Shannon Babb scored the MARS win at Fairbury
Shannon Babb came to familiar territory on Saturday night in search of a feature win and left the Fairbury Speedway with exactly that. The popular driver had to fight off challenges from some of the best in the Midwest in order to end his night in MARS Late Model Championship victory lane.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Moweaqua, Illinois earned $5,000 for his efforts on the Fairbury, Illinois track in a race aired live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 32 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results:
Group A Results- 1. Mckay Wenger(12.862), 2. Tyler Erb, 3. Chase Osterhoff, 4. Ryan Unzicker, 5. Jake Little, 6. Jason Wenger, 7. Mike Spatola, 8. Rodney Melvin
Group B Results- 1. Brian Shirley(13.011), 2. Bob Gardner, 3. Brandon Sheppard, 4. Frank Heckenast Jr., 5. Drake Troutman, 6. Logan Nickerson, 7. Kyle Hammer, 8. Taylor Scheffler
Heat 1 Results: 1. Mckay Wenger, 2. Shannon Babb, 3. Chase Osterhoff, 4. Mike Spatola
Heat 2 Results: 1. Ryan Unzicker, 2. Tyler Erb, 3. Jason Wenger, 4. Jason Feger
Heat 3 Results: 1. Brian Shirley, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Drake Troutman, 4. Kyle Hammer
Heat 4 Results: 1. Bob Gardner, 2. Logan Nickerson, 3. Frank Heckenast Jr., 4. Billy Hough
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Jake Little, 2. Mike Harrison
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Tommy Sheppard, 2. Mark Voigt
Feature Re-cap: When the 40-lap main event took the green it was Unzicker who powered to the lead with Wenger, Shirley, Gardner and Sheppard trailing. Sheppard moved around Gardner to grab fourth on the second circuit then Babb also passed by Gardner to stake claim to fifth on the third lap.
Shirley wrested second away from Wenger on lap 5. Three laps later, the No. 3s would take the lead away from Uzicker just before Spatola spun to bring out a caution on lap 9.
On the restart, Babb jumped to second then quickly moved in to fight with Shirley for the race lead. At the same time, Sheppard and Wenger engaged in a battle for fourth just behind Unzicker. On lap 17, Sheppard claimed the fourth position,
Babb made a successful bid for the lead on lap 19 pushing Shirley back to the runner-up spot. A lap 19 yellow flag waved when Osterhoff got into the backstretch wall.
At the time of the lap 19 caution Babb led Shirley, Unzicker, Sheppard and Wenger. However, Wenger pulled into the pit area for a tire change.
Unzicker went back to second on the restart as the top-4 of Babb, Unzicker, Shirley and Sheppard engaged in a furious battle for position. A caution slowed the action again on lap 22.
Shirley moved back to second on the lap 22 restart while Heckenast rose to fourth with cars racing all over the quarter-mile track. By lap 28, Babb had begun to slip away from the battle for second between Shirley and Sheppard. Further back, Troutman burst into the top-5 with less than 10 laps remaining.
Sheppard closed in on Babb as the top-2 cars worked through slower traffic. On multiple occasions, Sheppard would pull side-by-side with Babb but the No. 18 car used the high side of the track its advantage and held the top spot. On the last lap, Sheppard again made a bid to steal the win but Babb won the drag race to the checkered flag to score the win.
Feature Results: 1. Shannon Babb, 2. Brandon Sheppard, 3. Brian Shirley, 4. Drake Troutman, 5. Ryan Unzicker, 6. Jason Feger, 7. Frank Heckenast Jr., 8. Bob Gardner, 9. Taylor Scheffler, 10. Mike Harmon, 11. Logan Nickerson, 12. Kyle Hammer, 13. Mike Spatola, 14. Jason Wenger, 15. Jake Little, 16. Mckay Wenger, 17. Tommy Sheppard, 18. Billy Hough, 19. Mark Voigt, 20. Tyler Erb, 21. Chase Osterhoff, 22. Kevin Weaver
Please consider also reading:
Tyler Erb scores thrilling triumph in MARS feature at Brownstown Bullring
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