Unzicker Takes First in Fairbury
Fairbury, Ill. (6/4/22) Saturday night at the Fairbury Speedway saw racing action in five divisions that was presented by Gordon Electric Supply and Pontiac Electric Supply. Ryan Unzicker (Late Model), Michael Ledford (Modified), Ian Keller (Stock Car), Tommy Duncan (Sportsman), and Brian Deavers (Hobby-Modified) were the victors at America’s Dirt Track.
A field of 20 Late Models checked in for their 30 lap, $2500 to win race, that included two touring World of Outlaw regulars, Shane Clanton ( Zebulon, Ga.) and Max Blair (Centerville, Pa.). Clanton set fast time with a lap of 12.637. Kevin Weaver and McKay Wenger were the heat race winners.
Wenger took the lead as the green flag waved before Unzicker moved ahead on lap two. The yellow flag came out on lap four as Wenger, running in the second position, stalled on the track with a flat tire. Wenger’s crew were able to change the tire, but fell to the back of the field. On the restart, Mike Spatola, in the fourth spot, stopped on the track with a flat tire, to bring out the caution. Spatola’s team made the change and dropped to the back of the 20 car field. As the green flag waved, Unzicker wasted little time in showing his strength as he drove a smooth line on the bottom of the track and opened a straight away lead. Clanton and Blair swapped the second position several times, but were unable to mount a threat to Unzicker. At the end of the race, Unzicker held a four second lead, and was able to capture his first win of the year.
“ We have had a good car all year, but have been in some rough stuff “, explained Unzicker. “ The car was on a rail. You never take winning as easy, because it’s hard to do. We won a lot of races back in the day, but they are tough to get nowadays”.
Tuning up for next month’s PDC, Clanton settled for second. Tommy Sheppard Jr. charged from the 14th position to take third. Blair settled for fourth and Weaver finished in fifth. Wenger and Spatola rallied to finish in the sixth and seventh spots. Jake Little, Derek Chandler, and Scott Schmitt completed the top ten.
Austin Friedman was the Modified fast qualifier at a time of 13.773 as 18 drivers made qualifying runs. The two heat races went to Friedman and Allen Weisser.
Friedman held a narrow lead over Weisser before Friedman’s night ended with a flat tire. Michael Long had a 10 car length lead while Weisser, Michael Ledford, and Mason Duncan dueled for second. The caution came out on the ninth lap as Long’s night came to an end. The restart saw Duncan vault out to a commanding lead over Ledford, Weisser, Cole Falloway, and Allan Stipp.
Ledford, running all out on the top side of the track, erased Duncan’s lead and moved to the front on the 15th lap. Ledford, a brand new uncle, was able to win his first FALS Cup feature of the year on a night that saw the younger racers display their talents.
“ We started out the season rough”, Ledford said. “ We had picked it up, but we weren’t where we wanted to be. My confidence as a driver wasn’t where it should be, but this will help”.
Duncan had his best run to date and edged Falloway (hard charger) for second. Stipp took fourth and Weisser finished fifth. In his first season in the Modified, Lyndon Whitfill took sixth, followed by Caden McWhorter, Degan Dozard, Mark Rhoades, and Nick Seplak.
10 CR Towing Sportsman racers made qualifying runs and Steve Mattingly timed in at 14.494 for the race’s fast qualifier. Mattingly and Landen Miller won their heat races.
Mattingly and Dunacn exchanged the lead before Duncan moved ahead. Mattingly’s night came to an end on the fifth lap with mechanical issues. Miller made several bids for the lead, but the old pro Duncan kept Miller at bay and took his third win of the year.
Miller and Duncan were involved in a skirmish in their heat race which saw Duncan turned into the backstretch wall. Duncan commented in victory lane.
“ I don’t know how they race, but I don’t beat on people to pass them. So if that is how he wants to race, we can do that for now on. You can have this trophy if it means that much to him. I don’t race that way”.
Miller finished in second, with Tyler Roth in third, followed by Eric Saltzman and Doug Carls (hardcharger). The rest of the top ten were Victor Strong, Makinzi Semmens, Aaron Reid, Mattingly, and Josh Hetherington.
Tanner Sullivan’s time of 15.187 gave him the night’s fast qualifier honors as 17 Stock Cars took time trials. Sullivan and Ian Keller won heat races.
Sullivan led on the opening lap before Keller took the front spot. Keller put his car on the Fairbury cushion and was able to roll to his second straight win at Fairbury.
