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Davis Scores First MARA Win at Lincoln

Lincoln, IL (April 28th, 2023) - Mitchell Davis, driving the Mike Raymond owned Phantom chassis, would best the rest to beat a star-studded field of drivers and win his first Midget Auto Racing Association feature of the season.

The racing gods looked down on Lincoln Speedway as a warm front moved in and brought some good weather for some great racing. With temperatures in the 70o F range, the track was set for a great night of racing.

Six classes of cars set up an action-packed night as MARA would see 19 cars sign in to race. Drivers from Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana would all battle it out for the top spot on the podium for the night. Inaugural Kevin Owens Classic winner Adam Taylor led Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget regulars including Brian Peterson, Kyle Stark, Harrison Kleven, and 2022 Badger Midgets Rookie of the Year Charles Rufi. Drivers such as Jace Sparks, Tommy Colburn, Mark McMahill, Daltyn England, and Tim Siner would make their second appearance with the series after strong runs in the season opener.

The AgVenture/Wehmeyer Seed hot-lap and qualifying sessions would see Mark McMahill take the top spot with a 14.029 with Chris Baue and Adam Taylor rounding out the top three.

AgVenture/Wehmeyer Seed Heat 1 would go green with the driver of the 42, Kevin Battefeld, on the pole of the first heat race. Greg Ross would start alongside him as the heat prepared to go green. When the green flag flew, Mitchell Davis and Chris Baue battle their way up to first and second at the finish, four spots from both of their starting positions. Battefeld would finish on the final step of the podium in third.

Heat 2, sponsored by Simpson Race Products, would see Harrison Kleven on the pole with Jace Sparks starting to his outside. Kleven would get a good start and track out to the lead but Kyle Stark would sweep by him in turns three and four and lead lap one. Mark McMahill would be on rails on the high line all the way up to 4th before his car slowed to a stop on the front straight on lap four. Stark would restart and not look back taking Heat 2 with Adam Taylor and Daltyn England following him to the checked flag.

Greg Ross would find himself on the pole for the feature after a strong showing in the heats, along with Tim Siner, driver of the 77 in second. Ross would fire off well, but it quickly showed that the high line was the dominant line as Mitchell Davis pedaled off the start and into the lead at the end of lap one. Fights would go on throughout the pack and Davis would run away before a yellow came out on lap four for the spun car of James Boyd out of Tuscola, IL. He would get it fired back up and the field would go back green with Davis and Ross the top two cars. Davis would once again lead the field on the restart but Boyd would find himself spun again, this time with car issues, in turn four, resulting in the second caution. The restart would see the broken record of Davis running away from the field, but another caution would be called for Jace Sparks. The race would go green for the rest of the way with Davis defending challenges from Adam Taylor and picking up the win. Daltyn England would make a last-lap pass for second in turn four resulting in him getting second and Taylor third, Taylor would be classified as the hard charger up 14 spots on the night. Davis would be happy in victory lane, saying “I love being able to come here and hammer the cushion especially when I get to drive awesome equipment!”

The Midget Auto Racing Association’s next race is scheduled for May 5th at Kankakee Speedway. That race will be the third race for MARA and will open the season for the Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midgets, you won’t want to miss it! For more information visit the MARA series online at www.mararacing.com or follow the series on Facebook.

Summary

19 entries

Lap Leaders: Mitchell Davis 1-25

A Feature 1 25 Laps |

1. 6B-Mitchell Davis[6]; 2. 19E-Daltyn England[3]; 3. 5X-Adam Taylor[17]; 4. 2-Kyle Stark[5]; 5. 51R-Greg Ross[1]; 6. 42-Kevin Battefeld[8]; 7. 56-Charles Rufi[9]; 8. 29-Harrison Kleven[11]; 9. 10A-Tommy Colburn[12]; 10. 53M-Miles Doherty[18]; 11. 71H-Michael Hermacinski[19]; 12. 7-Brian Peterson[10]; 13. (DNF) 36-Chris Baue[16]; 14. (DNF) 40-Jace Sparks[7]; 15. (DNF) 17-James Boyd[13]; 16. (DNS) 77-Tim Siner; 17. (DNS) 55-Chuck Walker; 18. (DNS) 10C-Mark McMahill; 19. (DNS) 7X-Korey Weyant

AgVenture/Wehmeyer Seed Heat 1 8 Laps | AgVenture/Wehmeyer Seed

1. 6B-Mitchell Davis[5]; 2. 42-Kevin Battefeld[1]; 3. 51R-Greg Ross[2]; 4. 55-Chuck Walker[4]; 5. 77-Tim Siner[3]; 6. 10A-Tommy Colburn[7]; 7. 53M-Miles Doherty[9]; 8. 71H-Michael Hermacinski[8]; 9. (DQ) 36-Chris Baue[6]

Simpson Race Products Heat 2 8 Laps | Simpson Race Products

1. 2-Kyle Stark[6]; 2. 19E-Daltyn England[5]; 3. 40-Jace Sparks[2]; 4. 7-Brian Peterson[9]; 5. 56-Charles Rufi[3]; 6. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 7. 17-James Boyd[10]; 8. 10C-Mark McMahill[8]; 9. 7X-Korey Weyant[4]; 10. (DQ) 5X-Adam Taylor[7]

Group Qualifying |

1. 10C-Mark McMahill, 00:14.029[7]; 2. 36-Chris Baue, 00:14.114[10]; 3. 5X-Adam Taylor, 00:14.171[11]; 4. 6B-Mitchell Davis, 00:14.393[1]; 5. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:14.478[2]; 6. 55-Chuck Walker, 00:14.682[13]; 7. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:14.695[17]; 8. 77-Tim Siner, 00:14.831[6]; 9. 7X-Korey Weyant, 00:14.832[16]; 10. 51R-Greg Ross, 00:14.853[9]; 11. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:14.992[4]; 12. 42-Kevin Battefeld, 00:15.054[12]; 13. 56-Charles Rufi, 00:15.233[14]; 14. 53M-Miles Doherty, 00:15.576[18]; 15. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:15.850[5]; 16. 71H-Michael Hermacinski, 00:16.550[19]; 17. 17-James Boyd, 00:16.550[15]; 18. 10A-Tommy Colburn, 00:16.550[3]; 19. 7-Brian Peterson, 00:16.550[8]

Photo Credit: Brendan Bauman

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