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New Winners and Old Claim Checkered Flag at Macon Speedway
By Brett Zerfowski
MACON, IL (April 10) - In week two of the Macon Speedway season, Dave
Crawley, Jr. had already accomplished what many drivers would be happy with
in a month or two. Crawley had won four races, two heats and two features in
two different divisions, on Opening Night and started the second week of the
season, he won heat races again in the Touchstone Energy Sportsman and
Modified divisions.
Starting out on the front row outside in the 15-lap feature in the
Touchstone Energy Sportsman feature, Crawley, again, was up to his Opening
Night ways. He had won his seventh race in as many tries after the 15 laps
were complete. Decatur native Mike Pickering came in second with Dennis
Vandermeersch of Springfield finishing third.
The streak looked to move to eight-straight wins for Crawley in the Modified
feature as he had once again the front row outside spot. Racing along with
former track champion Kyle Logue, the race was definitely on. But through
the early goings, Logue had problems with a broken racecar. The left front
wheel would not turn properly and would eventually catch up to him on a
restart on lap ten. Crawley, who was in second place, bypassed Logue and
took the lead. He would not let go the lead easily as he and Chad Evans of
Mattoon battled strong down to the final laps. On the backstretch of lap 19
of 20, Crawley got loose and Evans took over to get the lead and take the
final turns to the checkered flag.
All was not lost for Crawley. Before the Modified feature, Crawley selected
the number for the first Best Fan in the Stands award of 2010. He went
through the pill draw bucket and it rolled out a number two. That meant the
second-place finisher would receive $100 and would draw the name of fans to
also receive $100. Crawley drew the name Lisa Irvin of Decatur to receive
the bonus.
As the Late Model feature came to, Richie Hedrick, native of Urbana, had the
pole position. He has raced at Macon Speedway for many years but never
achieved much success…until now. Much like the previous week’s winner in the
class, Rusty Schlenk, many laps have been run at Macon by Hedrick but has
never led all the way to the finish…until now. But it wasn’t easy. Jeremy
Nichols of Decatur made the moves to first place on lap 11, passing Rodney
Standerfer, and Hedrick dropped to fourth behind Nichols, Standerfer and
Kerby Damery before making his moves back to the front. As the race neared
the end, the drama really kicked in as coming out of the final turn of the
final lap, Nichols stayed high and Hedrick stayed low, where he gained his
ground on the leader, to lead the final few feet of the race and claim the
checkered flag.
Former Street Stock champion Mike Pickering started his march back to the
points lead with a 12-lap feature win. He managed to stifle defending track
champion Blake Shelley as well as Troy Dodson and Larry Russell, Jr.
Joe Reed won his second Pro Hornet feature, fending off Eric Wilson, and in
an absolutely wild and exciting Amateur Hornet feature, Justin Jones was
able to win the eight-lap race as then-leader Daniel Walker was smacked into
the infield tractor tire coming out of the fourth turn.
As Macon Speedway looks forward to the next week, more exciting racing is in
store to the Macon Speedway audience as well as the fun of Driver/Sponsor
Appreciation Night where fans will get the opportunity to come onto Macon
Speedway before the racing to see their favorite drivers, get their picture
taken and get autographs. The gates will open at 5pm with racing to start at
7pm.
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