Patrick Bruns was pleased with a 2nd place finish but also knew how close he was to victory "To come out of here with a top two finish anytime, I feel good about it. The car was perfect, we got everything we could out of the motor. We just got beat by more talent tonight thats all there is too it." The driver of the #83 Full Throttle Racing/JET Motorsports/Cains Marine Welding/Tin Cup RV Park/Advanced Financial/Mobil 1/Triple T Car Wash & Lube/Depke Gases & Welding Supplies Beast/Ecotec made fans hold their breath as he tagged the backstaight wall battling for the lead "I just got tight on the bottom and kind of got pinched up on the outside and unfortantly caught the wall but we will roll it on the trailer, clean it up and get ready for tomorrow night. I dont feel like we have a feature winning car right now, I feel like we have a 2nd or 3rd place car. I feel like we are still trying to make this package work and we will keep working it and hoping for the best.

For someone who has never seen Angell Park Speedway before tonight, 2012 IRS Rookie of the year Mike Anderson looked like a seasoned veterean slicing and dicing with the lead pack in the feature.

"We got a good run on Bruns, we passed him and we had the white flag and I really had to slow it down in turns 1 and 2 to get a bite. The wheels were spinning, I think I slowed it down too much and thats when Sean got us. All in all a good night after last week this is awesome. This is an awesome track." The driver of the #7 SET Racing Engines/Heros West Sports Grill/VIP Salon & Spa/John Lawson Auto Rebuilders/RHO Chemical/Party Bomb Energy Drink/Sp2 Graphics Stewart/Ecotec was another driver wishing for more "Im not sleeping tonight, Im going to be running through it (the finish), every lap, all night. I cant wait to race here again tomorrow, this place is so damn fun. We can come here every week if we want to! They give you a case of beer here when you win, so when you put a case of beer in front of SET Racing we tend to rise to the top. "

SET Racing will try to top their feat of sweeping the night with wins in both heat races and the feature tomorrow as the IRS comes back for night two of the first doubleheader of the season. All of the 5 SET cars in the field carried orange sidewalled painted tires in tribute to Josh Burton, who was fatally injured in a sprint car crash in Bloomington, Indiana Friday night.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Feature (20 laps): 1)#5 Sean Murphy 2)#83 Patrick Bruns 3)#7 Mike Anderson 4)#4 Brad Greenup 5)#77 Lamont Critchett 6)#52 Mike Gass 7)#21k Kurt Mayhew 8)#53 Aaron Schuck 9)#6 Eddie Sauer 10)#2 Tom Schnabel 11)#24 Ray Seach 12)#15 Jeff Zelinski 13)#54 Jason Allen 14)#9 Scott Koerner 15)#0 Doug Orseske 16)#31 Kourtnay Borman 17)#2a Andrew Hennig

Heat #1 (8 laps): 1)#5 Sean Murphy 2)#83 Patrick Bruns 3)#21k Kurt Mayhew 4)#53 Aaron Schuck 5)#77 Lamont Critchett 6)#6 Eddie Sauer 7)#54 Jason Allen 8)#2 Andrew Hennig 9)#43 Tommy Bigelow (DNS)
Heat #2 (8 laps): 1:#7 Mike Anderson 2)#24 Ray Seach 3)#52 Mike Gass 4)#15 Jeff Zelinski 5)#4 Brad Greenup 6)#2 Tom Schnabel 7)#9 Scott Koerner 8)#0 Doug Orseske 9)#31 Koutnay Borman

[PatrickMead#13]

Congrats to all the guys at SETracing. Great group of folks there!

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