Defending pro late model champ Austin McCarty wins first big pay race at Kankakee County Speedway

KANKAKEE – Austin McCarty has won plenty of pro late model feature races at Kankakee County Speedway, including six on his way to a track championship last season. But as he took to the track for one of four scheduled pro late model big pay nights Friday, he was still looking for his first big check.

Now he’s got it.

With eight laps to go, McCarty got inside of Matt Hammond our of Turn 2 and made the pass on the backstretch, holding off the fellow former season champ to score the biggest single-race payday of his career in the $1,200 to win feature presented by Big Rig Oil Pros.

“I was looking for my dad [Steve] to see what the best lane was, because in the car it feels different than what it looks like on the outside,” McCarty said. “I was trying to get him to show me where, and he told me to go to the bottom, and if I hit the bottom right and Matt kind of missed up a little bit, I took advantage of it. It was a one-shot opportunity because he was very hard to beat.”

Hammond stayed within striking distance, especially after the third caution flag of the feature flew with five laps left. He was able to pull to within a fender through the middle of turns 1 and 2 on the white flag lap, but McCarty was able to stay in front.

“Don’t lift,” McCarty said was his late-race strategy. “Hug the bottom and he’ll have to get around me.”

The Crown Victoria division also featured a pay bump Friday with the $200 to win feature presented by Meineke of Bourbonnais. After moving from fourth to second on a restart with four laps to go, Adam Thibo took advantage of another restart on the final lap to get around Phil Bloch out of Turn 2 to take the checkered flag.

Braiden Keller won not one feature race Friday, but two. The defending factory stock car track champion won the factory stock car feature in commanding fashion in the first feature of the night, then battled from his dead-last 15th starting spot to also win the pro modified feature.

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Braiden Keller gestures a No. 1 out of his window after winning his factory stock heat race at Kankakee County Speedway Friday, May 16, 2025. Keller would go on to win both the factory stock and pro modified feature races on the night. (Mason Schweizer)

“Definitely the pro mod feature,” Keller said was both the more fun and more challenging race. “I started last, so I had to move all the way to the front.”

How did he manage his worst-to-first result?

“Really, I just tried to keep my nose clean,” Keller said. “That’s about it.”

Brad DeYoung led wire-to-wire in the modified feature, holding off a late charge from defending champ Steven Brooks. Jake Momper won the sport compact feature, and Jerrad Krick won in the stock division. Donita Hines won the sport compact new winners race, with Justin VanDrunen taking the checkered flag in the new winners race in the modified division.

The track will be off for Memorial Day weekend before returning to action June 6.

Pro late models

A Feature 1 $1,200 to win (25 Laps): 1. 10M-Austin McCarty[2]; 2. 818-Matt Hammond[1]; 3. BK3-Billy Knippenberg III[7]; 4. 51A-Amber Crouch[3]; 5. 05-Gary Schalmo[4]; 6. 56-Brandon Pralle[9]; 7. 47-Dan Kuhn[8]; 8. X3-Ben Kirchner[5]; 9. 97M-Michael Marden[6]; 10. 63-Stuart Hicks[11]; 11. (DNF) 248-David Hurst[10]; 12. (DNF) 41-Logan Nesselrodt[12]; 13. (DNF) 35-Jeff Moore[14]; 14. (DQ) 19-Chad Osterhoff[13]

Modified

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7-Brad DeYoung[4]; 2. 5-Steven Brooks[3]; 3. B5-Matthew Baker[5]; 4. 71J-Justin VanDrunen[1]; 5. 35-Jason Hastings[2]; 6. 01-Billy Knippenberg[6]; 7. 42-Justin Gregory[8]; 8. 23-Dylan Caldwell[10]; 9. (DNF) 48-Adam Pockrus[7]; 10. (DNF) 25B-Braiden Bohlmann[9]

Allstar Perf New Winners Race (8 Laps): 1. 71J-Justin VanDrunen[2]; 2. (DNF) 23-Dylan Caldwell[3]; 3. (DNS) B5-Matthew Baker

Stock

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 99K-Jerrad Krick[2]; 2. 127-Jace Gall[1]; 3. 01-Joe Hillman[4]; 4. 27-Reid Gall[11]; 5. 83-James Williams[7]; 6. 19K-Bailey Downey[10]; 7. 52P-Steve Perkins[5]; 8. 18-Sam Casko[3]; 9. 7-Joe Steurer[8]; 10. (DNF) 41B-Chad Bales[6]; 11. (DNS) 43-Dustin Hubert

