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Nichols Dominates Topless 40 at Macon Speedway

(Macon, IL) For the second year in a row, Lovington's Jeremy Nichols came out on top in the Sportsman class on a unique night where the division raced with having roofs on their cars. Nichols trailed former track champion Dennis Vandermeersch for only the first few laps but blasted out to the lead on the third lap and cruised to the victory. The race only featured three cautions and was finished in 17 minutes. Vandermeersch would stay strong and finish second. Timmy Dick took third after being sent to the tail of the field after the sixth lap after being involved in a wreck and having a flat tire replaced.

Yogi Berra said it best with the phrase, "It's deja vu all over again." For the second straight week at Macon Speedway and third straight Pro Late Model feature race, Guy Taylor of Springfield was side-by-side with his brother Matt Taylor with the checkered flag hanging in the balance. And for the third straight race, Guy Taylor was the one who received the checkered flag. Guy Taylor followed his usual racing by clinging to the bottom of the track and closed in on his brother Matt until he was side-by-side and then when the opportunity was available, Guy inched ahead of Matt and pulled away. Matt Taylor would feel snakebit as he would also lose the second place position to Roben Huffman at the end of the race.

Curt Rhodes from Taylorville has won back-to-back Billingsley Towing Modified features at Macon Speedway and is has the lead on the points. Rhodes started on the pole and was along for the ride with defending track champion Rodney Standerfer when on the sixth lap of the race, Standerfer pulled in with a broken car and it was all over from that point. Curt's son Zach would take runner up.

Nick Justice, native of Decatur, continues to reign supreme in the Street Stocks division. After winning his heat race and getting a front row starting spot, Justice jumped out the lead and barely needed to look behind him to see if anybody was close by. Terry Reed gave it all he could to stay close to Justice to give himself a chance at the victory circle but it would not happen on this night.  Sportsman winner, Jeremy Nichols, started at the back after heat race problems but raced all the way to the third spot.

Tim Hancock of Mt. Olive is now a perfect 8-for-8 in B-Modified features. Another heat win and another front row start for Hancock led to his 15-lap win. The next time the B-Modifieds are on the schedule and until somebody defeats Hancock (as long as he finishes the race and does not break), there will be a $50 bounty. Each B-Modified racing night, the amount will increase by $50 until the streak can be broken.

Mike Eskew hasn't had much luck racing at Macon Speedway through his shortened racing career but Saturday night was the Springfield native's night as he jumped out with the lead and had a strong run to the checkered flag.

Next Saturday night features a huge show of racing six racing classes during the 2nd ever Kerbystrong 100. Three divisions will run 50-lap features as the UMP Super Late Models return to Macon Speedway for a $2000-to-win, $250-to-start, main event. Also, the Billingsley Towing Modifieds race for 50 laps and $700-to-win. The Sportsman return with a 50-lap feature and $600-to-win. The B-Modifieds, Street Stocks and Hornets also make up the schedule. Three days after the Kerbystrong 100 will be the make-up date for the 3rd Annual St. Louis U-Pic-A-Part 100, part of the Lucas Oil Late Model Series and the top prize is $12,000-to-win.

Macon Speedway Rundowns (Top 10’s)

UMP Topless Sportsman 40 - 1. J24-Jeremy Nichols[Lovington]; 2. 25-Dennis Vandermersch[Arlington]; 3. 22-Timmy Dick[Monticello]; 4. 32R-Richie Rich[Pontiac]; 5. 72-Tom Graham[Stonington]; 6. 7P-Dave Smith[Monticello]; 7. B99-Tim Bedinger[Taylorville]; 8. 12M-Terry Myers[Buffalo]; 9. 21-Brad Bedinger[Taylorville]; 10. 15-Joe Strawkas[Buffalo]

UMP Pro Late Models - 1. 4T-Guy Taylor[Springfield]; 2. 33H-Roben Huffman[Midland City]; 3. 24-Matt Taylor[Springfield]; 4. 38J-Jake Little[Springfield]; 5. 147-Matt Beadles[Clinton]; 6. 32M-Cody Maguire[Carlinville]; 7. 7Z-Michael Maestus[Lincoln]; 8. 52R-Jeff Reed, Jr[Blue Mound]

Billingsley Towing UMP Modifieds - 1. 10-Curt Rhodes[Taylorville]; 2. 11-Zach Rhodes[Taylorville]; 3. 7-Matt Maier[Thomasboro]; 4. 21P-Michael Mennel[Peoria]; 5. 21-Troy Dodson[Hammond]; 6. 16H-Erik Hamilton[Macon]; 7. 3-Wade Glover[Brighton]; 8. 35-Clark Robertson[Shelbyville]; 9. 28-Rodney Standerfer[Summerfield]; 10. 71-Jeff Graham[Stonington]

UMP B-Mods - 1. 0-Tim Hancock[Mt. Olive]; 2. 00S-Cody Stillwell[Godfrey]; 3. 2-Eric Brackett[Brighton]; 4. 23-Ryan Timmons[Centralia]; 5. 66-Roy Magee[Springfield]; 6. 51R-Fred Reed[Decatur]; 7. 57R-Tom Riech[Springfield]; 8. 55-Tim Riech[Petersburg]; (DNS) 0X-Tim Hancock Jr

UMP Street Stocks - 1. 36-Nick Justice[Decatur]; 2. 5-Terry Reed[Decatur]; 3. J24-Jeremy Nichols[Lovington]; 4. 16-Nick Macklin[Argenta]; 5. 26-Kyle Waters[Oreana]; 6. 52R-Jeff Reed, Jr[Blue Mound]; 7. 45-Luke Force[Argenta]; 8. B5-Ben Medaris[Decatur]; 9. 7-John Bright, Jr.[Long Creek]; 10. 4-Phil Taylor[Illiopolis]

UMP Hornets - 1. 21-Mike Eskew[Springfield]; 2. 35W-Austin Wickline[Harristown]; 3. JJ4-Jerad Matherly[Decatur]; 4. 15C-John Bright, Jr.[Long Creek]; 5. 66-Mike McChristy[Mt. Zion]; 6. 87-Ryan Cantrell[Decatur]; 7. 64CK-Cook Crawford[Lincoln]; 8. 39M-Marty Sullivan[Decatur]; 9. 1R-Tony Reed[Blue Mound]; 10. 911-Brad Rexroad[Hammond]

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