Memorial Day racing at Macon Speedway has been a tradition for decades. Over recent years, the Memorial Day program has gone from a special NASCAR Night with drivers from the popular circuit to then becoming the night ran of the annual Twin 50s, an event started in 1985. Changes have occurred through time with the race being just for Late Models to being shared by the Super Late Models and the Modifieds. On Memorial Day Monday, the Twin 50s returned and familiar winners graced victory lane.
Tommy Sheppard, Jr., the BillingsleyRewards.com Modified division champion of the past two seasons led all but one lap in the first race of the Twin 50s and scored the win. Only Jeremy Nichols would keep Sheppard from leading all 50. There were three caution flags within the first nine laps of the race but the race picked up with solid green flag laps until another yellow was thrown on lap 34. During that time, Sheppard’s lead grew by car lengths over Guy Taylor, Nichols, Kenny Wallace and Ray Bollinger. In a surprise, Kyle Helmick, a Pro Modified driver, raced solid and strong on the bottom and took third place but unfortunately pulled into the infield with nearly ten laps remaining.
Sheppard refers to his racing as “The Tommy Show” and spent much of his race up on the top side of the track and against the cushion. With Sheppard racing fast and hard, he was breathing heavy in the post race interview. When asked how a driver feels about running 30 more laps than usual, Sheppard replied back “I need a Bud Light and a nap. Being elbows up for that long takes a lot out of you.”
The Super Late Models feature ran without a caution flag and was finished in 11 minutes. Greg Kimmons, former Sportsman track champion, led half of the laps from the bottom of the track but started to lose the lead when Jake Little picked up momentum on the top. Little had troubles during the heat race and finished in the back. A repair and a fix had him start tenth in the feature and he made up ground quickly during the constant green flag racing which put him in position to take control of the race on lap 29. Myles Moos did all he could to close the gap on the leader but ran out of laps.
Decatur Battery generously donated $250 to each Twins 50 winner.
A full stock racing program captivated a full house crowd at Macon Speedway as Jake Montgomery scored his first Pro Modified feature win as he started from the pole position. Nick Macklin outlasted Darrell Dick, Jeremy Nichols and Terry Reed to win in the Archer’s Alley Street Stocks. Molly Day started her night by getting a bad draw number and worked her way through the heat race to finish second. That finish helped her start on the pole of the Micro Sprints feature because of passing points awarded during the event. Holding off Devin Feger and a 23-car field, Day picked up the win. In a wild moment during the Micro Sprints Presented by Bailey Chassis, Aarik Andruskevitch rolled his Micro Sprint four times and then got it started up again and was able to continue but pulled in during the race as the car wasn’t meant to finish.
Tommy Duncan won his second feature in the Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman feature as he stayed ahead of Jim Farley III and Dennis Vandermeersch to win two-straight 15-lap events. The night was finished off with Joe Reed returning to the winner’s circle in the Hornets as he took the lead away from Shelby Beiler midway through the race.
Former Hornet driver Vernon Carlow contributed $100 to the winner of the Hornet feature.
Seven divisions brought out over 125 entries on the Memorial Day holiday racing event.
Memorial Day kicks off the start of summer and a busy summer at Macon Speedway on Saturday nights. To begin June, Macon Speedway hosts non-wing sprint cars along with a full stock car racing program including the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models, the BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds, Archer’s Alley Street Stocks, Pro Modifieds, Hornets and the J Smith & T Robertson non-wing sprint cars.