Pro modified

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. K67-Braiden Keller[15]; 2. 59-JD Evans[1]; 3. 10-Curtis Caldwell[4]; 4. 21JRS-Drew Schwartz[3]; 5. 21JR-Ryan Kohler[6]; 6. 14-Tom Knippenberg[5]; 7. 42A-Pete Argianas[7]; 8. H24-Tony Hemp[9]; 9. 13-Donnie Martin SR[8]; 10. 88-Derek Line[14]; 11. 39-Kevin Sonquist[12]; 12. 31T-Meara Tilstra[11]; 13. 24F-Patrick Fatigato[2]; 14. 44E-Evan Eckhoff[13]; 15. 22-Allen Line[10]; 16. (DNS) 70B-Ken Bushey

Factory stock

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 22-Braiden Keller[1]; 2. 11S-John Strawser[6]; 3. X225-Trevor Bitterling[5]; 4. 42-Jesse Simmons[2]; 5. 66-Brad Battering[9]; 6. 68W-Damion Wilmoth[4]; 7. Z42-Zack Simmons[3]; 8. 21C-Chase Kosmatka[7]; 9. 36L-Hayden Lomax[10]; 10. 416-Kaleb Layhew[12]; 11. 116-Alex Troxtell[8]; 12. 127-Connor Banister[11]; 13. 11B-Michael Bennett[13]; 14. A28-Liam Strader[14]

Sport compact

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 43-Jake Momper[2]; 2. 56C-Scott Vetter[3]; 3. 15-David Lauritson[11]; 4. 70R-Matt Radtke[4]; 5. 32-Donita Hines[1]; 6. 110-Paul Lullo[9]; 7. 1K-Dale Kohler[15]; 8. 0-Richard Zifko[8]; 9. 83-Jeff Van Beek[12]; 10. 00R-Rowen Ramsey[14]; 11. 50R-Andrew Radtke[10]; 12. 17JC-Jace Cooper[18]; 13. 15C-Corey Schultz[13]; 14. 26-Cameron Pierce[23]; 15. 25-Nicholas Gomez[17]; 16. 65-Samantha Fuller[21]; 17. 93-Ryan Lagestee[5]; 18. 30J-Nick Johnson[7]; 19. 66-Blake Galvan[20]; 20. 04-Natalie Hanna[24]; 21. (DNF) 35-Chris Albertson[19]; 22. (DNF) 1T-Alex Treptow[6]; 23. (DNF) 11L-Tyler Luttrell[16]; 24. (DNS) 08-Brent Hanna; 25. (DNS) 22J-Jeffery Naese

Allstar Perf New Winners Race (8 Laps): 1. 32-Donita Hines[1]; 2. 11L-Tyler Luttrell[2]; 3. 00R-Rowen Ramsey[4]; 4. 17JC-Jace Cooper[5]; 5. 83-Jeff Van Beek[12]; 6. 50R-Andrew Radtke[7]; 7. 15C-Corey Schultz[9]; 8. 65-Samantha Fuller[8]; 9. 04-Natalie Hanna[10]; 10. (DNF) 08-Brent Hanna[3]; 11. (DNS) 35-Chris Albertson; 12. (DNS) 22J-Jeffery Naese

Crown Victoria

A Feature 1 $200 to win (15 Laps): 1. 502-Adam Thibo[6]; 2. 01-Phil Bloch[1]; 3. 02A-Ryan Petrukovich[5]; 4. 12P-Matt Prodehl[4]; 5. 1-Jeff Elder[7]; 6. 9G-Scott Glassford[2]; 7. 33S-Michael Sklodowski[16]; 8. 5-Victor Lee[8]; 9. 11-Mark Wireman[17]; 10. 1065-Jesse Gaylord[11]; 11. 28J-Josh Kincl[3]; 12. 10-Jake Nix[14]; 13. 7-Joe Hillman[12]; 14. (DNS) BEER30-Kyle Bullock; 15. (DNS) 74-Mike Glenn; 16. (DNS) 77-Scott Thiel; 17. (DNS) 9-Trenton Sanks