MACON, Ill. — Kenny Wallace has his name all over Macon Speedway. He’s a co-owner of the track with Ken Schrader, Tony Stewart and Bob Sargent.
Saturday night Wallace added track record holder to the list. He turned a lap of 11.292 seconds on the quarter-mile oval during qualifying to erase the record that was set April 20 by Rodney Standerfer.
Wallace then won his heat and led the full 20-lap distance to grab the feature victory despite tangling with Robert Lee while battling for the top spot. Lee was eliminated after the contact, while Wallace kept control and cruised to victory.
That was not the only clean sweep of the evening. Dakota Ewing also made history while driving in the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Model division. He broke the two-year-old track record of 11.124 with a 10.793 lap. Add in a heat race win and he was lined up for a clean sweep, as well. Ewing was dominant on the bottom of the track as he glided his way through the turns and avoided any and all lapped traffic and coasted to the feature finish line. Jeff Reed, Jr. started opposite Ewing on the front row. A driver error led to a spin out and forced Reed to restart the race from the last place position. Within the final 19 laps, Reed made up position after position and took third place behind Braden Johnson.
An unbelievable field of cars turned out in the Neal Tire & Auto Pro Modified group. 40 cars were signed in for the night which led to five 8-car heat races as well as two 12-car B-Main feature events before the 20-lap A-Main feature event. Billy Knebel was rode up front and looked like it was his race to win. Unfortunately, a lapped car got between Knebel and second place car Owen Steinkoenig and led to a wreck. It led to Knebel wrecking and needing the assistance off the track by the tow truck. Steinkoenig assumed the lead and went the rest of the way to the checkered flag.
Gene Reed once again found the winner’s circle in the Archer’s Alley Street Stocks. The former track champion did all he could to stop Darrell Dick, Larry Russell, Jr. and company from taking away his first place position. Reed was sharp and rode the track as perfectly as he could as he kept Dick away from the top spot. Russell lost power and pulled off the track from the third-place position with one lap to go.
Dennis Vandermeersch made it two-for-two in the Sportsman division with feature wins. After running away from the group two weeks ago, Vandermeersch had a tough fight on his hands with Scott Landers. Landers, who rode the top groove most of the 15-lap feature, closed in on the leader, who stuck to the bottom, and as the race closed to a finish, Landers tried to duck low to get to Vandermeersch but couldn’t get the traction and it allowed the leader to pull away and take the win.
Brady Reed once again proved to the fastest 4-cylinder Hornet out there as he ran away and hid during the final feature of the program.
As part of a special attraction, the Kid Modz were in the pits as well as on the track and White Heath driver Jeremy Sebens took off the 8-lap race and win.