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New Season, New Owners, Same Racing Excitement

By BZ

(Macon, IL) The Kearns family opened Macon Speedway Saturday night with plenty of excitement and new ideas. The 92 racecars that filled the pit area among six racing divisions brought new energy to the 78-year-old dirt track that has entertained kids, parents and grandparents through generations.

One of the new ideas brought by new owner Chris Kearns was the feature winner trophies and presentation with a kid in the stands also receiving a trophy. Of the six division winners, six different kids received a trophy of their own and was included in the Victory Lane picture with the feature winning driver.

Tommy Duncan of Metamora secured the first trophy of the season with a 15-lap win in the Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman division. Duncan led all the laps but the action behind him was bizarre. From spinouts to passing before the cone on restarts, many popular drivers were sent to the back of the 17-car field. But those drivers worked their way back up the field. However, Duncan was just solid enough to stay ahead and win. Phil Moreland posed the strongest challenge. As the checkered flag came waving, Moreland pulled alongside Duncan and put a photo finish together that narrowly awarded Duncan the win.

In the BillingsleyRewards.com Modified class, Jacob Steinkoenig outlasted Jeremy Nichols, Michael Ledford and others to win for the first time in 2023. Ledford was looking for a clean sweep as he not only hit fast time in qualifying he also broke the track record that stood since May 2019. Former co-owner Kenny Wallace’s 11.292 was taken down and placed with Ledford’s 11.195 time. Ledford also won his heat. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough to get through to the top spot and Steinkoenig roared strong on the top of the dirt oval. Dirt Dreams Trucking chipped in $100 to the highest finishing Pro Modified finisher—Zach Taylor—took the bonus money and another $100 was split between the tenth place finisher and down to last place. Thanks for their generous donation.

Dalton Ewing got off to a good start in the Pro Modified class as he collected the first win of the year. The 16-car field featured some new names running for the win along with Ewing. Chad Ziegler, Scott Dunlap and Brayden Doyle were early favorites for the 15-lap win before Ewing cleared the traffic and pulled away.

Bobby Beiler was looking to a great start to 2023 but instead did not finish his feature race and broke down and watched as Veedersburg, Indiana’s Zane Reitz pulled away with the 51 Bistro Street Stock feature. Reitz was followed to the finish by race teammates Braiden Keller and Megan Erwin with Terry Reed mixed in.

Jose Parga made short work of the race in the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models. When the green flag dropped, Parga took off like a rocket and started lapping the field of cars behind him. The 20-lap race went fast as Parga cruised.

Michael McKay took the Hornet trophy Saturday night by passing defending champion Tristin Quinlan and staying ahead of Lukas Robison and Billy Mason in the final 15-lap race of the night.

The first night of the 2023 racing season showed a lot of promise to the upcoming season with plenty of styles and types of racing to come. Next week will bring POWRi non-wing Micro Sprints will be part of the schedule along with the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models, Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman, 51 Bistro Street Stocks and Hornets. Gates open at 5pm and racing will be at 7pm. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series comes to town on Saturday, April 21. Tickets and more information as well as the full schedule is available at maconracing.com.

Feature Rundowns (Top 10’s)

Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models

1. 6P-Jose Parga[New Berlin, IL]; 2. 25-Dakota Ewing[Warrensburg, IL]; 3. 14J-Braden Johnson[Taylorville, IL]; 4. 61-Jammie Wilson[Hoopeston, IL]; 5. 10C-Colby Eller[Taylorville, IL]; 6. 11-Ryan Miller[Lincoln, IL]; 7. 9B-Brandon Miller[Lincoln, IL]; 8. 64-Donny Koehler[Macon, IL]; 9. 28-Justin Durbin[Mulberry Grove, IL]; 10. 18CC-Cameron Reynolds[Farmer City, IL]

BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds

1. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[Highland, IL]; 2. 37L-Michael Ledford[Pontiac, IL]; 3. J24-Jeremy Nichols[Lovington, IL]; 4. 24Z-Zach Taylor[Springfield, IL]; 5. 36-Nick Justice[Decatur, IL]; 6. 72A-Austin Lynn[Mason City, IL]; 7. 18-Jarrett Stryker[Breese, IL]; 8. 87C-Alan Crowder[Elwin, IL]; 9. 78-Maxx Emerson[Taylorville, IL]; 10. 35-Clark Robertson[Shelbyville, IL]

DIRTcar Pro Mods

1. 27-Dalton Ewing[Decatur, IL]; 2. 42-Chad Ziegler[Oakwood, IL]; 3. Z24-Zach Taylor[Springfield, IL]; 4. 78-Maxx Emerson[Taylorville, IL]; 5. 360-John Seets III[Brighton, IL]; 6. 79-Scott Dunlap[Oblong, IL]; 7. 14-Brady Lynch[Hillsboro, IL]; 8. 3J-Jonathan Hall[Decatur, IL]; 9. 7B-Brian Burns[Bethany, IL]; 10. 116-Kevin Rench[Hillsboro, IL]

Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman

1. 32-Tommy Duncan[Metamora, IL]; 2. 07-Phil Moreland[Assumption, IL]; 3. 110-Landen Miller[Tonica, IL]; 4. 21C-Ed Cleeton[Tovey, IL]; 5. 25-Dennis Vander Meersch[Springfield, IL]; 6. 21-Jeff Ray[Springfield, IL]; 7. 61-Stefan Bedinger[Taylorville, IL]; 8. 11-Roy Magee[Springfield, IL]; 9. 84L-Jim Farley III[Springfield, IL]; 10. 5S-Ronald Bacon[Decatur, IL]

51 Bistro Street Stocks

1. 55-Zane Reitz[Veedersburg, IN]; 2. K67JR-Braiden Keller[West Lebanon, IN]; 3. 11-Terry Reed[Cerro Gordo, IL]; 4. 14-Megan Erwin[Attica, IN]; 5. 21-Jaret Duff[Maroa, IL]; 6. 4-Zach Clark[Illiopolis, IL]; 7. 08-Brian R Dasenbrock[Decatur, IL]; 8. 78B-Brad Peters[Stonington, IL]; 9. T5-Gene Reed[Hammond, IL]; 10. 73-Todd Musick[Assumption, IL]

DIRTcar Hornets

1. 26A-Michael McKay[Springfield, IL]; 2. 37-Lukas Robison[Sullivan, IL]; 3. 357-Billy Mason[Brownstown, IL]; 4. 95Q-Tristin Quinlan[Decatur, IL]; 5. 7-John Bright Jr[Long Creek, IL]; 6. 20B-Bridget Fulton[Marissa, IL]; 7. 10-Collin Reed[Decatur, IL]; 8. (DNF) 41-Jaekob Durbin[Ramsey, IL]; 9. (DNF) 37M-Cole Martz[Findlay, IL]

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