Nichols puts on show at Christian County Fair

(Taylorville, IL) The annual Christian County Ag Fair races were held this past Wednesday, July 20 and the action on track was excellent once again. Another solid field of cars was on hand with 20 Midwest Big Ten Street Stocks, 15 Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman, and 10 Hornets to race in front of a sizable crowd.

Lovington, IL driver Jeremy Nichols put on a show at this year’s fair races, which should not be a big surprise. Nichols came into the event with three Sportsman wins and four Street Stock wins over the last eight years. Wednesday night, Nichols added one more trophy in each class by taking the top two features.

Nichols started third in the Sportsman feature and passed Scott Landers to take the lead and the eventual win. What he did in the Big Ten Street Stock event was even more impressive. Nichols started 7th in the 20-car field of Street Stocks. Moving to the top lane of the track, Nichols passed car after car before taking the top spot from Megan Erwin for the victory.

The Hornet race saw Derrick DeFord and Allan Harris in a great battle at the front of the pack. DeFord led early but Harris got a great run to take the spot away. The Hornets went flag-to-flag in a competitive but clean race.

The Christian County Fair and Track Enterprises have been hosting one race date a year as part of the fair since 2014. Car counts and crowds have been noticeably better the last couple of seasons and the racing on track was at its best on Wednesday night.

Weddle Performance Engines Sportsman 15 Entries

A Feature 1 20 Laps

1. 18-Jeremy Nichols[3]; 2. 87-Wes O'Dell[1]; 3. 25-Dennis Vander Meersch[4]; 4. 41-Scott Landers[2]; 5. 21M-Dustin Moore[12]; 6. 21-Ed Cleeton[5]; 7. 11-Roy Magee[11]; 8. (DNF) 55-Tim Riech[9]; 9. (DNF) 07-Phil Moreland[6]; 10. (DNF) 84L-Jim Farley III[14]; 11. (DNF) 12M-Terry Myers[8]; 12. (DNF) 61-Stefan Bedinger[7]; 13. (DNS) 04-Steve Stine; 14. (DNS) 14-Cole Landers; 15. (DNS) 44-John Lewis

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 18-Jeremy Nichols[2]; 2. 41-Scott Landers[7]; 3. 21-Ed Cleeton[4]; 4. 61-Stefan Bedinger[1]; 5. 04-Steve Stine[3]; 6. 21M-Dustin Moore[5]; 7. 84L-Jim Farley III[6]; 8. 44-John Lewis[8]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 87-Wes O'Dell[6]; 2. 25-Dennis Vander Meersch[1]; 3. 07-Phil Moreland[2]; 4. 12M-Terry Myers[3]; 5. 55-Tim Riech[7]; 6. 11-Roy Magee[4]; 7. 14-Cole Landers[5]

51 Bistro Street Stocks 20 Entries

A Feature 1 20 Laps

1. 67-Jeremy Nichols[7]; 2. 20-Tanner Sullivan[2]; 3. R1-Jim Ransom[3]; 4. 2Z-Andy Zahnd[9]; 5. 42-Jesse Simmons[6]; 6. 11-Terry Reed[15]; 7. J98-Danny Smith[10]; 8. 14-Megan Erwin[1]; 9. 13-Ryan Blankenship[14]; 10. 45-Chandler Smith[17]; 11. 21R-Dustin Reed[12]; 12. 78B-Brad Peters[16]; 13. 53-Kipp Schaefer[13]; 14. (DNF) 16-Nick Macklin[11]; 15. (DNF) 21E-Eric Boomer[4]; 16. (DNF) 57-Jamie Suddarth[20]; 17. (DNF) 3J-Jonathon Hall[8]; 18. (DNF) 4-Zach Clark[5]; 19. (DNS) 43R-Austin Roach; 20. (DNS) 17-Bobby Beiler

Heat 1 8 Laps

1. 21E-Eric Boomer[1]; 2. 4-Zach Clark[3]; 3. 42-Jesse Simmons[6]; 4. J98-Danny Smith[5]; 5. 13-Ryan Blankenship[2]; 6. 45-Chandler Smith[4]; 7. 57-Jamie Suddarth[7]

Heat 2 8 Laps

1. 14-Megan Erwin[3]; 2. 2Z-Andy Zahnd[2]; 3. 67-Jeremy Nichols[6]; 4. 16-Nick Macklin[1]; 5. 11-Terry Reed[5]; 6. 78B-Brad Peters[7]; 7. 17-Bobby Beiler[4]

Heat 3 8 Laps

1. 20-Tanner Sullivan[2]; 2. R1-Jim Ransom[5]; 3. 3J-Jonathon Hall[6]; 4. 21R-Dustin Reed[3]; 5. 53-Kipp Schaefer[1]; 6. 43R-Austin Roach[4]

Hornets 10 Entries

A Feature 1 12 Laps

1. 3H-Allan Harris[2]; 2. 11-Derrick DeFord[1]; 3. E77-Erik Vanapeldoorn[4]; 4. 21-Mike Eskew[5]; 5. 34-Billy Mason[7]; 6. 2-Ken Reed[8]; 7. 14-John Goveia[6]; 8. 20-Casey Eskew[9]; 9. (DNF) 15-David Lauritson[3]; 10. (DNF) 15T-Taryn Page[10]

Heat 1 6 Laps

1. 3H-Allan Harris[1]; 2. 11-Derrick DeFord[10]; 3. 15-David Lauritson[2]; 4. E77-Erik Vanapeldoorn[6]; 5. 21-Mike Eskew[8]; 6. 14-John Goveia[3]; 7. 34-Billy Mason[7]; 8. 2-Ken Reed[4]; 9. 20-Casey Eskew[9]; 10. 15T-Taryn Page[5]