Ewing, Allen, Dutlinger Fair Night Victor's (click here)
The first Wednesday in August generally means it time to go racing at the Kankakee County Fair. The weather could not have been any more ideal, and track conditions despite being drier than usual, provided three, sometimes four groove racing for those attending the opening night of Kankakee's County Fair.
Kicking things off were the UMP Pro Late Models where Dakota Ewing of Warrensburg, IL made a rare visit and grabbed the lead early on and never looked back. One of the best in the state of Illinois earned his second career win at Kankakee County Speedway as he ran away from 13th starting Austin McCarty, Matt Hammond, both of Bourbonnais, Jammie Wilson of Hoopeston and Axel Wicker of Kankakee.
Fast qualifier Ben Kirchner of Kankakee and Ewing garnered heat race wins.
In UMP Modified action it was Nick Allen of Wheatfield edging out fellow Wheatfield native Brad Deyoung by .356 seconds for the 25-lap, $1000 to win feature event. A late race caution allowed Deyoung to erase the sizable lead Allen had built and actually put himself out front momentarily before Allen would power by using the high side momentum.
Rounding out the top five was Jamie Lomax of Lake Village, IN, Travis Kohler of Morris and Jason Hastings of Kankakee.
Though the victories have been sparse for Allen in recent years due to his schedule, the wheelman earned his 39th career feature win ranking him first all-time in the open-wheel division.
Fast qualifier Allen and Trevor Neville of Mackinaw netted preliminary heat race wins.
Closing out the evening were the always thrilling UMP Sport Compacts and Stock 4 Cylinders. Once again it was national point leader Jimmy Dutlinger of Peoria, IL traveling to victory lane for the sixth time this season. Dutlinger was able to hold off a late race rally by Joshua Wright of Danville by .16 seconds, who finished comfortably ahead of national point runner-up David Lauritson of Normal, Dale Kohler of Clifton, and Scott Glassford of Kankakee. Needless to say Glassford earned his fourth consecutive trip onto the victory lane podium in the Stock 4 cylinder division.
Lauritson and Dutlinger grabbed heat race honors while Wright was the fast qualifier.
Regular racing returns to the Kankakee County Speedway on Friday, August 18th.