The month-long grind is nearing the end, and it looks like a photo finish between defending champion Dennis Erb Jr. of Carpentersville and Randy Korte of Highland for the UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals late model championship.

Korte held a precarious four-point lead over Erb after Tuesday's stop at Shepp's Speedway outside of New Berlin in the chase for the $25,000 first prize. Only three events remained following Wednesday night's race at Spoon River Speedway in Canton.

While Korte and Erb battle it out, Moweaqua's Shannon Babb has been the hottest driver on the circuit with three feature wins in his last four starts, including Shepp's Speedway. Pole-sitter Erb was second, and Korte charged from his 12th-place starting spot to finish third and retain his narrow lead.

Bloomington's Jason Feger is trying to hold off Babb for third place, while Gibson City's Kevin Weaver is fifth. Other Pantagraph area drivers in the top 20 include El Paso's Ryan Unzicker (seventh), Towanda's Donny Walden (15th), Fairbury's Wes Steidinger (18th) and Pontiac's Derek Chandler (20th).

Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who has run a limited Summer Nationals schedule, leads all drivers with five feature wins. Erb, Babb and Jeep Van Wormer of Pincomming, Mich., all have three wins, while Feger and Korte and have each visited victory lane twice.

After Canton, the Summer Nationals will move to LaSalle Speedway tonight and Waynesfield (Ohio) Motorsports Park on Friday ahead of Saturday's series finale at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio.

Piercy Memorial slated: Fairbury American Legion Speedway will host the annual Curt Piercy Memorial Sportsman Special on Saturday. The sportsman will run a 30-lap feature and be joined on the program by the late model, modified and street stock divisions.

Piercy, a Normal native who began his career in the sportsman division before eventually jumping to the ARCA RE/MAX Series, died along with his five passengers in a 2004 plane crash in Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Farmer City Raceway (Friday) and Lincoln Speedway (Saturday) will be hosting regular racing programs this weekend.

Kankakee loses UMP sanctioning: UMP has removed sanctioning from Kankakee County Speedway following its recent Summer Nationals event after the track failed to meet its payment obligations.

All drivers who participated were paid by UMP and points were awarded. Prior events at Kankakee where drivers earned points towards UMP championships will also be honored.

"It's unfortunate that Doug Judy and Kankakee County Speedway couldn't fulfill their end of the agreement," said UMP racing director Sam Driggers. "They have left us with no choice but to remove them from UMP DIRTcar Racing.

"We hope they can resolve this issue and return as a DIRTcar Racing partner."