McKinney, Drake, Moos, Crouch, Meiferdt score Memorial Day Roundup Victories

by Rocky Ragusa

122 race cars took part in the racing action Saturday night as the Fairbury American Legion Speedway played host to the Memorial Day Weekend Roundup which saw increased purses in each class. Feature race winners were Mike McKinney (Modified), Billy Drake (Late Model), Myles Moos (Pro Late Model), Amber Crouch (Sportsman), and AJ Meiferdt (Street Stock).

The American Modified Series returned to FALS for the first of two appearances this season with 37 cars in attendance. Defending track champion Mike McKinney took fast time with a 14.093. Chris Arnold, Josh Harris, McKinney, and Trent Young were the heat race winners. TD Burger and Jeffrey Ledford transferred to the main race by winning the two semi-features. Following a caution period, McKinney using the top groove, overtook Jeff Leka to take the lead. McKinney was able to fend off all challengers for his first win of the season and a $2,000 payday. “It has been a tough opening for us after tearing up the car at Farmer City,” commented McKinney. “It is an honor to race with Jeff Leka and I have a ton of respect for him. He drove an interesting line, running the middle groove. There wasn’t a lot of room at the top or bottom, but I was finally able to get by him on that restart.” Jeff Curl rallied late to take second over Steven Brooks, with Leka, Danny Schwartz, Harris, Tyler Nicely, Jeffrey Ledford, Gabe Menser, and Mike Harrison rounding out the top ten. Jimmy Dehm finished 11th after starting 23rd to pick up the race’s hard charger honors.