Peck Picks Off All Star Win at Macon
The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume V, No. 26
Lonnie Wheatley, MACON, Ill. (June 10, 2017) – Intriguing best described the idea of Saturday night’s All Star Circuit of Champions return to the mighty Macon Speedway.
Would the cozy confines of the 1/5-mile clay oval be enough to accommodate the first All Star card since 2004, or would it be too cozy to confine the hard-hitting 410-ci engines of modern days?
It was a bit of both over the course of the night with Monrovia, Indiana’s Justin Peck ultimately picking off his first career All Star win after just a handful of winged 410-ci Sprint Car starts. He became the second first-time series winner in as many Illinois nights after Carson Macedo topped Friday’s action at Lincoln.
“We went over to Ohio a couple of weeks ago and pretty much got our butts spanked by this same bunch of guys,” the talented Midget shoe said after the win atop a track that he’s turned some laps upon in the smaller car.
Peck served notice in his heat race, rallying from the tail after an early incident to win his heat race sans nose wing.
And after starting fourth in the feature event, Peck needed just four laps to charge past Paul Nienhiser and then reigning All Star kingpin Chad Kemenah for the lead.
With several cautions to catch a breather or two along the way, Peck worked traffic impeccably to keep his chasers at bay as Nienhiser blasted past Kemenah for second on the 24th round.
Nienhiser closed in as the track began to lock down, challenging a time or two only to have Peck shut the door. A final couple of cautions in the final handful of laps gave Peck open track that paved the way to victory.
“I felt pretty good early when we were banging off the wall,” Peck said afterward. “Then I started to get nervous when it started to take rubber, when you’re out front you’re not sure if you’re in the right part of the track.
Chapin’s Nienhiser gave him a good hint.
“I saw Paul’s nose there and knew I had to get down there,” Peck said.
Once he did that, it was game over and the $5,000 check went to Peck with Nienhiser settling for second and Kemenah in third. Carson Macedo picked off a pair of positions to claim fourth with Tony Stewart rounding out the top five.
The Vitals
Series: All Star Circuit of Champions
Track: Macon Speedway (Macon, IL)
Car Count: 31
Quick Time: Chad Kemenah, 9.540 seconds.
Qualifying Moments: Sub-10 second qualifying laps were the norm with 15 of 31 entries under ten, though Kemenah’s quick time was shy of the track record of 9.399 seconds that he set on September 10, 2004.
Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Parker Price-Miller (2), Justin Peck (5), Max Stambaugh (1)
Heat Moments: Parker Price-Miller picked up the win in the first heat that ran off in non-stop fashion while the next two heats offered up nearly as many rest stops via cautions as laps completed; Peck bounced back from an early heat two incident to race through the field without a nose wing and around series boss Tony Stewart for the win; “Mad Max” Stambaugh and Friday winner Macedo mixed it up between cautions with the former holding on for the win.
Dash Winner (starting position in parentheses): Paul Nienhiser (3).
Dash Moments: Kemenah led early until Nienhiser rode the fence to take command for keeps.
“B” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses): Jimmy Hurley (4).
“B” Main Moments: Taking advantage of the lone caution (a turn two spin by Dylan Tuxhorn after seven of 12 rounds), Hurley battled past early leader Ryan Smith to take the win.
“A” Main Cautions: Eight
10 Laps – Logan Faucon loops it in turn three and continues on for more.
12 Laps – Kody Kinser turns it around in turn one.
17 Laps – The first red flag flies when Chris Urish gets on his tail in turn four with Jim Moughan collected. Second-runner Chad Kemenah along with Price-Miller and Armstrong get tangled as well, with Kemenah and Armstrong getting their spots back while PPM goes tailback after a trip to the work area.
18 Laps – The red flies again when Tyler Esh gets upside down in front of the flagstand with John Garvin in the mess as well. Both return for more with Esh getting fresh wingage.
25 Laps – Caleb Helms and Daniel Harding get tangled up in turn two.
32 Laps – A jumble brings Esh to another stop in turn four.
35 Laps – Kody Kinser and Helms tangle in turn four.
38 Laps – A Logan Faucon spin in turn three sets up the two-lap dash to the stripe.
“A” Main Hard Charger: Ryan Smith makes his way forward a total of nine positions from 20th to 11th.
