Gloria for Gundaker!
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Story by Ruben Mireles
MACON, IL – July 4, 2019 – Gordy Gundaker goes back-to-back in the Herald & Review 100 at Macon Speedway after getting around Bobby Pierce on a last lap pass to win his second career Summer Nationals “Hell Tour” event. The St. Charles, Missouri racer won it on the bottom in 2018 and does it again in a thrilling finish, bringing fans to their feet in the final corner.
Twenty-four DIRTcar Late Models checked in on Thursday night at the 1/5-mile as the fans packed the stands for the 4th of July special. Two-time event winner Bobby Pierce sat on the front row with five-time Herald & Review 100 winner Shannon Babb. On the start, Bobby Pierce quickly threw a slider on Babb for the lead to get to the top, but Babb crossed Pierce over to retain the top spot.
Babb lead almost the entire way with several cautions mixed in through 100 laps. Three different leaders in the final three laps set the stage for an epic finish. Heading into turn three on lap 98, Pierce threw a bonzai slidejob on Babb for the lead that resulted in Babb making contact with the wall, putting him out of the race with significant right-front damage. Babb, who led 97Â laps until that point, drew the caution and eventually retired from the race.
Pierce then led the field to green on the restart with Brian Shirley and Gundaker following. Pierce ran away to a commanding half-straightaway lead on the white flag lap, as Gundaker passed defending Summer Nationals champion Shirley for second. It seemed as though Pierce won the race as he powered off of turn four towards the checkered flag, but the caution was thrown.
Ryan Unzicker and Dennis Erb Jr. came together on the back straightaway, putting Unzicker in a very dangerous position. Officials called the yellow for Unzicker, parked on the back straightaway. This led to a single-file restart with 99 laps complete and $5,000 on the line.
Pierce threw it in very hard on the top of turns one and two on the restart and was almost completely sideways upon corner exit, leaving the bottom door open for Gundaker. Pierce pushed in the middle of three and four, shooting his momentum down, allowing Gundaker to slip by underneath and collect his second career Hell Tour victory.
Mother Nature might have been a thorn in the side of the Summer Nationals this season, but the racing and storylines have been second to none when the rain has stayed away, and Thursday night was no exception. The DIRTcar Summer Nationals tour next advances to Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, Illinois for a Friday-night-lights special on July 5.
Follow the DIRTcar Summer Nationals on Facebook and Twitter @SummerNationals and don’t miss a single lap live with your DIRTVision Late Model Fast Pass Powered by DirtonDirt.com for only $39/month. Visit www.DIRTVision.com for more information.
Late Model Feature (100 Laps) – 1. 11-Gordy Gundaker [6]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce [1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley [5]; 4. 25F-Jason Feger [7]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb, Jr. [3]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, Jr. [9]; 7. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk [11]; 8. 51-Dean Carpenter [12]; 9. 16-Rusty Griffaw [10]; 10. 24-Ryan Unzicker [4]; 11. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [15]; 12. 13-David Jaeger [17]; 13. 27-Greg Kimmons [20]; 14. 32M-Cody Maguire [18]; 15. 33H-Roben Huffman [19]; 16. 18-Shannon Babb [2]; 17. 31AUS-Paul Stubber [14]; 18. 16H-Mike Hammerle [23]; 19. 25H-Chuck Hummer [21]; 20. 33B-Billy Hough [13]; 21. 18W-Trent Workman [16]; 22. 25W-Allen Weisser [8]; 23. 82B-Jason Milam [22]; 24. 48T-Phil Taylor [24]; KSE Hard Charger Award: 27-Greg Kimmons[+7]
Gordy Gundaker repeats as Herald & Review 100 champ
Moweaqua’s Shannon Babb led until lap 98
By Matthew Flaten (Herald & Review)
MACON — Before the fireworks finished off Independence Day and the night of racing at Macon Speedway, there was a bang on lap 98 of the Herald & Review 100.
Race leader, Moweaqua’s Shannon Babb, going for his record sixth H&R 100 race win, sustained race-ending front wheel damage as he slammed into the car he was attempting to lap.
