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Touchstone Brings the Energy; Drivers Bring the Excitement
By Brett Zerfowski
MACON, IL (July 11) - On a night when Macon Speedway held an extra division
of racecars, the POWRi Micro Sprints, Touchstone Energy of Shelbyville was
honored with a special night after their support and sponsorship of the
Sportsman division. Over 140 racecars (35 of which were POWRi Micro Sprints)
made their way to the 1/5th mile dirt track in hopes of riding with the
checkered flag.
Not only was it a special night for the Sportsman division as they had their
sponsor in attendance to watch the racing, it was also a Springfield mile
qualifier race in which the top four feature finishers would be guaranteed a
starting spot in the 20-lap race on the Springfield mile during the Illinois
State Fair. There was more on the line than just the $500-to-win first-place
prize.
Rick Roedel of Shelbyville has Touchstone Energy as a primary sponsor on his
#11 Sportsman and his 2009 season has been good. Atop the Sportsman point
standings, four feature wins, Roedel has enjoyed his season at Macon. Only
one night of bad luck had graced his presence and that was a night where he
was leading the feature and the rear end of the racecar broke, thus forcing
his early exit.
Starting second row inside behind Alan Crowder, Roedel made quick work to
get up into the lead and held on to it from lap four on to lap 17 when it
happened again. Coming out of the second turn, Roedel’s car, being chased by
former track champion Greg Kimmons, slowed and collided with Kimmons. Once
again, the rear end broke and Roedel, the leader, was forced to an early
exit with only three laps to go. Kimmons, the second place car, would be
taken out of Macon Speedway on the end of a tow truck. That would make the
third place car the leader. Enter Dave Crawley, Jr. to the picture.
Dave Crawley, Jr. was driving the C25, a car which was originally to be
driven by Billy Nail but was unable to attend so Crawley got the chance.
Taking control of the race from the 17th lap, Crawley made his chance pay
off in 500 ways. He would go on to win the $500-to-win, Springfield mile
qualifier race. He would be given the guaranteed starting position in the
20-lap race. The others in the top four would be Monticello’s Timmy Dick (a
former mile winner), Elwin’s Crowder and Hillsboro’s Nathan Lynch.
It would only be the start of the night for Crawley, who would go on to race
another 20-lap event during the Modified feature. Not necessarily having to
rely on “Lady Luck” to be on his side, Crawley would lead off the race on
the pole and hold off Kyle Logue and Joe Strawkus for the win. The feature,
Crawley’s fifth (and the first since sweeping the double features on May
9th) would hopefully end his bad luck and run of Did Not Finish nights.
The Sheppards, father Steve and 16-year-old son Brandon, have raced really
well at Macon Speedway. Brandon Sheppard had the honor of starting from the
pole in the 29th Annual Herald & Review 100 and Steve Sheppard, Jr. has
collected three feature wins. Steve Sheppard, Jr. started on the pole and
Brandon Sheppard started front row outside in the 25-lap Late Model feature.
Both raced side-by-side for the first few laps of the event but Brandon
would take the lead and look as if he was going to run away from his dad and
the rest of the field. Kyle Logue, who leads the Macon Speedway Late Model
points, started second row outside and battled through a rough start to get
in between the Sheppards going into the race’s final laps. Steve Sheppard,
Jr. would get the chance and regain the lead from his son and Logue would
slip the Sheppard family going into a caution on lap 23.
On the restart, Logue’s car broke down and started fading quickly. Steve
Sheppard, Jr. would ride to the finish line with his fourth Macon Speedway
feature, son Brandon was the second-place finisher. Logue would stay on the
track and try to finish with two laps to go and finished eighth.
From the pole position, Steve Ewing made it two in-a-row in the Street
Stocks as he led all 12 laps. Blake Shelley, the points leader, took second
and Kevin Crowder wrestled third place away from Mike Pickering.
35 POWRi Micro Sprints invaded Macon Speedway for a special running in the
eight-race Summer Series. A 22-car field saw a first-time Macon Speedway
winner as Caleb Graybeal took top honors. Brandon Graybeal finished in
second and Terre Haute, IN., native Braylon Fitzpatrick locked up third.
