Season Championship Finale This Saturday At Macon IL Speedway

Night Will Also Feature Prize Giveaways For Fans

This coming Saturday, October 1, Macon IL Speedway will put a wrap on its 2016 racing season.  The last of the 25 scheduled events this season will be the Season Championship Finale, featuring special feature win trophies in addition to drivers collecting Macon points for the final time to decide the award ceremony honorees.  For fans, a special bonus will be the “Give Back To Fans” promotion, featuring giveaways throughout the evening from competitors, sponsors, area businesses, and the track.

The highlighted division of the night will be the Midwest Big Ten Pro Late Models.  Springfield, IL driver, Matt Taylor, will be looking to match his brother’s feat a year ago, claiming the Big Ten and Macon championships in the same season.  Track Enterprises’ staff mathematicians have been looking deep into the formulas necessary for anyone to knock Taylor off the top spot.  It doesn’t look likely, as Taylor has a 72 point lead in the Macon points, with the most a driver can accumulate in the night, 60.

When it comes to the Big Ten standings, the water is a little cloudier as the series only counts each drivers best eight finishes toward their point total.  That said, Taylor still looks to be in great shape as his average for each of the nine he has run so far is well above that of Jake Little, Nick Bauman, and Cody Maguire, which are right behind him.  The driver people will be watching is Guy Taylor, as he currently sits fifth in points but has only run 7 events, two less than the competitors in front of him.  Once two of their finishes are dropped, it could catapult him all the way into second.

The Billingsley Towing UMP Modified division championship is wrapped up at the 1/5-mile dirt track.  Taylorville, IL driver, Curt Rhodes, holds a 134 point lead over last year’s runner-up Jeff Graham.  For Rhodes, it will be his first Modified championship at the track during a season in which he has claimed three victories, including last Saturday when he passed his son Zach, during the final laps.  Graham is pretty solid in the second spot while Alan Crowder, Rodney Standerfer, and Zach Rhodes are pretty tight between positions three and five.  The Modified fields have been strong and have put on great races, especially during the second half of the season.

This season has seen an increase in cars in the UMP B-Mod class, especially over the last few weeks.  Some of that could be drivers looking to claim the bounty, which has been place on Mt. Olive, IL’s Tim Hancock.  Hancock has the Macon championship wrapped up after claiming 15 out of 15 wins.  This week, the bounty is up to $400 and can be claimed by a driver who wins as long as Hancock finishes the race.  A new wrinkle added for this week will be a $200 option for Hancock if he elects to start at the tail and can win.  Hancock will be trying to remain perfect, which is almost unthinkable with a 16 event season.  Ryan Timmons, Cody Stillwell, Tom Riech, and Tim Riech complete the top five in points.

Lovington, IL driver Jeremy Nichols has had a stellar season in the UMP Sportsman and Street Stocks.  While he hasn’t run full time in the Macon Street Stock class to compete for the championship, he has won seven of the nine features in the Sportsman division and leads the standings heading into the finale.  Nichols will need to start the feature to lock up the championship over veteran Danny Smith.  Scott Landers has a shot to squeeze into second, while Tom Graham and Tim Bedinger are in a fairly tight race for fourth.

In the aforementioned Street Stock division, Decatur, IL driver Nick Justice has exactly 1,000 points, which is 96 more than his nearest competitor, Kyle Waters.  For Justice, the championship is wrapped up but he would love to park his #36 in victory lane one final time this season, to give himself an impressive tenth win.  Following Justice and Waters are Brian Dasenbrock, Luke Force, and Terry Reed.  Nichols, who is likely to be the Sportsman champion, is sixth in Street Stock points with five wins.

Rounding out Saturday’s classes will be the UMP Hornets.  The division, which has seen a bit of a resurgence in cars this season, has Blue Mound, IL driver Tony Reed leading the points with Jerad Matherly 42 points behind.  The two have had a tight battle all season long but Reed should be able to clinch it by starting the feature on Saturday night.    Ryan Cantrell, Cook Crawford, and Torry Lyons are currently top five in the standings.  Additional money has also been added to Saturday’s purse courtesy of last week’s winner Adam Webb and AJ Motorsports.

Fans will not only be treated by great racing, there will be plenty of giveaways throughout the night.  It will start when the stands open at 5:00 with the first 250 fans receiving notepads and custom coloring pages courtesy of Dynagraphics & Wood Printing.  At least five bicycles will be given away to kids, as Macon Speedway competitors, Curt Rhodes and Tim Bedinger, have stepped up to donate in addition to the track.  For adults, tickets will be drawn for gift cards from Coziahr Harley Davidson, a fire pit from Ace Hardware in Taylorville, five cases of Sun Drop courtesy of American Bottling, and other prizes which are still be accepted and collected.

Pit gates will open Saturday at 4:00, grandstands at 5:00, drivers meeting at 5:45, hotlaps at 6:00, and racing will begin at 7:00.  Grandstand admission is just $12 for adults, while kids 11 and under are free.

For more information, follow Macon Speedway online at www.maconracing.com, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/maconracing) and Twitter (@maconspeedway). It’s easy to join the Macon Speedway text service. Fans can text MSFANS to 74574 to receive fan information. Drivers text MSDRIVERS to 74574 to receive driver information. Message and date rates apply. Updates are also available by calling Macon Speedway at 217-764-3000.

Macon Speedway is located nine miles south of Decatur on U.S. 51, then 0.6 miles west on Andrews Street and south to 205 N. Wiles. Macon Speedway hosts racing every Saturday night, plus many weeknight specials.

CURRENT POINTS (Top 10’s)

Midwest Big Ten UMP Pro Late Models

Macon Speedway UMP Pro Late Models

Billingsley Towing UMP Modifieds

UMP B-Mods

UMP Sportsman

UMP Street Stocks

UMP Hornets