By BZ
(Macon, IL) Nine years ago, Macon Speedway’s racing community was in grief over the loss of one of their racing favorites, Kerby Damery. The Macon driver passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Kerby’s widow Nikki made sure that her late husband’s honor would carry on through the KerbyStrong Foundation as well as a special night at his favorite racetrack that would be named KerbyStrong.
One of the premier divisions at Macon Speedway is the Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models. The Late Models saw Damery win the championship in 2004. Braden Johnson has been pursuing a championship after constant top five finishes and three feature wins. Johnson rolled out to a front row outside starting spot and blasted out to the lead. With green flag laps mounting and Johnson stretching his lead, things were on cruise control for him. Then, a caution flag came and buttoned up the line. That allowed Dakota Ewing, Chris Dick, Jarod Shasteen and Blaise Baker a chance run closer to the leader. Only Ewing was able to stay close to Johnson as they ran the top side of the track but ran out of time as Johnson claimed his fourth feature of the season.
Kerby Damery was a Sportsman track champion in 1990 and is one of Macon Speedway’s top classes in 2023 as it relates to car count. Another solid car count saw the Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman class bring Steven Mattingly to the winner’s circle. Mattingly, from Chenoa, raced in the lead with Scott Landers and had a charging Wes O’Dell coming to the front. Landers came solidly to fight for the lead as they ran through the turns but Mattingly was too strong on the straightaways as he grabbed the checkered flag.
The final class that Kerby Damery raced was the Modifieds. Though he never experienced a lot of success, he did get the checkered flag a few times. Tim Luttrell has started to build a resume with a lot of checkered flags, especially recently in the Red’s Place Modifieds, and continued to add to that total with his fifth feature win of the season. The race started off with Zach Rhodes in control. A caution flag gathered the field together and then Austin Lynn made his move to make the pass with more than half the race complete. Lynn looked to headed back to victory lane but with two laps remaining, Luttrell charged up to the front and passed for the lead.
Dalton Ewing returned to dominance in the Pro-Modified class as he notched his sixth feature win of the 2023 campaign. The race was hard-fought as Guy Taylor, Zach Taylor and Kevin Crowder came running to the lead. Ewing kept his distance during green flag laps and made it an easy race.
Hayden Harvey came through the final turn to pass Hunter Pruitt for the checkered flag in the Pure Max Racing Oil HART Non-Wing Micro Sprints Presented by Bailey Chassis. For Harvey, it was his second win of the 2023 season in the Micro Sprints.
The final race of 2023 KerbyStrong was the Hornet feature which saw Billy Mason pull away from Tristin Quinlan and Allan Harris for the feature race win. Mason scored his fourth feature win of the year.
Macon Speedway thanks Nikki Damery, the Damery family and the KerbyStrong Foundation for their continued support for the event—the 9th Annual KerbyStrong at Macon Speedway. One final night of racing awaits the drivers and fans for 2023 and it’s the Brandt Championship Night with the Diane Bennett Memorial with Tom Bennett Fan Giveback. Decatur Building Trades Pro Late Models, Red’s Place Modifieds, Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman, Street Stocks, Pro Modifieds, Micro Sprints Presented by Bailey Chassis and Hornets will be on hand to wrap up the season.
