SYCAMORE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT
A track that lends itself to two groove racing and first time winners, this night’s Alexander and Schuck Memorial at Sycamore didn’t disappoint. A strong field of 24 cars from five states signed in for the Badger/Midget Auto Racing Association co-sanctioned race. MARA regular Daltyn England scored his second win of the season and first ever at Sycamore.
It was also a night to celebrate as Parker Jones clinched the AFS Badger Midget Series title.
THE RACE NIGHT
Derek Doerr was the fastest in Rod End Supply Qualifying.
Hometown favorite Luke Wackerlin came from his eighth starting spot to top Mike Unger who started sixth in Fusion Engineering/Auto Meter Heat-One.
Jones stormed from the back of the pack over-taking Tommy Colburn to win Horizon Carpentry/Dave Jones Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Protection and Electrical Heat-Two.
It was an emotional win for Aaron Schuck in Schoenfeld Headers/Behling Racing Equipment Heat-Three. The second half of the Alexander and Schuck Memorial is in honor of the Joliet, IL driver's late father.
Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-Four; Madison Extinguisher Service Last Chance Qualifier and the Hoosier Racing Tire/ High Performance Lubricants B-Main were not run.
LYCO MANUFACTURING AND AG VENTURE WHEYMEYER SEED A-MAIN
Abby Hohlbein paced the first ten laps of the Lyco Manufacturing and Ag Venture/Wheymeyer Seed A-Main from her P2 starting spot. The Ohio driver had a commanding lead to that point. The yellow flew for a Nick Kilian spin. It bunched the field and entirely changed the complexion of the race. To this point Hohlbein had amassed a straightaway lead on the second place car of Wackerlin. She was mastering the high groove while Wackerlin was experimenting a bit while also trying to hold off Jones.
Quietly, England was tooling around the bottom and was in fourth when the action slowed. On the restart Wackerlin was strong with a cadence of going high in the first turns and low in the last two. Coming out of turn-four on lap-11 he powered under Hohlbein as she jumped the cushion. Wackerlin only had the lead briefly because as they exited turn-two, England drove by on the bottom and immediately started to pull away. England came on lapped traffic within a couple of laps narrowly missing a car at one point.
At lap-18 the red came out when Wackerlin slowed with an issue. Hohlbein caught his right rear jolting her car toward the turn-three/four wall. She bounced off and back into traffic where she collected Jace Sparks. Wackerlin and Hohlbein were done for the night. Sparks flipped on his side and he was also done. There were no injuries reported.
The restart saw England with Todd Kluever on his tail. England would show his restart prowess for the first time as he brought the field slowly to the green and gassed it, leaving Kluever in his dust. Jones started to make hay on the outside, which seemed to get farther around with every lap. He passed Kluever who was on the bottom, for second and set his sights on England who had at least a straightaway lead.
Jones was showing some signs of difficulty with the apex of one and two and it finally bit him. With two to go Jones was in striking distance of England despite having Kluever fairly even with him on the bottom. Jones caught the cushion, his car bounced and flipped, landing on its side. Jones was out in fairly short order, his night was finished.
England changed his restart, driving high and going low just before the green and pulled away immediately from Kluever. From there England sailed to the win over Kluever and Weisensel.
CONTINGENCIES AND NOTES
Hoosier Racing Tire Heat-Four; Madison Extinguisher Service Last Chance Qualifier and the High Performance Lubricants/Hoosier Racing Tire B-Main were not run.
The High Performance Lubricants/Spankins Motorsports Bob Tattersall Hard Charger Award went to Harrison Kleven who gained ten spots to finish 14th.
Mike Gebhard took the Spankins Motorsports Rookie of the Race honors.
Rod End Supply Hard Luck Award Mike Stroik.
The Last Place Bonus in Memory of Addison Dahlke went to Tyler Roth.
On the Badger side, it was a special night for former MARA Champion Parker Jones who scored enough points to clinch the AFS Badger Midget Series title for the second year in a row. His year was so dominating that with a couple of races left nobody can score enough points to catch him in the race for the title.
The midgets were scheduled for five events at Sycamore Speedway but three of those races were rained out. Between that fact and the gorgeous weather, Badger and MARA fans showed up in force for Saturday’s last appearance of 2025 by the clubs.
