Illiana Speedway May 8th
By Tony Baranek
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (May 8) - Keith Sterkowitz made his first appearance in a Mid-American race car since escaping serious injury in a scary late-season roll at Lacrosse Speedway last fall.
Saturday night at Illiana Speedway he showed he hadn't lost his nerve, capturing the 2004 opening night 25-lap feature.
Sterkowitz beat out Bill Neering by a few car-lengths. The Cedar Lake, Ind., resident, who finished second in the Illiana Mid-Am points chase to
Kevin Moenck in 2003, considered it a wonderful start.
"We've been working toward this day since the last night of 2003," Sterkowitz said. "I thought we (the race team) did a great job last year and came real
close to a title. It was great to win the opener.
"Also, it's been five years since I lost my Mom (the late Alice Sterkowitz), so I was glad to win this (Mother's Day) weekend. It's an inspiration, you
could say."
Sterkowitz's accident at Lacrosse resulted in a winter-long project to rebuild the car from scratch. He was sure that his newly-skinned 2004 Monte Carlo
was ready to race, but he wasn't so sure about himself.
"Yeah, I was kind of shaky during hot laps," Sterkowitz said. "After the rollover I wasn't sure if I wanted to get back in a race car."
Caught up in traffic during his heat, Sterkowitz settled for a fifth-place finish. But, starting third row inside in the feature, he wasted little time in tracking down and passing Tom Knippenberg with a move coming out of Turn 2 on lap four.
"I was early in the race so I didn't really know what was going to happen, but I knew I had a good car," Sterkowitz said.
Neering took second place away from Knippenberg on lap five and pursued Sterkowitz. But even with a couple of yellow flags tightening things up,
Sterkowitz was able to maintain the top spot the rest of the way. Third went to Josh Nelms, followed by Stevie Campbell, Knippenberg and John Senerchia.
Dave Weltmeyer, meanwhile, picked up where he left off in winning the 2003 late-model championship by capturing the opening-night 30-lap feature.
Weltmeyer went from third to first place on lap nine when during a battle for the lead Mike White and Joe O'Connor became involved in a crash. White's No. 00 suffered heavy damage and had to be towed from the track. O'Connor's No. 12 also had to leave the race as a result of the wreck.
Weltmeyer would soon find a challenger for the top spot after Eddie Hoffman took second place away from Boris Jurkovic on lap 13.
Weltmeyer and Hoffman were racing for the lead on the backstretch on lap 22 when Hoffman spun to the infield. Hoffman restarted in the back.
From there, Weltmeyer was able to maintain his lead over Jurkovic. John Nutley provided an early hint that he'll be a contender this season with a third-place finish ahead of Mike Monroe and Kevin Moenck. Hoffman
rallied from the rear to claim sixth.
The new limited late-model division made its debut, with Jack Kalwasinski claiming the top spot ahead of Anthony Danta and Jeff Mackowiak.
The turbo stox feature went to Eddie Wolf, with Cher Bryant, Tommy Prim, Tom Gasik and Dennis Lyp completing the top five.
SUMMARY
LATE-MODEL
30-lap feature: 1. Dave Weltmeyer, 2. Boris Jurkovic, 3. John Nutley, 4. Mike Monroe, 5. Kevin Moenck, 6. Eddie Hoffman, 7. Brian Schwartz, 8. Scott Koerner, 9. Brian Muick, 10. Jamie Artelt.
1st heat: 1. Weltmeyer, 2. Hoffman, 3. Doug Kowal.
2nd heat: 1. Monroe, 2. Artelt, 3. Mike Pockrus Sr.
MID-AMERICAN
25-lap feature: 1. Keith Sterkowitz, 2. Bill Neering, 3. Josh Nelms, 4. Stevie Campbell, 5. Tom Knippenberg, 6. John Senerchia, 7. Jack Kalwasinski, 8. Juan Avila, 9. Dave Gentile, 10. Jeff Treptow.
1st heat: 1. Don Pettit, 2. Senerchia, 3. Nelms.
2nd heat: 1. Len Koprowski, 2. Gentile, 3. Michael Marden.
3rd heat: 1. John Flortia, 2. Frank Dignam, 3. Jeff Dillingham.
LIMITED LATE-MODEL
15-lap feature: 1. Jack Kalwasinski, 2. Anthony Danta, 3. Jeff Mackowiak, 4. Joe Fadke, 5. Tony DeJohn, 6. Don Theriault.
Heat: 1. Fadke, 2. Kalwasinski, 3. Mackowiak.
TURBOSTOX
25-lap feature: 1. Eddie Wolf, 2. Cher Bryan, 3. Tom Prim, 4. Tom Gasik, 5. Dennis Lyp, 6. Bill Serviss, 7. Mike Pockrus Jr., 8. Dave Dotter, 9. Guy Baumann, 10. Pete Kamp.
1st heat: 1. Wolf, 2. Gasik, 3. Pockrus.
2nd heat: 1. Jeff Ogden, 2. Mark Ross, 3. Baumann.
Pure Stocks
12 Lap Feature: David Cressler
1st heat: David Cressler
2nd heat: Kevin Rietman
