Mike Spatola holds off Jason Feger at Fairbury; Aaron Heck DQ'd

FAIRBURY — It was a wild night of racing at Fairbury Speedway held a Memorial Day weekend of racing in five divisions. The spoils of victory went to Mike Spatola (late model), Allen Weisser (modified), Jose Parga (pro late model), Tommy Duncan (sportsman) and Ian Keller (stock car).

It was a dog fight for the lead at the beginning of the MARS Late Model Series late model, 30-lap, $3,000-to-win race as point leader McKay Wenger of Fairbury led the first nine laps, holding off the challenge from Mike Spatola and Frank Heckenast Jr.

Spatola took the lead on the 10th lap and was able to open up a straightaway lead. Heckenast took over the second position and quickly closed the margin on the race leader.

The field was bunched up after a caution with four laps to go.

The restart saw Jason Feger take second and apply pressure on Spatola for the lead. Spatola, the defending track champion, was able to turn back Feger and earn his first career MARS win.

“The track was awesome,” said Spatola. “I was surprised we could race the bottom. I thought everyone would be on the top.

“I got into Heckenast on the front stretch. I didn’t hear him on the outside. I didn’t know if he felt he owed me one for pulling a slider.”

Feger finished in second, followed by Heckenast, Ryan Unzicker and Wenger. The second five had Jake Little, Bob Gardner, Blaze Burwell, Rickey Frankel and Jayme Zidar (hard charger) completing the top 10.

The quick time went to Wenger with a time of 12.625 seconds. Heat race action saw Wenger, Heckenast and Spatola take the wins. Bill Hough held off the competition in winning the semi-feature.

The Big 10 Series Pro Late Model class welcomed 31 drivers for a $1,000-to-win special. A technical error proved costly to Aaron Heck as his claim to the checkered flag was nullified after weigh-in. This gave Jose Parga the big payday.

Parga and Heck brought the fans to their feet in the final laps as the two combatants went door handle to door handle looking to upend the other. Heck moved into the lead with four laps to go after early race leader Dalton Ewing broke to bring out the yellow flag.

On the last lap, Parga was crowded on the front stretch and got into the wall as Heck appeared to have the win locked up. However, as the drivers crossed the scales, Heck came up 16 pounds light, giving the win to Parga, the defending national champion.

“It is hard driving people like that sometimes,” Parga said from victory lane. “I tried driving him clean. Heck got me in turn three. I tried to give him as much room as I could and he hit me. I drive by him and he put me into the fence.”

Bob Gardner placed third with Branden Johnson and Colby Sheppard following. Torin Mettille, Ryan Miller, Kyle McMahon, Billy Knippenberg Jr., Ewing and Blasie Baker made up the second five positions.

Group qualifying had Ewing (13.601) and Timmy Dick (13.483) setting the pace. Ewing, Brandon Eskew, Dick and Billy Knippenberg Jr. won their respective heat races. The semi feature went to Devin McLean.

Defending modified track champion Mike McKinney made his first appearance of the year besting 23 drivers in the preliminaries. McKinney, Steve Brooks and Allen Weisser grabbed heat race wins.

McKinney led the first 10 laps of the 25-lap, $1,500-to-win race before Kyle Steffens took over the lead. The caution came out with three laps to go as Steffens was looking to score his first-ever Fairbury win.

Running in second, Allen Weisser had other ideas. Coming off of turn four, with the checkered flag in sight, Weisser was able to make the pass on Steffens for the win.

Steffens settled for second, with Michael Long claiming third. The rest of the top 10 had McKinney, Michael Ledford, Dustin Wiltermood, Alan Stipp, Mason Duncan, Mike Mosier and Nash Hilmes (hard charger).

Tommy Duncan completed the hat track in the CR Towing Sportsman class. Duncan was the swiftest of the swift with a time of 14.937 seconds as 13 cars took time trials. Duncan won his heat race, along with Steve Mattingly.

Duncan led the first nine laps before Landen Miller took over for three circuits. After a caution, Miller and Mattingly tangled, giving Duncan the lead in the process. Duncan went on to take his second feature race of the year.

A dejected Miller took second, Tyler Roth finished in third. Eric Saltzman drove a steady race to finish fourth and take hard-charger honors. The remainder of the top 10 saw Josh Hetherington, Jim Farley, Makinzi Semmens, Victor Strong, Mattingly and Ethan Snapp finish in that order.

Ian Keller’s time of 15.143 seconds captured the fast time as 30 stock car racers looked to take the win in their 15-lap, $500 race. Tanner Sullivan, Keller and Megan Erwin won heat races. The semi went to Don Hilleary.

Keller, with more than 100 career feature race wins to his credit, was able to hold off Erwin in scoring his first-ever Fairbury feature win.

“It has been a long time coming,” Keller said. “I have been trying to win here for 11 years. Megan was way better than me on the bottom. I apologize to her for getting into the back of her car. I didn’t want to get on the FALS cushion, but I got it done this time.”

Erwin took second, Sullivan settled for third, with Jim Ransom and Terry Reed completing the first five. Leading the next five was Joe Brown with Jerrad Krick, Cody Clubb, Hilleary and Shaun WiltjerHunt in pursuit.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Mike Spatola holds off Jason Feger at Fairbury; Aaron Heck DQ'd