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Macon Speedway Doubles the Pleasure with the Lite Beer Twin
50s
By Brett Zerfowski
MACON, IL (June 6) - The second year in-a-row, the Late Models and Modifieds
would take to the track for 50-lap features in the Mueller Distributing Lite
Beer Twin 50s. 16 Late Models and 23 Modifieds all trying to get through the
50 laps and onto the increased prize money for a first-place finish.
The evening started the way the 2008 Twin 50s ended with Brandon Sheppard
not only taking the fast qualifying time in his group, but also taking the
checkered flag in his heat. The first heat would go to his father Steve
Sheppard, Jr.
Good heat races with few drivers unable to make the features set up the
excitement of the feature events. The Touchstone Energy Sportsman feature
took to the track first and the early battle was with two former feature
winners, Alan Crowder and Rick Roedel. Crowder led the first four laps but
was passed by Roedel on lap five and from that point on, Roedel was able to
put the rest of the field behind him and coast to his second feature
in-a-row and third overall. A sub-par night for Scott Landers will make
things different atop of the Touchstone Energy Sportsman standings. Roedel
trailed Landers by eight points coming into the evening.
The Modifieds came out for their 50-lap feature and last year’s winner,
Jeremy Nichols, started front row outside with Buffalo’s Joe Strawkus on the
pole. The second row consisted of Kyle Logue and Aaron Burcham, who had won
two consecutive features. All 24 cars started the 50-lap feature which led
to problems early in the event. There were three caution flags within the
first nine laps of the 50-lapper with Joe Strawkus holding off Logue, Curt
Rhodes and Nichols. Logue made the pass on Strawkus on lap 23 and began to
put some distance between he and the second-place car.
A spinout in turn four of lap 33 brought the cars back together but Logue
would once again distance himself from the charging competition. Logue would
lead the final 27 laps on route to his first Modified feature of 2009 and
the $750 first-place prize. Strawkus took second with third through sixth
being congested between Nichols, points leader Davey Crawley, Jr. (who
started in the 19th position), Steve Ewing (who started 12th) and Burcham.
The Best Fan in the Stands driver was the driver who finished sixth and
Burcham received a $100 bonus and a chance to make one lucky fan very happy.
With two straight weeks of unclaimed money in the Best Fan in the Stands
promotion, Saturday’s winner would pocket $300. Jeannine Garner’s name was
drawn from the box containing the Macon Speedway faithful by Aaron Burcham.
The Pro Hornets feature split up the two 50-lap main events and from the
pole, Joe Reed was able to stay in front of Michael Pundt, Jr. and James
Hankins as he took his fourth feature of the year and regained the points
standings from Jeff Dodd.
After the Modifieds took 50 laps and the Pro Hornets raced eight laps, the
track got slick. 16 Late Models entered the speedway from the turn two gate
for their own 50-lap adventure. The race would have the heat winners, Steve
Sheppard, Jr. and Brandon Sheppard sitting in the front row.
Kyle Logue and Roger Brickler sat in the second row. A rough night for
five-time Twin 50s winner Dick Taylor saw him start in the last row. The
track looked very shinny and slick as the Late Models took the green flag
and from the moment the green flag waved all the way to the checkered flag,
the race belonged to Steve Sheppard, Jr. An incredible no-caution 50-lap
Late Model race saw only three cars pull in to the infield with problems.
One of those cars was current points leader Kyle Logue. Logue had problems
with handling throughout the feature and on lap 12 pulled into the infield
and sat out the remaining 38 laps. It would a fast race for the Sheppards as
no cautions limited the time to a mere 11 minutes and Steve Sheppard, Jr.
took his third Macon Speedway feature in the third leg of the Midwest Big
Ten Series. It was also the third feature win for Sheppard, Jr. in the
Series. His son, Brandon, would take second with Chris Dick and Roger
Brickler following behind the father-son duo.
The win for Steve Sheppard, Jr. was his sixth in the Lite Beer Twins events
and he now has the all-time lead for most wins after being tied with Dick
Taylor. After leading and winning the Mueller Distributing Lite Beer Twin
50s, Steve Sheppard, Jr. pocketed the $1,500 first-place prize.
After taking the lead from Blake Shelley on lap three, Steve Ewing would
hold on and win his fourth feature of 2009. Shelley finished in second to
jumble up the Street Stock points standings.
The Amateur Hornets wrapped up the program and Heidi Hames collected her
fifth feature of the season after a rough and caution-filled start. Hames
passed Sam McCoy on lap two and never looked back.
After one big show comes an even bigger show, possibly the biggest show so
far in 2009, NASCAR Night with Macon Speedway co-owners Tony Stewart and Ken
Schrader. Mark Martin will also be welcomed to the dirt track. On top of the
evening being special enough with the NASCAR stars, the speedway welcomes
back the POWRi Midgets and Micros. Modifieds and Street Stocks will also be
apart of the huge night.
Great seats are still available for NASCAR Night and you can get your
tickets in advance by dialing (217) 764-3000. Tickets will also be made
available at the main gate on race day. It will be a reserved seating only
night at the track so in order to get the best seats in the house, dial
(217) 764-3000!
Macon Speedway will also race on Saturday night with the Dear Ol’ Dad night
featuring the Faster Pastor race during the StarTek Intermission program.
Another full show will be in store for the fans of Macon Speedway with all
five racing divisions on the night before Father’s Day.
