Kenyon Midget Series in crucial 3-race stretch

By Ken de la Bastide

As the 2026 season of the Kenyon Midget Series draws to a close there are three consecutive race weekends. The Series returns to the Lincoln Park dirt oval, then the lighting fast Berlin Raceway and closes out the three-race set at the Indianapolis Speedrome.

Following this stretch of races the series will go to the Sportsdrome and close out the year with the 75-lap Don and Mel Kenyon Classic at Anderson Speedway.

Point leader Ayrton Houk scored the victory in the first visit to the Lincoln Park oval. This weekend Houk will be competing with the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series at the Virginia International Raceway road course. Houk currently has a 170-point lead over Isaac Johnson with Evan Hammond back by 219 points and Dameron Taylor 263 markers back. Depending on the outcome at Lincoln Park any one of the four drivers could emerge as the point leader heading into the home stretch.

Johnson finished second in the first visit to Lincoln Park with first-time competitor Graham Huffman coming home in third followed by Hammond and Ryan Huggler.

Houk and Taylor have scored wins at Berlin Raceway in the past two seasons with Hammond scoring a second place finish in 2024 and Johnson coming home sixth a year ago.

The Peterman Brothers sponsored race team has swept the two Speedrome races with Kyle Hamilton winning the first visit and Danny O'Gara scoring his first feature win. O'Gara is not scheduled to compete at Lincoln Park which will allow Hunter Peri a chance to pad his Redline Ace Rookie of the Year points margin.

“I definitely have to stay tidy for these last few races now,” Houk said. “With missing Lincoln Park, I can't afford any other bad results. The title fight will be super close now and I have got to have a really strong return to Berlin, which I'm confident we can do,” he said.

Houk said he was excited about the opportunity to be competing with IMSA this coming weekend.

Johnson sitting second in points is looking for that first win of 2026 after winning twice last year at the Speedrome and Paragon Speedway. “Honestly, I just want to finish out the season strong,” he said. “We've had great speed every race this season, just need to back it up with the finishes.”

Taylor is the defending series champion and is seeking a fifth title overall. “The goal is to finish top 3 at all of them,” he said, “but most important is to finish in front of Isaac (Johnson). I think we have a shot but we need this last half races to go the opposite way of the first half,” Taylor said. “We were strong at the dirt track, but so was Isaac. Should be a tough battle for the win.”

Hammond said the team fought an engine problem at the Salem race, but is having it worked on before Lincoln Park. “Unfortunately when me and dad seemed to get a handle on our short track set-up, we had a weak engine and couldn't show for it.” Hammond said the dirt track is a different ball game, but believes he is better prepared after turning some laps in a sprint car on dirt.