“ This FALS cushion came to life tonight,” the Hoosier state pilot said. “ I had my hands full, but we got it done”.
Joe Brown (hardcharger) was the runner up and Sullivan in third. The remainder of the top ten were Don Hilleary, Cody Clubb, Jerrad Krick, Adam Williams, Calvin Peek Jr., Tim Loomis, and Andy Zahnd.
Brian Deaver completed his trifecta in setting fast time (14.873), winning his heat, and taking his second Hobby-Modified race win of the year..
Kirby McCormick led the first six laps of the 12 lap race before Deavers moved to the front. Luke Gebhardt made a late race charge, but fell short in his bid for the win.
“ Kirby got by me on the bottom”, Deavers said. “ I didn’t have enough to get off the corner. So I said, it ain’t working out here. I tried the cushion and it was “buh-bye Kirby”.
Following Deavers and Gebhardt to the line were McCormick, Jason Vandermeir, Darren Kerrins, Mike Petersen, Ryan Kohler, Scott McDonald, Trevor Ringle, and Payton Semmens.
DIRTCAR LATE MODELS
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 24-Ryan Unzicker[3]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[5]; 3. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[18]; 4. 111V-Max Blair[6]; 5. B12-Kevin Weaver[1]; 6. 42-Mckay Wenger[2]; 7. 89-Mike Spatola[4]; 8. 38J-Jake Little[7]; 9. 35C-Derek Chandler[11]; 10. 10-Scott Schmitt[8]; 11. 3-Dale Markham[9]; 12. 35-Claude Walker[15]; 13. 14-Glen Thompson[17]; 14. 33-Billy Hough[20]; 15. 2M-Matt Mickelson[14]; 16. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[16]; 17. 22M-Sean Mattingly[19]; 18. 73-Bill Weistart[12]; 19. 9-Lyle Zanker[10]; 20. 76-Titus Sneed[13]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. B12-Kevin Weaver[2]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[3]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 4. 38J-Jake Little[6]; 5. 3-Dale Markham[5]; 6. 35C-Derek Chandler[9]; 7. 76-Titus Sneed[4]; 8. 35-Claude Walker[7]; 9. 14-Glen Thompson[8]; 10. 22M-Sean Mattingly[10]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 42-Mckay Wenger[1]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola[2]; 3. 111V-Max Blair[3]; 4. 10-Scott Schmitt[5]; 5. 9-Lyle Zanker[9]; 6. 73-Bill Weistart[7]; 7. 2M-Matt Mickelson[10]; 8. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[6]; 9. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[4]; 10. 33-Billy Hough[8]
Qualifying 1: 1. 25-Shane Clanton, 00:12.637[15]; 2. 42-Mckay Wenger, 00:12.799[12]; 3. B12-Kevin Weaver, 00:12.916[7]; 4. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:13.004[10]; 5. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 00:13.013[3]; 6. 111V-Max Blair, 00:13.070[1]; 7. 76-Titus Sneed, 00:13.209[19]; 8. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr, 00:13.231[4]; 9. 3-Dale Markham, 00:13.252[18]; 10. 10-Scott Schmitt, 00:13.275[17]; 11. 38J-Jake Little, 00:13.279[16]; 12. 31AUS-Paul Stubber, 00:13.363[13]; 13. 35-Claude Walker, 00:13.501[5]; 14. 73-Bill Weistart, 00:13.672[20]; 15. 14-Glen Thompson, 00:13.706[11]; 16. 33-Billy Hough, 00:13.716[9]; 17. 35C-Derek Chandler, 00:13.732[6]; 18. 9-Lyle Zanker, 00:14.039[2]; 19. 22M-Sean Mattingly, 00:14.159[14]; 20. 2M-Matt Mickelson, 00:14.868[8]
DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 37-Michael Ledford[3]; 2. 32-Mason Duncan[6]; 3. 66-Cole Falloway[12]; 4. 88S-Alan Stipp[11]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[2]; 6. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[5]; 7. 14-Caden McWhorter[9]; 8. 17D-Degan Dozard[14]; 9. 73-Mark Rhoades[16]; 10. A34-Dustin Hume[15]; 11. 3711-Nick Seplak[7]; 12. 2M-Matthew Mitchell[10]; 13. 18L-Michael Long[4]; 14. 89-Austin Friedman[1]; 15. 5B-Steven Brooks[8]; 16. 36V-Macy Vaughan[13]; 17. (DNS) 69JR-Jimmy Farris Jr; 18. (DNS) 71R-Troy Ricketts
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Austin Friedman[1]; 2. 37-Michael Ledford[3]; 3. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[4]; 4. 3711-Nick Seplak[6]; 5. 14-Caden McWhorter[5]; 6. 88S-Alan Stipp[7]; 7. 36V-Macy Vaughan[8]; 8. A34-Dustin Hume[9]; 9. 69JR-Jimmy Farris Jr[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25W-Allen Weisser[2]; 2. 18L-Michael Long[3]; 3. 32-Mason Duncan[4]; 4. 5B-Steven Brooks[5]; 5. 2M-Matthew Mitchell[6]; 6. 66-Cole Falloway[1]; 7. 17D-Degan Dozard[8]; 8. 73-Mark Rhoades[7]; 9. 71R-Troy Ricketts[9]
Qualifying 1: 1. 89-Austin Friedman, 00:13.773[1]; 2. 66-Cole Falloway, 00:13.898[13]; 3. 69JR-Jimmy Farris Jr, 00:14.041[4]; 4. 25W-Allen Weisser, 00:14.050[14]; 5. 37-Michael Ledford, 00:14.053[6]; 6. 18L-Michael Long, 00:14.085[11]; 7. 21-Lyndon Whitfill, 00:14.171[10]; 8. 32-Mason Duncan, 00:14.194[17]; 9. 14-Caden McWhorter, 00:14.315[12]; 10. 5B-Steven Brooks, 00:14.321[2]; 11. 3711-Nick Seplak, 00:14.340[15]; 12. 2M-Matthew Mitchell, 00:14.352[3]; 13. 88S-Alan Stipp, 00:14.524[8]; 14. 73-Mark Rhoades, 00:14.911[7]; 15. 36V-Macy Vaughan, 00:14.960[5]; 16. 17D-Degan Dozard, 00:15.158[16]; 17. A34-Dustin Hume, 00:15.714[18]; 18. 71R-Troy Ricketts, 00:17.532[9]
CR TOWING SPORTSMANS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 32-Tommy Duncan[4]; 2. 110-Landen Miller[2]; 3. 20R-Tyler Roth[3]; 4. 421-Eric Saltzman[5]; 5. 14-Doug Carls[9]; 6. 81-Victor Strong[6]; 7. 66-Makinzi Semmens[8]; 8. 13-Aaron Reid[10]; 9. 7-Steven Mattingly[1]; 10. 15-Josh Hetherington[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Steven Mattingly[1]; 2. 20R-Tyler Roth[2]; 3. 421-Eric Saltzman[4]; 4. 15-Josh Hetherington[3]; 5. 14-Doug Carls[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 110-Landen Miller[2]; 2. 32-Tommy Duncan[1]; 3. 81-Victor Strong[3]; 4. 66-Makinzi Semmens[4]; 5. 13-Aaron Reid[5]
Qualifying 1: 1. 7-Steven Mattingly, 00:14.494[2]; 2. 32-Tommy Duncan, 00:14.753[1]; 3. 20R-Tyler Roth, 00:14.860[10]; 4. 110-Landen Miller, 00:14.896[5]; 5. 15-Josh Hetherington, 00:15.224[7]; 6. 81-Victor Strong, 00:15.480[6]; 7. 421-Eric Saltzman, 00:15.564[4]; 8. 66-Makinzi Semmens, 00:16.009[3]; 9. 14-Doug Carls, 00:16.316[9]; 10. 13-Aaron Reid, 00:16.316[8]
