By Tony Baranek
SCHERERVILLE, Ind. - Jeff Cannon isn't just trying to hang on to his points lead in the late-model division at Illiana Speedway, he's letting it all hang out.
Saturday night, he earned his fifth victory of the 2007 season in impressive fashion, tracking down and passing John Nutley on lap 15. From there, he kept defending champion Mike White in arrears by four car-lengths.
High groove. Low groove. It didn't seem to matter to Cannon, although the high side seemed to be his preference.
"We made a little spring change earlier today and kind of stuck with it," Cannon said. "It worked well. The guys who are working on this thing, they work hard on it. We found a couple of good old secrets, and it was on a rail."
Cannon showed the kind of swagger that have made competitors such as White, Eddie Hoffman, Dave Weltmeyer and Pat Kelly a cut above in recent years. He also showed patience, working through some pretty sticky traffic during the first 10 laps.
"You put a good car together and you just feel it," Cannon said. "You go high, you go low and you kind of put it where you need to put it. You're comfortable in it. That's the biggest thing, being comfortable."
Cannon beat White to the finish line by 0.997 seconds. White did a nice job of holding off Hoffman for second, while early leader Nutley was just over three seconds back in fourth place. Mike Monroe and Bobby Gash completed the top six.
Hoffman also brought his limited late-model to the speedway, and put on quite a show with Tony D'Ambrose in the 25-lap feature.
Taking the lead from Mike Marden on lap nine, Hoffman soon had D'Ambrose's No. 80 on his back bumper. The two went on to snake their way through a gaggle of slower traffic. At no time was Hoffman able to shake his pursuer.
"He was right there," Hoffman said. "He was just driving way in to get to the bumper, and then we'd pull him off the turn. So we were easier in and good off, and he was good in and not so good off. As long as we kept him behind us..."
The quick duo had a scary couple of laps running behind two slower side-by-side cars that were competing for position.
"Well, they were two wide in front of us. I didn't want to disturb their race," Hoffman said, smiling. "There was enough room on the bottom coming off of 2. The track was pretty wide and the car was working real good down low. I was hoping Tony would go to the outside and get boxed out, but I guess he followed me through."
Points leader Phil Splant made a good run in his No. 52 to finish third. Kevin McCann, Marden and Westin Griffith Jr., followed.
John Senerchia continued to pile on points in his quest for the Mid-American track championship, beating out Dean Patterson by 1.316 seconds.
"We're just running out there, having fun," Senerchia said. "I've been having a lot of fun running with (Dean Patterson). We've been real good friends this year."
Patterson, who is third in the points chase, made up some ground on second-ranking John Marshall, who finished fourth in Saturday's race. Darryl Sills captured the third spot.
The most emotional victory of the night was turned in by veteran Pat O'Rourke, who carried the checkered flag in the turbostox feature for the first time in his career.
"Seven years I've waited for this," O'Rourke said. "I'll tell you what, without all the help from my family, and sponsors, and friends all these years... we've just kept going at it. This feels good."
O'Rourke took the lead from Jerry Barnett on lap 11, and set sail. But over the final few laps, he had Eddie Ligue in his mirror, and Ligue wasn't holding back.
"I knew Eddie was close," O'Rourke said. "I just tried to hold it to the inside, hold it as tight as I could. I had a feeling that if we got the carburetor running the way we wanted, we'd have a good night."
O'Rourke beat Ligue to the finish line by 0.211 seconds. Tom Prim was third, followed by D.J. Wilson, Billy Jarrells and Barnett.
Rich Dearborn was the king of the pure stock feature, beating out Chris Czasawicz, Steve Wells, Ryan Lagastee and Mike Lindemulder.
Late-model
Qualifying: 1. Mike White (19.436), 2. Jeff Cannon (19.550), 3. Eddie Hoffman (19.553), 4. Josh Nelms(19.838), 5. Shaun Wiltjer (19.968), 6. Andy Marchiniak (20.060), 7. Mike Monroe (20.117), 8. John Nutley (20.239), 9. Bobby Gash (20.269), 10. Brian Muick (20.488), 11. Phil Bretz (21.774), 12. Eric Hill (21.782).
