Houk prevails at Lincoln Park

By Ken de la Bastide

Just days after being hospitalized, Ayrton Houk prevailed in the first ever visit of the Kenyon Midgets to Lincoln Park Speedway. Houk established the track record during qualifying on the dirt quarter-mile, won his heat race and then scored his second feature win of 2026 and the tenth of his career. With the victory Houk, a former Kenyon Midget Series champion, took over the point lead when early point leader Kyle Hamilton didn't compete at Lincoln Park.

“My goal was to take things one step at a time,” Houk said after the win on a social media post. “Listen to my body, and if anything felt less than 100% I would pull off and park it.”

He said the JK Racing crew gave him a fast car for the night. Houk captured the K&K Marketing fast qualifier award with a time of 15.102-seconds to best first-time competitor Graham Huffman.

Huffman joined Houk as winners of the KRJ Race Product heat races.

Huffman started on the pole position with Houk running third. At the start Huffman slid back to the fourth spot after getting tight on the start.

Houk claimed the second spot on lap three and took the lead from Johnson on the fourth lap and held on for the victory. The race went green to checkers with Johnson coming home in second followed by Huffman, Evan Hammond and former champion Ryan Huggler.

Johnson and Huffman battled throughout most of the race for the second spot with Huffman trying unsuccessfully to make the high line work.

“I liked the track and the battle for second was a fun one,” Johnson said. “Ayrton and his team definitely hit the setup, our car couldn't get the drive off the corners that he could. We definitely have a solid baseline for when we go back later in the season,” he said.

Hammond started seventh and drove to the fourth place showing. “We shook the rust off a little,” Hammond said of a return to a dirt oval. “We had a lot of speed in the car, we had a solid finish.”

Hammond said the team learned a lot for the return trip to Lincoln Park this year. “It was a good fast race and it's a nice facility,” he said.

Defending champion Dameron Taylor was running second in the feature when he lost an engine finishing 13th of the 15-midgets in the starting line-up.

Hunter Peri earned the Advanced Racing Suspension Hard Charger award gaining seven spots to finish 7th and also the BHR Performance Rookie of the Race honors.