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Race'em & Wreck'em Kinda Night at Macon SpeedwayÂ

By BZ
(Macon, IL) The theme of the night was "race'em & wreck'em" as the annual visit by the drivers who race their cars like demo derby machines stuck around with the stock car drivers who had many of the same issues throughout the night. With the thanks to dozens of fans, friends, former co-workers or businesses, the night that was also billed as the "Diane Bennett Memorial" brought in thousands of extra dollars that was given away  to drivers for finishing spots, lap leaders, fast qualifiers and hard chargers. Bennett passed away a few years ago after illness; she was the lead scorer at Macon Speedway for better than 30 years.
Three weeks ago, Chris Dick scored a $2,000 payday taking the 5th Annual Kerbystrong 100 win in the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models by running the bottom of the track. Different night, same story for him. The bottom brought his car to life and he sped past Jose Parga in the closing laps to take the lead away. Parga staged a rally and returned the favor to regain the lead. With the white flag waving, Dick stayed true to the bottom and a lapped car slowed Parga to the point that Dick pulled out ahead and ran away with the finish and the victory. Thanks to the donations, the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Model feature paid $2,000-to-win.
Money kept growing in the pool for the BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds division through the announcement of the event all the way up to qualifying time as it was announced that $2,150 would be the winner's portion of the purse in the division. That was good news to Mike Harrison. The many-time Summer Nationals champion make the trip from Highland to claim the check after taking control of the race two laps into the 20-lap A-Main feature. Starting in the second row behind polesitter Cory Daugherty, Harrison gunned it out of the second turn on a lap one restart and never looked back. Daugherty finished just ahead of Rodney Standerfer in the race for second place. The race was flagged by former flagman Jerry Wilson, who worked with Diane Bennett as well as track announcer Larry Limbach for many years through the 80s & 90s.
Another big money race was in the Archer's Alley Street Stocks where $850 would be up for grabs in a Midwest Big Ten Series race that would be won by Terry Reed. Reed's control of the race came from a front row starting spot after a heat race victory.
The Neal Tire & Auto Pro Modifieds feature race was among the "race'em & wreck'em" theme as many accidents claimed cars and angered racers who would have to exit the track with damaged or mangled machines. Tim Hancock, Sr., who was involved in a wreck or two during the 15 laps, crossed the finish line first but Rob Timmons was right there behind him for the final five laps. Timmons chose the high groove of the dirt oval to get fast and close the gap but Hancock's steady lower groove kept him in front.
Lapped traffic helped Decatur's Adam Webb grab hold of the checkered flag in the Hornets as he beat out Erik Vanapeldoorn for the feature. As was the story in the Pro Late Model feature, lapped traffic changed the lead and the positioning as coming out of the final turn Vanapeldoorn got stuck behind a slower car and Webb sped passed them all for the win.
Trevin Littleton jumped out to a big lead in the Micro Sprint feature, presented by Bailey Chassis, and won.
The fans were treated to the unique and special entertainment of the "Race'em & Wreck'em" experience as Blue Mound's Brandon Diulio was crowned the winner of the eight-lap race where every lap needed to involve contact with another car. He also took the win during the intermission exhibition where the drivers needed to race around the track and do an extra spin around the tractor tire on the backstretch which had a flagpole inside of it.
Also part of the "Eve of Destruction" presented by Melling Performance was the Rollover Contest where Decatur's Todd Toker raced a car onto a ramp in an effort to roll it over for the sheer entertainment of the fans. Instead of rolling it, he ended up bouncing back onto all four tires and one tire flew off the car and never made it around to the ramp to give it a second try.
Macon Speedway and Track Enterprises gear up for a huge weekend of racing in the coming week. Friday night at Lincoln Speedway with the POWRi National Midget Series leads to Saturday afternoon at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield for the USAC Silver Crown cars and Sportsman heat races before opening the gates to Macon Speedway and the POWRi National Midget Series. The weekend caps off back in Springfield with the ARCA Racing Series and the Sportsman Nationals race. Information on start times and divisions racing can be found at trackenterprises.com.
Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models--1. Chris Dick (Deland), 2. Jose Parga (New Berlin), 3. Dakota Ewing (Warrensburg), 4. Donny Koehler (Macon), 5. Jake Little (Springfield), 6. Roben Huffman (Midland City), 7. Blake Damery (Blue Mound), 8. Guy Taylor (Springfield), 9. Jeff Reed, Jr. (Blue Mound), 10. Colby Sheppard (Williamsville)
BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds--1. Mike Harrison (Highland), 2. Cory Daugherty (Blue Mound), 3. Rodney Standerfer (Summerfield), 4. Tommy Sheppard, Jr. (New Berlin), 5. Blake Thompson (Troy), 6. Trevor Neville (Mackinaw), 7. Jeff Leka (Buffalo), 8. Joe Strawkas (Buffalo), 9. Tim Hancock, Sr. (Mt. Olive), 10. Kyle Helmick (Smithton)
Archer's Alley Street Stocks--1. Terry Reed (Cerro Gordo), 2. Bobby Beiler (Blue Mound), 3. Darrell Dick (Monticello), 4. Wes Biesenthal (Athens), 5. Rudy Zaragoza (Jacksonville), 6. Brian Dasenbrock (Decatur), 7. Gene Reed (Hammond), 8. Jaret Duff (Maroa), 9. Joshua Beal (Springfield), 10. Larry Russell, Jr. (Decatur)
Neal Tire & Auto Pro Modifieds--1. Tim Hancock, Sr. (Mt. Olive), 2. Rob Timmons (Centralia), 3. Kyle Helmick (Smithton), 4. Jeff Watts (Dalton City), 5. Tim Riech (Petersburg), 6. Greg Logue (Warrensburg), 7. Josh Robb (Mt. Zion), 8. Adam Webb (Decatur), 9. Tom Davidson (Springfield), 10. Nathan Lynch (Hillsboro)
Hornets--1. Adam Webb (Decatur), 2. Erik Vanapeldoorn (Clinton), 3. Brady Reed (Decatur), 4. Joe Reed (Decatur), 5. Mike Gossett (Decatur), 6. Carter Dart (Springfield), 7. John Lewis (Cerro Gordo), 8. Marty Sullivan (Decatur), 9. Steve Stine (Stonington), 10. Bill Basso (Athens)
Micro Sprints Presented by Bailey Chassis--1. Trevin Littleton (Jacksonville), 2. Chad Baldwin (Lincoln), 3. Paul Day (Atwood), 4. Jacob Tipton (Decatur), 5. Will Armitage (Athens), 6. Jeff Beasley (Urbana), 7. Daryn Stark (Springfield), 8. John Barnard (Sherman), 9. Greg Northrop (Jacksonville), 10. Hayden Harvey Warrensburg)

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