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Macon Speedway's 68th Season Comes to Close

By Brett Zerfowski 
(Macon, IL) The quest that began in April came to a completion on the final Saturday of September at Macon Speedway as five drivers realized their summer dream of being a UMP Track Champion. Three of the divisions had their points wrapped up while two racing classes still had work to do.

Dave Crawley, Jr. was able to win the Sportsman division for the second time in his racing career and did so in grand fashion with a blow-away victory. Crawley, the 2010 Sportsman division king, won many races through the season but didn’t have much of a lead over second place driver Nick Macklin coming into the night’s action. Macklin, runner up in the division standings a season ago, came into the evening 44 points shy of Crawley and did not have a great night finishing fifth while Crawley took the checkered flag.

The Billingsley Towing Modified class was essentially finished off with Guy Taylor’s 60-point advantage over Danny Smith. All Taylor needed to do was show up to claim his second consecutive crown at Macon Speedway. He did more than that as he led all 20 laps en route to a feature win. Smith finished second to Taylor in the points for the second straight season, as well. New comer Milo Velez took the second place spot in the feature along with Ethan Schnapp in third. 

Gene Reed wrapped up his first Street Stock championship a few weeks back but came out with hopes of finishing the season strong, which he managed to do. Reed was runner up in the feature event as he followed 2011 Street Stock champion Bobby Beiler across the finish line. Beiler took second in the points standings. Kyle Waters, who placed seventh in the seasonal points in 2012, finished third in 2013 with a fourth place finish, coming behind Tom Reich.

Macon Speedway’s Outlaw Hornet champion is also the 2013 UMP National Hornet Champion in Adam Webb. Finishing second on the National scene is also the second place finisher in the 2013 points, Jeremy Reed, but on this night, Reed bested Webb with an eight-lap feature win.

In the Stock Hornet division, Mike McChristy had a 24-point edge coming into the show and left with the title of Stock Hornet Champion of Macon Speedway. Thad Gee had a good season but fell short of the title. McChristy finished second in the feature race to Tharen Reno, who claimed his first feature win of his career at history Macon Speedway.

Macon Speedway welcomed the Illinois Lighting Sprint Series to the track for its first-ever appearance at the dirt track. Korey Weyant blew past the competition to a heat win and a 20-lap feature win. 

The 80-car field kept the show moving with minimal cautions and the action concluded before 9pm with a beautiful evening for racing. The season was a tricky one as Mother Nature washed out the early part of the schedule, along just one race in April (Opening Night) and two races in May and June before giving way to steady dry conditions and steady weekly racing at the Premiere Motorsports Facility in Central Illinois.

Macon Speedway would like to thank their sponsors for backing them during their 68th season of stock car racing as well as the weekly drivers and their crews for coming and putting on great show after great show. The gates will open for its 69th consecutive season in the spring of 2014.

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