By Rocky Ragusa – September 3, 2022 (Fairbury, IL) Fairbury, Ill. (9/3/22) Saturday nights Super Nationals event saw 97 cars register for the 10th annual Modified Nationals and MARS Late Model series event.
$10,000 each would go to the race winners presented by First Student, Hot Rod Septic, Wehrs Machine, and Mullins Race Engines.
Starting on the outside of the frontrow, Bobby Pierce took the lead at the start of the 50 lap feature race and never looked back. Following two caution periods in the first five laps, Pierce stretched his lead to a straight away over Frank Heckenast Jr. Further back, Donny Walden, Jake Little, and 10th starting, Brian Shirley raced for the third position. As Shirley took the third position by lap eight, MARS point leader Ryan Unzicker and Shannon Babb also moved into the top five. In the closing laps, Pierce slicing his way past lapped traffic, Shirley had to contend with Unzicker and Babb. Unzicker took the second spot with ten laps to go and Babb got by Shirley for third. Four laps later, Babb, running the bottom, slipped by Unzicker for second.
As Pierce closed the finish line, the “Smooth Operator” held a six second lead over his closest competitor.
Ending a streak of four consecutive second place finishes, Pierce commented in victory lane.
“ The track was really slick. It was tricky and it felt like Macon. Macon gets that thick cushion right up on the wall. I didn’t know if Unzicker and Babb were coming on the top, middle, or wherever they were. I know those guys probably had moments where they were fast. I was trying to stay way ahead of them so I wouldn’t have to worry about them.”
14th starter, Babb in a Rocket chassis, took second, with Unzicker in third, and Shirley held on for fourth. Starting in 19th, Jason Feger came home in fifth, followed by Heckenast Jr., Chris Simpson, Jeffrey Ledford, Myles Moos, and Walden.
42 Late Models went under the clock in time trials. In Group A, Scott Schmitt led the way with a time of 12.994 and Pierce’s time of 12.936 led Group B. Steven Roberts, Jay Sparks, Pierce, and Heckenast Jr. took heat race wins. The two B-mains went to Ryan Vanderveen and Rich Bell.
Pole sitter Cole Falloway raced out to the lead in the 50 lap Modified feature race. Kyle Strickler, racing the topside, and Mike Harrison, on the bottom dueled for second. Harrison, moved into second on the ninth circuit and changed his line to the top groove. As Falloway was working his way thru lapped traffic, Harrison was able to cut into Falloway’s lead. After the first caution on lap 21, Harrison got by Falloway on lap 23 for the lead, but it was short lived. In the middle of turns one and two, Harrison tagged the wall, breaking the Jbar to end his night. After the yellow flag, Falloway moved back into the lead. Kyle Stricker, working the cushion, motored past Falloway on lap 28 with 15th starter, “The Kentuckian ” Josh Harris following. The two wheelmen put on a classic race for the lead. The two racers exchanged the lead seven times in the final 22 laps. Strickler took over for good with five laps to go and took his first win of the year and first career Fairbury win.
Overcome with emotion, Strickler, the Late Model qualifying track record holder at Fairbury, spoke after the race.
“ I finally got my mojo. I love to come back and play in the Modifieds. I wanted to come out here and race with Nick Hoffman. He had that terrible accident. This win goes out to him and all the Hoffman family. It’s not the same without him here. This helps my confidence getting back into the Late Model.”
57 Modified drivers made time trial runs. Group A was paced by Falloway with a time of 13.815. Derek Losh’s time of 13.907 led Group B. Falloway, Harrison, Austin Friedman, Losh, Strickler, and Ethan Dotson won the respective heat races. Three B-mains went to Allen Weisser, Alan Stipp, and Ethan Weber.
The next scheduled race will be held on Tuesday, September 13 for the Flo Racing Night in America. I Beam Sliding Doors will be the sponsor of the “One for the Road” event. $22,022 will go to the winner of the Late Model race and the Modified class will have a $1500 race.
