Thirty late models rolled through the gates Friday night at Farmer City Raceway
by: Dan Stewart

FARMER CITY. IL (June 8) - Thirty late models rolled through the gates Friday night, with Steve Sheppard Jr turning in fast time at 12.372 seconds, again very close to the track record. The heat races were very exciting, with the first heat going to UMP National points leader Wes Steidinger, passing Jr Shickel at the checkers for the win followed by Steve Sheppard and Derek Chandler. The second heat went to the Raceway's current point leader Eric Smith over a fast closing Brian Diveley. They were followed by Donnie Walden and Rocky Griffin.

The third heat was a runaway by Billy Drake over Mike Mullvain, Scott Bull and Jimmy Felker Jr. The fourth heat was a real barn burner with Joe Harlan taking the victory over Chris Dick, Jason Feger and last week's feature winner Darren Friedman. The semi feature went to Roger Brickler over Cory Rolfe and Cody Bauman. The feature started with Steidinger and Smith on the front row. Smith took off to an early lead, followed by Steidinger, Drake, Harlan, Shickel, Diveley and Dick, racing four and sometimes five wide for second place. About half way through, Steidinger cleared away the others for second place and ran down the leader Smith with ten laps to go and passed Smith one lap later. But as they got into lapped cars, four wide down the backstretch, something had to give, and Roger Brickler left the track, with Steidinger spinning to the infield. With Steidinger relegated to the rear, Smith had to battle off Joe Harlan and Billy Drake for the win. Harlan was second, Drake third, Brian Diveley and Scott Bull rounded out the top five.

They were followed by Chris Dick, Steve Sheppard, Jr Shickel, Donnie Walden, Jason Feger, Derek Chandler, Darren Friedman, Mike Mullvain, Rocky Griffin, Jeremy Conaway and Wes Steidinger. Sixteen of the twenty starters finished the race, all on the lead lap.

The modified class saw Jeff Leka once again set fast time of the twenty nine modifieds on hand. For the first time this season, however, Leka did not win his heat race. That went to the young McKay Wenger with Leka second and Jay Ledford third. The second heat went to Gary Cook Jr over Lance Dehm and Todd Kirkland. The third heat went to Danny Schwartz over Randy Myers and Randy Huffman. The semi went to Matt Bachman over Dennis Wilson. The feature saw pole sitter Wenger lead the first two laps, and passed by Gary Cook Jr, who led three laps. There was then a yellow flag, and on the restart, Leka took the top position, and went on to his seventh feature win, still undefeated in 2007 followed very closely by McKay Wenger, Cook Jr, Danny Schwartz, Randy Huffman, Lance Dehm, Randy Myers, Todd Kirkland, Marty Hiser, Jeffrey Curl, Jeb Friedman, Dennis Wilson and Rick Weekly.

The sportsman feature went to Gary Turpin over Jimmy Dehm, Darrell Dick, Greg Kimmons, Ryan Unzicker, Wes O'Dell and Shane Tomlin.
The street stock feature was won by Chris Tackett, who came from deep in the field, over Terry Miller, Greg Brewer and Greg Rubenacker.
The hornets, a beginners class, was won by Eric Keymon over Stacy Whitehouse and Chris Osborne.
The racing activities were complete before 10:30 with a total of 110 cars in the pits.

Friday June 15 is a regular show plus hornets, and on Friday June 22 is the UMP Summernationals paying $10,000 to the winner of the late models!

Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 2 9 Eric Smith Shirley , Il 40
2 4 Z Joe Harlan El Paso, Il 35
3 3 9X Billy Drake Bloomington , Il 30
4 6 11D Brian Diveley Springfield , Il 25
5 11 83 Scott Bull Fairbury , Il 22
6 8 22 Chris Dick Deland , Il 20
7 9 5S Steve Sheppard Jr New Berlin, Il 19
8 5 S10 Frank Shickel Jr. Bloomington , Il 18
9 10 1W Donny Walden Towanda , Il 17
10 12 25F Jason Feger Bloomington , Il 16
11 13 35 Derek Chandler Pontiac , Il 15
12 16 89 Daren Friedman Forrest , Il 15
13 7 4M Mike Mullvain Bartonville , Il 15
14 14 1G Rocky Griffin Bloomington , Il 15
15 20 F15 Jeremy Conaway Springfield , Il 15
16 1 J1 Wes Steidinger Fairbury , Il 15
17 18 22R Cory Rolfe Sidney , Il 15
18 15 43 Jim Felker Jr Bloomington , Il 15
19 17 82 Roger Brickler Springfield , Il 15
20 19 88 Cody Bauman Eureka , Il 15


