MACON, Ill. – After waiting several extra months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Macon Speedway finally launched its 75th anniversary season on Saturday night.
Headlining the last of winners was Bobby Beiler, who marched through the field to win the Archer’s Alley Street Stock feature after his car was deemed illegal after coming up light at the scales following a heat race win.
He started at the back of the 13-car field while Jaret Duff and Guy Taylor led the field in the early going. Beiler would begin to pick apart the group and work his way to the front. Taylor was racing in the No. X7 Street Stock, the car that was raced for many decades by Larry Russell Jr., who passed away in March.
Paying homage to Russell in his car, Taylor stayed with the lead pack and Duff continued to battle with the lead. Beiler’s speed and quickness across the fifth-mile’s high banks was just too much and Beiler would take the 15-lap feature.
Jacob Steinkoenig scored his first win in the BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds division. After getting the car locked in on the top groove, he started to soar. The race was led most of the way by Pro Modified driver Billy Knebel, who utilized the bottom of the track to take the advantage away from Guy Taylor and Alan Crowder. As the race came around with five laps remaining, Steinkoenig put it together and scored win.
Jake Little was good enough to stay ahead during the Pro Late Model feature race. Despite the excitement to get the lead, most of the fun was behind him as Chris Dick, Dakota Ewing and Jose Parga all raced for second place.
With a combination of slide jobs and passes, the second position was up for grabs. An unfortunate mishap led to Ewing and Parga, who are teammates, to tangle together outside of the second turn. The action slowed Parga momentarily and after a restart, Parga still managed a top-five finish. Little cruised across the top of the track to grab the first win in the division for the season.
Dennis Vandermeersch needed time to collect his thoughts before exiting his Sportsman race car after he took the checkered flag. His best friend and former racing competitor Tim Bedinger passed away in March and Vandermeersch got to victory lane thinking about his fallen friend. The Springfield driver passed Scott Landers for the lead towards the beginning of the race and dashed away to the win. The former track champion dedicated the race to his friend, who was also a division track champion.
Jeremy Camp piloted his Micro Sprint past Paul Day and Molly Day to secure his feature win. He was up to the challenge three times against the Days as Paul started the race solidly but fell behind Camp and Molly took two runs at the lead until Camp started to coast away.
Billy Knebel stayed out front in the Neal Tire & Auto Pro Modified feature and was lucky to stay that way during a caution-fest feature. The race was derailed of any consistency by yellow flag after yellow flag and officials were forced to cut laps from the feature for time restrictions. Knebel was in the lead when the checkered flag waved.
Three cars raced for the lead in the Hornet feature with Brady Reed, his brother Jeremy Reed and Mike Eskew. Unfortunately, two of those drivers would fall victim to failure and one would go on for the glory. Mike Eskew bounced off a tractor tire which separates the infield from the racing surface and rolled his 4-cylinder car in the fourth turn. The Springfield driver was OK, but the car was ruined for the rest of the race. During that situation, Jeremy Reed’s car would be slowed and stopped. Brady Reed was left and would gas it all the way to the finish.