Then two-time winner Bobby Pierce Jr. crossed the finish line and appeared to win, but a yellow flag brought the drivers back to finish the 100th lap, and last year’s winner — Gordy Gundaker — emerged as the repeat champion.
For Babb, it was a bitter way to lose.
“Racing down here is always tough and I know what to expect,” Babb said. “It’s going to be good hard tight racing and it always is. We always tell ourselves that we need to try to get to the end. We got to the end but we got in a bad position there and I just knew something was going to come.
“I was out of tire, out of fuel and struggling there a little bit and then I got into a bad position.”
Babb had grabbed the lead before the first lap was completed and remained there for nearly all of the other 98 laps.
“Our car was good, it really was,” Babb said. “When you are here you try to get yourself out front and stay out of trouble. If you get the lead early it makes your race a whole lot easier and that’s what I tried to do so I could pick through traffic. I got to the end but a couple guys were running just as strong with me.”
Though Pierce, who won the race in 2016 and 2017, crossed the finish line with the checkered flag waving, but was denied the win because of a yellow caution flag was called for a stalled car on the track.
On the restart, Gundaker emerged seemingly out of nowhere after spending much of the race deep in the pack to pass Pierce on the final turn for the win.
“I thought if we can get out of here with a top five finish, maybe a top three, that I was going to think about it as another win,” Gundaker said. “But you get those yellows at the end and you find a way.
“I knew in the last lap I wasn’t as good in turns one and two as I was in turns three and four and I hoped to make a decent lap down there and hopefully Bobby would screw up. I know that he usually doesn’t make many mistakes, but he did there and when I came out of turn four, I couldn’t believe I had him.”
Gundaker’s win last year was also come-from-behind and elicited an emotional reaction.
“I’m speechless, I can’t believe I’ve won the Herald & Review 100 two years in a row,” Gundaker said. “I know it had to be a a hell of a race from the stands but you should have seen it from my standpoint.
“I couldn’t believe getting a yellow with two to go and then green and white flags together. I can’t even explain this.”
A second H&R 100 title is just a little bit sweeter than the first, Gundaker said.
“It’s hard to compare them,” he said. “That first one was so sweet, never having won a summer nationals race before but this second one, doing it on the last lap and passing a guy like Bobby who has won two of these and to put our name up there and win again back-to-back is absolutely unbelievable.”
Although the final three laps were yellow-filled, overall the race was fairly clean, with just a handful of cautions. Babb’s veteran experience on the track was clear as he was unafraid to go three-cars wide around the turns to make a pass. The aggressive give-and-take between Babb and the second-place Pierce led to Babb having his car examined for damage on two cautions.
“I had a guy working on me a little bit that got in on me a couple of times. I kind of felt that and so I had it looked at,” Babb said.
Rain threatened the race throughout the evening, so the H&R 100 was moved up as the second feature of the evening. Before it, the DIRTcar Summit Modified Nationals 25-lap race saw Mike Harrison win his fourth race of the tour this year. Tyler Nicely finished second, Nick Hoffman was third and Tommy Shepard was fourth. Following the completion of the H&R 100, the Pro Mods took the track and Mount Olive’s Tim Hancock picked up the victory. Decatur drivers Nick Justice and Billy Nail finished seventh and eighth, respectively.
For Gundaker, he firmly believes the racing gods were smiling down on him this Fourth of July.
“We had a race at Fairbury and I was running second and I got a flat tire with 13 laps to go. Sometimes the breaks fall your way and sometimes they don’t. Tonight we caught a break catching that yellow on the last lap and finding a way to make it happen. That’s the way it is sometimes but these wins don’t come easy no matter what,” he said.
Macon Speedway will be back in action on Saturday, July 6 with Bob Brady Auto Mall night featuring the RAMINATOR Monster Truck, a Sportsman Topless 40, the MSCT Street Stock Dean Garland Classic, and five other divisions.
More information may be available at maconracing.com.