KENNY WALLACE TOPS NASCAR STARS AT MACON SPEEDWAY
by: Tonya Moschell

MACON (June 14) – Energy was high on and off the track at Macon Speedway for the Night of NASCAR Stars on Thursday night, their second of three nights scheduled for the 2007 season. NASCAR stars Marcus Ambrose, Jason Leffler, Stephen Leicht, Mike Wallace, Steve Wallace, J.J. Yeley, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Bobby Labonte and David Reutimann along with Ray Evernham and Aaron Pierce raced modifeds side by side with Macon Speedway co-owners Kenny Wallace and Ken Schrader.

The evening festivities were sponsored by US Army, celebrating their 232nd birthday at the track. The Mid America Sport Parachute Club of Taylorville kicked off racing with a four man sky dive, including 68 year old Ron McFarland, onto the front stretch.

During an intermission in racing, track co-owner Tony Stewart phoned in a donation of $5,000 to the Victory Junction Gang Camp that was matched with donations from Macon Speedway, the Blue Mound Lions Club and tonight’s 50/50 winner for a total donation of $10,000. Northeast Community Fund Food Bank and Meridian School District also benefited from donations from Macon Speedway owners.

Kenny Wallace took the checkered flag for the win in the star-studded Modified feature in front of a full capacity crowd on their feet. The 25 lap race featured all of the visiting NASCAR drivers and one owner, Ray Evernham, who seemed to lose control of his car frequently through the turns. “I’m here for the comic relief” Evernham joked during the pre-race ceremonies. Ken Schrader couldn’t seem to get any closer to Wallace than a car length at any time during the race. Australian driver Marcus Ambrose finished in third and David Reutimann also put in a good showing, doing some impressive inside and outside moves on the track and finishing in fourth place.

The stars of NASCAR also ran their heats just as competitively. Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace had a great battle for the lead as Schrader made an exciting inside move on Wallace and took the race. The second heat of modifieds featured Jason Leffler beating out Mike Wallace.

The local stars were out in force as well and gave the fans a full 19 car feature race in the Hogan Grain/ Kubota Sportsman series. Dave Smith from Monticello took the feature race by a wide margin, but the action was farther back in the pack. The large field of cars gave racing fans at Macon a lot of beating and banging out on the track which included #27 Greg Kimmons, who finished second, missing the sheet metal on his car’s entire right side and #18 Shane Tomlin, who finished in third place, getting hit and losing the great handling which had him in the lead early in the race.

In the street stock feature, Steve Ewing of Decatur took his fourth consecutive race at Macon Speedway. Roy Magee held the lead early and blocked Ewing for as long as he could. Once Ewing cut to the inside of Magee, the cars stacked up behind made their way through as well, knocking Magee back to a fourth place finish. Decatur natives Larry Russell Jr. and Brian Cassell finished second and third.

Kenny Wallace took his time at the end of the night to address his cheering fans. “This is all about the fans. This is all about TV. And this is all about bringing racing back to Macon.”

UMP Sportsman 6/14/2007
Feature:1. Dave Smith (Monticello, IL), 2. Greg Kimmons (Pleasant Plains, IL), 3. Shane Tomlin (Pawnee, IL), 4. Artie Lynch (Hillsboro, IL), 5. Mike Pickering (Decatur, IL), 6. Phil Moreland (Assumption, IL), 7. Kevin Crowder (Argenta, IL), 8. Scott Landers (Taylorville, IL), 9. Billy Gibson (Farmersville, IL), 10. Len Garson (Pocahontas, IL), 11. Tom Graham (Stonington, IL), 12. Travis Martin (Ramsey, IL), 13. Jeff Graham (Stonington, IL), 14. Dennis Vandermeersch (Springfield, IL), 15. Lonnie Nichols (Shelbyville, IL), 16. Alan Crowder (Elwin, IL), 17. Andrew Evans (Hudson, IL), 18. Bill Berghaus (Chapin, IL), 19. Darrell Dick (Monticello, IL), 20. Bill Wilhour (Taylorville, IL),

UMP Street Stock 6/14/2007
Feature:1. Steve Ewing (Decatur, IL), 2. Larry Russell Jr. (Decatur, IL), 3. Brian Cassell (Decatur, IL), 4. Roy Magee (Springfield, IL), 5. Shad Eskew (Ashland, IL), 6. Mike Pickering (Decatur, IL), 7. Tyler Blankenship (St. Elmo, IL), 8. Troy Dodson (Cerro Gordo, IL), 9. Terry Reed (Decatur, IL), 10. Chris Tackett (Bloomington, IL), 11. Gene Reed (Decatur, IL), 12. Bob Simmons (Effingham, IL), 13. Jim Cardoni (Chatham, IL), 14. Steve Brandt (Peoria, IL), 15. Mike Pasley (Taylorville, IL), 16. Kelby Simmons (Effingham, IL), 17. Cody Wickline (Assumption, IL), 18. Kevin Mcdermand (Springfield, IL), 19. Nick Vandenbergh (Ashland, IL), 20. Brandon Bechtel (Springfield, IL), 21. Justin Hill (Lovington, IL),
NASCAR Stars Modifieds 6/14/2007

Feature:1. Kenny Wallace, 2. Ken Schrader, 3. Marcus Ambrose, 4. David Reutimann, 5. Bobby Labonte, 6. Kyle Busch, 7. Mike Wallace, 8. Casey Mears, 9. Steve Wallace, 10. Jason Leffler, 11. Aaron Pierce, 12. Ray Evernham, 13. Stephen Leicht, 14. JJ Yeley