Midgets: (NAMARS) Koch Cooks 'Em at Benton County
3 May 1998
By LES MESZAROSBOSWELL, IN Saturday night Randy Koch was cooking at Benton County Speedway, in Boswell, IN, as he snared the 25 lap NAMARS Auto Value/Badger midget feature. Koch clobbered the field driving a Beast chassis with a Brayton power plant. Another healthy field of 56 midgets filled the pits.
Dean Billings and Doug Schenck were one and two the first five laps and pulled away from the field. These two leaders looked like it might be their race but a caution gave Randy Koch the opportunity he needed.
Koch jumped into third on the restart and the top three ran close while Koch looked for his opportunity. It only took Koch five laps to figure out what he had to do. On lap 11 it was to the outside of turn 4 and into second past Schenck. The next lap it was the outside of turn 4 as he swept past Dean Billings and into the lead. The last half of the race it was all Koch and he was unchallenged the rest of the way. Even when a couple of cautions bunched the field behind him as soon as the green flew Koch was gone. Completing the top five Dean Billings, Dave Camfield, Boyd Calvert and Allen Gillis.
No time trials were held. The heat starting positions were determined by a drawing. Heat race victories went to Scott Hatton, Dean Billings, Dean Erfurth, Doug Schenck and Randy Koch. The semi-features were won by Aaron Fiscus and Boyd Calvert.
NAMARS NOTES: Next weekend NAMARS will be at the Shady Bowl Speedway in DeGraff, OH on Saturday, May 9: Dan Boorse was running well near the end of the race and probably would have finished in the top 3 but he was collected by Doug Schenck when his engine blew 3 laps from the end....Young hard chargers J.D. Turner and Matt Westfall just missed making the feature and gave a very good account of themselves.....Wayne Chinn has also been working hard and looked good Saturday until his car broke......Nick Fornoro continues to drive out from Pennsylvania each weekend to compete with NAMARS and is in the hunt for the national points championship.......Heavy rains during the week left the Benton County Speedway very muddy but the officials worked very hard to get the track in shape so the race could be completed. Congratulations!
The summary:
First Heat (8 laps): 57 Scott Hatton, 34 Allen Gillis, 6 Randy Fiscus, 21 John Jones, 72 Jeff Flesher, 55 Don Moore, 55 Rich Corson, 88m Dennis Miller, 64 Gene Drangmeister.
Second Heat (8 laps): 96 Dean Billings, 78 Dave Camfield, 51 Quinn McCabe, 16 Aaron Fiscus, 28 A.J. Davis, 76 Ken Drangmeister, 31 Rich Giertz, 78 Pam Drangmeister, 19 Kim Mendrzycki, 9 Brad Weber, 59 Jim Sawyer.
Third Heat (8 laps): V4 Dean Erfurth, 01 Greg Lueckert, 76 Marty Davis, 54 Matt Westfall, 41 Kevin Koch, 87 Rich Camfield, 22 Chris Carey, 4D Bruce Donaldson, 72 Barry Walkup, 51 Tony Elliott, 3 Bill Berg.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): 71 Doug Schenck, 1 Kevin Olson, 88 Dan Boorse, 23 Boyd Calvert, 3 Kevin Besecker, 14 Kevin Newton, 71 Wayne Chinn, 69 A.J. Fike, 33 Dave Ray Jr., 5 John Lucas.
Fifth Heat (8 laps): 2 Randy Koch, 31 Donnie Lehmann, 16 Jason Setser, 53 J.D. Turner, 75 Roger Miller, 2 Nick Fornoro, 97 Jimmie Davies, 51 Mike Hess, 15 Wade Huston, 23 Charlie Sarver.
First Semi-feature (12 laps): A. Fiscus, Flesher, Jones, Turner, R. Camfield, Corrigan, R. Miller, Newton, Ray, Besecker, Hess, Sarver, Huston, D. Miller, Carey, P. Dangmeister, G. Drangmeister.
Second Semi-feature (12 laps): Calvert, K. Koch, Fornoro, Westfall, Davis, Davies, Donaldson, Berg, Walkup, Sawyer.
Feature (25 laps) (Finishing position, name, hometown, car owner): 1. Randy Koch, Madison, WI, Harlin Kittleson; 2. Dean Billings, Greenfield, WI, Dean Billings; 3. Dave Camfield, Decatur, IL, Tom Benton; 4. Boyd Calvert, Mount Horeb, WI, Karl Warnke & Gene Patrick; 5. Allen Gillis, Westmont, IL, Task Management; 6. Aaron Fiscus, Madison, WI, Jim Fiscus; 7. Don Lehmann, Springfield, IL, Lehmann Racing; 8. Quinn McCabe, Edgeton, WI, Troy & Quinn McCabe; 9. Dan Boorse, Whitefish Bay, WI, Don Boorse; 10. Randy Fiscus, Monoa, WI, Jim Fiscus; 11. Nick Fornoro, Reeders, PA, McClellan; 12. John Jones, Blue Mounds, WI, Jones Motorsports; 13. Doug Schenck, Madison, WI, Red Schenck; 14. Jason Setser, Columbus, IN, Don Johnson; 15. Scott Hatton, Madison, WI, Bill Ecker; 16. Greg Lueckert, Kansas City, MO, Greg Lueckert; 17. Kevin Olson, Rockford, IL, Denny Lamers; 18. Dean Erfurth, Oregon, WI, Mike McNulty; 19. Jeff Flesher, Gridly, IL, Jeff Flesher; 20. Marty Davis, Racine, WI, Tina Davis; 21. Kevin Koch, Cottage Grove, WI, Dwight, Huston.