5/17/2025
Midget Auto Racing Association
The Missile Lands in Victory Lane Again at Lincoln in MARA Action
Alex “The Missile” Midkiff scored his second feature win in a row at Lincoln Speedway Friday night in Midget Auto Racing Association action.
The night started out with Rod End Supply qualifying. Tyler Roth with a 14.193 second lap was the fastest with Jace Sparks and Patrick Bruns completing the top-three.
The first heat, sponsored by Fusion Engineering, saw a pair of high schoolers, Michael Hermacinski and Dominic Bruns occupying the front row. Hermacinski got the jump to lead from the pole position.
Racing was quickly halted as Greg Ross bicycled in turn-three, bounced and then flipped into the outer fence from second place. The car came to a rest perpendicular to the track with the nose resting on the wall and the tail tank resting on the racing surface, making for an awkward exit from the machine. Ross appeared to be woozy upon getting out of his mount and was helped to the ground by track staff. Shortly thereafter he walked to the ambulance under his own power and without assistance.
The restart put Midkiff a row closer to the front and right behind Hermacinski. The pole sitter had the lead early but Hermacinski started to bicycle in about the same spot Ross went over. The youngster caught himself in what amounted to a bobble in the end, allowing Midkiff to take advantage.
As they completed the second circuit it was Midkiff, Sparks and Hermacinski about three-lengths behind each other. Coming to the line for lap-three Sparks and Midkiff inside-outed each other and were even at the end of the third circuit. Sparks got the advantage in the next corner and survived one yellow to take the win.
If you looked beyond Mark McMahill, who jumped to the lead from the second starting position in Heat-Two and never looked back, there was two and three-wide racing for the runner up spot. This battle between Parker Jones, Daltyn England, Mitchell Davis and Tyler Roth lasted for a couple of entertaining laps and then the drivers seemed to be in agreement that they’d save their equipment for the feature and they settled into a single-file format for the rest of the heat.
McMahill won Horizon Carpentry Inc. Heat-Two easily, but there was concern as his car was smoking through the entire race.
THE FEATURE
Other than Ross, all cars answered the bell for the Ag Venture/Wehmeyer Seed A-Main. At the drop of the green Davis bolted from the pole position and went high into turn-one where the cushion was. Jones started behind him and tried the low groove but gave that up by turn-two and went high also. While Davis started to put distance on the field, Midkiff had Jones for second before the first lap was over.
Some cars in the back were trying to make the bottom work, as the top four cars were strung out by lap-five with Davis over Midkiff, Jones and Sparks, all running high. Midkiff was starting to reel in Davis though.
Halfway through the 20-lap event Midkiff caught Davis and they traded a couple of sliders. Midkiff finally won that battle. Meanwhile Jones was closing the gap on Davis who found himself in second place. A few laps later the leader encountered lapped traffic.
With seven laps to go, Sparks came into the picture for second, pressuring Davis and battling Jones as this trio also came upon lappers. Two laps later Sparks moved into second, but without a caution nobody was going to catch Midkiff.
Midkiff, wheeling the Missile Chassis he built himself, won by nearly half a lap over Sparks and then Jones. It was the second win in a row for the Belleville, IL driver at Lincoln. Thus far, in four MARA events this season, Midkiff has either won or failed to complete the main event.
AWARDS
Schoenfeld Headers Heat-Three and the Hoosier Racing Tire Semi-Feature were not contested.
The High Performance Hard Charger Award went to Patrick Bruns who raced from eleventh to fifth.
The Horizon Develop Build Manage Invert Draw went to Roth.
UP NEXT
This Sunday, May 18, it’s expected some MARA drivers will head to Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, WI for a Badger Midget Series point paying race which will have one of the richest purses in all of midget racing. The Dahlke Memorial will offer a purse of $25,000 at one of the most famed facilities in the world of short-track motorsports.
The MARA cars will make their first appearance of the season at Jacksonville Speedway this coming Friday, May 23. Follow MARA’s website or Facebook page for updates throughout the week, including an update on Greg Ross as he was unavailable at press time.
COMPLETE RESULTS
Ag Venture / Wehmeyer Seed A - Feature (20 Laps): 1. 05-Alex Midkiff[4]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks[5]; 3. 75-Parker Jones[3]; 4. 11K-Mark McMahill[7]; 5. 7X-Patrick Bruns[11]; 6. 19E-Daltyn England[9]; 7. 4K-Charles Kunz[2]; 8. 12C-Dominic Bruns[8]; 9. 71H-Michael Hermacinski[10]; 10. (DNF) 51R-Mitchell Davis[1]; 11. (DNF) 18-Tyler Roth[6]; 12. (DNS) 99R-Greg Ross
Fusion Engineering Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Jace Sparks[6]; 2. 05-Alex Midkiff[5]; 3. 71H-Michael Hermacinski[1]; 4. 4K-Charles Kunz[4]; 5. 12C-Dominic Bruns[2]; 6. (DNF) 99R-Greg Ross[3]
Horizon Carpentry Inc Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11K-Mark McMahill[2]; 2. 51R-Mitchell Davis[3]; 3. 18-Tyler Roth[6]; 4. 75-Parker Jones[4]; 5. 19E-Daltyn England[1]; 6. 7X-Patrick Bruns[5]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 18-Tyler Roth, 00:14.192[7]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:14.298[10]; 3. 7X-Patrick Bruns, 00:14.435[12]; 4. 05-Alex Midkiff, 00:14.508[3]; 5. 75-Parker Jones, 00:14.532[5]; 6. 4K-Charles Kunz, 00:14.546[8]; 7. 51R-Mitchell Davis, 00:14.552[9]; 8. 99R-Greg Ross, 00:14.603[2]; 9. 11K-Mark McMahill, 00:14.645[6]; 10. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 00:14.906[11]; 11. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:15.034[4]; 12. 71H-Michael Hermacinski, 00:15.931[1]
Photos by Security Photo
Article by Bill Blumer Jr.
Submitted By: William Blumer
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