MACON, Ill. – Retired firefighter Dennis Vandermeersch ran away with Saturday’s Sportsman Topless 40 feature at Macon Speedway.
The annual event with the Sportsman division racing without their roofs brought out the best in Vandermeersch in the feature, but not the best in the heat race where he finished deep in the field and spun out during the race.
From the 13th starting spot, Vandermeersch soared to the front and by lap six, passing Rick Roedel for the lead before taking off for the checkered flag. A caution flag on lap 29 likely kept Vandermeersch from lapping the field.
He made the pass on the fourth-place car and was closing in on the third place driver before the yellow flag waved and brought the action back to a single file restart.
Bobby Beiler won the Archer’s Alley Street Stocks main event. Beiler lost the win last week on a last lap pass by Terry Reed and had to fight off Reed as well as Nick Macklin. Beiler ran the top groove of the track and held off Macklin, who was working the bottom.
Guy Taylor flew around the top of the track in the BillingsleyRewards.com Modifieds. Running second behind Curt and Zach Rhodes, Taylor was fast on the gas and passed Curt Rhodes to get to the lead and ran around the cushion of the track to finish the race. Pro Modified racer Billy Knebel ran the bottom of the track and secured second ahead of Curt Rhodes and defending champion Tommy Sheppard Jr., who took fourth.
With the night sky lighting up from a strong thunderstorm to the north and rain sprinkling, the Micro Sprints Presented by Bailey Chasis finished a 15-lap feature quickly as Tony Clifton would take the checkered flag and win the race.
Rain then hit the track, preventing three features from being run. Those features, including the pro late model class, will be run at a later date.