Illiana Story May 12
By Tony Baranek
After brother-in-laws Mike White and Boris Jurkovic both passed him with just a few laps remaining in Saturday night's late-model feature at Illiana Speedway, John Nutley was left with just one hope.
"A family feud," Nutley said, smiling. "Once they got by me I knew the only chance I had was if they fought it out and took each other out."
It happened.
Nutley was a man in the right place at the right time with two laps remaining, when White got into Jurkovic while attemping a pass between Turns 3 and 4. Jurkovic spun, White stopped, and both were sent to the back of the field for the restart.
Both, instead, went to the pits, where they discussed the situation. The discussion ended with a handshake, a philosophical Jurkovic and an apologetic White.
Nutley, meanwhile, scored his first win of the season by a very short margin over Jeff Cannon.
"I'm really feeling good," said Nutley, who plans to run the entire season at Illiana. "I lost 20 pounds over the off-season, I feel better than ever, and it's good to get a win."
What the late-model feature lacked in numbers, it made up for in side-by-side battles. The first was between Nutley and Mike Monroe, and it raged for 13 laps, as White, Jurkovic and Cannon all jockeyed for position right behind them.
It ended when Monroe got up too high in Turn 3 and eventually spun out of Turn 4. He returned to the race and came from the back to finish fifth
White, and then Jurkovic, made their move past Nutley on lap 22. They ran nose-to-tail for one lap before Jurkovic got a good run on him, dove underneath in Turn 1, and cruised ahead. White immediately dropped behind Jurkovic, and tried to duplicate that move in Turn 3.
It didn't work out quite the same way.
"That's racing," Jurkovic said later. "I went into Turn 3 and took my normal line. I guess Mike thought that there was a hole down there on the bottom. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for both of us.
"I guess we've got to go back and make the car faster so it doesn't happen again."
White, meanwhile, assumed responsibility for the collision.
"By no means would I ever want to take anybody out, but I cost him a win. That's what I did," White said. "I got down there (in turn 3) a little hot, and didn't get slowed down enough. I clipped him at the wrong point.
"I cost him the win. I apologized to him. There ain't much else you could say."
Cannon tried to give Nutley a run for it on the final lap, but didn't have enough time to get set on the high side. Third went to Bobby Gash, while Shaun Wiltjer, Monroe and Sean Matthuis completed the top six.
The limited late-model feature also saw some contact near the finish, but nobody spun out. The winner was Phil Splant, who played bump and run with leader Kevin McCann on the final lap.
"I touched him a little bit more than I had been (on the previous laps) and I'm pretty sure he's not happy about it," Splant said afterward. "All I was doing was trying to let him know that I was there. I knew I had a faster car and I could win, and I was going for it."
McCann slowed dramatically for a moment after being passed in Turn 2, but recovered in time to hold on for second place.
"My car was pushing real bad and I was trying to feather it through the turns as best I could," McCann said. "I thought I could hold on, but he really got into me there. It was two guys going for it on the last lap."
Joe Fadke was within striking distance in third at the finish. Marc Hankosky was not, seven seconds back in fourth. Fifth went to Mike Marden, ahead of Paul Zolodz.
The main bout in the Mid-American feature was between Keith Sterkowitz and Johnny Senerchia, with Sterkowitz scoring the win with a lap 23 pass.
Afterward, Senerchia had words for Sterkowitz at the scales. Sterkowitz maintained his innocence when it came to any contact they might have had.
"I was rolling through the center of the corners," Sterkowitz said. "He was stopping. That's where I knew I could get him, and I did.
"It just feels good to go out there and finally win a race. The car's been bad all year. Finally, it's starting to come around."
Sterkowitz beat Senerchia to the line by 0.259 seconds. John Marshall was third, followed by Darrel Sills, Mike Wience and Dean Patterson.
The turbostox feature was a real slugfest, with Eddie Ligue coming out on top by a rather large margin over Tom Prim.
Bobbie Jean Wall built up a full straighaway lead only to see the pack gather back behind her after a lap 14 yellow for a Pat Ligue spin in turn 2. On the restart Prim passed Wall on the next lap and held on until lap 18 when Ligue took the lead.
"It was an exciting race. I just tried to get through the crowd," Ligue said.
Former track champion Bill Serviss finished third, with Chris Woodall, Brian Kucaba and Craig Coglianese following.
Rob Blood was a new winner in the pure stock class, capturing the 12-lap main event over Steve Wells, Ryan Hoffman, Helen Nester, Tim Cronin and Jason Parratt.
ILLIANA SUMMARY MAY 12
Late-model
Qualifying: 1. Boris Jurkovic (19.500), 2. Jeff Cannon (19.681), 3. Mike White (19.755), 4. Bobby Gash (19.973), 5. John Nutley (20.070), 6. Sean Matthuis (20.124), 7. Joe O'Connor (20.127), 8. Shaun Wiltjer (20.162), 9. Mike Monroe (20.172), 10. Don Sabatino (20.451), 11. Tyler Middleton (21.414).
