5/24/2025
Midget Auto Racing Association
MCMAHILL DECLARED WINNER AFTER DQ AT JACKSONVILLE
Alex Midkiff crossed the line first at Jacksonville Speedway on Friday night, but the celebration was short lived as his car failed post-race inspection and he was disqualified from the A-Main by the Midget Auto Racing Association officials. The DQ gave the win to the original runner-up Mark McMahill.
McMahill got the jump at the drop of the green from his pole starting spot in the feature. Coming out of the fourth turn on the first lap Dominic Bruns tried to make hay on the bottom while the rest of the field was high on the track. It didn’t work and the highschooler went from a battle for second to fifth in short order.
At lap-five the first three starters were running in that order with McMahill followed by Jace Sparks and Midkiff. From there some moves were attempted with both Midkiff and the fourth place car of Mitchell Davis trying slide jobs. Each fell short and had to file back in.
It became apparent the cushion was the place to be but it was no picnic. Both Jace Spark and Midkiff who were in hot pursuit of McMahill caught the berm awkwardly before the half-way point in the 20 lap race, only to make miraculous saves and continue on.
McMahill was getting reeled in a bit by Sparks and Midkiff when Sparks got tagged on the backstretch and once again saved the North American Midway Entertainment car from going over. He did spin and stall the car however, causing a caution. He was able to restart.
McMahill was unable to defend against Midkiff on the restart and on lap 14 “The Missile” took to the point ahead of McMahill. McMahill got one more shot at Midkiff as the Sparks machine came to a halt with three laps to go, causing the last yellow. Still Midkiff sailed to the apparent win.
As noted, the Midkiff machine failed post race inspection and McMahill was declared the winner. Of note for McMahill, his car has been smoking, likely from the engine compartment, since at least the last MARA event. Even so, it held together, was fast and completed all the laps on the night.
Davis was officially scored in second and Bruns was third.
In other action Midkiff took Rod End Supply Fast Time ahead of Sparks and Korey Weyant.
The Fusion Engineering Heat-1 went to McMahill.
Tyler Roth fought gremlins all night and did not make the bell for either race.
Horizon Carpentry Heat-2, Schoenfeld Headers Heat-3 and the Hoosier Racing Tires B-Main were not run.
The High Performance Hard Charger and Horizon Develop Build Manage Invert Draw winners were not available at press time.
DOUBLEHEADER UP NEXT
MARA will be back in action next weekend starting with a Friday (May 30) go at Lincoln Speedway and then Saturday (May 31) at Peoria Speedway, both in Illinois.
RESULTS
Ag Venture / Wehmeyer Seed A - Feature (20 Laps): 1. 11K-Mark McMahill[1]; 2. 51R-Mitchell Davis[4]; 3. 12C-Dominic Bruns[5]; 4. 40-Jace Sparks[2]; 5. 7X-Korey Weyant[6]; 6. 4K-Charles Kunz[7]; 7. (DNS) 18-Tyler Roth; 8. (DQ) 05-Alex Midkiff[3]
Fusion Engineering Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11K-Mark McMahill[4]; 2. 51R-Mitchell Davis[3]; 3. 40-Jace Sparks[6]; 4. 05-Alex Midkiff[7]; 5. 12C-Dominic Bruns[1]; 6. 7X-Korey Weyant[5]; 7. 4K-Charles Kunz[2]; 8. 18-Tyler Roth[8]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 05-Alex Midkiff, 00:12.656[7]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:12.877[4]; 3. 7X-Korey Weyant, 00:12.939[8]; 4. 11K-Mark McMahill, 00:12.957[1]; 5. 51R-Mitchell Davis, 00:12.987[6]; 6. 4K-Charles Kunz, 00:13.132[2]; 7. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 00:13.401[3]; 8. (DNS) 18-Tyler Roth, 00:13.500
Submitted By: William Blumer