Spatola, Ledford take handle 'PDC Hangover'
FAIRBURY — After last week’s Prairie Dirt Classic that saw entertainment and racing for four days, the Fairbury Speedway track returned Saturday night with an FALS Cup/Alkota night of racing. Billed as the “PDC Hangover,” the night was presented by Tool’s Auto Sales and HOTROD Septic Treatment.
Late Models were featured in a 30-lap race. Jake Little got the jump on fellow front row starter, Mike Spatola for the lead. Little could pull away from Spatola on the straights, but Spatola quickly caught Little in the turns.
As Little began to work his way past slower traffic, Spatola made the pass for the lead as the duo exited turn four. Wasting little time, Spatola held a five second lead as an intense battle took place behind him.
Little, Myles Moos, Mike Mataragas, Jordan Bauer and Mike Provenzano raced the top, middle and bottom of the track looking for an advantage.
A caution fell on the track with one lap to go giving the field one last chance to move to the front, but Spatola motored ahead and claimed his first Fairbury win of the year.
“It has been a frustrating year,” said Spatola. “We haven’t gotten the wins we like.
“It’s never fun when you get into turn three and you don’t hear a slider coming. You kind of think you have it won. Stuff happens and it worked out.”
Moos took second as Mataragas, Bauer and Provenzano followed. Derek Chandler earned a hard-fought sixth and was the hard-charger winner. Little fell to seventh with Titus Sneed, Kevin Weaver and Logan Moody rounding out the top 10.
Spatola paced the 19 cars in attendance during qualifying with a lap of 12.845 seconds. Spatola and Little took heat race wins.
There were 17 cars on hand for a 25-lap modified feature that saw Steven Brooks earning fast time honors with a lap of 13.917 seconds. Allen Weisser and Michael Ledford were the heat race winners.
After a yellow flag on the first lap, Ledford motored past Weisser into the lead. Looking to wrap up his second modified track title, Ledford ran the ragged edge on his way to his fourth Fairbury win.
“Hats off to the track prep crew,” the 17-year-old sensation said. “It was a fun track. I got the lead on the top, but felt more comfortable running the bottom. I knew if I didn’t jump it on those restarts, I could stay ahead of Weisser.”
Brooks overtook Weisser with seven trips to go and finished second. Weisser took third and Alan Stipp quietly finished in fourth. Austin Friedman, Ethan Weber, Lyndon Whitfill, Jim Farris, Jimmy Diabo (hard charger) and Bob Pohlman Jr. completed the top 10.
There were 15 strong competitors, including five of the top 25 in the latest Stock Car DIRTcar national point standings, in attendance for a 15-lap feature race.
Point leader Ian Leller toured the quarter-mile dirt oval at a time of 15.594 seconds to set the fast time. Two heat races saw Keller and Cody Clubb leading the way.
Keller led the early stages of the race, but Megan Erwin was following closely. After a caution on the fourth lap, Erwin was able to pull alongside Keller in a race for the lead.
On the sixth lap, the pair exited turn four, side by side. Contact was made, resulting in enough damage to end the night for each.
Keller’s son, Braiden, inherited the lead as Clubb and Tim Loomis followed, waiting for the first-year driver to make a mistake. The three warriors were able to race three wide in the final laps. Loomis edged ahead for the lead with two laps remaining and held off Clubb by a car length for his first-ever win at Fairbury.
“Toward the end of the race, everyone was piling on the bottom,” Loomis said. “I thought there was still something on the high side of one and two, so I went for it.”
Braiden Keller finished in third. Devin Hoskins took fourth and Brandon Tracy was fifth. Randy Schoener (hard charger) led the second five across the line.
Tommy Duncan has been the class of the field in the CR Towing Sportsman division and he showed it again Saturday as he won his race by a straight away and for his seventh consecutive win.
“I was burning up,” an exhausted Duncan said. “The car is really good now. We are on top of our game and I can’t thank all my sponsors and the fans for their support.”
Landen Miller held off Jim Farley lll (hard charger) for second. Tyler Roth came home in fourth, followed by Victor Strong, Makinzi Semmens, Doug Carls and Aaron Reid.
Miller had the quick time at 15.011 seconds as 14 cars made qualifying attempts. Duncan and Miller took the heat race wins.
The hobby-modified class continues to grow as 20 drivers were on hand for their 12-lap feature race. Bloomington’s Brian Deavers has been on a tear this year and led green to checkers as he scored his fifth win of the season.
“This car has been a rocket all year,” Deavers said. “We put a lot of maintenance in our program and are always trying something different.”
Chad Zeigler worked his way to the front, but had to settle for second. Peter Argianas finished third, followed by Luke Gebhardt, Scott Williams, Trevor Ringle, Jake Green, Reid Gall, Payton Semmens and Scott Brown.
Deavers had a lap at 14.985 for fast time in qualifying. Deavers and Gebhardt won their respective heat races.
Another FALS Cup/ Alkota racing night is planned for this Saturday at the fairgrounds in Fairbury.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Spatola, Ledford win in racing from Fairbury Speedway
