TAYLORVILLE, Ill. — The ninth annual Christian County Fair races thrilled fairgoers on Wednesday, July 19.
This year’s event led to a strong competitive field of cars and memorable action at the one-fifth-mile dirt track.
The Sportsman class had 18 entries for their 20-lap feature event.
Despite several early cautions, things settled down and the racing was strong with drivers using the high and low lanes to maneuver their way around. Veteran racer, Wes O’Dell, used the inside lane to race past Dennis Vander Meersch to take over the lead. Once out front, O’Dell raced away from the field to take the win.
Vander Meersch, Jeff Reed, Jr., Ed Cleeton and Jeff Ray rounded out the top five.
The Big Ten Street Stock event was a barn burner, with Bobby Beiler and Jeremy Nichols racing for the win down the stretch.
Beiler held a perfect line, keeping Nichols at a comfortable distance until the last few laps when Nichols turned up the wick. On the final lap, Nichols shot to the inside but came up just short in a photo finish at the checkered flag. Beiler claimed the victory followed by Nichols, Gene Reed, Terry Reed and Jesse Simmons.
The final race of the night was the Hornet 12-lap feature.
Mechanical woes struck a number of competitors, but David Lauritson ended up taking the victory. Following Lauritson was Allan Harris, Bridget Fulton, Jaekob Durbin, and Michael McKay.
Sportsman Feature Results
1. 87-Wes O’Dell[Springfield, IL]; 2. 25-Dennis Vander Meersch[Springfield, IL]; 3. 53R-Jeff Reed Jr[Blue Mound, IL]; 4. 21-Ed Cleeton[Tovey, IL]; 5. 18-Jeff Ray[Springfield, IL]; 6. 12M-Terry Myers[Buffalo, IL]; 7. 84L-Rick Lowe[Springfield, IL]; 8. 07-Phil Moreland[Assumption, IL]; 9. 14-Cole Landers[Taylorville, IL]; 10. 11-Roy Magee[Springfield, IL]; 11. 17-Barry Bell[Windsor, IL]; 12. (DNF) 55-Tom Riech[Springfield, IL]; 13. (DNF) B99-Maxx Emerson[Taylorville, IL]; 14. (DNF) 44-John Lewis[Cerro Gordo, IL]; 15. (DNF) 21B-Bobby Beiler[Blue Mound, IL]; 16. (DNF) J55-Rick Hamm[Groves City, IL]; 17. (DNF) 61-Stefan Bedinger[Taylorville, IL]; 18. (DNF) 41-Scott Landers[Taylorville, IL]
Street Stock Feature Results
1. 17-Bobby Beiler[Blue Mound, IL]; 2. 67R-Jeremy Nichols[Findlay, IL]; 3. 14-Gene Reed[Hammond, IL]; 4. 11-Terry Reed[Cerro Gordo, IL]; 5. 42-Jesse Simmons[Danville, IL]; 6. 55-Zane Reitz[Veedersburg, IN]; 7. K67JR-Braiden Keller[West Lebanon, IN]; 8. 16JR-Carson Reed[Hammond, IL]; 9. 4S-Kirk Spurgeon[Morrisonville, IL]; 10. 44J-Jeremy Madsen[Pawnee, IL]; 11. (DNF) E21-Eric Boomer[Bethany, IL]; 12. (DNF) 78B-Brad Peters[Stonington, IL]; 13. (DNF) 187-Korey Bailey[Stonington, IL]; 14. (DNS) 2Z-Andy Zahnd
Hornets Feature Results
1. 15-David Lauritson[Normal, IL]; 2. 37-Allan Harris[Chatham, IL]; 3. 20B-Bridget Fulton[Marissa, IL]; 4. (DNF) 41-Jaekob Durbin[Ramsey, IL]; 5. (DNF) 26A-Michael McKay[Springfield, IL]; 6. (DNS) 357-Billy Mason; 7. (DNS) 31-Jacob Shanks