The BMARA and MARA staff appreciated the hospitality and help of Sycamore personnel as there were several technical glitches during the event that the Sycamore staff helped to remedy.
UP NEXT
The MARA points race is up for grabs with four events still on the schedule. Up next is a two-day weekend, September 12 and 13 where MARA will run first at Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois and then the prestigious Tom Knowles Memorial the next night at Spoon River Speedway.
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Lyco Manufacturing A - Feature (25 Laps): 1. 19E-Daltyn England[10]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever[7]; 3. 5X-Cody Weisensel[12]; 4. 31-Tommy Colburn[13]; 5. 2-Jake Dohner[14]; 6. 20D-Derek Doerr[6]; 7. 53-Aaron Schuck[15]; 8. 17N-Nick Kilian[16]; 9. 57-Matt Rechek[1]; 10. 56-Mitchell Davis[8]; 11. 59-Kyle Koch[20]; 12. 8D-Miles Doherty[19]; 13. 67U-Mike Unger[9]; 14. 29-Harrison Kleven[24]; 15. 97-Jim Jones[22]; 16. 41-Parker Jones[5]; 17. (DNF) 73W-Luke Wackerlin[4]; 18. (DNF) 11H-Abby Hohlbein[2]; 19. (DNF) 40-Jace Sparks[11]; 20. (DNF) 81-Mike Gebhard[21]; 21. (DNF) 1W-Robby Wirth[23]; 22. (DNF) 98-Jordan Nelson[18]; 23. (DNF) 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[17]; 24. (DNF) 18-Tyler Roth[3]
Auto Meter Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[8]; 2. 67U-Mike Unger[6]; 3. 2-Jake Dohner[4]; 4. 40-Jace Sparks[5]; 5. 57-Matt Rechek[7]; 6. 98-Jordan Nelson[2]; 7. 81-Mike Gebhard[1]; 8. (DNS) 29K-Mike Stroik
Dave Jones Plumbing HVAC Electrical Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[8]; 2. 31-Tommy Colburn[4]; 3. 56-Mitchell Davis[6]; 4. 19E-Daltyn England[5]; 5. 11H-Abby Hohlbein[7]; 6. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[3]; 7. 59-Kyle Koch[1]; 8. 1W-Robby Wirth[2]
Behling Race Products Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 53-Aaron Schuck[2]; 2. 55-Todd Kluever[6]; 3. 20D-Derek Doerr[8]; 4. 5X-Cody Weisensel[4]; 5. 18-Tyler Roth[7]; 6. 17N-Nick Kilian[5]; 7. 8D-Miles Doherty[3]; 8. 97-Jim Jones[1]; 9. (DNS) 29-Harrison Kleven
Rod End Supply Fast Time Qualifying (100 Laps): 1. 20D-Derek Doerr, 00:14.686[20]; 2. 41-Parker Jones, 00:14.750[9]; 3. 73W-Luke Wackerlin, 00:14.752[14]; 4. 18-Tyler Roth, 00:15.067[23]; 5. 11H-Abby Hohlbein, 00:15.092[17]; 6. 57-Matt Rechek, 00:15.122[13]; 7. 55-Todd Kluever, 00:15.153[4]; 8. 56-Mitchell Davis, 00:15.234[18]; 9. 67U-Mike Unger, 00:15.239[10]; 10. 17N-Nick Kilian, 00:15.366[11]; 11. 19E-Daltyn England, 00:15.388[15]; 12. 40-Jace Sparks, 00:15.406[16]; 13. 5X-Cody Weisensel, 00:15.522[2]; 14. 31-Tommy Colburn, 00:15.567[5]; 15. 2-Jake Dohner, 00:15.668[12]; 16. 8D-Miles Doherty, 00:15.859[8]; 17. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr, 00:15.897[22]; 18. 29K-Mike Stroik, 00:15.905[6]; 19. 53-Aaron Schuck, 00:15.973[7]; 20. 1W-Robby Wirth, 00:16.114[27]; 21. 98-Jordan Nelson, 00:16.178[21]; 22. 97-Jim Jones, 00:16.268[3]; 23. 59-Kyle Koch, 00:16.278[19]; 24. 81-Mike Gebhard, 00:18.945[1];
Photo by Dan Simpson
Article by Bill Blumer Jr.
- William Blumer on Sep 01, 2025
- Article Date: 9/1/2025