1st heat: 1. Hoffman, 2. Wiltjer, 3. Nelms, 4. Cannon, 5. Marchiniak, 6. White.
2nd heat: 1. Gash, 2. Monroe, 3. Nutley, 4. Bretz, 5. Hill, 6. Muick.
25-lap feature: 1. Cannon, 2. White, 3. Hoffman, 4. Nutley, 5. Monroe, 6. Gash, 7. Nelms, 8. Wiltjer, 9. Marchiniak, 10. Muick, 11. Hill, 12. Bretz.
Limited late-model
Qualifying: 1. Tony D'Ambrose (20.106), 2. Eddie Hoffman (20.144), 3. Joe Fadke (20.372), 4. Phil Splant (20.380), 5. Kevin McCann (20.428), 6. Weston Griffith Jr. (20.463), 7. Mike Marden (20.473), 8. Joe Golobic (20.824), 9. Dennis Lyp (20.908), 10. Tyler Middleton (21.240), 11. Don Pettit (21.273), 12. John Finley (21.674), 13. Matt O'Leary (21.693).
1st heat: 1. McCann, 2. Hoffman, 3. Marden, 4. Fadke, 5. Splant, 6. Griffith, 7. Golobic, 8. D'Ambrose.
2nd heat: 1. Finley, 2. Paul Zolodz, 3. O'Leary, 4. Middleton, 5. Rita Fields, 6. Pettit, 7. Kevin Offdenkamp, 8. Lyp.
25-lap feature: 1. Hoffman, 2. D'Ambrose, 3. Splant, 4. McCann, 5. Marden, 6. Griffith, 7. Zolodz, 8. Fadke, 9. Golobic, 10. Pettit, 11. Lyp, 12. Finley, 13. Fields, 14. O'Leary, 15. Offdenkamp, 16. Middleton.
Mid-American
Qualifying: 1. John Marshall (21.095), 2. John Senerchia (21.231), 3. Dean Patterson (21.277), 4. Darrel Sills (21.556), 5. Tim Sehr (21.815), 6. Tom Prim (21.828), 7. Ray Brackett (23.027), 8. Micah Simms (DNQ).
Heat: 1. Patterson, 2. Senerchia, 3. Sills, 4. Prim, 5. Marshall, 6. Sehr, 7. Brackett.
25-lap feature: 1. Senerchia, 2. Patterson, 3. Sills, 4. Marshall, 5. Sehr, 6. Prim, 7. Brackett.
Turbostox
Qualifying: 1. Bill Serviss (18.259), 2. Eddie Ligue (18.511), 3. Scott Gardner (18.551), 4. Tony Neering (18.605), 5. John Easto (18.639), 6. Chris Woodall (18.648), 7. Tony Meier (18.731), 8. Mark Ross Jr. (18.795), 9. Tom Prim (18.824), 10. Pat O'Rourke (18.942), 11. D.J. Wilson (19.065), 12. Bobbie Jean Wall (19.144), 13. Jerry Barnett (19.216), 14. Billy Jarrells (20.232).
1st heat: 1. Ross, 2. Woodall, 3. Ligue, 4. Serviss, 5. Neering, 6. Gardner, 7. Meier, 8. Easto.
2nd heat: 1. Prim, 2. Jarrells, 3. O'Rourke, 4. Wall, 5. Brian Kucaba, 6. Wilson, 7. Barnett.
25-lap feature: 1. O'Rourke, 2. Ligue, 3. Prim, 4. Wilson, 5. Jarrells, 6. Barnett, 7. Serviss, 8. Ross, 9. Meier, 10. Woodall, 11. Kucaba, 12. Neering, 13. Wall, 14. Gardner.
Pure stock
1st heat: 1. Jacob McKown.
2nd heat: 1. Paul McKeague
3rd heat: 1. Bobby Blood.
"B" Feature: 1. Jacob McKown, 2. Ryan Gilliam, 3. Jason Albertson, 4. Ben McKown, 5. Mike Geriks.
"A" Feature: 1. Rich Dearborn, 2. Chris Czasawicz, 3. Steve Wells, 4. Ryan Lagastee, 5. Mike Lindemulder.
