Austin McCarty wins 2nd big pay feature of 2025 at Kankakee County Speedway

After monsoon-like rains in the middle of last week put last Friday night’s racing at Kankakee County Speedway in jeopardy, track officials and volunteers spent countless hours drying and working on the quarter-mile dirt track in time for a jam-packed night of eight different feature races.

The big pay race of the weekend came in the pro late model division, where Osterhoff Fence presented $1,200 to the feature winner.

For the second time this season, defending pro late model champion and Bourbonnais native Austin McCarty won the feature race on the division’s big pay night, holding off fellow pro late model stars Chase Osterhoff and Matt Hammond to the checkered flag. With the win, McCarty holds a 10-point lead on Hammond and 29-point lead on Osterhoff in the season standings, sitting at 280 points.

Another Bourbonnais native and defending track champion, Steven Brooks, was the modified feature winner Friday night from the pole position. Brooks and Brad DeYoung are now tied for the divisional points lead with 75 points apiece, both five points up on Mike McKinney in a class that currently has 10 drivers separated by a total of 25 points.

Coal City’s Nick Seplak was the class of the stock car field Friday, besting points leader Jerrad Krick for the feature victory. He was one of two Coal City residents to earn a feature win Friday night, as Cody Clubb was victorious in the vintage car feature, giving him a five-point lead on Adam Pockrus in the season standings.

A third defending track champion won feature action last Friday, Trevor Bitterling in the factory stocks, besting pole-sitter John Strawser. Bitterling now also holds a five-point lead on Strawser in the 2025 championship race as the season reaches the summer stage.

There were a pair of feature races in the sport compact division. The A feature was a family affair, as Matthew Mackey Jr. beat Matt Mackey to the checkered flag. Josh Fenli, who finished 15th in the A feature, won the B feature.

There was also action in the crown victoria class, where one Joliet resident, Michael Sklodowski, bested another Joliet resident, Phil Bloch. Current points leader Adam Thibo finished third.

The next night of racing will be Friday, with plenty of special action planned. It’s the third annual Lee Hall Memorial, featuring a $2,690 payday to the factory stock feature winner and $2,590 payday to the stock feature winner. The American Sprint Car tour will also hit the Kankakee dirt, as will the pro late model, pro modified, sport compact and crown victoria divisions.

DIRTcar Pro Late Models

Feature $1200 to win (25 Laps): 1. 10M-Austin Mccarty[4]; 2. 19-Chad Osterhoff[5]; 3. 818-Matt Hammond[6]; 4. BK3-Billy Knippenberg III[10]; 5. 18C-John Provenzano[12]; 6. X3-Ben Kirchner[8]; 7. 56-Brandon Pralle[11]; 8. M77-Joe Rokos[14]; 9. 3-Sam Moore[7]; 10. 97M-Michael Marden[13]; 11. 47-Dan Kuhn[1]; 12. 729-Mike Winn[15]; 13. 63-Stuart Hicks[18]; 14. 41-Logan Nesselrodt[16]; 15. (DNF) 37-Konnor Gaskin[20]; 16. (DNF) 05-Gary Schalmo[2]; 17. (DNF) 84-Sam Halstead[3]; 18. (DNF) 83-Brandon Williams[19]; 19. (DNF) 35-Jeff Moore[9]; 20. (DNF) 25-Luke Robbins[17]

DIRTcar UMP Modifieds

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 5-Steven Brooks[1]; 2. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 3. 21A-Nick Allen[2]; 4. 0-Travis Kohler[3]; 5. 42-Justin Gregory[7]; 6. 35-Jason Hastings[5]; 7. 48-Adam Pockrus[8]; 8. 25S-Jake Straka[6]; 9. 71J-Justin VanDrunen[9]; 10. 22-Peter Argianas[10]; 11. (DNF) 68W-Damion Wilmoth[12]; 12. (DNS) 42T-Ric Trulock