The Box Score…
All Star Circuit of Champions – Macon Speedway (Macon, IL)
QUALIFYING: 1. 10h-Chad Kemenah 9.540, 2. 9x-Paul Nienhiser 9.552, 3. 7c-Caleb Armstrong 9.632, 4. 3g-Carson Macedo 9.650, 5. 1080-Jordan Mackison 9.773, 6. 14-Tony Stewart 9.795, 7. 2-Parker Price-Miller 9.843, 8. 8m-T.J. Michael 9.869, 9. 17-Caleb Helms 9.883, 10. 35-Tyler Esh 9.893, 11. 13-Brandon Matus 9.893, 12. 59-Ryan Smith 9.906, 13. 47-Jimmy Hurley 9.906, 14. 5x-Justin Peck 9.947, 15. 1m-Jim Moughan 9.973, 16. 33m-Max Stambaugh 10.015, 17. 44-A.J. Bruns 10.037, 18. 88-Terry Babb 10.054, 19. 95-Hunter Mackison 10.058, 20. 52F-Logan Faucon 10.090, 21. 77u-Chris Urish 10.090, 22. 4k-Kody Kinser 10.110, 23. 20n-Hunter Schuerenberg 10.152, 24. 22-Brandon Spithaler 10.162, 25. 12-Daniel Harding 10.236, 26. 9-Ryan Linder 10.267, 27. 9c-Roger Campbell 10.386, 28. 9T-Dylan Tuxhorn 10.727, 29. 51-John Garvin 10.907, 30. 33-Brent Matus 11.745, 31. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker 12.071.
First Heat: (10 laps) 1. 2-Parker Price-Miller (2), 2. 8m-T.J. Michael (1), 3. 7c-Caleb Armstrong (3), 4. 1m-Jim Moughan (7), 5. 10h-Chad Kemenah (4), 6. 17h-Caleb Helms (5), 7. 95-Hunter Mackison (9), 8. 9c-Roger Campbell (10), 9. 13-Brandon Matus (6), 10. 9T-Dylan Tuxhorn (11), 11. 88-Terry Babb (8).
Second Heat: (10 laps) 1. 5x-Justin Peck (5), 2. 14-Tony Stewart (2), 3. 20n-Hunter Schuerenberg (8), 4. 9x-Paul Nienhiser (4), 5. 51-John Garvin (8), 6. 52F-Logan Faucon (6), 7. 1080-Jordan Mackison (3), 8. 59-Ryan Smith (1), 9. 9-Ryan Linder (9), 10. 4k-Kody Kinser (7).
Third Heat: (10 laps) 1. 33m-Max Stambaugh (1), 2. 3g-Carson Macedo (4), 3. 77u-Chris Urish (6), 4. 35-Tyler Esh (3), 5. 22-Brandon Spithaler (7), 6. 12-Daniel Harding (8), 7. 44-A.J. Bruns (5), 8. 33-Brent Matus (9), 9. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker (10), 10. 47-Jimmy Hurley (2).
Dash: (6 laps) 1. 9x-Paul Nienhiser (3), 2. 10h-Chad Kemenah (2), 3. 2-Parker Price-Miller (4), 4. 5x-Justin Peck (5), 5. 14-Tony Stewart (8), 6. 3g-Carson Macedo (6), 7. 8m-T.J. Michael (1), 8. 33m-Max Stambaugh (7).
”B” Feature: (12 laps) 1. 47-Jimmy Hurley (4), 2. 59-Ryan Smith (3), 3. 88-Terry Babb (6), 4. 44-A.J. Bruns (5), 5. 4k-Kody Kinser (8), 6. 13-Brandon Matus (2), 7. 1080-Jordan Mackison (1), 8. 95-Hunter Mackison (7), 9. 33-Brent Matus (12), 10. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker (13), 11. 9T-Dylan Tuxhorn (11), 12. 9c-Roger Campbell (10). DNS: 9-Ryan Linder (9).
“A” FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. 5x-Justin Peck (4), 2. 9x-Paul Nienhiser (1), 3. 10h-Chad Kemenah (2), 4. 3g-Carson Macedo (6), 5. 14-Tony Stewart (5), 6. 7c-Caleb Armstrong (9), 7. 20n-Hunter Schuerenberg (11), 8. 8m-T.J. Michael (7), 9. 33m-Max Stambaugh (8), 10. 22-Brandon Spithaler (14), 11. 59-Ryan Smith (20), 12. 47-Jimmy Hurley (19), 13. 2-Parker Price-Miller (3), 14. 12-Daniel Harding (18), 15. 44-A.J. Bruns (22), 16. 51-John Garvin (15), 17. 17-Caleb Helms (16), 18. 1m-Jim Moughan (13), 19. 4k-Kody Kinser (23), 20. 52F-Logan Faucon (17), 21. 35-Tyler Esh (12), 22. 13-Brandon Matus (24), 23. 77u-Chris Urish (10), 24. 88-Terry Babb (21).
Lap Leaders: Chad Kemenah 1-3, Justin Peck 4-40.
The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2017 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings on a regular basis. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com and www.midgetmadness.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
