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Illiana Motor Speedway 2008 Race Reports & Press Releases
Race Reports Dates In White - Press Release Dates In Red Click Link To Read
7211 U.S. 30
Schererville, IN.
Track Phone 219-322-5311
Located 2 1/2 Miles East of US 41 or 5 Miles West of I-65 on U.S. 30
Saturday Night Racing
Late Model
Limited Late Model
Turbo Stox
Pure Stox
Legends
Pits Open: 3:00 P.M.
Stands Open: 4:00 P.M.
Qualifying: 5:30 P.M.
First Race: 7:00 P.M.
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (June 21) – Had there been no yellow flags, Boris Jurkovic would not have had to prove that he could handle any challenge during Saturday night’s CRA Series Elmer Musgrave Memorial at the ASA-sanctioned Illiana Speedway.
That’s how big of a lead he built in a hurry and maintained for a mighty long time.
But 39 laps from the finish of the 100-lap event a yellow flag fell, bringing one of the nation’s top short-track challengers – Eddie Hoffman - up to his bumper.
Handle it? Jurkovic man-handled it.
The Joliet native simply pulled away from Hoffman not once, but twice on restarts. He eventually prevailed by 2.226 seconds to claim the hardware and top earnings in the 7th annual event.
“I’ve had a lot of good ones, but this was the best race car I’ve ever had,” Jurkovic said afterward. “I didn’t really beat on the car until about 10 laps to go when I told the guys, ‘Let’s see what we’ve got.’
“She pulled pretty hard. There was a lot left there. This was an unbelievably good race car tonight.”
That was evident early on when Jurkovic turned in a qualifying time of 18.864 seconds that broke the previous CRA Series record of 18.961 set by JR Roahrig.
“I knew we would be fast in qualifying, but I thought it was too hot to go as fast as we did,” Jurkovic said. “But I knew we were going to be in good shape, top three or top five. But we ended up being the fastest car.”
Jurkovic took the lead from Roahrig on lap three, and basically ran away. A torrid battle for second through fifth place would rage for much of the race, however.
Hoffman eventually won the battle for second, taking it from Roahrig on lap 39. He was nearly a straightaway behind Jurkovic until lap 71, when the yellow flag at least gave him a chance to challenge.
“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt to have an opportunity,” Hoffman said. “But with a hotrod like that, he could just go. He had a heck of a car.
“I’ve had cars like that a few times in the past. We were pretty darned good tonight, and were able to pull away from everybody else and get a big second out of it. But Boris pulled away from us.”
Rick Turner came on late to claim third place, while Mike White, Jeff Cannon and John Van Dourn completed the top six.
Hoffman also had to settle for a second-place finish in the limited late-model main, as Anthony Danta of Orland Park drove perhaps the most impressive race of his career in the special 35-lap event.
Danta tracked down Hoffman and passed him on lap 28. The 2005 limited late-model champ went on to beat him by 0.274 seconds.
“When you’re out there you’re really trying to not realize who’s in front of you,” Danta said. “Then you start worrying too much. But it did cross my mind.
“It’s pretty cool to be racing against him after growing up watching him, and how good he is even today. I really haven’t raced against him much, and the times I have, to be honest he’s beaten me by pretty much a lot. It’s a pretty cool feeling to beat him.”
Third place in the special-length event went to John Nutley, ahead of John Senerchia, Phil Splant and Bobby Gash.
The pure stocks feature event went to Mike Lindemulder, who beat out Tim Cronin, Jim Kunis, Bob Rohweder and George Werner.
Illiana Speedway Summary June 21
CRA
Qualifying: 1. Boris Jurkovic (18.864), 2. Jeff Cannon (19.152), 3. J.R. Roahrig (19.221), 4. Mike White (19.272), 5. Rick Turner (19.355), 6. Zach Taylor (19.361), 7. Scott Hantz (19.365), 8. Aaron Pierce (19.379), 9. Eddie Hoffman (19.382), 10. Jason Dietsch (19.422), 11. Jerry Sharp (19.445), 12. Dave Weltmeyer (19.447), 13. Jack Kalwasinski (19.476), 14. Terry Fisher Jr. (19.538), 15. Kenny Tweedy (19.567), 16. Josh Bauer (19.594), 17. Jason Shively (19.600), 18. Robert Maynor (19.637), 19. Sean Matthuis (19.670), 20. John Van Dourn (19.676), 21. Jeff Lane (19.678), 22. Al Cook Jr. (19.693), 23. Nick Baran (19.744), 24. Jeep Pflum (19.941), 25. Adam Purdy (19.963), 26. Doug Hayes (20.045), 27. Al Longtin (20.382).
100-lap feature: 1. Jurkovic, 2. Hoffman, 3. Turner, 4. White, 5. Cannon, 6. Van Dourn, 7. Hantz, 8. Weltmeyer, 9. Sharp, 10. Kalwasinski, 11. Dietsch, 12. Pierce, 13. Baran, 14. Shively, 15. Cook, 16. Bauer, 17. Fisher, 18. Pflum, 19. Maynor, 20, Matthuis, 21. Purdy, 22. Longtin, 23, Roahrig, 24. Tweedy, 25. Taylor, 26. Lane, 27. Hayes, 28. Rich Segvich.
Limited late-model
Qualifying: 1. John Nutley (20.255), 2. Eddie Hoffman (20.287), 3. Anthony Danta (20.305), 4. Joe Fadke (20.384), 5. Phil Splant (20.660), 6. Rita Fields (20.675), 7. Bobby Gash (20.702), 8. Tyler Middleton (20.749), 9. John Senerchia (20.768), 10. Dennis Lyp (20.797), 11. Len Koprowski (21.046), 12. Paul Zolodz (21.135), 13. Doug Hayes (21.176), 14. Chuck MacTrinder (21.196), 15. Darrel Sills (21.236), 16. Brad Plunket (21.259), 17. Matt O’Leary (21.335), 18. Kevin Offdenkamp (21.473), 19. Joe Balser (21.585).
35-lap feature: 1. Danta, 2. Hoffman, 3. Nutley, 4. Senerchia, 5. Splant, 6. Gash, 7. Koprowski, 8. Hayes, 9. Fields, 10. Lyp, 11. MacTrinder, 12. Middleton, 13. Fadke, 14. Zolodz, 15. Segvich, 16. Plunket, 17. Balser, 18. Sills, 19. O’Leary, 20. Offdenkamp.
Pure stocks
1st heat: 1. Brian Midkiff. 2nd heat: 1. George Werner. 3rd heat: 1. Mike Lindemulder.
B feature: 1. Neal Kerner, 2. John Hensley, 3. Joe Moeglin, 4. Ryan Lagestee, 5. Miguel Merlos.
A feature: 1. Lindemulder, 2. Tim Cronin, 3. Jim Kunis, 4. Bob Rohweder, 5. Werner.
Goodaker Photo's
Illiana Speedway Race Results 6-21-08 Now Updated Every Week
Boris Jurkovic (#53)
Anthony Danta (#51)
Mike Lindemulder (#14)
