Posted by Illiana Speedway on 5/2/2005, 12:06 pm
Message modified by board administrator 5/2/2005, 10:09 pm

Steadiness Earns LM Victory for Welmeyer By: Tony Baranek SCHERERVILLE, Ind. (April 30, 2005) - Slowly, but surely. That was the modus operandi of Dave Weltmeyer during Saturday night's late-model feature victory at Illiana Speedway. The Dyer, Ind., native didn't really have much choice but to bide his time and stay in his lane as part of three side-by-side battles during much of the race. All by himself up front, meanwhile, was veteran Bobby Gash, who had taken the early lead from Jamie Artelt and maintained a comfortable lead over the tangle of cars behind him. "Racing tonight took a little bit of patience," Weltmeyer said. "For awhile it looked like the high groove was going to move." That would not be the case, as three-time track champ Mike White learned the hard way. Weltmeyer, however, stayed on the bottom, and was finally able to break from the logjam when he took second place away from Keith Sterkowitz on lap 19. Then it was a matter of catching Gash. Weltmeyer did that on lap 21, taking the lead via the low side coming out of Turn 2. Coming along with him was Pat Kelly. The two former track champions were able to ease away from the field. As the final laps wound down, it appeared that Kelly was gaining on him. "Bobby (Gash) gave me a little room down there and I was able to make the pass," Weltmeyer said. "And Pat, he raced me clean all night. It was a good race." Kelly got within a car-length, but was never able to make a bid for a pass. He finished two car-lengths behind Weltmeyer at the finish. "I just need a couple more changes on the car," Kelly said. "I didn't think I was going to get him there (at the end). I mean, anything can happen, but you can't take nothing for granted. David's been around for awhile, and he'srunning good now. I'm happy with second." The third former track champ in the field, White, made good strides via the high side early in the race but got caught up in traffic and had to drop back. He recovered to work his way back up to third. Fourth place went to Gash, followed by Joe O'Connor and Sterkowitz. In the Mid-American division, veteran Bill Neering celebrated his 51st birthday by capturing the 25-lap feature. Neering took the lead from Craig Amptmeyer on lap 10, and held off a persistent challenge from defending track champion Josh Nelms and top contender Jeff Cannon the rest of the way. "I looked forward the whole time," Neering said with a smile. "Those last few laps I told myself, 'Well, here they come.' You can't give an inch to those guys. We slipped and slid around a bit. My guys (pit crew) would say I was mirror driving, but it (the car) was loose." Nelms beat out Cannon for second place, while Amptmeyer, Shawn Matthuis and Michael Marden completed the top six. The 25-lap limited late model feature went to Richard Dawson, his first main event win at Illiana Speedway. Dawson took the lead from Gary Holiner on lap 8, but Holiner refused to surrender. Holiner, in fact, was able to get underneath Dawson on lap 13, and was making a bid to pass on the back straightaway when he lost control of his No. 33 and slid to the infield. Dawson was able to hold off John LaFreniere for the win. Jack Kalwasinski was third, followed by Andy Marchiniak, Anthony Danta and Kurt McKinney. Tom Prim captured his first feature win of the season in the Turbo Stox class. Prim, who started 13th on the grid, picked his way through the pack and passed Tom Gasik with just two laps remaining. Gasik made a strong challenge to Prim on the final lap, but came up a car-length short. Bill Serviss was right behind the leaders in third, followed by Ryan Moore, Pat O'Rourke and Eddie Wolf. The Pure Stocks main was captured by Joel Kozolowski over Shawn Coulter and Scott Greenway. Summary of Results (April 30, 2005) Late-Model 1st heat: 1. Joe O'Connor, 2. Dave Weltmeyer, 3. Pat Kelly. 2nd heat: 1. Bobby Gash, 2. Jamie Artelt, 3. Shawn Wiltjer. 30-lap feature: 1. Weltmeyer, 2. Kelly, 3. Mike White, 4. Gash, 5. Joe O'Connor, 6. Keith Sterkowitz. Limited Late-Model 1st heat: 1. John LaFreniere, 2. Jack Kalwasinski, 3. Richard Dawson. 2nd heat: 1. Gary Holiner, 2. Andy Marchiniak, 3. Tim Stewart. 25-lap feature: 1. Dawson, 2. LaFreniere, 3. Kalwasinski, 4. Marchiniak, 5. Anthony Danta, 6. Kurt McKinney. Mid-American Heat: 1. Josh Nelms, 2. Jeff Cannon, 3. Bill Neering. 25-lap feature: 1. Neering, 2. Nelms, 3. Cannon, 4. Craig Amptmeyer, 5. Shawn Matthuis, 6. Michael Marden. Turbo Stox 1st heat: 1. Ryan Moore, 2. Billy Jarrells, 3. Eddie Wolf. 2nd heat: 1. Tom Gasik, 2. Alan Powell, 3. Dave Dotter. 25-lap feature: 1. Tom Prim, 2. Gasik, 3. Bill Serviss, 4. Moore, 5. Pat O'Rourke, 6. Wolf. Pure Stocks 1st heat: 1. Dan Diasio 2nd heat: 1. Matt Arvia 15-lap feature: 1. Joel Kozlowski, 2. Shawn Coulter, 3. Scott Greenway.