DIRTCAR STREET STOCKS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. K67-Ian Keller[2]; 2. B9-Joe Brown[4]; 3. 20-Tanner Sullivan[1]; 4. 10H-Don Hilleary[5]; 5. 23-Cody Clubb[7]; 6. 99K-Jerrad Krick[3]; 7. 83A-Adam Williams[8]; 8. 88-Calvin Peek Jr[6]; 9. 93-Tim Loomis[10]; 10. 2Z-Andy Zahnd[9]; 11. K67JR-Braiden Keller[11]; 12. 10-Devin Hoskins[13]; 13. 63T-Brandon Tracy[14]; 14. 8-Eric Boudreau[15]; 15. 32-Brice Slavens[16]; 16. 23G-Jace Gall[12]; 17. 13D-Bailey Downey[17]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Tanner Sullivan[1]; 2. 99K-Jerrad Krick[2]; 3. 10H-Don Hilleary[8]; 4. 23-Cody Clubb[5]; 5. 2Z-Andy Zahnd[3]; 6. K67JR-Braiden Keller[4]; 7. 10-Devin Hoskins[6]; 8. 8-Eric Boudreau[7]; 9. 13D-Bailey Downey[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. K67-Ian Keller[1]; 2. B9-Joe Brown[2]; 3. 88-Calvin Peek Jr[3]; 4. 83A-Adam Williams[4]; 5. 93-Tim Loomis[5]; 6. 23G-Jace Gall[7]; 7. 63T-Brandon Tracy[6]; 8. 32-Brice Slavens[8]
Qualifying 1: 1. 20-Tanner Sullivan, 00:15.187[8]; 2. K67-Ian Keller, 00:15.228[14]; 3. 99K-Jerrad Krick, 00:15.250[1]; 4. B9-Joe Brown, 00:15.288[17]; 5. 2Z-Andy Zahnd, 00:15.532[12]; 6. 88-Calvin Peek Jr, 00:15.583[15]; 7. K67JR-Braiden Keller, 00:15.696[4]; 8. 83A-Adam Williams, 00:15.734[5]; 9. 23-Cody Clubb, 00:15.734[13]; 10. 93-Tim Loomis, 00:15.804[9]; 11. 10-Devin Hoskins, 00:15.832[10]; 12. 63T-Brandon Tracy, 00:15.870[11]; 13. 8-Eric Boudreau, 00:16.017[16]; 14. 23G-Jace Gall, 00:16.054[7]; 15. 10H-Don Hilleary, 00:16.213[3]; 16. 32-Brice Slavens, 00:17.220[2]; 17. 13D-Bailey Downey, 00:32.816[6]
HOBBY MODS
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 9-Brian Deavers[1]; 2. 23LG-Luke Gebhardt[3]; 3. 5K-Kirby McCormick[2]; 4. 6-Jason Vandermeir[10]; 5. 22-Darren Kerrins[4]; 6. 54-Mike Petersen[7]; 7. 21JR-Ryan Kohler[9]; 8. 77M-Scott McDonald[8]; 9. 0ONE-Trevor Ringle[11]; 10. 66-Payton Semmens[12]; 11. 31T-Meara Tilstra[13]; 12. 113-Haley Jones[14]; 13. 21G-Coltin Grace[18]; 14. 81-Edward Gregory[16]; 15. 47-Jordan Walker[5]; 16. 27-Reid Gall[6]; 17. 14-Madison Walker[15]; 18. 26-Cameron Pierce[17]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Brian Deavers[1]; 2. 5K-Kirby McCormick[2]; 3. 23LG-Luke Gebhardt[4]; 4. 22-Darren Kerrins[5]; 5. 47-Jordan Walker[6]; 6. 27-Reid Gall[8]; 7. 54-Mike Petersen[7]; 8. 77M-Scott McDonald[3]; 9. 21JR-Ryan Kohler[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Jason Vandermeir[1]; 2. 0ONE-Trevor Ringle[5]; 3. 66-Payton Semmens[6]; 4. 31T-Meara Tilstra[4]; 5. 113-Haley Jones[2]; 6. 14-Madison Walker[8]; 7. 81-Edward Gregory[7]; 8. 26-Cameron Pierce[9]; 9. 21G-Coltin Grace[3]
Qualifying 1: 1. 9-Brian Deavers, 00:14.873[7]; 2. 5K-Kirby McCormick, 00:15.074[14]; 3. 77M-Scott McDonald, 00:15.486[4]; 4. 23LG-Luke Gebhardt, 00:15.489[13]; 5. 22-Darren Kerrins, 00:15.525[11]; 6. 47-Jordan Walker, 00:15.604[17]; 7. 54-Mike Petersen, 00:15.605[16]; 8. 27-Reid Gall, 00:16.054[9]; 9. 21JR-Ryan Kohler, 00:16.063[3]; 10. 6-Jason Vandermeir, 00:16.063[10]; 11. 113-Haley Jones, 00:16.135[18]; 12. 21G-Coltin Grace, 00:16.461[6]; 13. 31T-Meara Tilstra, 00:16.596[15]; 14. 0ONE-Trevor Ringle, 00:16.753[8]; 15. 66-Payton Semmens, 00:16.785[2]; 16. 81-Edward Gregory, 00:16.861[1]; 17. 14-Madison Walker, 00:18.310[5]; 18. 26-Cameron Pierce, 00:18.967[12]