5/31/2025
Midget Auto Racing Association
Brian Peterson Takes First Ever Midget Win at Lincoln Speedway in MARA Action
Midget racing veteran Brian Peterson scored his first-ever midget feature win Friday night at Lincoln Speedway in Illinois in Midget Auto Racing Association action.. Peterson led the entire 20-lap AgVenture/Wehmeyer A-Main enroute to the popular win over a field that boasted cars from five states.
PRELIMINARY ACTION
Mario Clouser, a veteran of all forms of open wheel racing, led the field in Rod End Supply Qualifying as he piloted Roger and Lara Miller’s familiar Phantom Chassis house car. Nolan Kiefer flipped during his hot lap/qualifying session. The Jasper, Indiana, driver was uninjured.
With his car still puffing smoke as it has all season, Mark McMahill was undaunted and took Fusion Engineering Heat-One. During the race Charlie Kunz flipped and was tagged in the process by Jace Sparks. Both drivers appeared to be uninjured, but the Kunz machine was done for the night.
Nolan Kiefer was no worse for wear after the qualifying tumble as he took the lead from the pole position in Horizon Carpentry Heat-Two. Within a couple of laps Clouser powered past him on the outside and sailed to the win.
THE FEATURE
To this point, the track had been pretty racey with cars able to choose their groove, running three-wide. By the time they pushed off for the AgVenture/ Wehmeyer A-Main teams learned it was a very different track.
Before they crossed the start/finish line at the drop of the green pole-sitter Carl Peterson IV got sideways coming out of turn-four and put his car upside down in front of the charging field. If anyone hit him it was ever so slightly, but the Michigan driver was done for the night.
Brian Peterson (no relation to Peterson IV) inherited the pole on the complete restart. To his outside was veteran Korey Weyant with McMahill, last week’s winner, right behind Peterson.
For the first five laps of the twenty lap event, Peterson was busy holding off McMahill on the bottom while Weyant was hanging around in third running the top. Below Weyant was Patrick Bruns running the low line like the first two cars. Bruns was foretelling of things to come as he was jolted by a nasty curb in turn-one just above the low groove several times.
A couple of laps later Bruns did a monster wheel stand in front of the crowd as McMahill hit the curb in the first turn. While Peterson motored on, this allowed Weyant to assume second place and Clouser took third, with the latter two drivers running the high line.
That line soon faded and McMahill was back in the runner-up spot while Weyant and Clouser started to backpedal. Clouser gave up the upper rim and filed in on the bottom now battling with Weyant who was still insisting on the high line.
With seven circuits left Clouser caught the bump in one and bounced sideways. He collected the car but lost a spot to Ohio’s Cole Morgan. And then the yellow came out for debris at the scene of Clouser’s bounce.
On the restart Peterson maintained just a couple of lengths on McMahill. Navigating turn-one looked a lot like a Chili Bowl race where cars were doing their best to hit their left front on the tall inner berm in order to avoid the turn-one bump.
With just two to go, Morgan who was in fourth tagged the dreaded spot in one and got over. The green, white, checkered restart saw Peterson tip-toe into one with McMahill seeming happy to do the same. Clouser jumped to the top and found something as he got by McMahill on the last lap for second as Peterson sailed to the win. It was the first for the Wisconsin driver who was piloting a Phantom chassis with a Mark Ray Honda.
After the race Peterson said he never thought the win was going to happen, but to just relax, have fun and, “what happens, happens.”
AWARDS
Racing from eleventh to fourth Jace Sparks earned the High Performance Lubricants Hard Charger Award.
Clouser was the Horizon Develop Build Manage Invert Draw winner.
The Schoenfeld Headers Heat-Three and Hoosier Racing Tires B-Main were not contested.
BACK AT IT IN PEORIA
Tonight, Saturday, May 31, the MARA cars will be back in action at Peoria Speedway. For those who can’t attend, the race will be available on Badger TV.
Please check the track’s website and social media pages for times and fees.
FULL RESULTS
Ag Venture / Wehmeyer Seed A - Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7-Brian Peterson[3]; 2. 75-Mario Clouser[6]; 3. 11K-Mark McMahill[5]; 4. 21-Jace Sparks[11]; 5. 18-Tyler Roth[8]; 6. 51R-Patrick Bruns[4]; 7. 12C-Dominic Bruns[9]; 8. 97N-Nolan Kiefer[10]; 9. 97-Jim Jones[12]; 10. (DNF) 7M-Cole Morgan[7]; 11. (DNF) 7X-Korey Weyant[2]; 12. (DNF) 49P-Carl Peterson IV[1]; 13. (DNS) 19E-Daltyn England; 14. (DNS) 4K-Charles Kunz; 15. (DNS) 51-Chris Young
Fusion Engineering Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11K-Mark McMahill[6]; 2. 7X-Korey Weyant[4]; 3. 12C-Dominic Bruns[1]; 4. (DNF) 18-Tyler Roth[2]; 5. (DNF) 4K-Charles Kunz[3]; 6. (DNF) 21-Jace Sparks[5]; 7. (DNS) 19E-Daltyn England
Horizon Carpentry Inc Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Mario Clouser[7]; 2. 51R-Patrick Bruns[6]; 3. 49P-Carl Peterson IV[4]; 4. 7-Brian Peterson[5]; 5. 7M-Cole Morgan[3]; 6. 97N-Nolan Kiefer[2]; 7. 97-Jim Jones[1]; 8. 51-Chris Young[8]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 75-Mario Clouser, 00:13.981[9]; 2. 11K-Mark McMahill, 00:14.000[4]; 3. 51R-Patrick Bruns, 00:14.261[12]; 4. 21-Jace Sparks, 00:14.293[15]; 5. 7-Brian Peterson, 00:14.349[8]; 6. 7X-Korey Weyant, 00:14.352[7]; 7. 49P-Carl Peterson IV, 00:14.436[5]; 8. 4K-Charles Kunz, 00:14.449[3]; 9. 7M-Cole Morgan, 00:14.517[14]; 10. 18-Tyler Roth, 00:14.532[11]; 11. 97N-Nolan Kiefer, 00:14.675[6]; 12. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 00:15.146[1]; 13. 97-Jim Jones, 00:16.029[10]; 14. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:16.029[2]; 15. 51-Chris Young, 00:16.029[13]
Article: Bill Blumer Jr. MARA Media
Photo: Security Photo
Submitted By: William Blumer