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FARMER CITY, IL — July 5, 2019 — Gordy Gundaker pulled off a slide job on Shannon Babb through turns three and four coming to the checkers on Friday night at Farmer City Raceway to win his second consecutive DIRTcar Summer Nationals Feature.
Gundaker, Babb and Bobby Pierce battled back-and-forth over the final 10 laps for the $10,000 payday at the quarter-mile dirt oval before Gundaker drove it in hard and slid up in front of Babb for the win.
Twenty-nine DIRTcar Late Models signed up for the 29th visit to Farmer City Raceway for the DIRTcar Summer Nationals. Four-time “Hell Tour” Champion Babb set the front row with Gundaker in the 50-lap Feature.
Babb took command early over Pierce and Brian Shirley. Pierce challenged for the lead early on the bottom, but Babb had the top on lockdown. Pierce and Shirley fell into line on the top while Gundaker ran the bottom.
Lapped traffic helped Gundaker pass Shirley for third when Babb wobbled a bit in turns three and four allowing Pierce to close in. Pierce continued to attempt a pass on the bottom, but heavy lapped traffic slowed down Babb and Pierce as Gundaker closed. It was a three-car battle for the lead as your leaders caught heavy lapped traffic. One lapped car spun in front of the leaders, bringing out the caution, before Babb managed to brake enough to avoid contact.
On the restart Gundaker passed Pierce on the top for second and went after Babb. Pierce, Shirley and Kent Robinson went three-wide for third as Robinson came to life on the bottom in the late stages of the race.
Ten laps remained with Gundaker challenging Babb for the lead until Robinson spun in turn one to bring out a caution. Gundaker passed Babb on the restart then the two exchanged the lead back-to-back laps, being separated only by the blink of an eye at the line each lap.
With three laps to go, Pierce made it three-wide for the lead. Gundaker came to the white flag with lapped traffic on the bottom and Babb on his outside. Gundaker then pulled off the slide job on the lapped car and Babb to earn the victory.
Late Model Feature (50 Laps) – 1. 11-Gordy Gundaker [2]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb [1]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce [3]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley [4]; 5. 7R-Kent Robinson [7]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer [12]; 7. 25W-Allen Weisser [20]; 8. 33-Rodney Melvin [5]; 9. 89-Mike Spatola [14]; 10. 24-Ryan Unzicker [9]; 11. 4G-Bob Gardner [11]; 12. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk [19]; 13. 1W-Donny Walden [8]; 14. 31AUS-Paul Stubber [18]; 15. 13-David Jaeger [17]; 16. 25H-Chuck Hummer [22]; 17. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, Jr. [10]; 18. 10S-Taylor Scheffler [13]; 19. 25F-Jason Feger [16]; 20. 30-Mike Glasscock [21]; 21. 84-Myles Moos [15]; 22. B12-Kevin Weaver [6]; KSE Hard Charger Award: 25W-Allen Weisser[+13]
