Jason Feger
Jeremy Nichols
Michael Long
Long Takes $2,000 Modified Checkers
Results | Story & Pictures by Rocky Ragusa
Mother Nature played kind to the Fairbury Speedway on Saturday night as “America’s Dirt Track'' played host to the MARS Championship Series and the 14th Annual Earl J. Hubert Memorial for the DIRTcar Stock Car division.
MARS Late Model points leader Jason Feger took the lead from defending champion Ryan Unzicker with four laps to go and registered his 14th win of the year. Feger, who started 11th, quickly made his way through the field and was battling for the front position with Unzicker and Dennis Erb Jr. As the leaders went under the flagstand with four laps remaining, Feger did a slide job in turns 1-2 to grab the lead and take his third win at Fairbury this season. “The car has been really good lately,” Feger said. “We went hard on tires. I think Dennis and I were the only ones that went that way. My car kept coming in and getting better and better. It was good, hard racing. The track was great tonight. We could run all over it.” Erb, who led on two separate occasions for 23 laps, overtook Unzicker with two laps to go for second. Unzicker paced the field twice for 12 laps and was third followed by rookie contenders Mike Harrison and Blaze Burwell. McKay Wenger led the next group finishing sixth and Kevin Weaver took seventh. 16th starter Logan Martin brought it home in eighth followed by Bob Gardner and Jordan Wever.
In a race that saw four lead changes among three drivers, Jeremy Nichols took the lead for the final time on lap 32 and went on to win the $4,300 first prize in a hotly contested Stock Car event. Polesitter Nick Clubb led the first 12 laps of the 43-lap race with Nichols, Kyle Anderson, Tanner Sullivan, and Braiden Keller in contention. The rim-riding Keller raced side-by-side with Clubb for several laps before Keller vaulted into the lead on lap 14. The pair dueled for the top spot as a caution fell with eight laps to go. On the restart, Nichols led Keller, who was racing the ragged edge, in hopes of taking home the big check. With three laps to go, as Keller entered turn three, his car hit the outside wall after losing his brakes. That mishap allowed Nichols to go the remaining laps uncontested for his third Hubert Memorial win. “I definitely didn’t think I was going to get that one,” said the Findlay, Ill. wheelman. “My wife told me, don’t go out there and knock down the wall on the first lap. I went out there and played up there a little bit. I didn’t feel good, so I went back to the bottom to save the equipment. I was able to roll around the middle, but I wasn’t sure if I could get up on Keller. He was so fast and smooth on the top. It is pretty cool to go out and get three Hubert wins.” Anderson snuck past Clubb for second. Past winner AJ Meiferdt finished in fourth and Sullivan claimed fifth. 18th starter Dave Dulceak finished in sixth. Keller, Megan Erwin, Bobby Beiler, and Joel Funk completed the top ten.
The night’s action ended with a 25-lap Modified race. After a lap one caution, Michael Long motored by Mike McKinney and went on to earn the $2,000 check. Long, who took his fourth Fairbury win of the season, had a brief challenge from track champion Michael Ledford before going on to win by a half straightaway. “The track was beautiful,” Long commented. “It wasn’t slow. It was definitely up on the wheel. I was able to roll the bottom at the beginning. I knew once the top cleaned up, it might be better momentum wise. Getting through lapped cars, I ran up top and knew that was where I needed to be.” Ledford took second, with McKinney, Mike Chasteen Jr., and Allen Weisser making up the first five spots. Zeke McKenzie, Austin Friedman, Trevor Ringle, Mason Duncan, and Caden McWhorter took the next five positions.