Zach Dodd won the Pro Hornet feature, his second of 2009, as he started from
the front row outside position. Brett Embry took his first Amateur Hornet
feature as he fended off Sam McCoy, Ben Medaris and Brian Offer.
A seven-division night with over 140 racecars came to a close shortly after
11pm. Next week at Macon Speedway will also be a huge night of family fun
and big money races for two of our divisions. The Central Illinois Street
Stock Series will once again make a trip to the track for a $500-to-win,
25-lap feature. The Late Models will also run the next leg of their Midwest
Big Ten Series, as part of a full show. The rain-out make-up date for the
95Q Firecracker 40s has been announced as Saturday, July 25th with 40-lap
features and a HUGE fireworks display.
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 New Berlin, Il 48
3 3 25 Dennis Vandermeersch Springfield , Il 46
4 6 82 Roger Brickler Springfield , Il 44
5 9 16H Mike Hammerle St Charles, Mo 42
6 12 7M Kevin Moffett Moweaqua , Il 40
7 8 96 Cory Daugherty Blue Mound, Il 38
8 4 21 Kyle Logue Cisco , Il 36
9 5 00 Shawn Bohm Decatur , Il 34
10 10 38 Doug Hemer Moweaqua , Il 32
11 11 3W Bill Wilhour Taylorville , Il 30
12 7 22 Chris Dick Deland , Il 28
UMP Modified - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 37 David Crawley Jr. Decatur , Il 50
2 5 11 Bob Zilz - 48
3 11 28 Joe Strawkas Buffalo , Il 46
4 4 44 Aaron Burcham Decatur , Il 44
5 6 64 Donny Koehler Jr. Macon , Il 42
6 14 57 Danny Page Mount Zion, Il 40
7 10 52 Roger Drake - 38
8 2 T2 Mark Tullis Taylorville , Il 36
9 12 32X Michael Durbin Jr. Decatur , Il 34
10 18 42 Katie Lord Chatham , Il 32
11 19 58 Larry Ferguson Arcola , Il 30
12 7 9 Michael Bantz - 28
13 17 19H James Hankins Taylorville , Il 26
14 20 3B Tyler Blankenship Vandalia , Il 24
15 13 31 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 22
16 9 40 Jim Leka Illiopolis , Il 20
17 8 22 Scott Jones - 18
18 15 72L Lonnie Nichols Shelbyville , Il 16
19 3 84 Wendell Zulawf Jf. Springfield , Il 14
20 16 35 Clark Robertson Shelbyville , Il 12
21 21 D98 Jackie Smith Maroa , Il 10
UMP Sportsman - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 5 C25 David Crawley Jr. Decatur , Il 50
2 12 22 Timmy Dick Monticello , Il 48
3 1 14C Alan Crowder Elwin , Il 46
4 10 14 Nathan Lynch - 44
5 2 8K Dennis Vandermeersch Springfield , Il 42
6 11 B99 Tim Bedinger Taylorville , Il 40
7 15 22S David Slade Seymour , Il 38
8 4 72 Tom Graham Stonington , Il 36
9 18 41 Scott Landers Taylorville , Il 34
10 13 60 Kenny Hayes Macon , Il 32
11 8 4 Travis Martin - 30
12 3 11 Rick Roedel Shelbyville , Il 28
13 6 27 Greg Kimmons - 26
14 14 11K Terry Reed Decatur , Il 24
15 17 000 Willie Haddock Owoneco , Il 22
16 16 3 Bill Berghaus - 20
17 7 9 Mike Pickering Decatur , Il 18
18 9 B88 Jim Bedinger Taylorville , Il 0
UMP Street Stock - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 95 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 50
