Babb Outduels English at Fairbury for Second Win in Three Races
Photo by Tim Hunt
FAIRBURY, Ill.—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.
DIRTCAR LATE MODEL RESULTS (41 entries)
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]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. B12-Kevin Weaver[7]; 2. 22M-Sean Mattingly[1]; 3. 45-Kyle Hammer[5]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[3]; 5. 87-Jake Rainey[4]; 6. 30-Mark Voigt[6]; 7. 334-Billy Hough[9]; 8. 75A-Daniel Adam[8]; 9. 729-Mike Winn[13]; 10. 42-Chad Finley[2]; 11. 24-Ryan Unzicker[11]; 12. (DNS) K67-Braiden Keller; 13. (DNS) 4D-Doug Tye
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10J-Jordan Bauer[1]; 2. T2-Brayton Wallace[8]; 3. 17SR-Brody Smith[6]; 4. 21B-Rich Bell[9]; 5. 37L-Michael Ledford[2]; 6. 1M-Mike Mataragas[5]; 7. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford[7]; 8. 38J-Jake Little[3]; 9. 05-Tyler Leach[12]; 10. Z61-Alex Wilson[11]; 11. 33H-Roben Huffman[4]; 12. (DNS) BK3-Billy Knippenberg III
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 42W-Mckay Wenger[1]; 2. 31M-Tyler Millwood[3]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[2]; 4. 74-Mitch McGrath[7]; 5. 22M-Sean Mattingly[9]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[4]; 7. 45-Kyle Hammer[5]; 8. B12-Kevin Weaver[8]; 9. 334-Billy Hough[10]; 10. 24-Ryan Unzicker[6]; 11. 729-Mike Winn[11]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 4G-Bob Gardner[2]; 3. 89-Mike Spatola[3]; 4. 09-Michael Leach[5]; 5. 42-Chad Finley[6]; 6. 87-Jake Rainey[9]; 7. 30-Mark Voigt[8]; 8. 75A-Daniel Adam[4]; 9. (DNS) K67-Braiden Keller; 10. (DNS) 4D-Doug Tye
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[1]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 4. 8-Matthew Larson[5]; 5. 10J-Jordan Bauer[7]; 6. 38J-Jake Little[9]; 7. 1M-Mike Mataragas[6]; 8. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford[2]; 9. 21B-Rich Bell[8]; 10. Z61-Alex Wilson[10]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 96-Tanner English[1]; 2. 1W-Donny Walden[2]; 3. 15-Clay Stuckey[5]; 4. 33-Mike Harrison[4]; 5. 37L-Michael Ledford[3]; 6. 33H-Roben Huffman[10]; 7. 17SR-Brody Smith[6]; 8. T2-Brayton Wallace[7]; 9. BK3-Billy Knippenberg III[9]; 10. (DNF) 05-Tyler Leach[8]
Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 42W-Mckay Wenger, 12.643[15]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley, 12.658[21]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson, 12.659[2]; 4. 4G-Bob Gardner, 12.683[18]; 5. 31M-Tyler Millwood, 12.714[7]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola, 12.727[16]; 7. 21-Billy Moyer Sr, 12.749[13]; 8. 75A-Daniel Adam, 12.857[11]; 9. 45-Kyle Hammer, 12.865[10]; 10. 09-Michael Leach, 12.877[6]; 11. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 12.902[5]; 12. 42-Chad Finley, 12.904[19]; 13. 74-Mitch McGrath, 12.929[4]; 14. K67-Braiden Keller, 12.950[17]; 15. B12-Kevin Weaver, 13.008[1]; 16. 30-Mark Voigt, 13.069[9]; 17. 22M-Sean Mattingly, 13.105[3]; 18. 87-Jake Rainey, 13.158[14]; 19. 334-Billy Hough, 13.333[8]; 20. 4D-Doug Tye, 13.454[12]; 21. 729-Mike Winn, 13.472[20]
Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb, 12.561[15]; 2. 96-Tanner English, 12.627[3]; 3. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford, 12.693[4]; 4. 1W-Donny Walden, 12.703[16]; 5. 25-Jason Feger, 12.726[14]; 6. 37L-Michael Ledford, 12.782[6]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 12.821[18]; 8. 33-Mike Harrison, 12.822[2]; 9. 8-Matthew Larson, 12.827[12]; 10. 15-Clay Stuckey, 12.833[7]; 11. 1M-Mike Mataragas, 12.875[1]; 12. 17SR-Brody Smith, 12.957[13]; 13. 10J-Jordan Bauer, 12.989[10]; 14. T2-Brayton Wallace, 12.998[17]; 15. 21B-Rich Bell, 13.015[20]; 16. 05-Tyler Leach, 13.041[9]; 17. 38J-Jake Little, 13.050[19]; 18. BK3-Billy Knippenberg III, 13.063[8]; 19. Z61-Alex Wilson, 13.077[11]; 20. 33H-Roben Huffman, 13.703[5]
CURRENT DIRTCAR SUMMER NATIONALS WEEK 1 STANDINGS
Points Updated: June 13, 2026
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 96 Tanner English Benton, KY 216 3 0 3 3
2 25 Jason Feger Bloomington, IL 191 -25 3 1 2 3
3 18 Shannon Babb Moweaqua, IL 190 -26 3 2 2 2
4 4G Bob Gardner Washington, IL 158 -58 3 0 1 2
5 75A Daniel Adam Peru, IL 153 -63 3 0 1 2
6 99JR Frank Heckenast Frankfort, IL 152 -64 3 0 1 2
7 09 Michael Leach Sun River, MT 147 -69 3 0 1 2
8 15 Clay Stuckey Shreveport, LA 139 -77 3 0 0 2
9 24 Ryan Unzicker El Paso, IL 137 -79 2 0 2 2
10 10J Jordan Bauer St. Jacob, IL 129 -87 3 0 0 1
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McKenzie Outduels Harrison at Fairbury for Biggest Career Summit Modified Victory
FAIRBURY, Ill. -- 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.
DIRTCAR UMP MODIFIED RESULTS (37 entries)
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]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21A-Nick Allen[1]; 2. 5-Steven Brooks[2]; 3. 10M-Chris Morefield[5]; 4. 99-Justin Haley[4]; 5. 21D-John Dimmitt[3]; 6. 98-Timothy Meine[7]; 7. 2M-Scott McDonald[9]; 8. 12-Jeff Curl[10]; 9. 36-Eric Vaughan[6]; 10. M16-Blake Monroe[8]; 11. 21G-Coltin Grace[11]
Last Chance Showdown 2 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Austin Friedman[1]; 2. 27B-Kyle Barker[6]; 3. B5-Matthew Baker[2]; 4. 15H-Jeff Hamby[7]; 5. 74S-Chris Sieweke[5]; 6. 28M-Frank Marshall[4]; 7. 3Z-Jake Bachtold[9]; 8. 44T-Wyatt Thompson[10]; 9. 01K-Billy Knippenberg[3]; 10. (DNS) B4U-Brad Eitniear