Result For June 06, 2009
UMP Late Model - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 5S Steve Sheppard New Berlin, Il 50
2 2 B5 Brandon Sheppard - 48
3 8 22 Chris Dick Deland , Il 46
4 4 82 Roger Brickler Springfield , Il 44
5 10 28B John Beck Springfield , Il 42
6 5 25 Dennis Vandermeersch Springfield , Il 40
7 6 F15 Jeremy Conaway - 38
8 11 16H Mike Hammerle St Charles, Mo 36
9 12 11D Brian Diveley - 34
10 15 24 Dick Taylor - 32
11 9 C4 Jason Cleaver - 30
12 7 DC3 Don Cisco - 28
13 14 3W Bill Wilhour Taylorville , Il 26
14 13 00 Shawn Bohm - 24
15 3 21 Kyle Logue Cisco , Il 22
16 16 67 Michael Durbin Jr. Decatur , Il 20
UMP Modified - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 3 11 Kyle Logue Cisco , Il 50
2 1 28 Joe Strawkas Buffalo , Il 48
3 2 01 Jeremy Nichols Decatur , Il 46
4 19 37 David Crawley Jr. Decatur , Il 44
5 12 31 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 42
6 4 00 Aaron Burcham Decatur , Il 40
7 9 D98 Danny Smith Argenta , Il 38
8 5 10 Curt Rhodes Taylorville , Il 36
9 8 40 Jim Leka Illiopolis , Il 34
10 23 18 Randy Myers Springfield , Il 32
11 22 T2 Mark Tullis Taylorville , Il 30
12 20 8 Dick Taylor - 28
13 6 35 Clark Robertson Shelbyville , Il 26
14 15 18M Kenneth Morris Virginia , Il 24
15 7 52 Roger Drake - 22
16 17 64 Donny Koehler Jr. Macon , Il 20
17 18 42 Katie Lord Chatham , Il 18
18 21 22 Scott Jones - 16
19 24 16H Eric Hamilton Macon , Il 14
20 11 77 Guy Taylor - 12
21 16 32X Michael Pundt Jr. Decatur , Il 10
22 14 5G Brian Gates Morrisonville , Il 8
23 13 57 Danny Page Mount Zion, Il 6
24 10 87 Wes O'dell - 4
UMP Sportsman - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 5 11 Rick Roedel Shelbyville , Il 50
2 2 14C Alan Crowder Elwin , Il 48
3 7 9 Mike Pickering Decatur , Il 46
4 9 14 Nation Lynch - 44
5 15 72 Tom Graham - 42
6 3 22 Timmy Dick Monticello , Il 40
7 8 3B Stefan Bedinger - 38
8 6 41 Scott Landers Taylorville , Il 36
9 13 60 Kenny Hayes Macon , Il 34
10 14 90 Justin Ater - 32
11 11 8K Ken Fustin Springfield , Il 30
12 1 B99 Tim Bedinger Taylorville , Il 28
13 12 87 Dan O'dell - 26
14 4 11K Terry Reed Decatur , Il 24
15 10 B88 James Bedinger Taylorville , Il 22
UMP Street Stock - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 3 95 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 50
2 1 30 Blake Shelley Oakley , Il 48
3 6 3 Bill Wilhour Taylorville , Il 46
4 2 99 Mike Pickering Decatur , Il 44
5 4 88 Albert Crawley Sr. Decatur , Il 42
6 5 X7 Larry Russell Jr. Harristown , Il 40
7 8 K14 Ryan Blair Edinburg , Il 38
8 9 11 Terry Reed Decatur , Il 36
9 10 15C Kevin Crowder - 34
10 7 33 Justin Hill Lovington , Il 32
11 13 36 Nick Justice Harristown , Il 30
12 14 08 Brian Dasenbrock Decatur , Il 28
13 12 14 Kurtis Ater Macon , Il 26
14 11 77JNJ Nate Smith - 24
UMP Amateur Hornet - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 4 15 Heidi Hames Decatur , Il 50
2 5 46 Jeff Eller - 48
3 18 205 Michael Gossett - 46
4 7 K1 Kelsie Gustus Decatur , Il 44
5 15 1F Fred Mifflin Mount Zion, Il 42
6 12 62 Kevin Brown Pana , Il 40
7 14 2M Micheal Mercer Springfield , Il 38
8 1 7 Sam Mccoy Decatur , Il 36
9 17 210 Brett Embry Decatur , Il 34
10 2 83 Steven Dulgar Decatur , Il 32
11 8 4 Gene Reed - 30
12 3 5 Richard Johnson - 28
13 16 21C Kevin Clutter Pana , Il 26
14 6 88 Brian Offer Springfield , Il 24
15 11 X28 Nathan Chandler - 22
16 9 28 Cody Fleming - 20
17 10 14S Ben Medaris Decatur , Il 18
18 13 24 Mark Law - 16
UMP Hornet - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 7 Joe Reed Decatur , Il 50
2 11 8UP Mike Morse Decatur , Il 48
3 2 918 Michael Pundt Jr. Decatur , Il 46
4 5 83 Bruce Dulgar Decatur , Il 44
5 4 19 James Hankins Taylorville , Il 42
6 3 28 Leon Kallenbach - 40
7 16 22X Jeff Dodd Springfield , Il 38
8 9 71 Todd Rush Pawnee , Il 36
9 6 3G Jeff Gill Shelbyville , Il 34
10 18 5 David Reed - 32
11 12 2M Julie Marshall Springfield , Il 30
12 15 1 Mike Howell - 28
13 17 39T Scott Rodgers - 26
14 8 4 Matthew Reed Decatur , Il 24
15 7 4X Stephanie Eskew Springfield , Il 22
16 10 6 Justunn Hilton Lovington , Il 20
17 14 26K Ryan Barton - 18
18 13 14S Steven Stine Macon , Il 16
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