Closer.....Closer.....Closer
By Tony Baranek
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (May 20, 2006) - Pat Kelly won Saturday night's 25-lap late-model feature Saturday night at Illiana Speedway, but he had to admit that there might have been a different result had it been a 26-lap main event. "Another lap and I think Mike would have had it," the 'Rockdale Rocket' said after claiming his first Illiana win of 2006.
Mike White most definitely made it interesting. Kelly had taken the lead on lap 8 and opened up a pretty good advantage before White claimed second place from Dave Weltmeyer on lap 13. White spent the rest of the race bit by bit cutting into what had been an eight-car deficit. On the white flag lap they touched in Turn 2. By the time they were coming out of Turn 4 for the checkered flag, White was underneath him. "I raced hard every lap and Mike ran me down," Kelly said. "That tells me we've got more work to do."
Saturday's win completed a very successful weekend for Kelly, who on Friday night beat Eddie Hoffman in a bumper-to-bumper finish at Grundy County Speedway. The effort brought back memories of 2000, when Kelly was the track champion at both tracks. "Yeah, we had a good year in 2000," Kelly said, smiling. "This team here is capable of doing it. We just need to get things all put together.'' White, meanwhile, had a tremendous run in his No. 00 car, coming from as far back as seventh place to follow Weltmeyer for several laps and eventually pass him with an inside move.
Two weeks earlier, Illiana Speedway promoter Mike Mikuly changed the late-model feature format from 30 to 25 laps. It was pretty obvious what five more laps would have meant to White on Saturday. "Yeah, how about that?" White chuckled. "But there were times when I needed 25 laps because I lost it in the last five. This time I needed the 30 "But let me tell you, we had a good car. I'm as happy as I could be. You know, you want to win, but to beat these guys is tough. I'm just glad we got the car fast. Now I think we'll be able to win a couple."
Weltmeyer held off late-model rookie Jeff Cannon to claim third place. Fifth went to Brian Muick, ahead of Mike Monroe.
Andy Marchiniak survived an early scare and a late charge from Phil Splant to claim his first limited late-model feature victory. Marchiniak was running on the outside, side-by-side with challenger Bill Neering, on lap 11 when Richard Dawson grabbed the extreme bottom groove and made it three-wide between Turns 1 and 2.
Neering, the man in the middle, spun to bring out the yellow. He was sent to the back for the restart along with Dawson. Marchiniak, who had to hang on in the high groove, restarted back in front. "When they got into me I was just hoping I wouldn't lose it," Marchiniak said.
Splant made a good run at Marchiniak near the finish, and almost got him in traffic. But Marchiniak held on to beat him by a car-length, while Jack Kalwasinski, Joe Fadke, Dawson and John LaFreniere followed. "I've followed in second behind Phil (Splant) three or four different times," Marchiniak said. "I finally got one on him. He's been a real good racer for me. He always races real clean. I like racing him a lot."
Former Mid-American division champion Kevin Moenck made his first appearance of 2006 and bested a 17-car field. Moenck spent several laps holding off a stern challenge from youngster Sean Matthuis. Moenck beat Matthuis to the finish line by 0.357 seconds. "The car didn't feel all that good tonight," Moenck said. "I had my hands full with Sean there. The kid's fast. He's gonna go somewhere. "This is the car that his dad wrecked last year that I rebuilt over the winter. We did a lot of work to do. It's a good car. We'll see how it does in a few weeks." Third place in the main went to Bill Neering. Shawn Wiltjer, Len Koprowski and Frank Dignam completed the top six.
The Turbo Stox feature race saw veteran Dave Dotter on Tommy Prim's bumper for the final five laps, but Prim doggedly held on to claim the victory. Defending champion Bill Serviss passed Tony Meier late for third. Chris Woodall and Eddie Ligue followed.
Chris Sandberg proved to be the king of the Pure Stocks, beating out Ryan Lagestee and Ryan Hoffman.
Summary of Results
Late-model
Heat: 1. John Nutley, 2. Pat Kelly, 3. Mike Monroe
Feature: 1. Kelly, 2. Mike White, 3. Dave Weltmeyer,
4. Jeff Cannon, 5. Brian Muick, 6. Monroe.
Limited late-model
1st heat: 1. Andy Marchiniak, 2. Bill Neering, 3. Phil Splant.
2nd heat: 1. Mike Marden, 2. Kevin McCann, 3. J.J. Peyton.
Feature: 1. Marchiniak, 2. Splant, 3. Jack Kalwasinski,
4. Joe Fadke, 5. Richard Dawson, 6. John LaFreniere.
Mid-American
1st heat: 1. Len Koprowski, 2. Bill Neering, 3. Frank Dignam.
2nd heat: 1. Darryl Sills, 2. John Marshall, 3. Dean Patterson.
Feature: 1. Kevin Moenck, 2. Sean Matthuis, 3. Neering,
4. Shawn Wiltjer, 5. Koprowski, 6. Dignam.
Turbo Stox
1st heat: 1. Tony Neering, 2. Craig Coglianese.
2nd heat: 1. Pat O'Rourke, 2. Mark Ross Jr., 3. Tony Meier.
Feature: 1. Dave Dotter, 2. Bill Serviss, 3. Tony Meier,
4. Chris Woodall, 5. Eddie Ligue.
Pure Stocks
1st heat: 1. Jacob McKown.
2nd heat: 1. Rob Blood.
3rd heat: 1. Robert Howe.
Semi: 1. Jason Parratt, 2. Paul Barnes.
Feature: 1. Chris Sandberg, 2. Ryan Lagestee, 3. Ryan Hoffman,
4. Chad Van Vossen, 5. Alex Acuna, 6. Paul McKeague.
