DIRTcar Summer Nationals / Summit Modifieds

History continues to follow Shannon Babb. Fairbury Speedway was the scene of the latest chapter in his history-making campaign Saturday night with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.

Babb fended off Tanner English in a thrilling battle to secure win No. 104 of his illustrious career with the Hell Tour, leading all but three laps of the main event to score the $10,000 check and his second win in the first three series events.

The battle for the lead started right away, as Babb and English battled side-by-side for nearly all of the first six laps. English led the first three laps before Babb was able to clear the No. 96 on Lap 4.

Babb held strong out front through the first half of the 50-lap grind. But then came a restart on Lap 26 where Babb bobbled on the cushion in turn two, allowing English to get to his inside. Despite the slip, Babb continued to rip the cushion and was able to recover with a deep dive into Turns 3 and 4 to maintain the top spot.

A caution on Lap 30 brought English right back in contention for the lead as he took advantage of another Babb bobble on the cushion to pull even. However, Babb still retained the lead with his top side momentum.

Cautions on Lap 35 and Lap 42 gave English more opportunities to pounce but the Benton, KY-racer was unable to find enough momentum around the inside of the track to clear Babb, who was relentless on the top.

Babb continued to pound the cushion around Fairbury and led the field back to the checkered flag ahead of English, Chris Simpson in third, Ryan Unzicker up 18 spots to finish fourth and Jason Feger completing the top five.

“Some days it goes your ways and other days it doesn’t, but we’re really blessed to be having things go our way,” Babb said of his hot start to Week 1 on tour. “I feel like we’ve always been capable of doing it if we could ever hit on the right setup and we’ve had some really good friends help us point us in the right direction and we’ve got some really good sponsors behind it.”

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals heads north to Sycamore Speedway in Sycamore, IL on Sunday, June 14. Tickets for the event will be available at the track on race day.

How can you watch the DIRTcar Summer Nationals? Every race is streamed live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 2. 96-Tanner English[1]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[9]; 4. 24-Ryan Unzicker[22]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[6]; 6. 75A-Daniel Adam[21]; 7. 42W-Mckay Wenger[2]; 8. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[10]; 9. 15-Clay Stuckey[12]; 10. 09-Michael Leach[15]; 11. 10J-Jordan Bauer[18]; 12. 4G-Bob Gardner[7]; 13. 21B-Rich Bell[24]; 14. 8-Matthew Larson[14]; 15. 22M-Sean Mattingly[19]; 16. Z61-Alex Wilson[23]; 17. 31M-Tyler Millwood[5]; 18. 74-Mitch McGrath[13]; 19. 1W-Donny Walden[8]; 20. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 21. 33-Mike Harrison[16]; 22. B12-Kevin Weaver[17]; 23. 89-Mike Spatola[11]; 24. T2-Brayton Wallace[20]

A big win on a big stage in Illinois has been a long time coming for Zeke McKenzie. Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway, he finally got it.

The Claypool, IN-native returned to Victory Lane with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals for the first time since 2020, besting six-time series champion Mike Harrison in a thrilling back-and-forth battle in the closing laps.

That first win, coming nearly six years ago at Kokomo Speedway, was special. But this one, driving his self-built Vanquish Race Cars brand, meant that much more on the big stage of America’s Dirt Track.

“We’ve really been working on our program and our stuff’s been better and I feel like I’ve been driving better,” McKenzie said. “A win like this gives you a chip on your shoulder a little bit and it definitely makes you know our stuff’s good and gives you a little momentum in the next one.”

The opening circuit of the 30-lap Feature was led by McKenzie’s No. 24 machine. But outside polesitter Ray Bollinger used the cushion in turns three and four to find the momentum needed to take the lead from McKenzie on Lap 3.

Both drivers swapped the lead multiple times with McKenzie using the low lane around Fairbury and Bollinger continuing to pound the top.

Four lead changes in seven laps ensued with McKenzie taking the lead back and building a small advantage before a Lap 13 caution backed him up to Bollinger on the restart.

The restart saw a three-wide battle for the lead with Harrison utilizing the late race restart and coming out on top on Lap 24.

McKenzie did what he did all night and trusted the bottom lane that got him into that spot and retook the lead on Lap 26.

“I was committed to the bottom because it was the smoother route and I knew if I could keep my car from bouncing, I usually have a lot of traction. I probably outran the two best cushion bangers on the bottom.”  McKenzie said.

McKenzie rolled the bottom all the way to Victory Lane, ending a six-year drought with the Summit Modifieds over Harrison, Curt Spalding from eighth, Bollinger and Lyndon Whitfill.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals takes the next five days off before returning to action on Friday, June 19th at Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL. Tickets for the event will be on sale at the track on race day.

How can you watch the DIRTcar Summit Modifieds? Every race is broadcasted live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Zeke McKenzie[1]; 2. 24H-Mike Harrison[5]; 3. 5CS-Curt Spalding[8]; 4. 77-Ray Bollinger[2]; 5. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[6]; 6. 96M-Mike McKinney[9]; 7. 110-Landen Miller[7]; 8. 389-Carson Friedman[14]; 9. 18L-Michael Long[11]; 10. 10Y-Trent Young[12]; 11. 99-Justin Haley[22]; 12. 7-Brad DeYoung[13]; 13. 15H-Jeff Hamby[21]; 14. (DNF) B5-Matthew Baker[24]; 15. (DNF) 05-Dave Wietholder[15]; 16. (DNF) 777-Trevor Neville[10]; 17. (DNF) 88S-Alan Stipp[16]; 18. (DNF) 0-Damian Kiefer[3]; 19. (DNF) 27B-Kyle Barker[20]; 20. (DNF) 5-Steven Brooks[19]; 21. (DNF) 89-Austin Friedman[18]; 22. (DNF) 21A-Nick Allen[17]; 23. (DNF) 12-Jeff Curl[23]; 24. (DNF) 1TS-Tyler Spalding[4]