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7th Annual World Hornet Champion a familiar face

By Brett Zerfowski

(Macon, IL)

In the 7th Annual World Hornet Championship event, the Outlaw Hornet feature winner was a familiar face to the world. Decatur’s Adam Webb claimed the top honor for third year in a row. Webb took the heat race and started on the inside of the second row to give him the chance at the lead and the trophy. Bloomington’s Brian Deavers was on his bumper for the majority of the race but couldn’t get enough to pass Webb. Jeremy Reed of Decatur had a remarkable feature after a miserable heat in which he did not finish. Reed was forced to start at the tail of the race among the 19 starts and dashed towards the front to finish third. Eldon Hemken started sixth and finished fourth and Jacob Rexing, a first-time visitor to Macon Speedway, finished fifth.

The Stock Hornet Championship race was won by Matthew Reed of Blue Mound. Reed was riding in second and looked to finish runner-up but leader and multi-time winner Thad Gee had a problem with the 4-cylinder and broke down in the race’s final lap. Reed took advantage and kept racing hard to finish in the top spot.

Another difficult finish for the leader came in the Billingsley Towing Modifieds as leader Tommy Sheppard, Jr. was unable to hold the lead with two laps remaining on a restart as his Modified was unable to keep going and he pulled into the infield. That opened the door for Springfield’s Ethan Schapp. Schnapp ran clean the entire race with the exception of an early restart on a caution flag where he lost the early advantage to Sheppard. Guy Taylor stormed to second place after starting 11th. TD Burger was the pole sitter and he finished third. Nick Macklin finished fourth after beginning from the 13th place position and Danny Smith finished the race in fifth.

It was another week in the Sportsman class and another win for Dave Crawley, Jr. Decatur native Crawley won his heat and started outside front row with Dennis Vandermeersch and quickly pulled away to a zero-caution, 15-lap A-Main event. Crawley led every lap. Mike Pickering held of Vandermeersch for second. Curt Rhodes was the fourth place finisher and Nick Macklin took fifth from Rick Roedel at the finish.

Gene Reed grabbed the checkered flag in the Street Stock division. Thanks to lapped traffic causing congestion and holding up leader Mike Pickering, Reed took the top spot early in the 15-lap feature race. Pickering stayed atop the race track and Kyle Waters took the bottom side to slide by for second place. Mike Pundt, Jr. was fourth and Bobby Beiler was the fifth place driver.

Macon Speedway welcomed a new circuit to the track in the USAC Ignite Midgets, a division similar to that of the USAC Silver Crown cars and the POWRi Midgets. The feature winner was local driver, Patrick Bruns of Champaign. The other finishers of the top five were from Ohio and Indiana.

The kids in attendance got a special treat during intermission as they were allowed to ride in a Meridian Unit District school bus on the race track for a few laps. There were so many kids that there were two trips necessary for all kids to get that opportunity.

Macon Speedway will prepare for the Dean Garland Memorial Race on September 14th, featuring Double-to-Win and Double-to-Start features. Dean Garland was a beloved figure to drivers, pit crew members and officials at many central Illinois race tracks and passed away in the early part of the 2013 season. Drivers participating must purchase a Dean Garland sticker to be eligible for the bonus. For more information go to maconracing.com or call 217-764-3000.

UMP Modified - Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 3 7S Ethan Schnapp Springfield , Il 50.00
2 11 77T Guy Taylor Springfield , Il 48.00
3 1 32B Td Burger Saunemin , Il 46.00
4 13 16 Nick Macklin Argenta , Il 44.00
5 2 9DS Danny Smith Argenta , Il 42.00
6 17 5H Randy Huffman Maroa , Il 40.00
7 18 111 Larry Bunning Decatur , Il 38.00
8 19 71 Jeff Graham Stonington , Il 36.00
9 7 35 Clark Robertson Shelbyville , Il 34.00
10 6 31 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 32.00
11 16 16H Eric Hamilton Macon , Il 30.00
12 12 55C Kevin Cook - 28.00
13 5 T6 Tommy Sheppard Jr Berlin , Il 26.00 DNF
14 4 96 Cory Daugherty Blue Mound, Il 24.00 DNF
15 9 21S Rick Hamilton Decatur , Il 22.00 DNF
16 10 3T Mike Ward Pawnee , Il 20.00 DNF
17 14 33 Dave Eckel Lovington , Il 18.00 DNF
18 8 10 Curt Rhodes Langleyville , Il 16.00 DNF
19 15 35S Randy Spaugh Decatur , Il 14.00 DNF
20 20 25 Dennis Vandermeersch Springfield , Il 12.00 DNF