Modifieds - Feature

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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 4 3L Jeff Leka Buffalo , Il 40
2 1 42 Mckay Wenger Fairbury , Il 35
3 2 64 Gary Cook Jr Deer Creek, Il 30
4 3 21D Danny Schwartz Ashmore , Il 25
5 9 5H Randy Huffman Maroa , Il 22
6 5 D1 Lance Dehm Chatsworth , Il 20
7 6 18 Randy Myers Springfield , Il 19
8 8 45 Todd Kirkland Mt Zion, Il 18
9 15 23M Marty Hiser Decatur , Il 17
10 12 C12 Jeff Curl Forrest , Il 16
11 14 4 Jeb Friedman Forrest , Il 15
12 17 00 Dennis Wilson Lexington , Il 15
13 16 68 Matt Bachman Gibson City, Il 15
14 11 4W Rick Weekly Buffalo , Il 15
15 13 29 Matt Barker Cooksville , Il 15
16 18 D98 Danny Smith Maroa , Il 15
17 10 5S Brandon Sheppard - 15
18 19 23P Bobby Pearson Forsyth , Il 15
19 7 7L Jay Ledford Pontiac , Il 15
20 20 17 Rick Hamilton Decatur , Il 15


Sportsman - Feature

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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 75 Gary Turpin Bloomington , Il 40
2 5 99J Jimmy Dehm Lexington , Il 35
3 2 22 Darrel Dick Bloomington , Il 30
4 11 27 Greg Kimmons Pleasant Plains, Il 25
5 8 25 Jason Unzicker El Paso, Il 22
6 3 87 Wes Odell - 20
7 14 18 Shane Tomlin Pawnee , Il 19
8 13 95 Brock Bauman Eureka , Il 18
9 4 H6 Ben Hulse Flanagan , Il 17
10 7 14C Al Crowder Elwin , Il 16
11 17 7J Justin Delong Bloomington , Il 15
12 12 19V Curt Vincent Danvers , Il 15
13 10 1E A.j. Evans Hudson , Il 15
14 15 94C Kevin Crowder Argenta , Il 15
15 19 6 Kent Collins Morton , Il 15
16 6 44 Rod Rusher Mansfield , Il 15
17 20 71 Jeff Graham - 15
18 9 48D Daryl Halcomb Gibson City, Il 15
19 16 57W Lenny Summar Bement , Il 15
20 18 22T Timmy Dick Monticello , Il 15


Street Stock - Feature

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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 7 0 Chris Tackett Bloomington , Il 40
2 5 9 Terry Miller Lincoln , Il 35
3 3 00 Greg Brewer Bement , Il 30
4 2 76R Greg Rubenacker Kenney , Il 25
5 10 82 Jim Quinn Farmer City, Il 22
6 1 44G Shane Garrison Dawson , Il 20
7 4 3N Orin Naramore - 19
8 8 18 Chris Stipp Gibson City, Il 18
9 9 B8 Nick Brucker - 17
10 11 00 Wayne Orrick - 16
11 6 20 Jeremy Billington Lincoln , Il 15


Hornets - Feature

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Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points
1 1 43 Eric Keymon Lincoln , Il 40
2 2 82 Stacy Whitehouse Leroy , Il 35
3 6 18 Chris Osborne Washington , Il 30
4 5 3 E. J. Gregory Towanda , Il 25
5 4 62 Eric Reynolds Gibson City, Il 22
6 7 47 Jim Wilson - 20
7 8 57 Mike Linnemann - 19
8 9 348 Alex Randall - 18
9 10 6 Eric Wilson - 17
10 12 98 Michael Donze - 16
11 13 0 Katrina Hoare Normal , Il 15
12 11 16 Jacob Hicks - 15
13 3 911 Brad Rexroad Bement , Il 15
14 14 103 Carrie Quinn - 15