9/15/2025
Midget Auto Racing Association
Leopard Takes Two In MARA While Sparks And McMahill Battle For Championship
The Midget Auto Racing Association completed their prestigious two-day weekend in Illinois first running the Carolyn Schuh Memorial at Jacksonville Speedway on Friday, Sept. 12 and then the Tom Knowles Memorial at Spoon River Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 13. Newcomer Mack Leopard took both Ag Venture / Wheymeyer Seed A-Mains in the process.
JACKSONVILLE SPEEDWAY CAROLYN SCHUH MEMORIAL
Leopard served notice he’d be a force to be reckoned with right off the bat as he took Rod End Supply Fast Time in Chase McDermand’s #40 at Jacksonville.
Fusion Engineering Heat-One saw Daltyn England and Jace Sparks come from the back of the field with England taking the win. This was significant as England is third in points and within striking distance of the leader Sparks.
Leopard got one step closer to a clean sweep when he took Horizon Carpentry Heat-Two over Mitchell Davis with both drivers coming from the back of the pack.
Ag Venture/ Wheymeyer Seed A-Main:
Drivers from five states were in the field for the A-Main. When the dust settled four states took the top-four at the finish. Ohio’s Leopard charged from P9 to take the win by about five lengths and the sweep. Miles Doherty, from Iowa was second. Davis from the host state was third and Wisconsin’s Cody Weisensel finished fourth.
None of the top-four in the MARA points race distinguished themselves this night as Mark McMahill’s fifth place run was the best among the four drivers who still have a shot at the 2025 MARA title. The rest of the quartet were right behind him with point leader Sparks finishing seventh, England (third in points) in sixth and Tyler Roth (fourth in points) in eighth.
Jacksonville Notes:
Leopard put an exclamation point on his sweep as he also took High Performance Lubricants Hard Charger honors.
SPOON RIVER SPEEDWAY TOM KNOWLES MEMORIAL
Three more cars were added to the pits for the Tom Knowles Memorial with 17 signing in. Mario Clouser who was absent the night prior led them all in Rod End Supply Qualifying with a lap of 13.993. His was the only car in the 13 second range.
Heat wins went to Clouser in Fusion Engineering Heat-One and Daltyn England in Horizon Carpentry Heat-Two.
Leopard gained six spots beating Clouser in the Ag Venture/ Wheymeyer Seed A-Main. This race wasn’t as easy for the teenager this time. He battled and traded slide jobs with Clouser late in the race. With about three laps left the yellow came out. By this point Leopard knew he had a problem with an oil leak. The car was smoking and he had droplets on his visor. He got the jump on the green and the motor held together as he took the checkers. Miles Doherty finished a solid weekend rounding out the podium.
Spoon River Notes:
Three drivers passed six cars in the A-Main including Clouser and Jake Goeglein who finished tenth. But by virtue of his win Leopard earned the High Performance Lubricants Hard Charger Award.
The Schoenfeld Headers Heat-Three and Hoosier Racing Tire B-Main were not run.
Mack Leopard is a 16 year old from Beavercreek, Ohio, near Dayton, he reports. He started racing about six years ago in quarter midgets and moved to micros. This season is his first in a midget where he has about ten National Midget starts in cars owned by Chad Boat. The Jacksonville/Spoon River weekend was his first in a Badger/MARA platform midget.
Leopard reported the oil leak was due to a belt rubbing through an oil line.
Zach Wigal won in McDermand's car at the Fireman's Nationals in Badger Midget action over the Labor Day weekend making the car three for three with the Badger/MARA platform.
MARA POINTS RACE UP FOR GRABS
In short, there are up to 149 points to be earned on a given race night. There are just two races left. Sparks leads McMahill by six points going into the next event. A distant third and fourth, but still mathematically in the hunt are England and Roth. England would need the top-two to totally miss a race and Roth would need them to not show up for the next two races to have a chance at the title.
It’s really between Sparks and McMahill for the championship. The biggest point gaps on race day are for the first and second finishers in qualifying, heats and the A-main. The difference is five, four and ten points respectively. The differential between second and third place and so on down, is smaller between each position. For further information on the point breakdown please check the MARA website under "Rules."
