By Bill Blumer
Jace Sparks came into the Coles County Speedway race on Saturday, October 11, as the point leader in Midget Auto Racing Association action. It was the last event of the year with Sparks holding a slim 21 point lead over Mark McMahill in the championship battle. Parked on the infield early in the A-Main with McMahill currently in first place, Sparks was forced to helplessly watch his title aspirations slip away, only to see a glimmer of hope as the laps wound down.
QUALIFYING
Charles Kunz was the fastest of 17 cars that clocked in for Rod End Supply Qualifying. Both Sparks and McMahill found themselves outside of the top-five qualifiers which were the only spots to pay points. This left up to 15 markers on the table for both drivers.
HEAT RACE ACTION
Chris Baue paced the first three laps of Fusion Engineering Heat-One with Chase Hodge on his tail. A couple of laps in, Hodge jumped the inner berm jolting the car toward the infield while the field flew by. Hodge did continue on.
A few circuits later as they went into turn-two Baue spun in front of the entire field, going from high in the corner to the very bottom as the whole group came at him including Sparks who was now running second after starting fifth. Miraculously every car got by him unscathed. This brought out the yellow and put Sparks in the lead.
Sparks paced the next several laps until Mitchell Davis got under him with two laps to go. Sparks would later say he could have put up more of a battle with Davis but instead he had a “championship mindset” and just settled in for second, although he almost lost another spot as Cody Beard nearly snuck under him on the last corner for the runner-up spot.
Horizon Carpentry Heat-Two saw McMahill starting third. Cole Morgan led the first laps. McMahill was a distant second in a side by side battle with Tyler Roth. Coming to the white flag, Morgan spun in turn-four and McMahill was collected in the process. Roth inherited the point and went on to the win over England.
AG VENTURE/ WHEYMEYER SEED A-MAIN
A win for McMahill with Sparks finishing sixth or lower was the easiest path for McMahill to top Sparks in the point race, going into the Ag Venture/Wheymeyer Seed A-Main. McMahill started second while Sparks pushed off in sixth.
Some track grooming, to include a complete watering of the racing surface, greeted the MARA midgets for their 25 lap feature. As the cars rolled in the track they were asked to “buzz” it a bit. In doing so, the car of Kunz broke loose in front of Sparks and Sparks tagged Kunz with his right front. The only evident damage was to the wheel cover on the Sparks machine.
Once the green dropped, McMahill gained a sizable lead while Beard, Miles Doherty and Jacob Sollenberger had an entertaining battle for second. This fray which was unfolding in front of Sparks was not something he was going to want to involve himself in. Soon thereafter, Doherty and Beard made contact sending Doherty toward the wall exiting turn-two. Sparks barely snuck under him and all cars continued on.
Sparks was now in fourth and the road in front of him looked good as the cars ahead were single file. If the race ended this way, Sparks was the champion. On lap-seven disaster struck for Sparks. He was teetering on the championship bubble running around sixth with McMahill still in the lead when Sparks spun. Sparks would later say that after his pace lap contact, “I knew something was wrong with the car. It was drivable, but not once we got to speed. The engine was missing some too. The championship was slipping through my hands and it wasn’t my fault.”
With McMahill in the lead and Sparks at the tail of the field there was still plenty of racing left and all was not lost for Sparks as it was a good track with several grooves. Just two laps later, nine laps in, his night was done as he spun again, causing another caution. “We could run a few laps on the bottom but then the steering would just lock up,” noted Sparks. He went on to say, “I knew the two spin rule (which meant he was out of the race). I made peace with the situation and I was ready to be back next year.” In his mind he was already congratulating McMahill.
Sparks’ fate was a thirteenth place finish. Now all McMahill needed to do was finish seventh to clinch the title. Sparks was not sure of the math and it didn’t look like it would matter. A few laps into the restart McMahill kept a comfortable three-length lead over Mitchell Davis with another three back to England in third.
With eleven laps to go McMahill slid up the banking in turn-two and by the time they got to the start/finish line Davis was by him. With eight laps left England, now is second ahead of McMahill, tagged Davis in turn-four causing Davis to spin, bringing out another caution. Meanwhile Sparks was still in the infield watching his championship dreams slip away with every lap.
On the restart it was England, McMahill and Doherty. England got a big jump when the green flew while McMahill put a couple of lengths on Doherty. England enjoyed a large lead as McMahill was having equally good luck in second. Meanwhile, Doherty and three others were wheel to wheel for the last podium spot.
With six laps left the caution flew again, this time for three cars from the back half of the field who got in a tangle in turn-two. The restart saw the same top-three.