2 3 30 Blake Shelley Oakley , Il 48
3 4 15C Kevin Crowder Argenta , Il 46
4 2 99 Mike Pickering Decatur , Il 44
5 5 33 Justin Hill Lovington , Il 42
6 12 X7 Larry Russell Jr. Harristown , Il 40
7 7 36 Nick Justice Harristown , Il 38
8 10 3 Bill Wilhour Taylorville , Il 36
9 18 21 Troy Dodson Cerro Gordo, Il 34
10 9 08 Brian Dasenbrock Decatur , Il 32
11 14 1 Cale Chandler Decatur , Il 30
12 11 34 Jeremy Reed Decatur , Il 28
13 13 25 Greg Osman - 26
14 19 14 Kurtis Ater Macon , Il 24
15 16 77JNJ Nate Scribner Decatur , Il 22
16 15 23 Jason Hazlet - 20
17 8 6 Phil Moreland - 18
18 6 11 Terry Reed Decatur , Il 16
19 17 83 Bruce Dulgar Decatur , Il 0
UMP Amateur Hornet - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 210 Brett Embry Decatur , Il 50
2 2 7 Sam Mccoy Decatur , Il 48
3 3 B52 Ben Medaris Decatur , Il 46
4 4 88 Brian Offer Springfield , Il 44
5 10 6SQ Tom Eskew - 42
6 5 83 Steven Dulgar Decatur , Il 40
7 6 98 Kenneth Reed Decatur , Il 38
8 9 28 Cody Fleming Decatur , Il 36
9 17 21R Gary Justice Harristown , Il 34
10 15 21C Kevin Clutter Pana , Il 32
11 12 1F Fred Mifflin Mount Zion, Il 30
12 13 X Eric Stender - 28
13 11 K1 Kelsie Gustus Decatur , Il 26
14 19 98X Jason Martin - 24
15 7 5 Richard Johnson - 22
16 16 4SQ Mike Eskew - 20
17 18 1 Jackie Smith Maroa , Il 18
18 8 46 Jeff Eller Decatur , Il 16
19 14 B1 Bubba Waterman - 0
UMP Hornet - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 2 21Z Zach Dodd Riverton , Il 50
2 6 7 Joe Reed Decatur , Il 48
3 5 918 Michael Pundt Jr. Decatur , Il 46
4 3 19 James Hankins Taylorville , Il 44
5 4 6S Terry Myers Buffalo , Il 42
6 8 4 Matthew Reed Decatur , Il 40
7 7 26K Ryan Barton Kincaid , Il 38
8 9 71 Todd Rush Pawnee , Il 36
9 10 83 Bruce Dulgar Decatur , Il 34
10 15 5 David Reed Decatur , Il 32
11 16 15 Heidi Hames Decatur , Il 30
12 17 6 Justunn Hilton Lovington , Il 28
13 18 11V Richard Vela - 26
14 1 04S Steven Stine Macon , Il 24
15 11 08 Mikel Wright - 22
16 13 4SQ Stephanie Eskew Springfield , Il 20
17 12 B1 Jeff Gill Shelbyville , Il 18
18 14 39T Scott Rodgers Springfield , Il 16
USAC Midget - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 3 87 Caleb Graybeal - 0
2 12 39 Brandon Graybeal - 0
3 9 3 Braylon Fitzpatrick West Terre, In 0
4 6 N2 Nicholas Harris - 0
5 13 9L Ryan Langston Greenfield , In 0
6 14 3N Jake Neuman New Berlin, Il 0
7 17 38 Evan Weyant Sherman , Il 0
8 16 24S Scott Bloom - 0
9 5 32X Brad Mcdaniel - 0
10 1 42M Spencer Montgomery Windsor , Il 0
11 4 83 Erich Berner - 0
12 22 95 Jimmy Miller - 0
13 18 68 Paul Day - 0
14 19 32 Garrett Aitken - 0
15 21 22J Jacob Mueller - 0
16 20 79J Jacob Patton - 0
17 8 8H Bryce Hicks - 0
18 11 JJ1 Jeremy Camp Blue Mound, Il 0
19 2 71 Heath Ross Windsor , Il 0
20 15 23D Trey Datweiler - 0
21 7 19 Natasha Cox Casey , Il 0
22 10 84 Tyler Day - 0
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