42 entries
DIRTCAR LATE MODELS
A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[16]; 3. 24U-Ryan Unzicker[12]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[10]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[20]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 7. 32-Chris Simpson[11]; 8. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford[14]; 9. 84-Myles Moos[7]; 10. 1W-Donny Walden[6]; 11. 21B-Rich Bell[18]; 12. 38J-Jake Little[5]; 13. 89-Mike Spatola[22]; 14. 10S-Taylor Scheffler[15]; 15. 35-Derek Chandler[9]; 16. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen[17]; 17. 28M-Jake Miller[13]; 18. 7-Jay Sparks[3]; 19. 111-Steven Roberts[1]; 20. 1M-Mike Mataragas[8]; 21. 4G-Bob Gardner[21]; 22. 11-Jeff Herzog[19]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen[1]; 2. 11-Jeff Herzog[5]; 3. 1-Tom Thoennes[2]; 4. 76-Titus Sneed[3]; 5. 24-Turk Letizia[6]; 6. 10P-Paul Parker[4]; 7. 9-Lyle Zanker[10]; 8. 17X-Matt Santel[7]; 9. 22-Skyller Lewis[8]; 10. 4D-Doug Tye[9]; 11. 8-Dan Richardson[13]; 12. T8-Tim Gauntt[12]; 13. 10-Scott Schmitt[11]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 21B-Rich Bell[1]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[4]; 3. 89-Mike Spatola[2]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[7]; 5. 31AUS-Kye Blight[3]; 6. B12-Kevin Weaver[6]; 7. 4G-Bob Gardner[5]; 8. 21A-Nick Allen[10]; 9. 14-Glen Thompson[11]; 10. 130-Chase Osterhoff[9]; 11. Z61-Alex Wilson[12]; 12. 33-Billy Hough[13]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[8]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 111-Steven Roberts[2]; 2. 38J-Jake Little[6]; 3. 35-Derek Chandler[4]; 4. 28M-Jake Miller[5]; 5. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen[7]; 6. 76-Titus Sneed[10]; 7. 11-Jeff Herzog[3]; 8. 17X-Matt Santel[8]; 9. 4D-Doug Tye[9]; 10. 10-Scott Schmitt[1]; 11. 8-Dan Richardson[11]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7-Jay Sparks[3]; 2. 84-Myles Moos[2]; 3. 32-Chris Simpson[1]; 4. 10S-Taylor Scheffler[4]; 5. 1-Tom Thoennes[8]; 6. 10P-Paul Parker[6]; 7. 24-Turk Letizia[5]; 8. 22-Skyller Lewis[7]; 9. 9-Lyle Zanker[9]; 10. T8-Tim Gauntt[10]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 1W-Donny Walden[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 4. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford[2]; 5. 21B-Rich Bell[7]; 6. 31AUS-Kye Blight[5]; 7. 4G-Bob Gardner[8]; 8. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[4]; 9. 130-Chase Osterhoff[9]; 10. 14-Glen Thompson[10]; 11. 33-Billy Hough[11]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. 1M-Mike Mataragas[2]; 3. 24U-Ryan Unzicker[7]; 4. 18-Shannon Babb[4]; 5. 89-Mike Spatola[3]; 6. 25-Jason Feger[9]; 7. B12-Kevin Weaver[5]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 9. 21A-Nick Allen[8]; 10. Z61-Alex Wilson[10]
Qualifying 1: 1. 10-Scott Schmitt, 00:12.994[1]; 2. 32-Chris Simpson, 00:13.039[9]; 3. 111-Steven Roberts, 00:13.152[19]; 4. 84-Myles Moos, 00:13.207[5]; 5. 11-Jeff Herzog, 00:13.243[8]; 6. 7-Jay Sparks, 00:13.258[14]; 7. 35-Derek Chandler, 00:13.298[7]; 8. 10S-Taylor Scheffler, 00:13.366[17]; 9. 28M-Jake Miller, 00:13.367[10]; 10. 24-Turk Letizia, 00:13.382[16]; 11. 38J-Jake Little, 00:13.395[2]; 12. 10P-Paul Parker, 00:13.700[15]; 13. 23V-Ryan Vanderveen, 00:13.717[13]; 14. 22-Skyller Lewis, 00:13.838[18]; 15. 17X-Matt Santel, 00:13.857[6]; 16. 1-Tom Thoennes, 00:13.857[20]; 17. 4D-Doug Tye, 00:13.894[11]; 18. 9-Lyle Zanker, 00:13.927[21]; 19. 76-Titus Sneed, 00:14.037[4]; 20. T8-Tim Gauntt, 00:14.602[3]; 21. 8-Dan Richardson, 00:14.853[12]
Qualifying 2: 1. 32P-Bobby Pierce, 00:12.936[11]; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 00:12.970[13]; 3. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford, 00:13.101[9]; 4. 1M-Mike Mataragas, 00:13.135[4]; 5. 1W-Donny Walden, 00:13.200[10]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola, 00:13.202[15]; 7. 21-Billy Moyer Sr, 00:13.234[12]; 8. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:13.239[18]; 9. 31AUS-Kye Blight, 00:13.301[1]; 10. B12-Kevin Weaver, 00:13.311[6]; 11. 3S-Brian Shirley, 00:13.336[2]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 00:13.387[16]; 13. 21B-Rich Bell, 00:13.459[14]; 14. 24U-Ryan Unzicker, 00:13.462[5]; 15. 4G-Bob Gardner, 00:13.544[7]; 16. 21A-Nick Allen, 00:13.593[20]; 17. 130-Chase Osterhoff, 00:13.609[8]; 18. 25-Jason Feger, 00:13.700[17]; 19. 14-Glen Thompson, 00:13.895[21]; 20. Z61-Alex Wilson, 00:14.048[3]; 21. 33-Billy Hough, 00:14.077[19]