As Sparks looked on, this time he noticed something. The McMahill car was sounding sour. It soon became evident there was an issue with the McMahill machine once they went green. In short order three cars got by McMahill as he desperately attempted to get some momentum on the bottom of the track. He tried to hang on to fifth but as the laps ticked by so did the rest of the field. McMahill finished a heartbreaking eleventh, relegating him to runner-up in the 2025 MARA championship. England easily won the feature.
A contrite England in his Victory Lane interview apologized to car owner Mike Raymond and Mitchell Davis both of the #56 and said,” I just misjudged turn-three. He got on the binders and I just ran him over.”
While England was thankful for the win, he noted he obviously didn’t want to take the leader out. He thanked his engine builder Mike Wallace and his family and friends for all of their work.
It took some ten minutes of checking and rechecking by MARA officials after the race, before Sparks was officially declared the champion. Sparks concluded, “On the restart I could hear Mark was bad. The adrenalin kicked in. I prayed a little. I didn’t want to win that way but I’ll take it with a smile. I didn’t know whether to cheer, cry or scream until the final announcement.” Sparks won by 23 points. England finished third in the final standings 63 ticks back.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Morgan went from fifteenth to sixth in the A-Main to take the High Performance Lubricants Hard Charger Award.
Sparks and the rest of the top-ten in MARA points will be honored at the annual MARA/Badger Midget Series Banquet in November. Details will follow in the coming weeks.
The Schoenfeld Headers Heat-Three and Hoosier Racing Tire B-Main were not run. MARA thanks them and all of our sponsors for their support of another exciting year of midget racing.
Jace Sparks would like to thank the following:
North American Midway Entertainment; Graue Chevrolet & Buick; Sk Davison Inc.; Kaston’s Koral’s; Altered Image Vinyl; Advanced Foam Insulation; MWR Technology; Wizards Wrestling; Radical Print Co.; Nuthatch Hill BBQ Company;
Schure Built Suspension; K1 RaceGear; 4Piston; TJ Forged; Spike Chassis; Arai Helmets.
He would also, like to thank his mother (Bridget Sparks) and father (Wes Sparks), crew chief Jeff Sparks and biggest his fan Grandma Terrie.
Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone involved with the MARA series.
Ag Venture / Wheymeyer Seed A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 19E-Daltyn England[7]; 2. 35-Bryce Massingill[9]; 3. 8D-Miles Doherty[3]; 4. 7-Cody Beard[4]; 5. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[1]; 6. 7M-Cole Morgan[15]; 7. 56-Mitchell Davis[8]; 8. 15C-RJ Corson[10]; 9. 4K-Charles Kunz[11]; 10. 18-Tyler Roth[5]; 11. 11K-Mark McMahill[2]; 12. (DNF) 7C-Chase Hodge[12]; 13. (DNF) 40-Jace Sparks[6]; 14. (DNF) 11-Sheldon Males[16]; 15. (DNF) 11J-Chris Baue[14]; 16. (DNS) 48-Eric Webber; 17. (DNS) 9-Keith Wilson
Fusion Engineering Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 56-Mitchell Davis[6]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks[5]; 3. 7-Cody Beard[4]; 4. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[2]; 5. 15C-RJ Corson[7]; 6. 7C-Chase Hodge[3]; 7. 11J-Chris Baue[1]; 8. 11-Sheldon Males[8]
Horizon Carpentry Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tyler Roth[5]; 2. 19E-Daltyn England[6]; 3. 8D-Miles Doherty[4]; 4. 35-Bryce Massingill[7]; 5. 11K-Mark McMahill[3]; 6. 4K-Charles Kunz[8]; 7. 48-Eric Webber[2]; 8. 7M-Cole Morgan[1]; 9. 9-Keith Wilson[9]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (25 Laps): 1. 4K-Charles Kunz, 00:11.011[13]; 2. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:11.039[14]; 3. 35-Bryce Massingill, 00:11.052[9]; 4. 56-Mitchell Davis, 00:11.076[7]; 5. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:11.127[2]; 6. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:11.175[11]; 7. 18-Tyler Roth, 00:11.183[15]; 8. 7-Cody Beard, 00:11.230[8]; 9. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:11.244[4]; 10. 7C-Chase Hodge, 00:11.275[1]; 11. 11K-Mark McMahill, 00:11.280[12]; 12. 5-Jacob Sollenberger, 00:11.534[16]; 13. 48-Eric Webber, 00:11.607[3]; 14. 11J-Chris Baue, 00:11.682[6]; 15. 7M-Cole Morgan, 00:11.716[10]; 16. 11-Sheldon Males, 00:12.824[17]; 17. (DNF) 9-Keith Wilson, 00:20.000[5]