DECATUR BUILDING TRADES PRO LATE MODELS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14J-Braden Johnson[2]; 2. 25-Dakota Ewing[6]; 3. 22-Chris Dick[4]; 4. 77-Blaise Baker[3]; 5. M77-Joe Rokos[8]; 6. 11-Ryan Miller[10]; 7. 14S-Derek Smith[7]; 8. 32M-Cody Maguire[5]; 9. 21-Jarod Shasteen[1]; 10. 9B-Brandon Miller[12]; 11. 16C-Tristan Coleman[11]; 12. (DNF) M4-Matthew Yaden[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Jarod Shasteen[2]; 2. 77-Blaise Baker[3]; 3. 32M-Cody Maguire[4]; 4. 14S-Derek Smith[1]; 5. M4-Matthew Yaden[5]; 6. 16C-Tristan Coleman[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14J-Braden Johnson[1]; 2. 22-Chris Dick[4]; 3. 25-Dakota Ewing[2]; 4. M77-Joe Rokos[3]; 5. 11-Ryan Miller[6]; 6. 9B-Brandon Miller[5]
Qualifying 1: 1. 14S-Derek Smith, 00:11.703[4]; 2. 21-Jarod Shasteen, 00:12.012[6]; 3. 77-Blaise Baker, 00:12.023[2]; 4. 32M-Cody Maguire, 00:12.636[3]; 5. M4-Matthew Yaden, 00:12.923[5]; 6. 16C-Tristan Coleman, 00:30.021[1]
Qualifying 2: 1. 14J-Braden Johnson, 00:11.655[4]; 2. 25-Dakota Ewing, 00:11.670[6]; 3. M77-Joe Rokos, 00:11.678[2]; 4. 22-Chris Dick, 00:11.837[3]; 5. 9B-Brandon Miller, 00:12.848[5]; 6. 11-Ryan Miller, 00:50.269[1]
RED’S PLACE MODIFIEDS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 99-Tim Luttrell[4]; 2. 18-Jarrett Stryker[3]; 3. 58R-Ryan Hamilton[12]; 4. 9-Austin O’Dell[2]; 5. 71-Jeff Graham[7]; 6. Z24-Guy Taylor[14]; 7. 87C-Alan Crowder[10]; 8. 00S-Cody Stilwell[5]; 9. 14K-Shane Kelley[16]; 10. 72A-Austin Lynn[6]; 11. 7S-Tommy Skinner[11]; 12. 8R-Bryce Rives[13]; 13. (DNF) 11-Zach Rhodes[1]; 14. (DNF) 5T-Rob Timmons[8]; 15. (DNF) 4G-John Goveia[9]; 16. (DNF) 84L-Brian Offer[15]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Zach Rhodes[2]; 2. 18-Jarrett Stryker[1]; 3. 00S-Cody Stilwell[4]; 4. 71-Jeff Graham[3]; 5. 4G-John Goveia[5]; 6. 7S-Tommy Skinner[6]; 7. 8R-Bryce Rives[7]; 8. 84L-Brian Offer[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Austin O’Dell[2]; 2. 99-Tim Luttrell[1]; 3. 72A-Austin Lynn[4]; 4. 5T-Rob Timmons[6]; 5. 87C-Alan Crowder[3]; 6. 58R-Ryan Hamilton[5]; 7. Z24-Guy Taylor[7]; 8. 14K-Shane Kelley[8]
Qualifying 1: 1. 18-Jarrett Stryker, 00:12.770[7]; 2. 11-Zach Rhodes, 00:12.844[3]; 3. 71-Jeff Graham, 00:12.984[8]; 4. 00S-Cody Stilwell, 00:13.114[5]; 5. 4G-John Goveia, 00:13.701[4]; 6. 7S-Tommy Skinner, 00:13.775[6]; 7. 8R-Bryce Rives, 00:14.151[2]; 8. 84L-Brian Offer, 00:14.488[1]
Qualifying 2: 1. 99-Tim Luttrell, 00:12.387[7]; 2. 9-Austin O’Dell, 00:12.403[3]; 3. 87C-Alan Crowder, 00:12.434[6]; 4. 72A-Austin Lynn, 00:12.491[5]; 5. 58R-Ryan Hamilton, 00:12.680[4]; 6. 5T-Rob Timmons, 00:12.692[1]; 7. Z24-Guy Taylor, 00:12.845[2]
