(Macon, IL) Brian Shirley won the Macon Speedway track championship in 2002 and since then has gone on to win a Herald & Review 100 and a UMP National Championship. He returned on Memorial Day night to compete in a 50-lap Lite Beer Twin 50s event that he ended up winning. Starting on the pole, Shirley took the lead from Rusty Griffaw on the eighth lap and felt the heat from Daryn Klein in the final 15 laps of the race but nobody could get close enough to overtake him for the top spot. Shirley stayed on the bottom of the track for the majority of the race.
In the second half of the Lite Beer Twin 50s, Ken Schrader dominated the field in the Billingsley Elite Wash Modifieds. Celebrating his birthday, Schrader, a Macon Speedway co-owner, started on the front row and led the first 20 laps. Lapped traffic caught up to the leader and allowed former track champion Rodney Standerfer the chance to take the lead on the 21st lap. However, that would be the only lap Standerfer would lead as Schrader got himself away from the lapped cars and back into the lead. Kenny Wallace caught Standerfer for second place midway through the race as Schrader built his lead.
The Beach House Micro Sprint feature featured one of the closest finishes of the night when Mt. Zion’s Tony Clifton tried to pull the slide job from the bottom of the fourth turn coming to the checkered flag but the car would not stick and slid right up the track and allowed leader Tyler Duff to hold off Clifton for the win.
Tim Hancock fell back into victory lane in the B-Modifieds feature race. Rob Timmons tried to stay close to challenge for the lead but was never able to get it going as Hancock just kept opening up the lead lap by lap.
Jeremy Nichols won in the Street Stock feature but not in his usual J24. He won in Lincoln native Justin Crowell’s 24. Crowell let him spin laps in the car on Memorial Day and made quick work of the Street Stock field during the 15-lap event.
Adam Webb, former National Hornet Champion, made quick work of the Hornet division in the 12-lap feature and found victory lane once again.
The Billingsley Elite Wash Modifieds 50-lap event featured two lead changes when Standerfer passed Schrader and back again. Schrader led 49 of the 50 laps. There were three caution flags in the race. The first caution came 37 laps into the race. The 50-lapper lasted 16 minutes, 49 seconds.
The Super Late Model 50-lap event featured one lead change when Griffaw led the first seven laps and Shirley led the final 42. There were four caution flags in the race and the most consecutive green flag laps put down was 18 (lap 26 to lap 44). The race was completed in 20 minutes, 7 seconds.
Macon Speedway welcomes back the POWRi Midgets and Beach House Micro Sprints this Saturday with POWRi’s Illinois Speed Week. The following week has the return of Tony Stewart to Macon Speedway with his Arctic Cat All-Star Sprint Cars.
Super Late Models–1. Brian Shirley (Chatham), 2. Daryn Klein (Fairview Heights), 3. Rusty Griffaw (Festus, MO), 4. Matt Shannon (Peoria), 5. Alan Westling (Fulton, MO), 6. Brent McKinnon (Carlyle), 7. Jason Suhre (Highland), 8. Greg Kimmons (Pleasant Plains), 9. Cody Maguire (Carlinville), 10. Adam Tischhauser (Greenville)
Billingsley Elite Wash Modifieds–1. Ken Schrader (Concord, NC), 2. Kenny Wallace (St. Louis, MO), 3. Rodney Standerfer (Summerfield), 4. Curt Rhodes (Taylorville), 5. Austin Lynn (Mason City), 6. Danny Smith (Argenta), 7. Alan Crowder (Elwin), 8. Wes O’Dell (Springfield), 9. Ethan Schnapp (Springfield), 10. Jeff Graham (Stonington)
Street Stocks–1. Jeremy Nichols (Lovington), 2. Bobby Beiler (Blue Mound), 3. Jim Ranson (Williamsport, IN), 4. Nick Macklin (Argenta), 5. Chris Dick (Deland), 6. Darrell Dick (Monticello), 7. Dennis Wernle (New Douglas), 8. Rudy Zaragoza (Jacksonville), 9. Garrett Lewis (Decatur), 10. Brian Dasenbrock (Decatur)
B-Modifieds–1. Tim Hancock (Mt. Olive), 2. Rob Timmons (Centralia), 3. Tom Riech (Springfield), 4. Cody Stillwell (Godfrey), 5. JR Wiltermood (Windsor), 6. Travis Hendrickson (Mattoon), 7. Jared Thomas (Edinburg), 8. Tim Hancock, Jr. (Mt. Olive), 9. Jerry Thompson (Troy), 10. Zach Gaither (Alton)
Beach House Micro Sprints–1. Tyler Duff (Weldon), 2. Tony Clifton (Mt. Zion), 3. Luke Verardi (Taylorville), 4. Tyler Robbins (Collinsville), 5. Andy Bishop (Harrisburg), 6. Evan Weyant (Sherman), 7. Ryan Shorthose (Oreana), 8. Luke Vaughn (Mahomet), 9. Tyler Day (Atwood), 10. Gabe Verardi (Taylorville)
Hornets–1. Adam Webb (Decatur), 2. Jeremy Reed (Decatur), 3. Dustin Reed (Decatur), 4. Cook Crawford (Lincoln), 5. Stacy Stinson (Decatur), 6. Carter Dart (Springfield), 7. Mike Myers (Springfield), 8. Rafe McKenna (Pana), 9. Fred Reed (Decatur), 10. Trebor Henson (Centralia)