MORRIS, Ill. — Blake Brown and Paul Shafer Jr. shared victory honors during the Illinois State Championship Twin 25s late model stock car races at Grundy County Speedway Friday night.
Returning to action after a year’s absence, Shafer, the speedway’s 2020 track champion, was crowned the overall champion.
Brown won the opening 25 lapper, posting his second feature win of the season at the third-mile, paved oval. Brown moved into the lead with two laps to go and held off James Lynch for the victory. Anthony Danta, Shafer, Scott Tomasik and Eddie Hoffman rounded out the top six in the 18-car starting field.
The second 25 lapper saw Larry Schuler, Keith Tolf and Dean Patterson eliminated in a first-lap crash. Starting third in the field, Shafer moved to the front and went on to score the win in his Shafer Motorsports/Dynamic Metal Recycling Chevrolet No. 7. Earlier in the evening, Shafer paced late model qualifying with a lap of 14.516 seconds.
Shafer took his first checkered flag of the year with a 1.565-second margin ahead of Hoffman, who was followed by Tomasik, Brown, Danta and Lynch.
Twin 25s were also on tap for sportsman, street stock and four-cylinder division competitors. In sportsman action, Matt Clemens and Kenny Benson won 25 lappers with Benson taking the overall title. Street stock features saw Scotty Gardner and Matt Chester score wins with Chester posting his fourth win of the year on his way to the overall crown.
Danielle Dobczyk and Zach Legner were winners in the four-cylinder ranks. Zachary Chanda won overall four-cylinder honors.