UMP Sportsman - Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 2 5S David Crawley Jr. Decatur , Il 50.00
2 3 9 Mike Pickering Decatur , Il 48.00
3 1 25 Dennis Vandermeersch Springfield , Il 46.00
4 4 52B Tony Clinton Dawson , Il 44.00
5 6 16 Nick Macklin Argenta , Il 42.00
6 7 11 Rick Roedel Shelbyville , Il 40.00
7 5 B99 Tim Bedinger Taylorville , Il 38.00
8 9 V8 James Farley Iii Springfield , Il 36.00
9 8 35 Steve Phillips Neoga , Il 34.00
10 10 07 Travis Martin Assumption , Il 32.00
11 14 15 Rick Lowe Springfield , Il 30.00 DNF
12 11 20 Steve Ewing Decatur , Il 28.00 DNF
13 12 72 Tom Graham Stonington , Il 26.00 DNF
14 13 41 Scott Landers Taylorville , Il 0.00 DNS

UMP Street Stock - Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 3 16 Gene Reed Blue Moun, Il 50.00
2 1 26 Kyle Waters Oreana , Il 48.00
3 2 99 Mike Pickering Decatur , Il 46.00
4 6 918 Michael Pundt Jr. Decatur , Il 44.00
5 9 29 Bobby Beiler Blue Mound, Il 42.00
6 11 52R Jeffery Reed Jr. Blue Mound, Il 40.00
7 13 OO Roy Magee Ii Springfield , Il 38.00
8 4 58 Thomas Riech Springfield , Il 36.00
9 8 7J Lance Johnson Kenney , Il 34.00
10 7 08 Brian Dasenbrock Decatur , Il 32.00
11 5 45 Luke Force Argenta , Il 30.00
12 10 63 Dave Foster Lovington , Il 28.00
13 12 10 Jamie Riech Riverton , Il 26.00
14 14 42D Brandon Dick Decatur , Il 24.00
15 15 56Z Zach Perryman Decatur , Il 0.00 DNS

UMP Amateur Hornet - Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 4 4 Matthew Reed Blue Mound, Il 50.00
2 9 66 Mike Mc Christy Mt. Zion, Il 48.00
3 7 59 Tharen Reno Springfield , Il 46.00
4 6 15 Garth Luka Blue Mound, Il 44.00
5 8 89 William Deavers Bloomington , Il 42.00
6 11 53 Bruce Boliard Macon , Il 40.00
7 1 96L Thad Gee Bloomington , Il 38.00
8 10 21 Austin Harbin Argenta , Il 36.00
9 2 98 Kenneth Reed Decatur , Il 34.00 DNF
10 3 14X Steven Stine Stonington , Il 32.00 DNF
11 15 88 Brian Offer Springfield , Il 30.00 DNF
12 12 39 Marty Sullivan Decatur , Il 28.00 DNF
13 5 2 Todd Dasenbrock Bedford , In 26.00 DNS
14 14 12 Dean Holt Mt. Zion, Il 24.00 DNS
15 13 02 Roger Reed Decatur , Il 22.00 DNS

UMP Hornet - Feature
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Points
1 3 40 Adam Webb Decatur , Il 50.00
2 4 9 Brian Deavers Bloomington , Il 48.00
3 21 33 Jeremy Reed Decatur , Il 46.00
4 6 WHO2 Elden Hemken Sorento , Il 44.00
5 7 6W Jacob Rexing Brighton , Il 42.00
6 2 J4 Jerad Matherly Decatur , Il 40.00
7 13 4 Matthew Reed Blue Mound, Il 38.00
8 1 C89 Vernon Carlow Springfield , Il 36.00
9 19 66 Joe Mcchristy Mt. Zion, Il 34.00
10 16 64CK Cook Crawford Lincoln , Il 32.00
11 18 99 John Bright Jr Decatur , Il 30.00
12 12 11J Dillon Justice Harristown , Il 28.00
13 17 71 Todd Rush Pawnee , Il 26.00
14 20 50 Gary Tooker Mahomet , Il 24.00
15 14 2 Brian Dasenbrock Jr Decatur , Il 22.00
16 5 14 John Goveia Springfield , Il 20.00
17 15 69 Jamie Shomidie - 18.00
18 9 0 Fred Reed Jr. Decatur , Il 16.00
19 11 38R Kyle Maxwell Pana , Il 14.00
20 8 02 Fred Reed Sr Decatur , Il 12.00 DNS
21 10 43 Billy Justice Mt. Zion, Il 10.00 DNS
22 23 205 Michael Gossett Decatur , Il 8.00 DNS

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