|
|
|
|
| Track Schedules | Driver Profiles | Danny Howk Photos |
Racing Links |
| Discussion Board | Weather | News Archives |
Advertising |
|
MACON, IL (April 17) - Before the evening’s races began, fans were treated with a special opportunity to come onto the track and get autographs and mingle with their favorite drivers. When the racing began, fans continued to be treated, to great racing at Macon Speedway. The perfect ride ended for Decatur’s Dave Crawley, Jr., in the Touchstone Energy Sportsman feature. After winning the heat, Crawley was primed for his third feature of the season and his sixth-straight checkered flag in the division. Coming out of the final turn of the final lap, the streak was snapped. As Crawley battled with Springfield’s Dennis Vandermeersch for the top spot all race, a car spun in the fourth turn coming to the final flag which caused Crawley and Vandermeersch to collide. As they fired back up, Vandermeersch got the best start and won the race to the finish as Crawley took runner-up, thanks in part to a flat left front tire. The defending Touchstone Energy Sportsman champion Rick Roedel suffered his third Did-Not-Finish of the season as he pulled out of the 15-lapper midway through with a broken racecar. Crawley would quickly have a chance to redeem himself in the Modified feature, where he finished second a week ago in the A-Main. Crawley, starting third-row-inside, trailed behind pole-sitter Kyle Logue for the race lead. Restart-after-restart would not be enough for Crawley as Logue took his first feature of 2010. Finishing third in the feature would be Decatur’s Aaron Burcham, who won the $100 bonus in the Best Fan in the Stand promotion, where he selected a name to win $200 (last week’s win went unclaimed to add the additional bonus). Another highly contested race was the Street Stock feature where defending champion Blake Shelley used the high side of the track to try and reclaim the glory of 2009. Racing on the bottom of the track was former track champion Larry Russell, Jr. and Mike Pickering tailing behind. The bottom side of the track would prevail as “Bub” Russell took his second feature of the young season and Shelley would finish second, ahead of Pickering in the closest Street Stock finish of the year. After altering his race last week, Rodney Standerfer was certain not to let another opportunity for a feature win slip through his fingers a second-straight time. Moving from the high side to the bottom last week took away Standerfer’s first-place finish and put him third. Starting on the pole, he was destined to hold off all-comers and take the checkered flag. Standerfer displayed his car as the fastest on the track and held the lead all 25 laps. But it wasn’t an easy victory as challengers got close to take the top spot from Standerfer. St. Charles, MO., native Mike Hammerle, Jeremy Nichols and Jim Moon were all a close-knit bunch on the backstretch with lapped car Dustin Pryde. Nichols would get too close to Pryde and ride onto his racecar to bring out the caution and force everybody back to a single-file restart. This would happen on the 22nd lap, giving Standerfer three laps left to continue his dominance and take his first Late Model feature. Dedicating the race to fallen family members, Standerfer had tears in his eyes of excitement and sorrow as he learned from his mistake and carried it to victory. Eric Wilson led from wire-to-wire in the Pro Hornets feature and finished nearly a full stretch lead over the second place and third place finishers, Heidi Hames and Eric’s dad, Jim Wilson. The Amateur Hornets feature would go to Kyle Maxwell, who won in his second-ever week in racing. Upcoming for the Macon Speedway crowd is the first O’Reilly’s POWRi Midgets and Micro Sprints event of the season. The evening will also consist of stock car racing, including the Modifieds, Street Stocks and both Pro and Amateur Hornets. The gates will open at 5pm, racing will start at 7pm.
|
