By Bill Blumer Jr.
A big crowd was on hand to watch Mario Clouser sweep the field in Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA) action at Lincoln Speedway (Lincoln, IL) on Friday, June 6. Clouser started his march with group qualifying where he topped Jake Neuman for Rod End Supply Fast Time honors, setting the tone for the night.
Auto Meter Heat-One saw Daltyn England beat Kevin Battefeld to the first corner and pace the first lap. Meanwhile, Jake Neuman was patiently picking off cars in a charge to the front from his third row starting spot. At the mid-point of the race Neuman found himself in second when he swung high in turn-three and then pointed his car to the bottom of turn-four where he snuck under England and bolted to the lead. England then tried fighting off a charging Mitchell Davis to no avail. Neuman won by seven lengths over Davis.
Clouser would have more of a challenge than Neuman, in CASM Safety Products Heat-Two as the fast qualifier started eighth. At the drop of the green they were three-wide in short order with Carl Peterson IV coming out on top over Jordan Clary and Chris Adrien. Three laps in, Peterson IV enjoyed several lengths on the field with Clouser back in fifth. Clouser broke free on the next lap and with three to go he got by Peterson IV. From there Clouser put a straightaway on the field for the win.
FUSION ENGINEERING A-Main
The 20 lap Fusion Engineering Feature saw Greg Ross and Chet Gehrke bring the field to the green. There had been two grooves all night to this point, albeit within a narrow band primarily from the bottom to the middle of the track. At the drop of the green cars were low to just a couple of feet from the outer wall. Gehrke paced the first laps running tight to the bottom. Clouser was one car hustling on the high side.
Five laps in it was Gehrke over Neuman by about five lengths and Clouser another five back from Neuman. In three more laps Clouser was working both high and low and got around Neuman for the runner-up spot.
With Clouser and Neuman battling, Gehrke was able to stretch his advantage to a straightaway. But Clouser closed the gap from the high line and with the laps winding down it was apparent Gehrke was going to have to change his groove to win as he would soon be encountering a lapped car running in his line.
At the stripe to start lap-fourteen Gehrke did catch the lapper to the point that there appeared to be front bumper to tail tank contact causing a wiggle out of the Gehrke car. This allowed Clouser to power by on the outside along with Neuman.
With four to go Clouser gained a comfortable advantage while Gehrke fought back against Neuman. That pair went side by side for the remaining laps with the track sustaining two great racing lines, Gehrke low and Neuman high.
Clouser driving the Phantom Chassis house car dispatched a lapped car on the last corner and took the checkers. Gehrke washed up a bit and lost momentum coming out of four allowing Neuman to beat him to the runner-up spot.
In his victory lane interview upon hearing it was Gehrke he had passed for the lead this night, Clouser noted with a chuckle that it was Gehrke who he passed for his first-ever midget win years ago.
NOTES
Clouser earned the rights to the Horizon Develop Build Manage Invert Draw.
The High Performance Lubricants Hard Charger Award also went to Clouser as he passed four cars in a race that went green to checkers without a stoppage.
It was announced that Tyler Roth would race for Sober Racing this coming Sunday, June 7, at Angell Park Speedway. 2025 MARA champ Jace Sparks drove the same car to a fourth place finish the week prior. That event with the AFS Badger Midget Series also includes a visit by the famed World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and will be available live on DIRTVision.
SPECIAL THANKS
Along with the noted supporters, MARA would like to thank Schoenfeld Headers and Hoosier Tire for their sponsorship of the series.
NEXT UP
MARA is back in action Saturday, June 20, in a co-sanctioned event with the AFS Badger Midget Series at Sycamore Speedway. The race will be live on BadgerRacing.TV
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Fusion Engineering A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 75-Mario Clouser[5]; 2. 57R-Jake Neuman[4]; 3. 21-Chet Gehrke[2]; 4. 56X-Mark Chisholm[3]; 5. 19E-Daltyn England[7]; 6. 7X-Greg Ross[1]; 7. 56-Mitchell Davis[10]; 8. 42-Kevin Battefeld[8]; 9. 18-Tyler Roth[11]; 10. 49P-Carl Peterson IV[9]; 11. 12C-Dominic Bruns[14]; 12. 11K-Mark McMahill[12]; 13. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[6]; 14. 3A-Chris Adrien[15]; 15. 51Y-Chris Young[16]; 16. 94-Jordan Clary[13]
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 57R-Jake Neuman[6]; 2. 56-Mitchell Davis[7]; 3. 19E-Daltyn England[2]; 4. 42-Kevin Battefeld[1]; 5. 7X-Greg Ross[3]; 6. 11K-Mark McMahill[5]; 7. 12C-Dominic Bruns[4]; 8. 51Y-Chris Young[8]
CASM Safety Products Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Mario Clouser[8]; 2. 21-Chet Gehrke[6]; 3. 56X-Mark Chisholm[7]; 4. 49P-Carl Peterson IV[2]; 5. 5-Jacob Sollenberger[4]; 6. 18-Tyler Roth[5]; 7. 94-Jordan Clary[3]; 8. 3A-Chris Adrien[1]
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (25 Laps): 1. 75-Mario Clouser, 13.888[10]; 2. 57R-Jake Neuman, 13.926[12]; 3. 56X-Mark Chisholm, 14.037[11]; 4. 11K-Mark McMahill, 14.132[7]; 5. 21-Chet Gehrke, 14.295[9]; 6. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 14.360[16]; 7. 18-Tyler Roth, 14.377[5]; 8. 7X-Greg Ross, 14.579[3]; 9. 5-Jacob Sollenberger, 14.580[2]; 10. 19E-Daltyn England, 14.581[4]; 11. 94-Jordan Clary, 14.602[1]; 12. 42-Kevin Battefeld, 14.605[8]; 13. 49P-Carl Peterson IV, 14.756[14]; 14. 51Y-Chris Young, 15.858[15]; 15. 3A-Chris Adrien, 15.894[13]; 16. (DNS) 56-Mitchell Davis, 20.000