Shirley Leads Caution-Free Late Model Feature Flag-to-Flag at Farmer City
FARMER CITY, IL (July 7, 2023) – Nine minutes and 52 seconds is all Brian Shirley needed to assert his dominance over the star-studded DIRTcar Summer Nationals field at Farmer City Raceway.
Shirley, the four-time Hell Tour champion from Chatham, IL, put on a clinic Friday night, leading all 40 laps of the caution-free Feature en route to his fourth victory of the summer and 42nd of his career.
A stacked field of 44 DIRTcar Late Models lined the pit area for the third race of Week 4. Shirley won his Heat Race, which set him up to redraw the pole for the Feature. He took full advantage of his starting spot at the drop of the green and immediately jumped to the early lead over Dennis Erb Jr. and Ryan Unzicker.
Unzicker, winner on Thursday night at Macon Speedway, had a fast car on the bottom around the 1/4-mile track and got by Erb Jr. for second on Lap 14. While Shirley ripped around the top side and began to sort his way through lapped traffic, Unzicker began to close the gap behind him.
Within three laps, Unzicker had completely erased Shirley’s lead and nearly pulled even with him at one point, looking for a way around to take the top spot. Shirley acknowledged that somebody was knocking on the door and quickly cracked the whip.
“That was the biggest nerve wrack of it all, to be honest,” Shirley said. “I didn’t know who was in second, I just knew, at times, second was right there.”
After a few smart moves in traffic, Shirley was able to shake Unzicker’s wrath and sped away, stretching his lead out to over a full second again as the laps continued to wind down.
“I was more worried if I picked the right lane coming up on lapped traffic,” Shirley said. “I wasn’t worried about how good my car was. I felt like my car was good enough to win the race. Luckily, when I did get by them guys, I got to get back into my rhythm and get back in the lane I was running.”
From there on out, Shirley was never challenged again. He completed all 40 circuits around and crossed under the checkered flag in an elapsed time of nine minutes and 52 seconds to claim his second career Summer Nationals Feature win at Farmer City.
UP NEXT
Week 4 of the 38th annual DIRTcar Summer Nationals continues Saturday, July 8 with a visit to Highland Speedway in Highland, IL. Get a ticket at the gate or stream all the action live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[7]; 3. 96V-Tanner English[4]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 5. 12-Ashton Winger[2]; 6. 25-Jason Feger[6]; 7. 33-Mike Harrison[8]; 8. 42-Mckay Wenger[9]; 9. 26H-Kyle Hammer[12]; 10. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[13]; 11. 18-Shannon Babb[20]; 12. 4G-Bob Gardner[10]; 13. 91-Rusty Schlenk[17]; 14. 22H-Dustin Hodges[11]; 15. 31AUS-Kye Blight[19]; 16. 33H-Roben Huffman[21]; 17. 38-Thomas Hunziker[22]; 18. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[14]; 19. 1M-Mike Mataragas[16]; 20. B12-Kevin Weaver[15]; 21. 29-Spencer Diercks[18]; 22. 162-Logan Moody[5]
McKinney Goes Back-to-Back with Summit Modifieds After Late Pass at Farmer City
Starting from the sixth position, Mike McKinney said after the race, “I didn’t think I’d be able to do it.” And then, a door opened right in front of him.
McKinney, the 30-year-old UMP Modified ace from Plainfield, IL, had worked his way to third with 10 laps remaining in Friday’s DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature at Farmer City Raceway. The two drivers ahead of him – race leader Blake Brown and points leader Tyler Nicely – were in an intense battle for the lead when McKinney caught them in traffic and looked to the inside to make a move for the top spot.
As Brown and Nicely both pushed up the track through Turns 1-2, McKinney used the grip on the bottom lane and slipped past both of them out of Turn 4 to take the lead.
“The bottom was just the only lane open,” McKinney said. “There was a lot of grip down there. It was a little choppy, but I was able to make it work.”
McKinney sped away in traffic, but faced one final challenge in a green-white-checkered finish after the caution was thrown as McKinney was coming for the white flag.
“I really didn’t feel nearly as good,” McKinney said. “I don’t know if I had my tire kinda seal-up there a little bit, but I was really struggling those last few laps. I just knew that if I could keep running my line and hit my marks, I felt like we’d be pretty good.”
Despite his concerns, McKinney was able to hold on for his 18th career Summit Modified victory and second of his career in Summit Modified competition at Farmer City.
UP NEXT
Week 4 of Summit Modified racing continues Saturday, July 8 with a visit to Highland Speedway in Highland, IL. Get a ticket at the gate or stream all the action live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 96M-Mike McKinney[6]; 2. 37L-Michael Ledford[3]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville[18]; 4. 99B-Blake Brown[1]; 5. 66-Cole Falloway[8]; 6. 5CS-Curt Spalding[9]; 7. 89-Austin Friedman[2]; 8. 13-Charlie Mefford[5]; 9. 24Z-Zeke McKenzie[11]; 10. 5-Steven Brooks[10]; 11. 50-Tyler Weiss[13]; 12. 24T-Trevor Ringle[12]; 13. 77-Ray Bollinger[7]; 14. 130-Chase Allen[24]; 15. 99T-Tyler Loughmiller[22]; 16. 10K-Kelly Kovski[19]; 17. 150-Collin Alexander[20]; 18. 25-Tyler Nicely[4]; 19. 94-Tom Pasek[14]; 20. 0-Travis Kohler[16]; 21. 54-Zachary Hawk[21]; 22. 25W-Allen Weisser[15]; 23. 14-Caden McWhorter[23]; 24. 36-Kenny Wallace[17]
DIRTcar Summer Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: Chevy Performance (Official Vehicle), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Racing Electronics (Official Radio Supplier), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race. Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Beyea Custom Headers, CASE No.1 Engine Oil, COMP Cams, Fox Factory, MSD, Quarter Master, Summit Racing Equipment, and Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum). Along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FIREBULL, and Intercomp
Summit Modified Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including : Summit Racing Equipment, Chevy Performance (Official Vehicle), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Racing Electronics (Official Radio Supplier), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race. Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, CASE No.1 Engine Oil, COMP Cams, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, KSE Racing Products, Lifeline, MSD, Mulit FireX, Schoenfeld Headers, Swift Springs, Velocita USA, Wehrs Machine and Racing Products, Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum),and Xceldyne. Along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FIREBULL, Intercomp, and Simpson Performance Products.
Sources: Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar Racing PR