SYCAMORE, Ill. — For most drivers the feature would have been described as an, “improbable win.” Parker Jones “The Blue Mounds Bullet” isn’t most drivers.
On a Sycamore Speedway surface that resembled a paved facility, the Advanced Fastening Supply Badger Midget Auto Racing Association cars crept carefully around the third-mile dirt track during their heats.
Each eight-lap heat can pretty much be described the same way. The pole sitter jumped to the lead as the rest of the field filed in behind. Anyone who dared to go so much as a groove above the lowest line was doomed, as Robby Wirth first proved and Alex Midkiff, Adam Taylor and Brian Strane Jr. would later learn during preliminary participation.
And then came the Lyco Manufacturing A-Main. The fastest cars were sprinkled throughout the field. The top two from the previous night at Kankakee County Speedway, Taylor and Jones, were starting in the back quarter of the field. At the drop of the green, polesitter Kyle Stark took to the point as expected and unless there were several yellows, one could assume the veteran would put Harlan Kittleson’s “Red Duce” in victory lane.
Up front there was a brief effort by Midkiff to try a different line on Stark, as the first half of the field filed in. Cody Weisensel was one of the first to give a preview of the race to come as by the fifth circuit the Gallardo Roofing car was in the hunt for a top five after starting 14th.
From the back of the pack others were trying the high line like Weisensel. The two most evident were Jones from 15th and Taylor from 18th.
The cushion was not tall and only a few feet from the wall. Nobody was banging it. Most seemed to hit the apex of the corner and take their momentum down the embankment to the straight. Jones and Taylor definitely had a rhythm.
Seven laps in, the only yellow of the night occurred. The restart saw Stark ahead of Midkiff and now Jones. Whether there was a yellow or not, it probably wasn’t going to matter as Jones had been closing the gap with each lap. It took a couple of circuits and on lap-twelve Jones passed Stark and sailed to the win.
Behind Jones there were entertaining battles throughout the field as cars were now trying new lines and routinely going three-wide. Taylor and Stark put on a show that would have had folks talking for days if it was for the win. They ended swapping slide-jobs and switching each other’s lines several times in the last five laps with Taylor beating Stark for second. Jace Sparks and Weisensel rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Parker Jones[15]; 2. 5X-Adam Taylor[18]; 3. 2-Kyle Stark[1]; 4. 40-Jace Sparks[6]; 5. 20-Cody Weisensel[14]; 6. 20D-Derek Doerr[4]; 7. 53-Aaron Schuck[3]; 8. 7-Brian Peterson[8]; 9. 05-Alex Midkiff[2]; 10. 15C-RJ Corson[7]; 11. 40JR-Dave Collins Jr[17]; 12. 4K-Charles Kunz[10]; 13. 8D-Miles Doherty[11]; 14. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[16]; 15. 11K-Robby Wirth[19]; 16. 29-Harrison Kleven[13]; 17. (DNF) 29K-Dan Kleven[12]; 18. (DNF) 17N-Nick Kilian[5]; 19. (DNF) 67U-Mike Unger[9]