1st heat: 1. Jurkovic, 2. Nutley, 3. White, 4. Cannon, 5. Gash, 6. Matthuis.
2nd heat: 1. Monroe, 2. O'Connor, 3. Wiltjer, 4. Sabatino, 5. Middleton.
25-lap feature: 1. Nutley, 2. Cannon, 3. Gash, 4. Wiltjer, 5. Monroe, 6. Matthuis, 7. Sabatino, 8. Middleton, 9. White, 10. Jurkovic, 11. O'Connor.
Limited late-model
Qualifying: 1. Joe Fadke (20.207), 2. Kevin McCann (20.250), 3. Phil Splant (20.304), 4. Josh Nelms (20.437), 5. Mike Marden (20.551), 6. Marc Hankosky (20.707), 7. Paul Zolodz (21.181), 8. Kevin Offdenkamp (21.263), 9. Gary Schalmo (21.301), 10. Joe Golobic (21.317), 11. Austin Woodham (21.331), 12. John Finley (21.545), 13. Don Pettit (21.636), 14. Richard McGill (21.922), 15. Dennis Lyp (27.925), 16. Matt O'Leary (DNQ).
1st Heat: 1. Splant, 2. Marden, 3. Hankosky, 4. McCann, 5. Zolodz, 6. Offdenkamp, 7. Fadke, 8. Nelms.
2nd heat: 1. Finley, 2. Golobic, 3. Pettit, 4. Schalmo, 5. Woodham, 6. McGill, 7. Lyp.
25-lap feature: 1. Splant, 2. McCann, 3. Fadke, 4. Hankosky, 5. Marden, 6. Zolodz, 7. Nelms, 8. Golobic, 9. Pettit, 10. Woodham, 11. McGill, 12. Schalmo, 13. Offdenkamp, 14. Lyp, 15. Finley.
Mid-American
Qualifying: 1. John Senerchia (21.106), 2. Dean Patterson (21.341), 3. John Marshall (21.357), 4. Mike Wienc (21.524), 5. Keith Sterkowitz (21.537), 6. Darrel Sills (21.584), 7. Tom Prim (21.814), 8. Tim Sehr (22.372).
Heat: 1. Sills, 2. Marshall, 3. Senerchia, 4. Sterkowitz, 5. Patterson, 6. Wienc, 7. Prim, 8. Sehr.
25-lap feature: 1. Sterkowitz, 2. Senerchia, 3. Marshall, 4. Sills, 5. Wienc, 6. Patterson, 7. Sehr, 8. T. Prim.
Turbostox
Qualifying: 1. Butch Wood (17.895), 2. Eddie Ligue (17.897), 3. Mark Ross Jr. (17.954), 4. Bill Serviss (18.012), 5. Brian Kucaba (18.096), 6. Chris Woodall (18.099), 7. Tony Meier (18.118), 8. Craig Coglianese (18.143), 9. Tony Neering (18.178), 10. Pat O'Rourke (18.209), 11. Tom Prim (18.226), 12. Bobbie Jean Wall (18.334), 13. Josh Easto (18.463), 14. Matt Arvia (18.571), 15. D.J. Wilson (18.586), 16. Scott Schick (18.612), 17. Pat Ligue (18.729), 18. Billy Jarrells (18.879), 19. Jerry Barnett (18.889), 20. Jeremy Cole (19.627).
1st heat: 1. O'Rourke, 2. Meier, 3. Coglianese, 4. E. Ligue, 5. Serviss, 6. Wood, 7. Neering, 8. Ross, 9. Woodall, 10. Kucaba.
2nd heat: 1. T. Prim, 2. Schick, 3. Easto, 4. Barnett, 5. P. Ligue, 6. Wall, 7. Arvia, 8. Wilson, 9. Jarrels.
25-lap feature: 1. E. Ligue, 2. T. Prim, 3. Serviss, 4. Woodall, 5. Kucaba, 6. Coglianese, 7. Wood, 8. Ross, 9. Wall, 10. Easto, 11. Schick, 12. Neering, 13. Jarrells, 14. Wilson, 15. P. Ligue, 16. Meier, 17. O'Rourke, 18. Arvia, 19. Barnett.
Pure stocks
1st heat: 1. Dan White
2nd heat: 1. Rob Blood
3rd heat: 1. Paul McKeague
Semi: 1. Mike Tenka, 2. Ryan Lagastee.
12-lap feature: 1. Blood, 2. Steve Wells, 3. Ryan Hoffman, 4. Helen Nester, 5. Tim Cronin, 6. Jason Parratt.
