Ryan Unzicker takes first checkered flag of season at Fairbury
FAIRBURY — Ryan Unzicker was racing in dominant fashion Saturday as he routed the field to capture the checkered flag in the late model division in action at Fairbury Speedway.
Gordon Electric Supply and Pontiac Electric Supply presented racing action in five divisions at the Fairbury speed plant. Besides Unzicker, those taking the checkered flag were Michael Ledford (modified), Ian Keller (stock car), Tommy Duncan (sportsman) and Brian Deavers (hobby-modified) were the victors at America’s Dirt Track.
McKay Wenger took the lead as the green flag waved for the late model feature. It didn't take long before Unzicker moved ahead on lap two. The yellow flag came out on lap four as Wenger, running in the second position, stalled on the track with a flat tire. Wenger’s crew was able to change the tire, but he fell to the back of the field.
On the restart, Mike Spatola, running in the fourth spot, stopped on the track with a flat tire to bring out the caution again. Spatola’s team made the change and he dropped to the back of the 20-car field.
As the green flag waved, Unzicker wasted little time in showing his strength as he drove a smooth line on the bottom of the track and opened a straightaway lead. Shane Clanton and Max Blair swapped the second position several times, but neither were unable to mount a challenge to Unzicker. By the time the checkered flag was ready to wave, Unzicker had a four-second lead in capturing his first win of the year.
“We have had a good car all year, but have been in some rough stuff,” Unzicker said. “The car was on a rail. You never take winning as easy, because it's hard to do. We won a lot of races back in the day, but they are tough to get nowadays.”
Clanton settled for second while Tommy Sheppard Jr. charged from the 14th position to take third. Blair settled for fourth and Kevin Weaver finished in fifth. Wenger and Spatola rallied to finish in the sixth and seventh spots, respectively, and were followed by Jake Little, Derek Chandler and Scott Schmitt.
In tuning up for next month's Prairie Dirt Classic, a field of 20 late models checked in for their 30-lap, $2,500-to-win race, that included two touring World of Outlaw regulars in Clanton (Zebulon, Ga.) and Blair (Centerville, Pa.). Clanton set fast time with a lap of 12.637 seconds. Weaver and Wenger were the heat race winners.
Austin Friedman held a narrow lead over Allen Weisser before Friedman’s night ended with a flat tire in the modified feature. Michael Long had a 10-car length lead while Weisser, Michael Ledford and Mason Duncan dueled for second.
The caution came out on the ninth lap as Long’s night came to an end. The restart saw Duncan vault out to a commanding lead over Ledford, Weisser, Cole Falloway and Allan Stipp. Ledford, running all out on the top side of the track, erased Duncan’s lead and moved to the front on the 15th lap.
Ledford was able to win his first FALS Cup feature of the year on a night that saw the younger racers display their talents.
“We started out the season rough,” Ledford said. “We had picked it up, but we weren’t where we wanted to be. My confidence as a driver wasn’t where it should be, but this will help.”
Duncan had his best run to date and edged Falloway (hard charger) for second. Stipp took fourth and Weisser finished fifth. In his first season in the modified, Lyndon Whitfill took sixth, followed by Caden McWhorter, Degan Dozard, Mark Rhoades and Nick Seplak.
Friedman was the modified fast qualifier at 13.773 seconds as 18 drivers made qualifying runs. The two heat races went to Friedman and Weisser.
Steve Mattingly and Tommy Duncan exchanged the lead before Duncan moved ahead for good in the early going of the CR Towing Sportsman race. Mattingly’s night came to an end on the fifth lap with mechanical issues.
Landen Miller made several bids for the lead, but the old pro Duncan kept Miller at bay and took his third win of the year.
Miller and Duncan were involved in a skirmish in their heat race, which saw Duncan turned into the backstretch wall.
“I don’t know how they race, but I don’t beat on people to pass them. So if that is how he wants to race, we can do that for now on,” Duncan said in victory lane. “You can have this trophy if it means that much to him. I don’t race that way.”
Miller finished in second with Tyler Roth in third, followed by Eric Saltzman and Doug Carls (hardcharger). The rest of the top 10 were Victor Strong, Makinzi Semmens, Aaron Reid, Mattingly and Josh Hetherington.
There were 10 racers making qualifying runs and Mattingly timed in at 14.494 seconds for the race's fast qualifier. Mattingly and Miller won their heat races.
Tanner Sullivan’s time of 15.187 seconds gave him the night’s fast qualifier honors as 17 stock cars took time trials. Sullivan and Ian Keller won heat races.
Sullivan led on the opening lap before Keller took the front spot. Keller put his car on the Fairbury cushion and was able to roll to his second straight win at here.
“This FALS cushion came to life tonight,” the Hoosier state pilot said. “I had my hands full, but we got it done.”
Joe Brown (hard charger) was the runner up and Sullivan in third. The remainder of the top 10 included Don Hilleary, Cody Clubb, Jerrad Krick, Adam Williams, Calvin Peek Jr., Tim Loomis and Andy Zahnd.
Brian Deaver completed his trifecta in setting the fast time (14.873), winning his heat and taking his second hobby-modified race win of the year.
Kirby McCormick led the first six laps of the 12-lap race before Deavers moved to the front. Luke Gebhardt made a late charge, but fell short in his bid for the win.
“Kirby got by me on the bottom,” Deavers said. “I didn’t have enough to get off the corner. So I said, it ain’t working out here. I tried the cushion and it was 'buh-bye Kirby.'”
Following Deavers and Gebhardt to the line were McCormick, Jason Vandermeir, Darren Kerrins, Mike Petersen, Ryan Kohler, Scott McDonald, Trevor Ringle and Payton Semmens.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Ryan Unzicker takes first checkered flag of season at Fairbury