DIRTCAR PRO-MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 27-Dalton Ewing[1]; 2. 4T-Guy Taylor[4]; 3. Z24-Zach Taylor[3]; 4. 15C-Kevin Crowder[6]; 5. 117-Jeremy Sebens[5]; 6. 324-Brady Reed[9]; 7. 33-Timmy Dick[2]; 8. 22H-Hudson Dick[16]; 9. 78-Maxx Emerson[7]; 10. 36-Bobby Fowler[13]; 11. 6-Billy Adams[11]; 12. 4J-Kaylynn Eskew[15]; 13. (DNF) 15T-Taryn Page[12]; 14. (DNF) 10-Adam Rhoades[14]; 15. (DNF) 06-Connor Klay[8]; 16. (DNF) 22-Darrell Dick[10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Dalton Ewing[1]; 2. Z24-Zach Taylor[4]; 3. 117-Jeremy Sebens[6]; 4. 78-Maxx Emerson[7]; 5. 324-Brady Reed[8]; 6. 15T-Taryn Page[2]; 7. 10-Adam Rhoades[5]; 8. 4J-Kaylynn Eskew[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Timmy Dick[1]; 2. 15C-Kevin Crowder[2]; 3. 4T-Guy Taylor[7]; 4. 06-Connor Klay[6]; 5. 22-Darrell Dick[5]; 6. 6-Billy Adams[8]; 7. 36-Bobby Fowler[4]; 8. 22H-Hudson Dick[3]
WEDDLE PERFORMANCE ENGINES SPORTSMAN
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7-Steven Mattingly[1]; 2. 41-Scott Landers[3]; 3. 87-Wes O’Dell[5]; 4. 46-Randy Huffman[4]; 5. 07-Phil Moreland[8]; 6. 14-Cole Landers[7]; 7. 55-Tim Riech[12]; 8. 5S-Ronald Bacon[9]; 9. 75-Jeff Gill[6]; 10. 11-Roy Magee[10]; 11. 17-Barry Bell[11]; 12. (DNF) 21-Ed Cleeton[2]; 13. (DNF) 44-John Lewis[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Ed Cleeton[2]; 2. 41-Scott Landers[4]; 3. 46-Randy Huffman[7]; 4. 14-Cole Landers[5]; 5. 11-Roy Magee[3]; 6. 17-Barry Bell[1]; 7. 44-John Lewis[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Steven Mattingly[5]; 2. 75-Jeff Gill[1]; 3. 87-Wes O’Dell[6]; 4. 07-Phil Moreland[3]; 5. 5S-Ronald Bacon[2]; 6. 55-Tim Riech[4]
HORNETS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 357-Billy Mason[4]; 2. 95Q-Tristin Quinlan[2]; 3. 23H-Allan Harris[6]; 4. 13G-Gage Rusher[1]; 5. 7-John Bright Jr[3]; 6. 37-Lukas Robison[8]; 7. 04-Steve Stine[7]; 8. 10-Colin Reed[11]; 9. 51R-Roger Reed[9]; 10. 56-Jacob Doolen[13]; 11. 17-Tim Scranton[14]; 12. (DNF) 111-Billy Justice sr[10]; 13. (DNF) 37E-Casey Eskew[12]; 14. (DNF) 37M-Cole Martz[5]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 95Q-Tristin Quinlan[3]; 2. 13G-Gage Rusher[6]; 3. 04-Steve Stine[2]; 4. 37-Lukas Robison[5]; 5. 51R-Roger Reed[1]; 6. 10-Colin Reed[4]; 7. 17-Tim Scranton[7]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 7-John Bright Jr[4]; 2. 37M-Cole Martz[2]; 3. 357-Billy Mason[6]; 4. 23H-Allan Harris[7]; 5. 111-Billy Justice sr[3]; 6. 37E-Casey Eskew[5]; 7. 56-Jacob Doolen[1]
HART NON-WING MICROS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 55H-Hayden Harvey[3]; 2. 72H-Hunter Pruitt[2]; 3. 43-Parker Perry[4]; 4. 16W-Hunter Walker[1]; 5. 14-Cale Goodwin[6]; 6. 4R-Kameron Romack[5]; 7. 6-Cliff Powell[8]; 8. 96-Alex Burgener[7]; 9. 41-Josiah Wellwood[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55H-Hayden Harvey[6]; 2. 72H-Hunter Pruitt[2]; 3. 43-Parker Perry[3]; 4. 4R-Kameron Romack[4]; 5. 16W-Hunter Walker[9]; 6. 14-Cale Goodwin[8]; 7. 6-Cliff Powell[1]; 8. 96-Alex Burgener[7]; 9. 41-Josiah Wellwood[5]