FEATURE RUNDOWNS (Top 10’s)
Midwest Big Ten Super Late Models
1. 38J-Jake Little[Springfield, IL]; 2. 84-Myles Moos[Lincoln, IL]; 3. 27-Greg Kimmons[Pleasant Plains, IL]; 4. 10J-Jordan Bauer[St. Jacob, IL]; 5. 16-Rusty Griffaw[Festus, MO]; 6. 32M-Cody Maguire[Carlinville, IL]; 7. 64-Donny Koehler[Macon, IL]; 8. T22-Tegan Evans[Clinton, IA]; 9. 48-Phil Taylor[Auburn, IL]; 10. (DNF) 11-Ryan Miller[Lincoln, IL]
BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds
1. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[New Berlin, IL]; 2. 77T-Guy Taylor[Springfield, IL]; 3. 19C-Jeremy Nichols[Lovington, IL]; 4. 36-Kenny Wallace[St. Louis, MO]; 5. 242-Brandon Bollinger[Kewanee, IL]; 6. 77-Ray Bollinger[Kewanee, IL]; 7. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[Highland, IL]; 8. 9-Andrew Depper[Belleville, IL]; 9. 11-Zach Rhodes[Taylorville, IL]; 10. 78-Maxx Emerson[Taylorville, IL]
DIRTcar Pro Mods
1. 215-Jake Montgomery[East Peoria, IL]; 2. 15C-Kevin Crowder[Argenta, IL]; 3. 27X-Kyle Helmick[Smithton, IL]; 4. 24-Guy Taylor[Springfield, IL]; 5. 81-Garett Schumacher[Pocahontas, IL]; 6. 36-Nick Justice[Decatur, IL]; 7. 5S-Owen Steinkoenig[Highland, IL]; 8. 9-Andrew Depper[Belleville, IL]; 9. 23-Ryan Timmons[Centralia, IL]; 10. 58R-Ryan Hamilton[Fairview Heights, IL]
Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman
1. 32-Tommy Duncan[Metamora, IL]; 2. 84L-Jim Farley III[Springfield, IL]; 3. 14-Megan Erwin[Attica, IN]; 4. 11-Rick Roedel[Shelbyville, IL]; 5. 41-Scott Landers[Taylorville, IL]; 6. 12M-Terry Myers[Buffalo, IL]; 7. 71-Joel Ortberg[Fenton, MO]; 8. 42-Brandon Dick[Decatur, IL]; 9. 11M-Roy Magee[Springfield, IL]; 10. (DNF) 25-Dennis Vander Meersch[Springfield, IL]
Archers Alley Street Stocks
1. 16-Nick Macklin[1]; 2. 67R-Jeremy Nichols[5]; 3. 11-Terry Reed[3]; 4. 14-Megan Erwin[9]; 5. 22-Darrell Dick[2]; 6. 21-Jaret Duff[6]; 7. X7-Guy Taylor[11]; 8. 29-Bobby Beiler[21]; 9. 14B-Wes Biesenthal[4]; 10. 53R-Jeff Reed Jr[13]
Micros By Bailey Chassis
1. 17-Molly Day[Allerton, IL]; 2. 68-Devin Feger[East Peoria, IL]; 3. 55S-Daryn Stark[Springfield, IL]; 4. 55-Hayden Harvey[Warrensburg, IL]; 5. 8B-John Barnard[Sherman, IL]; 6. 44-Trevin Littleton[Jacksonville, IL]; 7. 10-Jacob Tipton[Decatur, IL]; 8. 72-Cale Goodwin[Princeton, KY]; 9. 27-Kyle Barker[Cooksville, IL]; 10. 11-Alex Midkiff[Belleville, IL]
DIRTcar Hornets1. 357X-Joe Reed[Decatur, IL]; 2. 3H-Allan Harris[Chatham, IL]; 3. 324-Shelby Beiler[Macon, IL]; 4. 15-David Lauritson[Normal, IL]; 5. 9Z-Zac Miller[Lincoln, IL]; 6. 357-Billy Mason[Brownstown, IL]; 7. J13-Justin Coffey[Stonington, IL]; 8. 44-Bill Basso[Athens, IL]; 9. 9S-Austin Shaw[Mattoon, IL]; 10. 187-Korey Bailey[Stonington, IL]
Macon Speedway PR
