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Christmas Comes Early for Shelley, Logue and Crawley
By Brett Zerfowski
MACON, IL (July 18) - Prairieland Abate and Macon Speedway teamed up for
their yearly “Christmas in July” toy drive where donations were accepted
from the general admission attendance for giving kids a Christmas present.
For the older kids like Blake Shelley, Kyle Logue and Dave Crawley, Jr., the
checkered flag is about the best toy to have.
The Central Illinois Street Stock Series rolled into town for the third time
in 2009 and with it brought 25 racecars and the thoughts and dreams of
winning the $500-to-win prize. Blake Shelley won his heat race starting
third-row-outside, opposite to Steve Ewing, who finished second. After the
inversion, Shelley had the pole position, opposite to CILSSS feature winner
Troy Dodson. The second row consisted of BJ Deal (the 2009 Faster Pastor)
and Ewing.
Shelley dominated the early goings as he led the first 16 laps. As they came
to the stripe on the 17th lap, Ewing made his move and took the lead. It
wouldn’t be held for long as Shelley once again grabbed the top spot on the
19th lap. Had it not been for a caution on lap 24, Macon Speedway may have
been set up for a true photo-finish and one of the closest races of recent
memory. Following the single-file restart, Shelley would take the win and
Ewing finished runner-up.
Kyle Logue has been battling hard times at Macon Speedway. Bad finishes and
even some DNFs (Did Not Finish) have him scratching his head. It has been a
rough road for Logue but behind a good qualifying time and a second-place
finish behind Brandon Sheppard, he was poised at the run at the checkered
flag. Starting front-row-outside with former track champion Dick Taylor,
Logue was not only able to hold the lead for the majority of the race, he
was able to avoid having anything go wrong with racecar, i.e. anything break
down and cost him a chance at winning.
Racing with Taylor and Brandon Sheppard in the early going, Logue started to
rediscover the magic in the middle of the race as Sheppard got caught up in
the cushion at the top of the track, thus slowing him up. Taylor had a good
car, but a second-place car to Logue.
Brandon Sheppard’s father, Steve Sheppard, Jr. had some rough luck in the
fifth race of the Midwest Big Ten Series as he missed his heat race because
he was changing his engine. As the feature loomed, both Sheppards were on
the track. Steve Sheppard, Jr. would start from the back of the pack of 18
cars and by the halfway point of the race, he had caught up to ninth place.
He would finish sixth while Brandon took third.
Logue secured the checkered flag for the seventh time in 2009, but the first
since June 20, the span of three Late Model races in between events.
Dave Crawley, Jr. spent last week behind the wheel of a Sportsman and
Modified, and managed to win both races. This week, it was a true carbon
copy. Crawley started on the pole of the Touchstone Energy Sportsman feature
and did everything he could to make sure he finished there. Against the
tough contenders in Rick Roedel, Scott Landers and Terry Reed, Crawley made
it two in-a-row, leading all 15 laps.
There was no rest for the weary as he headed from one racecar to the other
and started second-row-inside of the Modified feature. Don Koehler, Jr., who
earlier grabbed his first-ever checkered flag in his second year or racing,
took to the pole for the main event. Staying in the lead and fending off
Crawley isn’t the easiest thing to do whether you’ve been racing two years
or 20 years. By the fourth lap of the 20-lap event, Crawley had passed
Koehler and looked to be on his way. Koehler gave it a fighting chance in
the middle of the race but he didn’t have enough to keep up with the now
six-time Modified winner.
The defending UMP National Hornet champion Joe Reed made quick work of the
Pro Hornet feature as he tries to defend his title against all comers. For
Reed, it was his fifth feature of 2009 and his first since June 6. In the
same car, Sam McCoy took the Amateur Hornet feature, his first since April
11.
Another big week of racing is expected at Macon Speedway as the Night of
NASCAR Stars event with Kasey Kahne and Kenny Wallace will be held on
Wednesday. Gates open at 3pm, autograph session from 6-7pm with racing to
follow with the POWRi Midgets and Micros. Macon Speedway’s Modifieds will
also be apart of the show. That will take us to Saturday night when Macon
Speedway will house the make-up rain-out of the 95Q Firecracker 40s. A huge
fireworks display will be held as will 40-lap features.
