$5 Grandstand Admission, $5 Concession Deals, & Great Racing

This coming Saturday night, September 24, Macon IL Speedway will be welcoming fans from all over with a special fan appreciation night, offering $5 grandstand admission, a $5 concession combo, and a special on beer.  The night will be action packed with seven divisions of racing on the card, racing for important points on the next to last night of the season at the 1/5-mile speedplant.

The Five Buck Night is a spinoff of the $5 night held at Lincoln Speedway on the final night of their racing season.  On that night, the biggest crowd of the year was in attendance in addition to a huge car count for the track.  This Saturday should feature much of the same, as car counts and racing at Macon has been very good in recent weeks and this weekend marks the final weekend of accumulating UMP national points.

Headlining this week’s events will be the Midwest Big Ten Street Stocks in event #9 of the season.  So far this season, Lovington, IL driver Jeremy Nichols leads the Big Ten points by 26 over Decatur’s Terry Reed.  Reed, however, has missed one event and things will level out once two events are dropped for each driver at the completion of the ten event schedule.  Dave Crawley, Jr., Kyle Waters, and Rudy Zaragoza are currently in the top five.  Big Ten winners this year include Crawley, who won the first two at Lincoln and Macon, Nichols who won the next four at Jacksonville, Christian County Fair, Macon, and Lincoln, and Crawley who got back into victory lane on September 10th in the John Osman Memorial.  The Street Stock show will be part of a doubleheader weekend, as they compete in an event at Jacksonville on Friday night.

Co-headlining Saturday will be the UMP Hornets.  This week’s event will feature the much anticipated Hornet World Championships.  Not the Macon championship, not the Macon County or Illinois championship, not even the United States championship.  We are talking World Championship.  The event will feature extra purse money as well as a huge trophy for the champion.  Sizable fifth and tenth place trophies will also be handed out.  Among the favorites will be point leader Tony Reed, runner-up Jerad Matherly, as well as Ryan Cantrell, who claimed Saturday’s feature win.  Cook Crawford and Torry Lyons complete the top five in points.  Macon part-timers Jeremy Reed and Adam Webb are also expected to be in the mix.

The Billingsley Towing Modified division has been producing some great races as of late, as well.  Over the last few weeks, the car count has been in the 18-20 range with some stout Modified competitors traveling to race at the bullring.  Taylorville, IL driver Curt Rhodes, has pretty well locked up the Macon Speedway championship, leading by 114 over last year’s runner-up, Jeff Graham.  Alan Crowder is a solid third, while Rodney Standerfer and Zach Rhodes complete the top five.  Last week, Kenny Wallace battled to get by Brian Lynn and claimed the feature win in a race that went flag-to-flag.

$350 in bonus money is available this week in the UMP B-Mod division at the track, by way of the bounty put on Tim Hancock, the division point leader.  Hancock has won an unbelievable 14 out of 14 features this year.  This will be the seventh feature where a bounty has been available but no one has stepped up to claim it.  Some have been close, in fact, last week saw a few drivers capable of grabbing the money.  Hancock, the Mt. Olive, IL driver, has two more weeks to try to cap off a perfect season.  Ryan Timmons is second in the standings, with Cody Stillwell, Tom Riech, and Tim Riech rounding out the top five.

Adding a large amount to the car count will be the excitable POWRi/Illini D-II Midgets, as they make their final Macon appearance of the year.  The D-II’s have put on some stellar shows throughout the Midwest this year, racing mainly at Lincoln, Macon, and Jacksonville Speedways.  Champaign, IL driver Patrick Bruns leads the standings by 150 over Tyler Vantoll.  Bruns has won ten out of the 23 features in 2016.  A full field is expected this weekend, as the series hasn’t run since September 2 at Lincoln.

A late addition to this week’s program was the Beach House Micros.  The 600cc Winged Outlaw division, has run several times at Macon this season and due to a strong car count and great racing last Saturday, the division was added to the September 24th event.  In the non-sanctioned events at the track, Garrett Duff, Tyler Day, Jeremy Camp, and Tyler Vantoll have claimed victories.

Rounding out Saturday night’s stacked card will be the UMP Sportsman.  The class, which had a solid turnout a couple weeks ago, will be on the schedule for the final two weeks of the 2016 season.  Jeremy Nichols has won six of the eight races with Timmy Dick claiming the other two victories.  Danny Smith, Tom Graham, Scott Landers, and Tim Bedinger follow Nichols in the overall standings.

Pit gates will open this Saturday at 4:00, grandstands at 5:00, drivers meeting will be 5:45, hotlaps will begin at 6:00, and racing will take the green at 7:00.  Grandstand admission is $5 for adults and free for kids 11 and under.

For more information, follow Macon Speedway online at www.maconracing.com, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/maconracing) and Twitter (@maconspeedway). It’s easy to join the Macon Speedway text service. Fans can text MSFANS to 74574 to receive fan information. Drivers text MSDRIVERS to 74574 to receive driver information. Message and date rates apply. Updates are also available by calling Macon Speedway at 217-764-3000.

Macon Speedway is located nine miles south of Decatur on U.S. 51, then 0.6 miles west on Andrews Street and south to 205 N. Wiles. Macon Speedway hosts racing every Saturday night, plus many weeknight specials.

Macon Speedway Remaining Schedule
Saturday, September 24 – Five Buck Night!! $5 Grandstand Admission/$5 Concession Specials

Seven Division Show/CEFCU Kid’s Club/Hornet World Championships
Saturday, October 1 – Season Championship Finale/Six Division Show

CURRENT POINTS (Top 10’s)

Midwest Big Ten UMP Street Stocks

Billingsley Towing UMP Modifieds

UMP B-Mods

UMP Sportsman

UMP Hornets

POWRi/Illini D-II Midgets