The Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association and the Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA) joined forces for the first time in 2025 for a border battle at Kankakee County Speedway in Illinois.
PRELIMS
Twenty-three cars took a shot at Rod End Supply Fast Time honors with RJ Corson taking the award ahead of Kyle Stark and Luke Wackerlin.
Auto Meter / Fusion Engineering Heat-One saw Nick Klein jump to the lead early. The Sun Prairie driver was making his first run of the year. His lead was short lived as Alex “The Missile” Midkiff got under Klein in turn-four and beat him to the line and sailed to victory from there. Of note, rookie Brian Strane Jr. raced from seventh to third in this, his first midget race.
Miles Doherty, after mechanical issues kept him out of the first BMARA race weekend, took Heat-Two sponsored by Dave Jones Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Protection, Electrical and Horizon Carpentry Inc.
From his front row starting spot Brian Peterson got the Behling Racing Equipment / Schoenfeld Headers Heat-Three lead early and then he and fifth starter Jace Sparks checked out on the field. Peterson received some pressure from Sparks early, but ended up with a fairly easy win.
There was no need for the Madison Extinguisher Service Last Chance Qualifier; Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-4; or the High Performance Lubricants /Hoosier Racing Tire B-Main.
THE FEATURE
As former Badger driver Bob Shreffler paced the field with his beautiful blue Jeep push truck, Peterson was on the pole with Taylor on the outside. Soon after the green flew it was Derek Doerr who had the point, leaving the front row to battle for second. For the first seven laps it looked like it was going to be Doerr and Taylor battling for the win when Doerr had to pull his Emergency Starting and Towing sponsored car to the infield while leading. The exit did not cause a caution. As things settled in, only a caution would keep Taylor from the win.
The cautions did come, but even the pack of Sparks, Stark and Parker Jones, all former winners behind him, could not catch the Wheatfield, Indiana, pilot. Jones, who was the Spankins Motorsports Bob Tattersall / High Performance Lubricants Hard Charger, had powered and picked his way from the eighteenth starting spot to pass Sparks and have a shot at Taylor, could only get within a half of a lap behind the winner.
NOTES
It was the first Lyco Manufacturing / Lincoln Speedway A-Main win for Taylor and his Fusion Engineering car in 2025. In the four races thus far between the two clubs there have been three different winners.
The Schoenfeld Headers / Horizon Build Develop Build Manage Invert Draw went to Stark.
The Rod End Supply Hard Luck Award went to Klein.
Midkiff earned the Last Place Bonus in Loving Memory of Addison Dahlke.
Strane was the Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race.
The AFS Badger Midget Series races again, tonight, Saturday, May 10 at Sycamore Speedway. More Badger regulars are expected and many MARA teams indicated they would be at this event.
After this weekend, MARA is back in action Friday, May 16 at Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, IL. Meanwhile Badger helps historic Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, WI, open their doors for 2025 on Sunday, May 18 for what will likely be the biggest purse of the season, the Dahlke Memorial.
Fans can watch tonight’s race on FloRacing.
Fans are also encouraged to play the Wisconsin Automotive Museum Badger Midget Fantasy Racing Game on the MyRacePass app.
Unofficial Results:
Advanced Fastening Supply A - Feature (25 Laps): 1. 5X-Adam Taylor[2]; 2. 41-Parker Jones[18]; 3. 40-Jace Sparks[5]; 4. 2-Kyle Stark[9]; 5. 15C-RJ Corson[15]; 6. 18-Tyler Roth[10]; 7. 8D-Miles Doherty[11]; 8. 53-Aaron Schuck[16]; 9. 17N-Nick Kilian[22]; 10. 11K-Robby Wirth[17]; 11. 12C-Dominic Bruns[20]; 12. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[19]; 13. 73-Luke Wackerlin[8]; 14. 29-Harrison Kleven[12]; 15. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[23]; 16. 77-Mark McMahill[14]; 17. 29K-Dan Kleven[21]; 18. 20D-Derek Doerr[3]; 19. 7-Brian Peterson[1]; 20. 19E-Daltyn England[7]; 21. 4K-Charles Kunz[4]; 22. 05-Alex Midkiff[6]; 23. (DNS) 17K-Nicholas Klein
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Alex Midkiff[5]; 2. 73-Luke Wackerlin[6]; 3. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[7]; 4. 20D-Derek Doerr[4]; 5. 17K-Nicholas Klein[1]; 6. 11K-Robby Wirth[2]; 7. (DNS) 12C-Dominic Bruns
Madison Extinguisher Service Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8D-Miles Doherty[3]; 2. 4K-Charles Kunz[6]; 3. 77-Mark McMahill[1]; 4. 19E-Daltyn England[7]; 5. 2-Kyle Stark[8]; 6. 53-Aaron Schuck[5]; 7. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[2]; 8. 17N-Nick Kilian[4]
Behlings Race Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Brian Peterson[3]; 2. 40-Jace Sparks[5]; 3. 29-Harrison Kleven[1]; 4. 5X-Adam Taylor[4]; 5. 18-Tyler Roth[2]; 6. 15C-RJ Corson[7]; 7. 41-Parker Jones[6]; 8. (DNS) 29K-Dan Kleven
FiveOne Motorsports Fast Time Schoenfeld Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 15C-RJ Corson, 00:15.530[10]; 2. 2-Kyle Stark, 00:15.581[6]; 3. 73-Luke Wackerlin, 00:15.622[21]; 4. 41-Parker Jones, 00:15.661[12]; 5. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:15.742[19]; 6. 05-Alex Midkiff, 00:15.863[22]; 7. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:15.870[3]; 8. 4K-Charles Kunz, 00:15.885[2]; 9. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:15.957[9]; 10. 5X-Adam Taylor, 00:16.071[11]; 11. 53-Aaron Schuck, 00:16.094[15]; 12. 22S-Brian Strane Jr, 00:16.149[13]; 13. 7-Brian Peterson, 00:16.179[4]; 14. 17N-Nick Kilian, 00:16.188[8]; 15. 12C-Dominic Bruns, 00:16.256[23]; 16. 18-Tyler Roth, 00:16.283[17]; 17. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:16.286[5]; 18. 11K-Robby Wirth, 00:16.401[20]; 19. 29-Harrison Kleven, 00:16.694[1]; 20. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:16.976[16]; 21. 17K-Nicholas Klein, 00:16.995[7]; 22. 29K-Dan Kleven, 00:20.897[14]; 23. 77-Mark McMahill, 01:14.131[18]; 24. (DNS) 19S-Jeff Sparks; 25. (DNS) 41J-Brandon Waelti
Article by: Bill Blumer Jr.
Photo by: (TBA) Kankakee Co. Speedway
- William Blumer on May 10, 2025
- Article Date: 5/10/2025