Macomb Raceway kicks off 2007 season
Pratt takes two wins on opening night headline feature winners

MACOMB, IL (May 5) -  A great car count and large crowd made a stop at Macomb Raceway, Saturday night for the first night of racing at the fast 1/5 mile racing facility.

Rain Thursday and Friday made for a lot of work for the new track owners and help, but with several loads of gravel in the grandstand area and a lot of trips through the parking lot, the racing surface was ready for hot laps.

As the night went on the track?s new surface did get rough, but the racing was clean and fast throughout the evening.

Chad Pratt, after fixing his car with post heat race repairs, found the track to his liking as last year?s Late Model points champion started off the 2007 season with a pair of feature wins. Pratt led nearly every lap of the UMP Late Model event en route to the win. Fred Kunzeman followed Pratt throughout the event to take the second spot, while Bill Berghaus finished third.

It wasn?t quite as easy for Pratt in the Macomb Auto Parts Modified
feature event, as he battled most of the race with David Wietholder who eventually finished second. Eighteen cars signed into the pit area for the night?s event and 14 of those cars started the feature event. Donovan Lodge came from the 11th starting position to take the third spot, while JD Beal and Russ Coultas rounded out the top 5.In the Ron Elbe Auto Sales Mod Lite/Dwarf Car feature event Justin Buchholz took a very solid feature event that went green to checkered. Buchholz battled most of the race with Chad Coyne, the second place finisher, as the pair diced in and out of lapped traffic. David Norton, Anthony Guss and Joel Langrehn round out the top five in what was the best feature of the evening.

Rich Mueller, Joel Kerr and Jeremy Grove all battled for the lead on the final lap of the Macomb Journal UMP 4-Cylinder feature event. Turn four saw all three with a chance at the win, but when Kerr got into Mueller and spun him around Grove raced the high side to the win. Kerr was penalized two spots for the rough driving and Mueller regained his
composure to regain the second spot. The youngest driver in the pit area, Matt Pepmeyer took the third spot, while Kerr was awarded fourth spot after the penalty and Tom Ellison finished fifth.

It was the first appearance of the new Casey?s General Store UMP Street Stocks at Macomb Raceway with nine cars hitting the track in what turned out to be a two car battle for the win. Shad Eskew would make it four-for-four in starts this season as he took the feature win after a race long battle with Michael Jackson. Jackson found his way under Eskew on several occasion but could not find a way by. Earl Pepmeyer took the third spot in his first race in the division, while Travis Copely and Rick Knight rounded out the top 5.Dennis Atchley dominated the IMRA TQ/600s all night long, as he won both his heat and feature event. Tony Winchell took home the second spot, with Zach Johnson in third and Jamie DeCamp finished fourth. Tracy Hull took the fifth spot, driving Harry Rogers? maroon number 5 car.
Because of track prep that was necessary at intermission, the Boyd?s Transmission Repair candy dash that was scheduled for intermission was postponed until this Saturday night.

Don?t forget that Saturday May 12th is Boy Scout Night at the races, with all Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Explorers and Tiger Cubs getting in free of charge.

For more information about next week or any other scheduled event check out the Macomb Raceway website at www.macombraceway.com or call 309-299-7223.

Results
May 5, 2007

Feature Results
Macomb Auto Parts Modifieds
1. 10M Chad Pratt
2. 05 David Wietholder
3. 32 Donovan Lodge
4. 26 JD Beal
5. 9 Russ Coultas
6. 50 Mike Fisher
7. 5 Michael Fox
8. 33 Brian Lehman
9. 49 Todd Bates
10. 43 Kelly Bartz
11. 25 Jeff Cooley
DNF 1x John Coultas
DNF 23s Steve Smith
DNF 98 Andy Riggins
DNS 20 Shane Lewis
DNS 38JB Michael Joe Bliven
DNS 77S John Dimmitt
DNS 90 Lonnie Heap

Casey?s General Store UMP Street Stocks
1. 22 Shad Eskew
2. 89 Michael Jackson
3. 9P Earl Pepmeyer
4. 90 Travis Copley
5. 16 Rick Knight
6. 15 John Keith
DNF 27 Scott Barker
DNF R22 Rudy Oelberg
DNF 5M Randy Madsen

Ron Elbe Auto Sales Mod Lites/Dwarf Cars
1. 69B Justin Buchholz
2. 15 Chad Coyne
3. 007 David Norton
4. 7G Anthony Guss
5. 20 Joel Langrehn
6. 8 Bobby Fox
7. 91 Rob Guss
8. 11 Troy Philpott
9. 7J Jaems Chesmore
DNF 1 Jeff Norton
DNS 8G Daniel Guss
DNS 4 Shon Sanders

Macomb Journal UMP 4-Cylinders
1. 9 Jeremy Grove
2. 2s Rich Mueller
3. 9P Matt Pepmeyer
4. 7J Joel Kerr
5. 20 Tom Ellison
6. 47 John Jackson
7. 71B Gary Russell
8. 14L Brandon Lambert
9. 56 Ed Keith
10. 74 Colton Keith
11. 78 James Bellville

IMRA TQ/600s
1. 8L Dennis Atchley
2. 8W Troy Winchell
3. 38 Zach Johnson
4. 24D Jamie DeCamp
5. 5 Tracy Hull
6. 69 Barry Trone
DNS 24 Tracy Hull

Late Models
1. 10M Chad Pratt
2. 9F Fred Kunzeman
3. 3 Bill Berghaus
4. 33 Gary Logue
5. 66 Darin Weisinger
DNF K9 Kendal Watkins