Macon Speedway races ready to win but didn’t

MACON — For the drivers of the six racing divisions at Macon Speedway Saturday night, many of those who led laps in the feature looked like locks for the victory lane. And then something happened to where that didn’t happen. Either a broken racecar or a late-race pass kept traditional and known winners away from the checkered flag.

Braden Johnson certainly looked unstoppable in the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Model class as the first half of the race was dominated by his speed and quickness around the middle and top lines of the track. But then disaster struck and his Pro Late Model lost power on the front straightaway on lap eight and forced a yellow flag. Johnson would be towed into the infield and back to his pit area. The driveshaft broke under his car due to a choppy and jumpy racing surface. The second-place car, Timmy Dick, would assume the lead and take the advantage and lead himself into the winner’s circle.

“The Tommy Show” a no-go

Fortunate not to have broken but also not able to finish first was Tommy Sheppard, Jr. in the BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds class. “The Tommy Show” was back at Macon Speedway after spending the last few weeks racing in the Summer Nationals series. Sheppard started his night with a fast qualifier and a heat race win to position him on the pole for the 20-lap feature. Leading the first 14 laps with little to no troubles, Pro Modified driver Billy Knebel made his move on the bottom and closed the gap and would be scored first on the 15th lap and take off with the win over the race’s final five laps. For Knebel, it was his first A-Modified feature win of the season and it felt pretty good to prove that once again the Pro Modifieds can compete well in the A-Modified division.

Nichols rolls late in Street Stocks division race

Jeremy Nichols looked in position to win in the Archer’s Alley Street Stocks class but Nick Macklin and the fourth turn took away that chance. Macklin moved from the fifth starting spot to the lead with five laps remaining and Nichols stayed close. As they hit the final turns to the checkered flag, Nichols gave it one last effort in the fourth turn and threw it hard into the corner and the car lifted off the ground and rolled twice before landing on all fours in the turn. The checkered flag hit the air and Macklin finished first. The race was part of the 10-race Midwest Big Ten Series event which a separate point fund is put together for drivers who race in this statewide touring series.

Other race night surprises at Macon

Jeremy Reed looked like the checkered flag was headed back to Reed Racing in the Hornet division. However, the car started to slow and lost power and he had to pull into the infield and which allowed Brandon Miller to overtake the lead and win over the 20-car field.

The night was full of surprises. However, Kyle Helmick led wire-to-wire from the pole in the Pro Modified class to offer some stability to the evening. Hayden Harvey of Warrensburg took the second feature of his season at Macon Speedway in the Micro Sprints Presented by Bailey Chassis as he roared to a big lead and drove off to victory.

The evening was also given some added bonuses with the addition of the Kid Modz class, a Modified division geared for children aged 8-15 to get seat time and race. The 9-car field was down to two in the final lap as 14-year-old Ariyonnah Kalb of Peoria took the checkered flag ahead of Brenden Heizer.

Faster Pastor race and race night synopsis

The intermission involved the annual Faster Pastor race as area church leaders took to the track for the right to be the Faster Pastor. The lead pastor of Decatur First Church of the Nazarene, Adam Lewis, drove off to victory in the Hornet that is driven by Storm Beiler. Storm Auto Mall donated $100 to the winning church.

124 entries for the night at Macon Speedway with special surprises all night long is what will be remembered of this Church Night. Macon Speedway brings it back to life on Saturday, July 24, with Weddle Performance Engines Night featuring the Sportsman Topless 40 and the Ed Cain Trucking Hornet Challenge. It will also be the First Responders Night and the Chris Oberheim Memorial. Six racing divisions are scheduled including the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models, BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds, Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman, Archer’s Alley Street Stocks, Pro Modifieds, and Hornets.

