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MACON, IL (April 25) - The first visit of the 2009 season for the O’Reilly’s POWRi Midgets and Micros was well-attended by both the drivers and the fans. The newly-acquired cornfield behind the backstretch was completely full of trailers carrying open wheel racecars. Because of last Saturday’s rain, the stock car features were postponed until later in the season. The later in the season would be tonight for the Street Stocks, which would run double features (the make-up of the April 18 rainout plus the regularly scheduled feature). The make-up Street Stock feature was well-worth the wait. St. Elmo’s Tyler Blankenship took off with the lead and had Decatur’s Steve Ewing right on his bumper. For the entire 12 laps of the feature, Blankenship held off Ewing until lap ten out of turn two onto the backstretch when lapped traffic created havoc and Blankenship lost control. He slid into Ewing and Mike Pickering, who was trailing in third, came up with the lead after both cars lost control and went sliding into the infield. Pickering took off and Al Crawley would not get close enough to challenge. It was the second feature win of the year for the multi-time Street Stock champion and the second in as many features. Pop’s Place Bar & Grill at West Main and Wyckles donated $100 for the fifth place finisher in the make-up feature. Steve Ewing finished fifth and picked up the bonus $100. Brad Loyet held off the challenge for the heat win in the Midgets. That would only be the beginning of this night. In the 30-lap O’Reilly’s POWRi Midget feature, Loyet would have the most dominate racecar on the track. He led all 30 laps and won by several car lengths. Loyet won two features at Macon Speedway in 2008. The Modified feature proved to be exciting with the battle for the lead. Dave Crawley, Jr. and Steve Ewing went back and forth for the top spot throughout the race. Ewing had control of the race until lap 14 when Crawley overcame the lapped traffic and Ewing for the lead. Many more attempts by Ewing would be spoiled and Crawley held on for his second feature win of 2009. In the Best Fan in the Stands drawing, the second place finisher would receive $100 and draw a fan’s name and that fan would also win $100. Ewing finished second and picked up the bonus paycheck and made a fan happy in the process. The second Street Stock feature of the night would have more incredible racing. BJ Deal from Vandalia started front row outside and battled with Larry Russell, Jr. in the early going. Lapped traffic led to Steve Ewing coming into the first position picture and he ran along with Deal. Ewing would take the lead on lap six and began pulling away. Ewing would finish first with Russell, Jr. in second. Blake Shelley had strong race and finished third. The O’Reilly’s POWRi Micro Sprints Andrew Peters was able to stay away from trouble as cars spun around and flipped over during the 25-lap feature. Peters, a heat winner from earlier in the evening, captured the checkered flag for the first time at Macon Speedway. The night of fun didn’t stop until the final race of the evening. The Pro and Amateur Hornets continued to provide exciting racing as Joe Reed, the defending UMP National Hornet Champion, did not allow Jeff Dodd to take the lead away from him. Reed won his first Pro Hornet feature of the season. Heidi Hames finished off the night with a dominate showing in the Amateur Hornets as she won her second feature of the year.
A near record-setting total of racecars and a full house at Macon Speedway
led to an awesome show. Stock car racing returns in full force next Saturday
night with the Cinco de Mayo Festival and two Late Model features. One will
be the make-up from of the rainout on April 18. In honor of the Cinco de
Mayo festival, Macon Speedway will house a jalapeno eating contest during
the StarTek Intermission Program.
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