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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. (Sept. 6) - Championship Night on Saturday brought white-knuckle drama to the ASA-sanctioned Illiana Speedway, as two title chases went down to the wire.
When it was over, Mike White claimed his fifth late-model crown. John Nutley reigned supreme in the limited late-model class, while Eddie Ligue was tops in the turbo stox, Mike Lindemulder in the pure stocks and Chris King in the Legends division.
The closest finish was in the limited late-models.
Nutley came into the night with an 1,175-1,138 points lead over Johnny Senerchia. He helped his cause by setting fast qualifying time, and also won the fast heat.
Senerchia looked in serious trouble when he spun during qualifying and slightly damaged his No. 77. But he would roar back, winning both his heat and running away with the 30-lap feature.
Nutley, meanwhile, stared at disaster midway through the feature when he suffered a flat right rear and had to leave the track. He returned, but was seven laps down at the finish.
Dead last in the race, Nutley had to hold his breath while the championship numbers were tallied. In the end, he would prevail over Senerchia by a scant one point.
"It was a rough year, boy," Nutley said. "It started out rough with wrecking the car opening night, and now tonight I ended up with a flat tire. I was lucky there was only 12 cars here.
"Racing with Johnny... Johnny's a good guy. We get along pretty good. I'm glad it was me and him coming down to the wire."
Senerchia dusted the field in impressive fashion, beating Bobby Gash by 1.869 seconds. Kevin Moenck was third, followed by Doug Hayes, Rita Fields and Paul Zolodz.
"We came close there (in points), but I'd had a couple of bad nights and I didn't think I'd catch John," Senerchia said. "I just wanted to win the race for Tom, who used to crew chief for me."
Tom Magnabosco, who had been a crew chief for many drivers over the years, passed away last week.
Young Blake Brown made it 2-for-2 in late-model appearances, beating Jeff Cannon in the 35-lap feature by 0.483 seconds.
"Once again I've got to give it to the guys in the shop," Blake said. "We were fast right off the bat in the first practice session. The cautions came out in our favor. We'd pick up a few spots and then another caution and we'd catch back up (on the leaders)."
The battle for the late-model title between White saw a couple of interesting twists.
Cannon was going to be sent to the back of the pack after contact with Anthony Danta on lap 3 resulted in Danta going around. But Danta pulled his car to the side and told officials that it was another driver who bumped him first. Cannon thus was put back in his spot.
Cannon held the lead for several laps, but eventually gave way to Brown. White, meanwhile, had some motor issues in his Ray Wroblewski-owned No. 14 car, but was able to hang on for a seventh-place finish.
The final tally saw White edge out Cannon for the title by six points.
"All I was doing was trying to get spots," White said. "With the motor, I was huffing smoke inside. It sounded like it had a hole, and they were telling me sparks were flying out of the exhaust.
"I know something happened in there, but it made it. I think we did some damage to it, but if we won the championship, somehow I guess it's worth it."
Scott Gardner put on a power show in the 30-lap turbo stox feature after taking the lead from Ligue just three laps from the checkered flag. He wound up a winner by 1.105 seconds.
Ligue was second, putting the finishing touches on his first-ever championship.
"I had it locked in last week, so that took a lot off of my shoulders for tonight," Ligue said. "It was sure exciting out there all year. Nothing but fun."
Tommy Jones held off a charging Alex Arelano in the Legends main event. Third-running King had already wrapped up the division title.
Matt Arvia prevailed in the pure stocks 'A' feature over Steve Wells and Tim Cronin. Lindemulder, who finished out of the top five, still had amassed enough points to take the division crown.
Late-model
Qualifying: 1. Jerry Sharp (29.855), 2. Jeff Cannon (19.762), 3. Blake Brown (19.857), 4. Anthony Danta (19.935), 5. Mike White (19.999), 6. Larry Schuler (20.019), 7. Chris Cooling (20.084), 8. Ricky Baker (20.097), 9. Stevie Campbell (20.128), 10. Sean Murphy (20.152), 11. Mike Monroe (20.157), 12. Jack Kalwasinski (20.180). 13. Tyler Middleton (20.256), 14. Mike Marden (20.343), 15. Eddie May (20.346), 16. Dean Patterson (20.365), 17. Bobby Gash (20.431), 18. Len Nowosel (20.609), 19. Vincent Merry (20.630), 20. Don Sabatino (20.811), 21. Mike Richardson (20.942), 22. Darryl Sills (20.982).
1st heat: 1. Cooling, 2. White, 3. Cannon, 4. Sharp, 5. Baker, 6. Schuler, 7. Danta, 8. Brown.
2nd heat: 1. Monroe, 2. May, 3. Middleton, 4. Kalwasinski, 5. Campbell, 6. Murphy, 7. Marden.
