MVRL ARCA SERIES S1 R9 Recap

26 May 2025
Maximum Velocity Racing League | Season 1 | Round 9
ARCA Series | New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Monday night, May 26th, the Maximum Velocity Racing League rolled into New Hampshire Motor Speedway to celebrate Memorial Day with a wild one — Race 9 of Season 1 in the MVRL ARCA Series.

James Lehman fired off from the pole with a lap of 30.033 seconds, joined on the front row by Heath Smith. Behind them, the top six — including Justin Michael, Scott Patten, Aiden Young, and Zack Saunders — would end up trading paint and positions all night long.

As has been the story of the season, cautions were plentiful as drivers battled loose-handling race cars, especially on corner exit. Lehman led early but on lap 17, Michael dove deep to the inside in turn 1, drifted up into Lehman, and the two made heavy contact. Both recovered, but the pace was gone — and Smith took full advantage, snatching the lead.

Lehman managed to stay near the podium while Michael faded to seventh. As the cautions continued to shuffle the deck, Young got sent hard into the inside wall on lap 24, ending his night early. Meanwhile, Smith kept command out front with Saunders, Michael, Patten, and Howell all clawing toward the front.

Under caution on lap 38, Lehman made a bold decision — he hit pit road for fresh tires and repairs, dropping all the way back to 25th. But it was the right call. As racing resumed, Lehman carved through traffic, passing cars two and three at a time.

Up front, Smith came under fire from Patten and Saunders. With 26 laps to go, Patten went low for the lead. Smith slipped up out of turn 4 and scraped the wall — and both Patten and Saunders flew by.

Then the race turned chaotic.

With just over 10 to go, Charlie Widner grabbed the lead briefly before things exploded into a four-wide fight through turns 3 and 4 — Saunders, Patten, Widner, and a surging Lehman all going for it. Lehman wisely backed out, but Saunders came out of the dust with the lead.

With 6 to go, the final restart set the stage for a classic duel. Lehman launched an immediate attack, and the two leaders began trading slide jobs lap after lap. Coming to the white flag, Lehman had the lead. But off turn 2, Saunders crossed him over.

They went door-to-door through 3 and 4, Saunders got loose on corner exit, and the two drag-raced to the line. It was Saunders by just 0.008 seconds in a photo finish.

The MVRL ARCA Series returns next Monday, June 2nd from the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway. Don’t miss a lap — coverage goes live at 9:30PM Eastern only on the Virtual Grip Network!