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Babb Wires Field, Unzicker Inches Closer to Title

October 7, 2022 (Fairbury, IL) Round 15 of the Mars Racing Series took place at Fairbury Speedway on Friday night. The pits filled up with 36 cars to kick off Championship Weekend. The event was part of the FALS Frenzy that paid $5,000 to win on night one. Ryan Unzicker carried a 33-point lead into the nights event.

In Allstar Performance qualifying it was Donny Walden who laid down the quickest lap at 12.327 seconds. This set the stage for four heat races to set the field for the 40 lap event.

In Arizona Sport Shirts Heat Race #1 Ryan Unzicker took the win to start on the pole for the nights main event. Dennis Erb Jr, Mike Spatola, and Jeffery Ledford were the other transfer cars.

Heat Race #2 presented by Dirt Track Bank went to Moweaqua, IL driver Shannon Babb. Other drivers picking up transfer spots were McKay Wenger, Logan Martin, and Billy Moyer Jr.

O'Reily Auto Parts Heat Race #3 went to Ryan Gustin. Billy Moyer, Scott Schmitt, and Jason Feger all moved on to the main event.

Heat Race #4 presented by Hoosier Tire Midwest went to Tanner English. Brian Shirley, Kevin Weaver, and Nick Allen all transferred to the feature event.

It took a pair of B-Main events to set the final four starting spots. Missouri driver Dewayne Kiefer and Chris Simpson took the top two spots in the first B-Main. Justin Duty and Jeff Larson moved on to the main event. The 21-car starting field was made complete with a series provisional being given to Bob Gardner.

In the 40 lap $5,000 to win event Shannon Babb took the lead on lap one and never looked back. In the opening stages fans witnessed quite the battle between Ryan Gustin, Ryan Unzicker, Dennis Erb Jr and Tanner English. Ryan Unzicker was able to retain running in the runner up spot and tried to run down Babb in lap traffic but Shannon was just too much.

Shannon Babb took the checkers a little over a second in front of Ryan Unzicker. Tanner English rounded out the podium.  Jason Feger was the Keyser Manufacturing Hard Charger of the night after improving 6 positions for a top ten finish.

The Mars Racing Series now looks to the season finale Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway for $15,000 to win. This will close out the 2022 campaign and drivers will be recognized and rewarded at the conclusion of the event for their season efforts. A $16,000 points championship bonus will be given to the points champion and the 2022 Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year will also be awarded. Every lap of action can be seen LIVE on FloRacing.

Full Results:

A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[1]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[4]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola[9]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[8]; 8. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 9. 42-Mckay Wenger[7]; 10. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[6]; 11. 36-Logan Martin[11]; 12. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford[13]; 13. 32-Chris Simpson[19]; 14. 15-Justin Duty[18]; 15. 4G-Bob Gardner[21]; 16. 10-Scott Schmitt[10]; 17. 99L-Jeff Larson[20]; 18. 21A-Nick Allen[16]; 19. 21J-Billy Moyer Jr[15]; 20. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[17]; 21. B12-Kevin Weaver[12]

B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[2]; 2. 32-Chris Simpson[3]; 3. 4G-Bob Gardner[4]; 4. 1W-Donny Walden[1]; 5. 11-Gordy Gundaker[5]; 6. 3-Dale Markham[6]; 7. 24L-Turk Letizia[7]; 8. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[9]; 9. J12-Jason Wagner[8]; 10. B15-Robert Sidener[10]

B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 15-Justin Duty[1]; 2. 99L-Jeff Larson[4]; 3. 49-Jake Timm[3]; 4. 76-Titus Sneed[2]; 5. 10P-Paul Parker[6]; 6. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[8]; 7. 33-Billy Hough[7]; 8. 74-Russ Adams[5]; 9. 79W-Greg Wagner[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Ryan Unzicker[2]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 3. 89-Mike Spatola[6]; 4. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford[3]; 5. 1W-Donny Walden[1]; 6. 32-Chris Simpson[5]; 7. 11-Gordy Gundaker[7]; 8. 24L-Turk Letizia[9]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[1]; 2. 42-Mckay Wenger[3]; 3. 36-Logan Martin[4]; 4. 21J-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 5. 0-Dewayne Kiefer[6]; 6. 4G-Bob Gardner[5]; 7. 3-Dale Markham[8]; 8. J12-Jason Wagner[7]; 9. B15-Robert Sidener[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[1]; 3. 10-Scott Schmitt[4]; 4. 25-Jason Feger[3]; 5. 15-Justin Duty[6]; 6. 49-Jake Timm[5]; 7. 74-Russ Adams[9]; 8. 33-Billy Hough[8]; 9. (DNF) 7-Jay Sparks[7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 3. B12-Kevin Weaver[5]; 4. 21A-Nick Allen[3]; 5. 76-Titus Sneed[7]; 6. 99L-Jeff Larson[4]; 7. 10P-Paul Parker[6]; 8. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[8]; 9. 79W-Greg Wagner[9]

Qualifying 1: 1. 1W-Donny Walden, 00:12.327[3]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:12.363[11]; 3. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:12.456[1]; 4. 21J-Billy Moyer Jr, 00:12.479[16]; 5. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford, 00:12.483[12]; 6. 42-Mckay Wenger, 00:12.511[9]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr, 00:12.524[4]; 8. 36-Logan Martin, 00:12.540[2]; 9. 32-Chris Simpson, 00:12.591[7]; 10. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:12.723[13]; 11. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:12.729[15]; 12. 0-Dewayne Kiefer, 00:12.774[10]; 13. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 00:12.867[8]; 14. J12-Jason Wagner, 00:12.920[14]; 15. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:12.970[6]; 16. 3-Dale Markham, 00:12.991[17]; 17. 24L-Turk Letizia, 00:13.675[18]; 18. B15-Robert Sidener, 00:14.144[5]

Qualifying 2: 1. 21-Billy Moyer Sr, 00:12.451[4]; 2. 81E-Tanner English, 00:12.471[3]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 00:12.489[5]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:12.542[11]; 5. 25-Jason Feger, 00:12.557[2]; 6. 21A-Nick Allen, 00:12.684[12]; 7. 10-Scott Schmitt, 00:12.694[18]; 8. 99L-Jeff Larson, 00:12.714[1]; 9. 49-Jake Timm, 00:12.816[13]; 10. B12-Kevin Weaver, 00:12.900[7]; 11. 15-Justin Duty, 00:13.111[17]; 12. 10P-Paul Parker, 00:13.164[14]; 13. 7-Jay Sparks, 00:13.181[6]; 14. 76-Titus Sneed, 00:13.403[9]; 15. 33-Billy Hough, 00:13.416[15]; 16. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 00:13.582[10]; 17. 74-Russ Adams, 00:13.859[8]; 18. 79W-Greg Wagner, 00:13.964[16]

Stay informed on all the news and results of the Mars Racing Series at www.marsracingseries.com.

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