(MACON, IL) Dave Crawley, Jr. used patience in the 95Q Firecracker 40s race for the Billingsley Towing Modifieds to get the lead from Shane Tomlin and won the event for the fourth time in his career. Tomlin would lead for the first 16 laps but after a caution and restart, Crawley took advantage at the second turn into the backstretch and pulled away for the next 24 laps to win. Tomlin would remain in second for a few more laps until his car would break down. Second place drivers were changed throughout the 40 laps from Crawley to Tomlin, then Curt Rhodes before breaking on lap 22. Rodney Standerfer, the 2015 winner, would be second for a series of laps before slowing down with a near-blown-up engine, thus allowing Tim Hancock to get the runner up position toward the end of the race. Crawley’s win was his sixth of the season and extends is points lead.

Race Statistics: There were two lead changes with 4 cautions and the 40 laps were completed in 17 minutes, 02 seconds. Dave Crawley, Jr. has now won the Billingsley Towing Modified Firecracker 40s in 2008, 2010, 2014 and now 2016. Crawley received $600 to win the race.

In the Pro Late Model class, the Midwest Big Ten Series was the second leg of the 95Q Firecracker 40s and plenty of cars were battling back and forth and adjusting toward the finish. The start of the race was log-jammed with competiters which led to cautions but once the race got moving it was Nick Bauman out in front. Bauman has won two of the first three Midwest Big Ten Series races in 2016 and looked strong in the first half of the race. He was chased down by two-time Late Model Firecracker 40s winner Kyle Logue. Logue led to a caution on lap 13 and was sent to the tail of the field and it opened up Bauman for the advantage. But the lead was short-lived thanks to the caution as Jose Parga, Guy Taylor and Matt Taylor closed in on the leader and squished Bauman from the lead. Matt Taylor would take the lead on the 16th lap and cruise to the win.

Race Statistics: There were two lead changes with 4 cautions and the 40 laps were completed in 21 minutes, 21 seconds. Kyle Logue won two Firecracker 40s in 2011 and 2014 when the race was with Super Late Models. In 2015, Guy Taylor was the winner. He took fourth in 2016. Matt Taylor received $700 to win the race.

Tim Hancock raced twice on Saturday in the same car, the B-Modified, a more cost-effective and slower racecar than the Billingsley Towing Modifieds, and placed first for the fifth time in five weeks of B-Modified races at Macon Speedway.

Jeremy Nichols had a great night, as well. He placed first in both the Sportsman and Street Stock feature races. Nichols waited out the chance for the lead and win in the Sportsman class as Danny Smith was up front for the first five laps but pulled away and cruised for the victory. In the Street Stock division, his lead was safe for the majority of the race after wrestling it away from Greg Osman in the early stages. Nick Justice was sent to the back of the field in the first few laps for spinning out a driver and charged back to the front over the race’s final 12 laps to finish second.

Jeremy Reed returned to Macon Speedway and graced victory lane in the 4-cylinder Hornets class. Reed would start tenth and come charging from the back to win the 15-lap race. He was followed to the finish line by last week’s feature winner, Jerad Matherly.

The evening finished up with a big fireworks display, an annual event at Macon Speedway as part of the 95Q Firecracker 40s. Next week will bring the POWRi Midgets & Micro Sprints to the track for their fourth visit of the 2016 schedule.

Billingsley Towing Modifieds–1. Dave Crawley, Jr. (Decatur), 2. Tim Hancock (Mt. Olive), 3. Rodney Standerfer (Summerfield), 4. Cody Stillwell (Godfrey), 5. Wade Glover (Brighton), 6. Zach Rhodes (Taylorville), 7. Alan Crowder (Elwin), 8. Danny Smith (Argenta), 9. Shawn Vaughn (Loami), 10. Jeff Graham (Stonington)

Pro Late Models–1. Matt Taylor (Springfield), 2. Jose Parga (New Berlin), 3. Nick Bauman (New Berlin), 4. Guy Taylor (Springfield), 5. Roben Huffman (Midland City), 6. Cody Maguire (Carlinville), 7. Troy Overstreet (Georgetown), 8. Jeffrey Reed (Blue Mound), 9. Gary Graham (San Jose), 10. Kyle Logue (Cisco)

B-Modifieds–1. Tim Hancock (Mt. Olive), 2. Jerry Thompson (Troy), 3. Ryan Timmons (Centralia), 4. Cody Stillwell (Godfrey), 5. Eric Brackett (Brighton), 6. Tom Riech (Springfield), 7. Tim Riech (Petersburg), 8. Roy Magee (Springfield), 9. Fred Reed (Decatur), 10. Jamie Riech (Riverton)

Sportsman–1. Jeremy Nichols (Lovington), 2. Danny Smith (Argenta), 3. Timmy Dick (Monticello), 4. Tom Graham (Stonington), 5. Scott Landers (Taylorville), 6. Scott Williams (Anchor), 7. Tim Bedinger (Taylorville), 8. Joe Strawkas (Buffalo), 9. Brad Bedinger (Taylorville), 10. Jim Bedinger (Taylorville)

Street Stocks–1. Jeremy Nichols (Lovington), 2. Nick Justice (Decatur), 3. Kyle Waters (Oreana), 4. Greg Osman (Bloomington), 5. Brian Dasenbrock (Decatur), 6. Kevin Lewis (Decatur), 7. John Bright, Jr. (Long Creek), 8. Luke Force (Argenta), 9. Dustin Reed (Decatur), 10. Terry Reed, Sr. (Decatur)

Hornets–1. Jeremy Reed (Decatur), 2. Jerad Matherly (Decatur), 3. Cook Crawford (Lincoln), 4. Ryan Barton (Taylorville), 5. Caleb Branch (Hammond), 6. Brad Rexroad (Hammond), 7. Marty Sullivan (Decatur), 8. Anthony Elam (Taylorville), 9. Tony Reed (Blue Mound), 10. Mike McChristy (Mt. Zion)