Current Top 10 finishers at Macon Speedway

Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models

Standing	Car No.	Name	From
1	122	Timmy Dick	Monticello
2	27	Colby Sheppard	Williamsville
3	10	Blake Damery	Blue Mound
4	64	Donny Koehler	Macon
5	7S	Jeremy Sebens	White Heath
6	33B	Storm Beiler	Decatur
7	14	Derek Smith	Decatur
8	11	Ryan Miller	Lincoln
9	F15	Bob Sidener	Springfield
10 (DNF)	14J	Braden Johnson	Taylorville

BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds

Standing	Car No.	Name	From
1	52	Billy Knebel	Pocahontas
2	T6	Tommy Sheppard Jr.	New Berlin
3	77	Guy Taylor	Springfield
4	24M	Matt Milner	Chatham
5	00S	Cody Stilwell	Godfrey
6	27X	Kyle Helmick	Smithton
7	34T	Tanner Reed	Paris
8	22P	Wil Prater	Paris
9	78	Maxx Emerson	Taylorville
10	24	Zach Taylor	Springfield

DIRTcar Pro Mods

Standing	Car No.	Name	From
1	27X	Kyle Helmick	Smithton
2	52	Billy Knebel	Pocahontas
3	2	Brayden Doyle	Ashmore
4	15C	Kevin Crowder	Argenta
5	77	Guy Taylor	Springfield
6	14N	Nathan Lynch	Hillsboro
7	79	Scott Dunlap	Oblong
8	33	Josh Robb	Mt. Zion
9	24M	Matt Milner	Chatham
10	28	JR Dunlap	Palestine

Archers Alley Big Ten Street Stocks

Standing	Car No.	Name	From
1	16	Nick Macklin	Argenta
2	11	Terry Reed	Cerro Gordo
3	29	Bobby Beiler	Blue Mound
4	X7	Guy Taylor	Springfield
5	Z24	Zach Taylor	Springfield
6	21	Jaret Duff	Maroa
7	22	Darrell Dick	Monticello
8	46	Randy Huffman	Maroa
9	67	Rudy Zaragoza	Jacksonville
10	3J	Jonathon Hall	Harristown

DIRTcar Hornets

Standing	Car No.	Name	From
1	9B	Brandon Miller	Broadwell
2	04	Steve Stine	Stonington
3	31	Jacob Shanks	Decatur
4	26A	Michael McKay	Springfield
5	187	Korey Bailey	Stonington
6	00	Derrick DeFord	Canton
7	324	Shelby Beiler	Macon
8	J13	Justin Coffey	Stonington
9	14M	Cole Martz	Findlay
10	44	Bill Basso	Athens

Micros By Bailey Chassis

Standing	Car No.	Name	From
1	55H	Hayden Harvey	Warrensburg
2	10	Jacob Tipton	Decatur
3	21	Aarik Andruskevitch	Riverton
4	18	Michael Brummitt	Mt. Zion
5	27	Kyle Barker	Cooksville
6	8B	John Barnard	Sherman
7	7	Ryan Frantz	Atwood
8	16W	Hunter Walker	Decatur
9	00	Joe Taft	Dawson
10	55S	Daryn Stark	Springfield

Kid Modz

Standing	Car No.	Name	From
1	34	Ariyonnah Kalb	Peoria
2	4	Brenden Heizer	Okawville
3 (DNF)	24	Blake Crebo	Hanna City
4 (DNF)	11	Hagen Langley	Greenville
5 (DNF)	4KK	Kaylynn Eskew	Pleasant Plains
6 (DNF)	22	Hudson Dick	Monticello
7 (DNF)	66	Audrey Gerberding	Rochester
8 (DNF)	14	Wyatt Lappe	Illiopolis
9 (DNF)	B8	Erin Boesdorfer	Armington

---

For more information about Macon Speedway and Adam Mackey, go to maconracing.com or follow them on Twitter @MaconSpeedway.

For more sports news, follow Heartland Newsfeed @HLNF_Bulletin on Twitter.

Additionally, you can follow Heartland Newsfeed on Facebook and Reddit among other platforms. You can now follow our news updates on Telegram, Flote, and MeWe.

Support independent journalism. Become a patron on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. There are other donor options as well.