Pro Stock racer eyes career victory No. 1
ADAMS TWP — Mike Bordt was always around racing.
It was just a matter of time before he became part of it.
“My uncle, Joe Cole, and a family friend were into racing and they began taking me to Lernerville Speedway when I was 9,” Bordt, now 30, said.
That family friend, Charlie Neely, owned an E-Mod and Butch Lambert drove it for him. Like Bordt, Lambert was a Mars resident.
Lambert also became a three-time Pro Stocks points champion at Lernerville and ranks sixth on the track's all-time feature win list in that division with 22.
Bordt, an Adams Township police officer, joined Lambert's pit crew at age 12. He bought a Pro Stock from Randy Hanovick in 2015 and decided to get behind the wheel.
“I knew I had a lot of work to do,” he said of succeeding as a race driver. “I still do.”
But he's working on it.
Bordt received the Most Improved Driver Award in Pro Stocks this off-season for his efforts in 2019. He tallied 287 points to finish sixth in the Lernerville standings.
He also won a heat race and nearly claimed his first career feature win.
“I had a half a straightaway lead 10 laps in,” Bordt recalled. “A caution flag came out and that cost me. I had harder tires on the car and it didn't work out.”
Bordt wound up third that night, behind Corey McPherson and Tyler Dietz, two of the top drivers in the division.
“My goals are realistic,” he said of the 2020 season. “I want to crack the top five in points and get that first feature win.”
Like all other local dirt track drivers, Bordt will have to wait. All tracks in the region are temporarily shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think it's going to be a while before we get going,” he said. “But I'm anxious.”
Who can blame him? Bordt and his pit crew — Andy Kennedy, Ron Weaver, Logan Watson and Jeffery Greist — have a new car this year. And Bordt believes his team over-achieved last season, based on their equipment.
“Our stuff has been outdated,” he said. “We've been running with the same motor. Honestly, we did better than we should have.
“Andy is great on set-up stuff and getting the most out of what we've got.”
While a fourth-grader at Mars Elementary, Bordt befriended Clayton Kennedy and Zach Morrow, They remained friends through their high school years and beyond.
Kennedy races a Late Model now while Morrow runs a Rush Sprint car.
“Clayton was best man at my wedding,” Bordt said. “If we had a Modified driver in our group, we'd have all the divisions covered.”
Bordt's position with the police department is now school resource officer for Mars schools. He oversees the security staff at all of the schools in the district.
“Those hours work well with the racing schedule,” Bordt said. “Everyone in the department cooperates with each other in terms of the work schedule. We help each other out.”