UP NEXT
That leaves two races to close the season. Both are at Coles County Speedway. The first is next Saturday, Sept. 20. MARA closes its 2025 season on Oct. 11
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Jacksonville:
Lyco Manufacturing A - Feature (20 Laps): 1. 40X-Mack Leopard[9]; 2. 8D-Miles Doherty[2]; 3. 7X-Mitchell Davis[5]; 4. 20-Cody Weisensel[7]; 5. 11K-Mark McMahill[12]; 6. 19E-Daltyn England[8]; 7. 40-Jace Sparks[6]; 8. 18-Tyler Roth[4]; 9. 12C-Dominic Bruns[1]; 10. 2-Jake Dohner[13]; 11. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[10]; 12. 11J-Todd Jackson[11]; 13. 4K-Charles Kunz[3]
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 19E-Daltyn England[6]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks[5]; 3. 4K-Charles Kunz[3]; 4. 12C-Dominic Bruns[2]; 5. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[1]; 6. 11K-Mark McMahill[4]
Dave Jones Plumbing HVAC Electrical Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40X-Mack Leopard[7]; 2. 7X-Mitchell Davis[5]; 3. 8D-Miles Doherty[3]; 4. 20-Cody Weisensel[6]; 5. 18-Tyler Roth[4]; 6. 11J-Todd Jackson[1]; 7. 2-Jake Dohner[2]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 40X-Mack Leopard, 00:12.630[7]; 2. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:12.801[4]; 3. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:12.807[8]; 4. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:12.896[5]; 5. 7X-Mitchell Davis, 00:12.932[1]; 6. 11K-Mark McMahill, 00:12.956[6]; 7. 18-Tyler Roth, 00:12.996[2]; 8. 4K-Charles Kunz, 00:13.011[11]; 9. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:13.023[3]; 10. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 00:13.083[13]; 11. 2-Jake Dohner, 00:13.094[10]; 12. 5-Jacob Sollenberger, 00:13.490[12]; 13. 11J-Todd Jackson, 00:13.863[9]
Spoon River:
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 40X-Mack Leopard[7]; 2. 75-Mario Clouser[8]; 3. 8D-Miles Doherty[1]; 4. 20-Cody Weisensel[3]; 5. 11K-Mark McMahill[4]; 6. 18-Tyler Roth[2]; 7. 40-Jace Sparks[9]; 8. 42-Kevin Battefeld[11]; 9. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[12]; 10. 8-Jake Goeglein[16]; 11. 2-Jake Dohner[10]; 12. 12C-Dominic Bruns[13]; 13. (DNF) 19E-Daltyn England[6]; 14. (DNF) 4K-Charles Kunz[5]; 15. (DNF) 51-Chris Young[14]; 16. (DNF) 10-Denny Smith[17]; 17. (DNS) 28X-John Springer
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Mario Clouser[4]; 2. 11K-Mark McMahill[2]; 3. 4K-Charles Kunz[6]; 4. 40-Jace Sparks[1]; 5. 8D-Miles Doherty[8]; 6. 2-Jake Dohner[7]; 7. 12C-Dominic Bruns[5]; 8. 51-Chris Young[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19E-Daltyn England[2]; 2. 40X-Mack Leopard[5]; 3. 20-Cody Weisensel[4]; 4. 18-Tyler Roth[6]; 5. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[1]; 6. 42-Kevin Battefeld[7]; 7. (DNF) 28X-John Springer[9]; 8. (DNF) 8-Jake Goeglein[3]; 9. (DNF) 10-Denny Smith[8]
Qualifying: 1. 75-Mario Clouser, 00:13.993[7]; 2. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:14.032[4]; 3. 40X-Mack Leopard, 00:14.037[10]; 4. 11K-Mark McMahill, 00:14.103[3]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel, 00:14.129[8]; 6. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:14.137[15]; 7. 4K-Charles Kunz, 00:14.377[11]; 8. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:14.444[1]; 9. 42-Kevin Battefeld, 00:14.597[14]; 10. 2-Jake Dohner, 00:14.627[13]; 11. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 00:14.719[9]; 12. 5-Jacob Sollenberger, 00:14.894[2]; 13. 8-Jake Goeglein, 00:15.384[6]; 14. 51-Chris Young, 00:15.759[5]; 15. 10-Denny Smith, 00:21.690[16]; 16. (DNS) 18-Tyler Roth; 17. (DNS) 28X-John Springer
Photo by Joseph Putnam
Article by Bill Blumer Jr.
Submitted By: William Blumer