UMP Late Model - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 4 21 Kyle Logue Cisco , Il 50
2 5 44 Dick Taylor Riverton , Il 48
3 2 B5 Brandon Sheppard New Berlin, Il 46
4 7 16H Mike Hammerle St Charles, Mo 44
5 3 11D Brian Diveley Springfield , Il 42
6 18 5S Steve Sheppard New Berlin, Il 40
7 8 25 Dennis Vandermeersch Springfield , Il 38
8 1 18 Shane Tomlin Virden , Il 36
9 12 B8 Joe Barnard - 34
10 17 16 Nick Macklin Argenta , Il 32
11 14 7 Joseph Hughes - 30
12 15 7M Kevin Moffett Moweaqua , Il 28
13 10 38 Doug Hemer Moweaqua , Il 26
14 9 22 Chris Dick Deland , Il 24
15 13 28B John Beck Springfield , Il 22
16 16 DC3 Don Cisco Blue Mound, Il 20
17 11 C4 Jason Cleaver Mechanicsburg , Il 18
18 6 82 Roger Brickler Springfield , Il 16
UMP Modified - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 3 37 David Crawley Jr. Decatur , Il 50
2 1 64 Donny Koehler Jr. Macon , Il 48
3 2 44 Aaron Burcham Decatur , Il 46
4 5 28 Joe Strawkas Buffalo , Il 44
5 6 D98 Danny Smith Argenta , Il 42
6 7 52 Roger Drake - 40
7 10 5 Dick Taylor Riverton , Il 38
8 12 16H Eric Hamilton Macon , Il 36
9 16 T2 Mark Tullis Taylorville , Il 34
10 20 3B Tyler Blankenship Vandalia , Il 32
11 15 32 Butch Garner - 30
12 11 42 Katie Lord Chatham , Il 28
13 9 31 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 26
14 17 57 Danny Page Mount Zion, Il 24
15 18 22 Scott Jones - 22
16 19 19H James Hankins Taylorville , Il 20
17 13 58 Larry Ferguson Arcola , Il 18
18 14 32X Jeremy Nichols Decatur , Il 16
19 8 35 Clark Robertson Shelbyville , Il 14
20 22 53 Bobby Hinton Shelbyville , Il 12
21 4 77 Guy Taylor - 10
22 21 35S Randy Spaugh Decatur , Il 0
UMP Sportsman - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 C25 David Crawley Jr. Decatur , Il 50
2 2 11 Rick Roedel Shelbyville , Il 48
3 3 11K Terry Reed Decatur , Il 46
4 5 41 Scott Landers Taylorville , Il 44
5 7 14C Alan Crowder Elwin , Il 42
6 18 B99 Tim Bedinger Taylorville , Il 40
7 6 8K Ken Fustin Springfield , Il 38
8 10 70JYD Steve Hill Edinburg , Il 36
9 13 22J Tony Clinton Dawson , Il 34
10 11 B88 Jim Bedinger Taylorville , Il 32
11 8 14 Nathan Lynch - 30
12 4 22 Timmy Dick Monticello , Il 28
13 14 22S David Slade Seymour , Il 26
14 12 60 Kenny Hayes Macon , Il 24
15 17 72 Tom Graham Stonington , Il 22
16 15 90 Justin Ater Moweaqua , Il 20
17 16 55 Kevin Cook Iblue Mound, Il 18
18 9 53R Jeff Reed, Sr - 16
19 19 68 Josh Robb - 14
UMP Street Stock - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 30 Blake Shelley Oakley , Il 50
2 4 95 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 48
3 9 15C Kevin Crowder Argenta , Il 46
4 3 88X Bj Deal Brownstown , Il 44
5 10 99 Mike Pickering Decatur , Il 42
6 11 08 Brian Dasenbrock Decatur , Il 40
7 12 X7 Larry Russell Jr. Harristown , Il 38
8 15 57R Thomas Riech Springfield , Il 36
9 6 3 Bill Wilhour Taylorville , Il 34
10 16 36 Nick Justice Harristown , Il 32
11 17 6 Phil Moreland - 30
12 20 0 Jim Cardoni Chatham , Il 28
13 13 33 Justin Hill Lovington , Il 26
14 19 14 Kurtis Ater Macon , Il 24
15 5 11 Terry Reed Decatur , Il 22
16 2 21 Troy Dodson Cerro Gordo, Il 20
17 18 34 Jeremy Reed Decatur , Il 18
18 14 1 Cale Chandler Decatur , Il 16
19 7 58 Timothy Riech Tallula , Il 14
20 8 OO Roy Magee Ii Springfield , Il 12
UMP Amateur Hornet - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 7 Sam Mccoy Decatur , Il 50
2 2 83 Steven Dulgar Decatur , Il 48
3 7 88 Brian Offer Springfield , Il 46
4 3 210 Brett Embry Decatur , Il 44
5 9 B52 Ben Medaris Decatur , Il 42
6 8 46 Jonathan Drake - 40
7 6 21C Kevin Clutter Pana , Il 38
8 10 77E Casey Eskew - 36
9 15 4SQ Tom Eskew - 34
10 14 3 Joe Mcchristy - 32
11 12 1F Fred Mifflin Mount Zion, Il 30
12 11 1 Austin Harbin - 28
13 5 28 Cody Fleming Decatur , Il 26
14 4 5 Richard Johnson - 0
15 13 21R Gary Justice Harristown , Il 0
UMP Hornet - Feature
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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 4 7 Joe Reed Decatur , Il 50
2 3 21Z Zach Dodd Riverton , Il 48
3 5 4SQ Stephanie Eskew Springfield , Il 46
4 1 19 James Hankins Taylorville , Il 44
5 8 77E Mr. Stacy Eskew - 42
6 2 14 Ray Goodall Springfield , Il 40
7 14 83 Bruce Dulgar Decatur , Il 38
8 10 X28 Cody Fleming Decatur , Il 36
9 7 04S Steven Stine Macon , Il 34
10 12 2M Julie Marshall Springfield , Il 32
11 11 3 Mike Mcchristy Mt. Zion, Il 30
12 6 4 Matthew Reed Decatur , Il 28
13 9 08 Mikel Wright - 26
14 13 5 David Reed Decatur , Il 0
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