Tri-City Speedway
Babb mails home $10,000 with FedEx 50 victory
From track and staff reports
Shannon Babb (18) topped Billy Faust (92) at Tri-City. (Jimmy Dearing stlracing.com)
GRANITE CITY, Ill. (Sept. 21-22) — Shannon Babb's switch to a Bob Pierce Race Car hasn't come without its speed bumps. But the Moweaqua, Ill., driver ironed those out at Tri-City Speedway for a $10,000 victory in the FedEx 50. | Slideshow
The polesitting Babb overtook early leader Billy Faust of Lebanon, Ill., on the 15th lap and led the rest of the way while steering his race car wherever he needed to go.
"We were pretty versatile," said Babb, who ran high early before moving down low later in the United Midwestern Promoters-sanctioned race. "We could go to the top or the bottom or whatever I needed to do."
Babb fell as far as 10 lengths behind Faust in the early going before sweeping past and setting a scorching pace on the 3/8-mile oval, a track shortened from a half-mile preceding the season.
Faust never lost sight of the leader, however, and was able to nose into contention as the laps wound down. "With about three or four laps to go, I started getting a little close and thought I was going to have a shot," Faust said. "But then he kind of got away from me; I think I had to slow up for a lapped car or something."
Billy Moyer advanced from his eighth starting spot — "I ran every inch of that thing trying to find somewhere I could go" — to finish third ahead of Rodney Melvin and Randy Korte. Track champion Bryan Collins ended up sixth.
Notebook
Babb's Pierce Race Car is sponsored by Car City and J&J Steel. ... The event drew 32 cars. ... Babb, Billy Faust and Rodney Melvin won heat races. ... Brian Dively won the consolation race. ... Tri-City's season is winding down, but a few more events remain. A regular program, including UMP Late Models� and CARS crate Late Models, is scheduled for Sept. 28. Sprints and midgets taking over on Oct. 7 while the second annual CARS Fall Nationals are scheduled for Oct. 13.
FedEx 50: (1) Shannon Babb, (2) Billy Faust, (3) Billy Moyer, (4) Rodney Melvin, (5) Randy Korte, (6) Bryan Collins, (7) Don O'Neal, (8) Mark Oller, (9) Dewayne Kiefer, (10) Mark Faust, (11) Frankie Martin, (12) Mike Schulte, (13) Ryan Dauber, (14) Brian Dively, (15) Chad Zobrist, (16) Rich Lawson, (17) Matt Taylor, (18) Ryan Little, (19) Terry Babb, (20) Steven Unterbrink, (21) Chris Fetter, (22) Reid Millard, (23) Bill Williamsn, (24) Michael Kloos.