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Zeke McKenzie[2]; 2. 24H-Mike Harrison[3]; 3. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 4. 7-Brad DeYoung[5]; 5. 21A-Nick Allen[1]; 6. 21D-John Dimmitt[7]; 7. 10M-Chris Morefield[9]; 8. 98-Timothy Meine[8]; 9. 2M-Scott McDonald[10]; 10. 21G-Coltin Grace[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Damian Kiefer[1]; 2. 110-Landen Miller[2]; 3. 18L-Michael Long[3]; 4. 05-Dave Wietholder[6]; 5. 5-Steven Brooks[4]; 6. 99-Justin Haley[7]; 7. 36-Eric Vaughan[8]; 8. M16-Blake Monroe[9]; 9. (DNF) 12-Jeff Curl[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Ray Bollinger[2]; 2. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[1]; 3. 777-Trevor Neville[3]; 4. 389-Carson Friedman[6]; 5. 89-Austin Friedman[4]; 6. 01K-Billy Knippenberg[7]; 7. 74S-Chris Sieweke[9]; 8. 15H-Jeff Hamby[5]; 9. 3Z-Jake Bachtold[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[1]; 2. 5CS-Curt Spalding[2]; 3. 10Y-Trent Young[3]; 4. 88S-Alan Stipp[4]; 5. B5-Matthew Baker[5]; 6. 28M-Frank Marshall[6]; 7. 27B-Kyle Barker[8]; 8. B4U-Brad Eitniear[7]; 9. 44T-Wyatt Thompson[9]
Qualifying A (3 Laps): 1. 21A-Nick Allen, 13.976[17]; 2. 0-Damian Kiefer, 13.980[18]; 3. 24-Zeke McKenzie, 13.991[14]; 4. 110-Landen Miller, 13.992[15]; 5. 24H-Mike Harrison, 14.015[2]; 6. 18L-Michael Long, 14.021[3]; 7. 96M-Mike McKinney, 14.049[11]; 8. 5-Steven Brooks, 14.099[12]; 9. 7-Brad DeYoung, 14.111[16]; 10. 12-Jeff Curl, 14.286[13]; 11. 21G-Coltin Grace, 14.347[8]; 12. 05-Dave Wietholder, 14.366[1]; 13. 21D-John Dimmitt, 14.370[9]; 14. 99-Justin Haley, 14.386[6]; 15. 98-Timothy Meine, 14.407[4]; 16. 36-Eric Vaughan, 14.555[19]; 17. 10M-Chris Morefield, 14.571[5]; 18. M16-Blake Monroe, 14.691[10]; 19. 2M-Scott McDonald, 14.733[7]
Qualifying B (3 Laps): 1. 21-Lyndon Whitfill, 13.746[10]; 2. 1TS-Tyler Spalding, 13.760[12]; 3. 77-Ray Bollinger, 13.843[16]; 4. 5CS-Curt Spalding, 13.876[3]; 5. 777-Trevor Neville, 13.916[4]; 6. 10Y-Trent Young, 14.091[2]; 7. 89-Austin Friedman, 14.124[9]; 8. 88S-Alan Stipp, 14.125[6]; 9. 15H-Jeff Hamby, 14.142[11]; 10. B5-Matthew Baker, 14.147[14]; 11. 389-Carson Friedman, 14.189[5]; 12. 28M-Frank Marshall, 14.235[17]; 13. 01K-Billy Knippenberg, 14.346[15]; 14. B4U-Brad Eitniear, 14.373[18]; 15. 3Z-Jake Bachtold, 14.480[7]; 16. 27B-Kyle Barker, 14.508[1]; 17. 74S-Chris Sieweke, 14.691[13]; 18. 44T-Wyatt Thompson, 15.673[8]
CURRENT SUMMIT RACING MODIFIED TOUR STANDINGS
Points Updated: June 13, 2026
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 77 Ray Bollinger Kewanee, IL 196 3 0 3 3
2 24Z Zeke McKenzie Claypool, IN 191 -5 3 1 3 3
3 24H Mike Harrison Highland, IL 145 -51 2 1 2 2
4 15H Jeff Hamby Lancing, TN 119 -77 3 0 0 1
5 99 Justin Haley Winamac, IN 104 -92 3 0 0 0
6 0K Damian Kiefer Ste Genevieve, MO 103 -93 2 0 1 1
7 J24 Jeremy Nichols Findlay, IL 102 -94 2 0 1 2
8 24 Brayden Doyle Ashmore, IL 95 -101 2 0 0 2
9 74S Chris Sieweke Santa Rosa, CA 95 -101 1 0 0 0
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