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It Takes a Madman to Bring Down a Wild Child

Night One of the FVP Platinum Battery Showdown at Cedar Lake Speedway went to former Outlaw and current Australian Sprintcar champion, Kerry "The Madman” Madsen, who swept all but the Craftsman Club Dash and led 38 laps of the 40-lap Feature behind the wheel of the Big Game Motorsports 2M. Brad Sweet and Donny Schatz followed him through the checkers after a heated battle with several exchanges.

While Madsen set Quicktime during Qualifying and won his Heat race, It was Jac “The Wild Child” Haudenschild who won the Craftsman Club Dash on his return to the Stenhouse Jr./Wood Racing No. 17 machine after a three-race medical absence resulting from an injury at Beaver Dam Raceway. It was starting to look like “Jac is Back” would be the headline for the night, but Haudenschild lost steam all the way through the Feature, coming in at 13 after getting lapped by Madsen in the final two laps.

Meanwhile, Greg Wilson was playing the same game in reverse. Having started in 15, Wilson charged his W20 to tenth in the first five laps, battled with Ian Madsen for the next 14 laps, charged to fifth on a restart, and got past David Gravel with seven laps to go to come in fourth right on Schatz’s tail.

Having started the Feature in second behind the Wild Child, and having won his share of races at the high-banked 3/8-mile oval, the eighth-time defending champion surprised the crowd with his third-place finish. But the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing driver suffered a bit of a mishap on his first lap around as he scraped his right rear tire along the wall of the backstretch after getting into K. Madsen, causing a flurry of sparks as Madsen passed him. And Sweet came at him from fifth, passing him just a couple laps later in the first of numerous exchanges between the No. 15 Arctic Cat and the No. 49 Napa Auto Parts machines.

Meanwhile, Madsen was strengthening his lead and looked nearly unbeatable until Jason Johnson went into the wall outside of turn two, taking the No. 41 out of the race and forcing a restart with 19 laps to go.

Despite the threat created by the restart, Madsen charged forward instantly and re-gained his lead. From the looks of it, he was just too fast and too aggressive to beat.

Nine laps and a solid lead later, Madsen had a minor fumble coming out of a turn, and again after passing Sheldon Haudenschild in lap traffic, and with seven laps to go Sweet had finally caught up to him. Five laps to go and the Kasey Kahne Racing driver was all over Madsen, looking like he might actually win. During the next lap, Sweet managed to steal the lead, but Madsen immediately reclaimed it. With only two laps left, when Madsen finally lapped the Wild Child, Sweet was caught behind Haudenschild and Paul McMahan, and that was that. Madsen crossed the checkers.

The FVP Platinum Battery Showdown continues tomorrow night and will be streamed LIVE on DIRTVision.com.

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