DIRTcar Stock Car

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 11S-Nick Seplak[4]; 2. 99K-Jerrad Krick[5]; 3. 10H-Don Hilleray[9]; 4. 27-Reid Gall[2]; 5. 01-Joe Hillman[7]; 6. 127-Jace Gall[6]; 7. 52P-Steve Perkins[3]; 8. 43-Dustin Hubert[10]; 9. 41B-Chad Bales[11]; 10. 18-Sam Casko[8]; 11. 7-Joe Steurer[12]; 12. (DNF) K1-Allen Provenzano[1]

DIRTcar Factory Stock

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. X225-Trevor Bitterling[3]; 2. 11S-John Strawser[1]; 3. 22-Nathan Arterberry[2]; 4. 36L-Hayden Lomax[4]; 5. 43-Brent Gregory[5]; 6. 42-Jesse Simmons[6]; 7. 21K-Jacob Kolwyck[9]; 8. 43C-Ryan Coley[12]; 9. 8-David Hurst[8]; 10. 416-Kaleb Layhew[7]; 11. Z42-Zack Simmons[10]; 12. 19-Duncan Auter[11]; 13. A28-Liam Strader[14]; 14. (DNS) 9-Ryan Arnett

DIRTcar Sport Compact

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 01JR-Matthew Mackey Jr[1]; 2. 01-Matt Mackey[3]; 3. 30J-Nick Johnson[7]; 4. 79-Ryan Harbaugh[10]; 5. 83-Jeff Van Beek[6]; 6. B55-Haylee Mackey[13]; 7. 50R-Evan Eckhoff[9]; 8. 70R-Matt Radtke[11]; 9. 17JC-Jace Cooper[12]; 10. 13K-Chris Kuiper[15]; 11. 21M-Aaron Mainard[17]; 12. 00R-Rowen Ramsey[14]; 13. 22J-Jeffery Naese[19]; 14. 65-Samantha Fuller[18]; 15. S10-Josh Fenli[16]; 16. (DNF) 10-Jeremy Hanna[5]; 17. (DNF) 32-Donita Hines[8]; 18. (DNF) 93-Ryan Lagestee[2]; 19. (DNS) 08-Brent Hanna; 20. (DNS) 04-Natalie Hanna

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. S10-Josh Fenli[1]; 2. 21M-Aaron Mainard[3]; 3. 65-Samantha Fuller[8]; 4. 22J-Jeffery Naese[7]; 5. 04-Natalie Hanna[9]; 6. 19M-Dylan Marcin[10]; 7. (DNF) 75-Gregory Fuller[2]; 8. (DNF) 00-Mitch Onda[6]; 9. (DNF) 25-Nicholas Gomez[4]; 10. (DNS) 40F-Tyler Fengya; 11. (DNS) 47-Steven Summers; 12. (DNS) 589-Zachary Yost

Crown Victorias

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 33S-Michael Sklodowski[7]; 2. 01-Phil Bloch[9]; 3. 502-Adam Thibo[3]; 4. 51-Jeff Elder[10]; 5. 22-Justin Schroeder[12]; 6. 10-Jesse Presley[15]; 7. 02A-Ryan Petrukovich[6]; 8. (DNF) 12-Ken Johnson[5]; 9. (DNF) 9G-Scott Glassford[2]; 10. (DNF) 11-Patrick Mulligan[16]; 11. (DNF) 7-Joe Hillman[4]; 12. (DNF) 5-Don Exline[17]; 13. (DNF) 9-David Cavin[14]; 14. (DNF) 6-Robert Stoltz[13]; 15. (DNF) 77-Scott Thiel[1]; 16. (DNF) 15-Jake Cholke[11]; 17. (DNS) 12P-Matt Prodehl

Vintage

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 23-Cody Clubb[5]; 2. 50-Adam Pockrus[9]; 3. 57-Tim Hamburg[7]; 4. 51-Tom Knippenberg[4]; 5. 1-Steve Thorsten[3]; 6. 75-Matt Troxel[1]; 7. (DNF) 5-Shannon Shutter[8]; 8. (DNF) 25-Larry Witt Jr[6]; 9. (DNF) 20TH-John Geary[2]