7/6/2024
Midget Auto Racing Association
England Bests MARA Field at Lincoln
Lincoln, Illinois (July 5, 2024) – Daltyn England stormed from his seventh-place starting position to win the MARA Midget series feature at Lincoln Speedway Friday. England, the reigning MARA champion, became the fifth different winner of the season.
The MARA Midget series saw 25 cars sign in to do battle on the evening. The current point leader heading into the event, RJ Corson, ran into engine issues during engine heat and was forced to take over the #00 car of John Heitzman for the evening.
In Schoenfeld Headers qualifying rookie Luck Wackerlin, fresh off his first career midget victory at Angell Park Speedway last weekend with the Badger Midgets, set the pace with a time of 13.685 seconds over track record holder Parker Jones.
Adventure/Wehmeyer Seed Heat 1 was won by Tyler Roth over Greg Ross and Alex Midkiff. The three drivers put on an incredible race swapping positions right to the end.
In Simpson Race Products Heat 2, Jones stormed from his eighth-place starting position to take the win over Mark McMahill, who took over the point lead by night’s end, and Patrick Bruns. P. Bruns took over driving duties on the #77 Holderfield entry in a new ride for him this season.
In Hoosier Racing Tire Heat 3, Cale Coons took the victory over Jace Sparks and Wackerlin. Coons was looking for his third MARA feature win in three starts heading into the evening. By night’s end, Sparks found himself sitting in second in the MARA series standings.
Greg Ross and Mark McMahill led the feature field to green but it was short-lived as Roth spun in turn one collecting four cars. Patrick Ryan, making his season debut, Mitchell Davis, Midkiff, and Jacob Sollenberger were all involved. Only Midkiff was able to restart albeit with a bent right front shock.
On the restart, McMahill jumped out to the lead over Ross and Sparks. However, on lap two P. Bruns spun entering turn one and collected Thomas Harris sending both cars flipping. On the next restart McMahill, Sparks, England, and Jones held the top four spots. McMahill was able to separate himself from the pack leaving the other three to battle hard for the second position. England and Sparks running the low side and Jones running the cushion, the three battled lap after lap putting on a spirited battle for the fans. By lap seven England established himself in second and set his sights on McMahill for the lead.
On lap eight, lapped traffic slowed McMahill just enough for England to close in. The pair ran side by side over the start-finish line with England leading the lap by a nose. On lap 10 Midkiff got upside down in turn one stopping the field for the third red flag of the event.
England led the field on the restart over McMahill, Jones, and Sparks. McMahill caught the cushion wrong on lap 11 ceding the second spot to Jones. Ross then moved into the third position followed by Sparks. Sparks passed Ross on lap 12 to take over the third position for good.
As the laps wound down England continued to run the low line fending off battles from Jones to his outside. England took the white flag with a comfortable lead when suddenly Jones slowed off of turn two giving way to Sparks for the second position. Following the pair to the line were Coons, Ross, and Charles Kunz rounding out your top five.
MARA Midgets 25 Entries
A - Feature 25 Laps
- 19E-Daltyn England[7]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks[3]; 3. 63-Cale Coons[15]; 4. 51X-Greg Ross[1]; 5. 11K-Charles Kunz[9]; 6. 67U-Mike Unger[11]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[19]; 8. 20H-Reuben Haslett[14]; 9. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[6]; 10. 9-Keith Wilson[21]; 11. 41-Parker Jones[5]; 12. 51-Chris Young[24]; 13. (DNF) 57M-Mark McMahill[2]; 14. (DNF) 29-Harrison Kleven[13]; 15. (DNF) 05-Alex Midkiff[12]; 16. (DNF) 12C-Dominic Bruns[22]; 17. (DNF) 77-Patrick Bruns[8]; 18. (DNF) 51R-Thomas Harris[17]; 19. (DNF) 00-RJ Corson[18]; 20. (DNF) 18-Tyler Roth[4]; 21. (DNF) 5-Jacob Sollenberger[16]; 22. (DNF) 6B-Mitchell Davis[10]; 23. (DNF) 23-Patrick Ryan[23]; 24. (DNS) 001-John Heitzman; 25. (DNS) 42-Kevin Battefeld
Heat 1 8 Laps Auto Meter
- 18-Tyler Roth[7]; 2. 51X-Greg Ross[6]; 3. 05-Alex Midkiff[4]; 4. 11K-Charles Kunz[5]; 5. 20H-Reuben Haslett[3]; 6. 51-Chris Young[8]; 7. (DNF) 42-Kevin Battefeld[1]; 8. (DNF) 23-Patrick Ryan[2]
Heat 2 8 Laps Madison Extinguisher Service
- 41-Parker Jones[8]; 2. 57M-Mark McMahill[7]; 3. 77-Patrick Bruns[6]; 4. 29-Harrison Kleven[4]; 5. 67U-Mike Unger[5]; 6. 51R-Thomas Harris[3]; 7. 8-Jake Goeglein[2]; 8. (DQ) 12C-Dominic Bruns[1]
Heat 3 8 Laps Behlings Race Products
- 63-Cale Coons[2]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks[7]; 3. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[8]; 4. 19E-Daltyn England[6]; 5. 6B-Mitchell Davis[5]; 6. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[4]; 7. 001-John Heitzman[3]; 8. 9-Keith Wilson[1]
Schoenfeld Qualifying Five-One Motorsports Fast Time
- 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 00:13.685[13]; 2. 41-Parker Jones, 00:13.692[16]; 3. 18-Tyler Roth, 00:14.031[12]; 4. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:14.093[21]; 5. 57M-Mark McMahill, 00:14.186[3]; 6. 51X-Greg Ross, 00:14.252[11]; 7. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:14.318[19]; 8. 77-Patrick Bruns, 00:14.382[15]; 9. 11K-Charles Kunz, 00:14.411[2]; 10. 6B-Mitchell Davis, 00:14.469[24]; 11. 67U-Mike Unger, 00:14.573[22]; 12. 05-Alex Midkiff, 00:14.645[6]; 13. 5-Jacob Sollenberger, 00:14.652[17]; 14. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:14.738[25]; 15. 20H-Reuben Haslett, 00:14.747[18]; 16. 001-John Heitzman, 00:14.753[10]; 17. 51R-Thomas Harris, 00:14.769[20]; 18. 23-Patrick Ryan, 00:14.819[7]; 19. 63-Cale Coons, 00:14.882[1]; 20. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:15.060[23]; 21. 42-Kevin Battefeld, 00:15.421[8]; 22. 9-Keith Wilson, 00:15.470[4]; 23. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 00:15.490[9]; 24. 51-Chris Young, 00:16.478[5]; 25. (DNS) 00-RJ Corson, 00:20.000
Article Credit: Droz Andrews