3rd heat: 1. Gash, 2. Patterson, 3. Sills, 4. Richardson, 5. Merry, 6. Sabatino, 7. Nowosel.
35-lap feature: 1. Brown, 2. Cannon, 3. Cooling, 4. Monroe, 5. Baker, 6. Schuler, 7. White, 8. Danta, 9. May, 10. Gash, 11. Marden, 12. Merry, 13. Murphy, 14. Sabatino, 15. Patterson, 16. Middleton, 17. Richardson, 18. Kalwasinski, 19. Sills, 20. Sharp, 21. Nowosel, 22. Campbell.
Note: White won his fifth Illiana Speedway late-model title by six points over Cannon.
Limited late-model
Qualifying: 1. John Nutley (20.202), 2. Bobby Gash (20.539), 3. Kevin Moenck (20.686), 4. Rita Fields (20.855), 5. Paul Zolodz (20.865), 6. Doug Hayes (21.015), 7, Mark Ross Jr. (21.220), 8. Brad Plunket (21.327), 9. John Senerchia (21.384), 10. Joe Balser (21.587), 11. Don Pettit (21,608) 12. Kevin Offdenkamp (21.633).
1st heat: 1. Nutley, 2. Moenck, 3. Gash, 4. Hayes, 5. Fields, 6. Zolodz.
2nd heat: 1. Senerchia, 2. Offdenkamp, 3. Plunket, 4. Pettit, 5. Balser, DQ. Ross (weight).
30-lap feature: 1. Senerchia, 2. Gash, 3. Moenck, 4. Hayes, 5. Fields, 6. Zolodz, 7. Plunket, 8. Pettit, 9. Offdenkamp, 10. Balser, 11. Ross, 12. Nutley.
Note: Nutley suffered a flat right-rear tire and had to leave the race on lap 13. He later returned, but finished last. Still, he was able to clinch the track title over Senerchia by ONE point.
Turbo stox
Qualifying: 1. Chris Woodall (17.863), 2. Scott Gardner (17.993), 3. Brian Kucaba (18.025), 4. Jerry Barnett (18.058), 5. Bobbie Jean Wall (18.060), 6. Pat O'Rourke (18.064), 7. Tony Meier (18.083), 8. Eddie Ligue (18.090), 9. Bill Serviss (18.119), 10. Mark Ross Jr. (18.152), 11. Pat Ligue (18.270), 12. Tony Neering (18.319), 13. Jacob McKown (18.325), 14. Tom Prim (18.367), 15. Bobby Blood (18.410), 16. Ed Hast (18.602), 17. David Cressler (19.033), 18. Crystalyn Sehr (19.539), 19. Billy Jarrells (24.654).
1st heat: 1. E. Ligue, 2. Serviss, 3. Gardner, 4. Barnett, 5. O'Rourke, 6. Woodall, 7. Wall, 8. Kucaba, 9. Meier, DQ. Ross (breakout).
2nd heat: 1. Blood, 2. Prim, 3. McKown, 4. Neering, 5. P. Ligue, 6. Jarrells, 7. Cressler, 8. Hast, 9. Finley, 10. Sehr.
30-lap feature: 1. Gardner, 2. E. Ligue, 3 Serviss, 4. O'Rourke, 5. Meier, 6. Prim, 7. Ross, 8. Kucaba, 9. Blood, 10. Wall, 11. Barnett, 12. Neering, 13. Woodall, 14. McKown, 15. Jarrells, 16. P. Ligue, 17. Cressler, 18. Hast, 19. Sehr, 20. John Finley.
Legends
1st heat: 1. Chris King, 2 Alex Arelano, 3. Ben Fidone, 4. Tim Moore, 5. Andy Jones, 6. Michael Moore, 7. Michael Pinkerton.
2nd heat: 1. Scott Pool, 2 Tommy Jones, 3. Mark Van Drunen, 4. Ryan Moore, 5. Garrett Goodwin, 6. Jimmy Uteg.
30-lap feature: 1. Jones, 2. Arelano, 3. King, 4. Pool, 5. Moore, 6. Pinkerton, 7. Moore, 8. Van Drunen, 9. Jones, 10. Uteg, 11. Fidone, 12. Moore, 13. Goodwin.
Pure stocks
1st heat: 1. Michael Gerike. 2nd heat: 1. Matt Arvia. 3rd heat: 1. Mike Lindemulder.
'B' feature: 1. Michael Young, 2. Mike Warren, 3. Lee Mose, 4. Joe Moeglin, 5. Craig Schultze.
'A' feature: 1. Arvia, 2. Steve Wells, 3. Tim Cronin, 4. Paul McKeague, 5. Casey Martin.
Illiana Speedway Race Results 9-6-08 Now Updated Every Week
Johnny Senerchia
Scott Gardner
Blake Brown
Matt Arvia
Tommy Jones
