Taylor & Kovski Take Wins In Front Of Packed Lincoln Grandstands

$5 Night Produces Large Crowd And Great Field Of Cars

The final night of the racing season at Lincoln IL Speedway was this past Friday, September 2 and a packed grandstand experienced one of the most successful nights in recent memory at the 1/4-mile dirt facility.  The $5 admission price drew the biggest crowd of the year, which also saw the best car count (98) in a good while at the Central Illinois facility.

In Pro Late Model action, 18 drivers took the green with Springfield, IL driver, Guy Taylor, taking the lead early on.  Taylor rocketed into the top spot, while Midland City, IL driver Roben Huffman was marching forward.  Huffman worked his way from fourth to second by lap eight but never could get the run needed to race by Taylor.  Taylor and Huffman were followed by defending champion, Nick Bauman, Brandon Eskew, and Matt Taylor.

In Midwest Technical Institute Modified action, fifth place starter, Kelly Kovski was the man to watch.  The veteran racer started in the third row but started dicing his way through the field quickly.  Kovski took fourth on lap two, moved into third on lap four, and shot past the runner-up and leader on lap twelve to take command.  Eight laps later, Kovski found himself in victory lane, victorious over the 20 Modifieds that were in attendance.  Curt Rhodes took second, Austin Lynn was third, Donovan Lodge fourth, and Zac Oedewaldt was fifth.

In the Midwest Big Ten UMP Street Stocks, a season’s best 17 cars were pitside to compete for the extra prize money.  Jeremy Nichols, by way of a front row starting position, raced into the lead on the first lap and never looked back.  Behind him, Terry Reed and Dennis Wernle solidified the other two podium spots.  Rounding out the top five at the checkered were Rudy Zaragoza and Terry Miller.

The strongest field of POWRi/Illini D-II Midgets in several weeks were in attendance for the final Lincoln race of the year.  Lincoln Speedway favorite, Andy Baugh, took the lead early and was extremely strong in front of his fellow challengers of 20+.  Another division frontrunner, Tyler Vantoll, was close behind battling in the second and third spots, eventually corralling second.  At the checkered, Baugh and Vantoll were followed by Adam Taylor, Dave Baugh, and Broc Hunnell.

Jeremy Nichols kept his night perfect by claiming the victory in the UMP Sportsman class.  The Lovington, IL driver finished the night 4-for-4 with a heat and feature win in both divisions that he competed.  In the Sportsman race, Troy Medly, Scott Williams, Brandon Pralle, and Tim Bedinger followed him across the line.

The final division on track was the UMP Hornet class.  On this night, 14 drivers were registered for action with Adam Webb and Jeremy Reed racing hard for the checkered.  The two drivers are well known for their abilities behind the wheel of the front wheel drive 4-cylinders and this night proved why.  While racing from the pack, the two battled wheel to wheel for many laps before Webb was able to claim the victory.  Reed, Jerad Matherly, Brett Ragan, and Billy Snyder finished off the top five.

The night wrapped up the end of Track Enterprises first year at the helm of the Logan County Fairgrounds racetrack.  2016 saw strong car counts on a weekly basis, improving crowds, and great racing action put on by the stars behind the wheel.  Champions of the weekly classes were Roben Huffman in Pro Late Models, Brian Lynn in the Midwest Technical Institute Modifieds, Tyler Vantoll in the POWRi/Illini D-II Midgets Presented By Nutech Seed, and Matthew Mackey in the UMP Hornets.

Officials from Track Enterprises would like to thank everyone who helped put out the great shows during the 2016 season.  For information on 2017, check out the website at www.lincolnspeedwayil.com and like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LincolnILSpeedway.

Feature Results (Top Ten’s)

UMP Pro Late Models – 1. 4T-Guy Taylor[Springfield]; 2. 33H-Roben Huffman[Midland City]; 3. B1-Nick Bauman[New Berlin]; 4. 11E-Brandon Eskew[Ashland]; 5. 24T-Matt Taylor[Springfield]; 6. 4Q-Brian Lynn[Mason City]; 7. 147-Matt Beadles[Clinton]; 8. 1M-Andy Minett[New Berlin]; 9. 15-Kevin Crowder[Argenta]; 10. 25-Bill Kettering[Pekin]

Midwest Technical Institute UMP Modifieds – 1. 10K-Kelly Kovski[Springfield]; 2. 10-Curt Rhodes[Taylorville]; 3. 72A-Austin Lynn[Mason City]; 4. 32-Donovan Lodge[Andover]; 5. Z1-Zac Oedewaldt[Hanna City]; 6. 10M-Chris Morefield[Edwards]; 7. 32D-Tommy Duncan[Metaro]; 8. 62-Hunter Diebel[Peoria]; 9. 188-Michael Mennel[Peoria]; 10. 14C-Alan Crowder[Elwin]

UMP Sportsman – 1. J24-Jeremy Nichols[Lovington]; 2. 62-TROY MEDLEY[Pevely, MO]; 3. 112-Scott Williams[Anchor]; 4. 56-Brandon Pralle[Ashkum]; 5. B99-Tim Bedinger[Taylorville]; 6. 42-John Powell[Springfield]; (DNS) 99X-Randy Cusack [Hanna City]

UMP Street Stocks – 1. J24-Jeremy Nichols[Lovington]; 2. 5-Terry Reed[Decatur]; 3. 23-Dennis Wernle[New Douglas]; 4. 67R-Rudy Zaragoza[Jacksonville]; 5. 11-Terry Miller[Lincoln]; 6. 67-Greg Osman[Bloomington]; 7. 17B-Braden Bilger[Jacksonville]; 8. 24-Justin Crowell[Lincoln]; 9. 26-Kyle Waters[Oreana]; 10. 3T-Kevin Lewis[Decatur]

POWRi/Illini D-II Midgets Presented By Nutech Seed – 1. 6B-Andy Baugh[Mason City]; 2. 30T-Tyler Vantoll[Belleville]; 3. 7-Adam Taylor[Shorewood]; 4. 7B-Dave Baugh[Bloomington]; 5. 73-Broc Hunnell[Eolia, MO]; 6. 0B-Tyler Roth[Unknown]; 7. 10R-Jack Routson[Waterman]; 8. 10B-Patrick Bruns[Champaign]; 9. 15M-Shane Morgan[Creve Coeur]; 10. 51R-Gedd Ross[Havana]

UMP Hornets – 1. 40-Adam Webb[Decatur]; 2. 33-Jeremy Reed[Decatur]; 3. J4-Jerad Matherly[Decatur]; 4. 49S-Brett Ragan[Bartonville]; 5. 88-Billy Snider[Elmwood]; 6. 28-Jimmy Duflinger[Hanna City]; 7. 01-Matthew Mackey[Unknown]; 8. 64CK-Cook Crawford[Lincoln]; 9. 5-Jay Mariuza[Pekin]; 10. 51C-Ryan Cantrell[Decatur]